Golf Related Maps

[Sven Nilsen]

Different from the Routing and Plans thread, this thread is meant to be a repository for maps that depict the locations of golf courses.  I wish I had larger sizes available for many of these.

A few examples:

Nov. 1917 Golf Illustrated US Map



Hodgeman's Map of New England Golf Clubs - 1915 (an expandable version can be found here:  https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:cj82kt837)



An Early Map of Chicago Area Clubs



A 1909 Map of Chicago Area Clubs



Oct. 1924 Golf Illustrated Chicago Map



Automobile Club of Southern California Map





Nov. 1921 Golf Illustrated Map of Pasadena Area Courses



1923 Map of San Francisco Area Courses

[Sven Nilsen]

A few New York area maps:

July 1917 Golf Illustrated









Sept. 1928 Golf Illustrated

[Andrew Simpson]

"Chicago, the World's golf center" now that's funny!

[Jim_Kennedy]

A 1921 map of 113 courses from Newburgh, NY in the NW  to New Canaan, Ct in the NE, and New Brunswick, NJ in the SW to New Monmouth, NJ in the SE. Can't say as I ever read about some of them - like Houven Kopf.

At the bottom of the page it says there are 21 of these maps covering the entire USA.

http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/bdeb74d0-757e-0131-2481-58d385a7bbd0

[Sven Nilsen]

Here's a screen shot of the map Jim linked to:





A few items of note from the list of courses:

Pretty sure the listing for Beach Club is for the Lido.

Houvenkopf is listed in the 1908 Golfer's Guide and the later Annual Guides as a 9 hole course expanded to 18 around 1925 with a date of organization of 1906.  I have no idea who did the original course or the expansion.

Baldwin CC was most likely more commonly known as Milburn CC (located in Baldwin).

Winged Foot is noted as the New York Athletic Club in New Rochelle.  There was a much earlier course by that name located on Hunter's Island but I don't believe it survived into the 20's.

The list includes Lawrence CC in Kew Gardens.  Wonder if this the name given to Queen's Valley while it was under construction.

[Jim_Kennedy]

The list includes Lawrence CC in Kew Gardens.  Wonder if this the name given to Queen's Valley while it was under construction.

Sven,

Doesn't appear to be the case:
http://www.lycc.cc/about/home


p.s. "Queens Valley is a former name of Kew Gardens Hills, a neighborhood originally known as Head of the Vleigh."

http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/queens-valley-playground/history

It's also the same general area where the Richmond Hill GC was located.


http://www.oldkewgardens.com/media-0040.html




You may be thinking of Queensboro CC, which was AKA Astoria GC.

[Neil Regan]

...
Winged Foot is noted as the New York Athletic Club in New Rochelle.  There was a much earlier course by that name located on Hunter's Island but I don't believe it survived into the 20's.
...

The site marked on the map as #66, NYAC in New Rochelle, is Travers Island, the club's (NYAC) beach facility.
Members of the NYAC were in the process of acquiring land for golf not too far away when this book was published in 1921. That site is not noted on this map.


The NYAC declined to make the new golf courses part of the club, so the golf club was never part of the NYAC.
A close relationship was maintained for many years.




---
Is there a 1922 edition of this book ?

[Sven Nilsen]

The list includes Lawrence CC in Kew Gardens.  Wonder if this the name given to Queen's Valley while it was under construction.

Sven,

Doesn't appear to be the case:
http://www.lycc.cc/about/home

Neil:


Pretty sure the course described in your link is different from the Lawrence CC noted as being in Kew Gardens on the map.  The site noted (#113) could not possibly be confused for being in the town of Lawrence, and the date of 1924 given in your link suggests that course came about after this map was created.  My read of where site #113 is located is that it would have been pretty close to where the Queens Valley CC sat.  It is also possible that this was a reference to the nearby Pomonok CC (built in 1921).



Another course I hadn't heard of is Elmora CC in Elizabeth, NJ.  The map also has listings for Suburban Club and Town and Country Club in Elizabeth, both of which where listed in the various Annual Guides.  But Elmora is a new one.


Whippany River CC is another mystery.  I know the club was founded around 1904, but I have no record of it ever having a golf course.


Sven

[BCrosby]

Sven -


Very cool. I was talking to Craig Disher this weekend about the need to collect these maps in one place. I have wondered about how many and how good they were.


Bob

[john_stiles]

There is a very nice golf related map for Long Island at Long Island Golf News.


They have a nice web site so the image is easy to find if this link does not work.



http://www.longislandgolfnews.com/MAPS/ALLCoursesMap.htm


Their map has the golf courses labeled at location versus the numbered map with index





Go to their web site to view an image you can enlarge.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Sven,
Perhaps the name is explained by this, as College Point Blvd. that runs into Queens was originally named Lawrence Blvd.
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/flushing-meadows-corona-park/highlights/12246

The 1924 aerial of Queens doesn't show any courses abutting Hollis Blvd, the road that abuts the "Lawrence" course.
Closest to it would be what became Kissena Park, but the original Fresh Meadow and Pomonok are in the general vicinity, with FM being closer than Pomonok, as shown in this '30s era map (green line is Hollis).


2 clicks 4 big





   
 

[Jim_Kennedy]

Sven,

Houven Kopf GC - I was trying to find the location in Suffern and having no luck when I ran across an article that said the golf course was just over the border in New Jersey (W.Mahwah]. 


The entire state of New Jersey was photographed in 1930, but the sites which had the aerials no longer show them. Even the state's own site stopped offering them, so I borrowed this view from Historicaerials.com It's from 1953, but the course was gone by the next view, which was from 1965.
 



Also located a few views of the course - very pretty setting and a rustic clubhouse.

[Jim_Kennedy]

Sven,

A bit about the Whippany River Club can be found at Google Books:    "Morristown: A Military Headquarters of the American Revolution"

The club was comprised of the very wealthy,  but they always seemed to have money troubles. When the clubhouse burnt down they tried to merge with Morris County GC, but that effort failed as the WRC members balked at paying 40k to build stables and a polo fields at MCGC. It does mention that they were "discussing' the idea of building their own course.

The location on the golf map is off,  but I found the property map from 1910,  and from there  located the site on HistoricAerials.com. 

The 1931 view shows nothing that looks like a golf course, but it's ten years after the Rand McNally listing. 

The pre-fire clubhouse was substantial.

[Sven Nilsen]

An early map of courses in New York City from the Aug. 1899 edition of Outing.

[Anthony Gholz]

Sven:  Great thread.  I've got a few, but mostly Detroit area and nothing as early as what you're putting up.  Detroit Public Golf was very late to the game.  It was argued at City Council level from 1900 on but we didn't get anything until Belle Ile (NLE) in 1922 and then the Ross designed Packham in 1924.  Another 10 years before any more public courses.


I hope this is the kind of thing you are looking for.
Anthony



Here's two from the Detroit Free Press
August 3, 1930



DFP April 26, 1931

[Sven Nilsen]

Anthony:

Those are great.

Thanks,

Sven

[Jim_Kennedy]

Not quite a map showing golf courses, but a listing of courses from 1926.

Begins on page 12:


https://archive.org/stream/automobilegreenb01autorich#page/12/mode/2up/search/golf

[Anthony Gholz]

This is not the kind of map we want to see more of, but in Michigan we may need to get used to it.
Courses Closed from the Detroit Free Press April 11, 2016.

[Sven Nilsen]

The Sept. 12, 1926 Los Angeles Times printed what looks like a two page map of the Los Angeles Metropolitan District, which included a listing and the location of the country clubs in existence at that time.


If anyone has a copy of this map, or the ability to get there hands on the other page in a format that allows us to see the details on the map, I'd greatly appreciate seeing it.

[Sven Nilsen]

Here's the map discussed in my last post, annotated to indicate the locations of the courses noted.

Small Versions -



Larger Versions -

[Sven Nilsen]

A followup map of Los Angeles from 1932.

The additions to the 1932 map from what was noted in 1926 is of little surprise:

Belmont - Not included in the 1932 Map Index, but marked on the Map.  Just being built in 1926.
Chevy Chase - Just being built in 1926.
Fox Hills - Just being built in 1926.
Girard - Built, but out of the range covered in the 1926 Map.
Montebello Park - Wouldn't be built until 1928.
Pasadena Municipal - Wouldn't be built until 1928.
Royal Palms - San Pedro CC became Royal Palms, but from the locations on the maps there was a location change.
Santa Monica Municipal - Wouldn't be built until 1928.
Sunset Fields - Wouldn't be built until 1927.
St. Andrews - Just being built in 1926.
Western Ave. - This one is a bit of a mystery, as the course dates back to 1921/22.
Whitley Park - Just being built in 1926.

On the other hand, several of the courses noted on the 1926 Map but not on the 1932 Map raise some questions:

Encino - NLE by this point?
Hacienda - Not in the range of the 1932 Map.
Raymond - Still noted in the 1931 Annual Guide.
National Forest - This appears to be in the same location as Belmont CC.
Norumbega - Not in the range of the 1932 Map.
San Pedro - See Royal Palms above.

[Sven Nilsen]

I've annotated the 1921 Rand McNally New York area map noted above.  A good deal of the clarity is lost in the big version, if anyone wants to try to work with the version I have that is expandable I'd be happy to send it on.

Small Version -



Big Version -

[Bret Lawrence]

Maps for Nova Scotia Golf Resorts and Golf in Quebec-1934
The first map is from Golf Illustrated-June 1934:



The second map is from Golf Illustrated-July 1934:

[Sven Nilsen]

Another New York area map, from a few years after the 1921 map above.  Courses not on the 1921 map (either because they're new or weren't on the coverage area) are noted in yellow.

Small -



Big -

[Tim Martin]

Sven-Great thread and research on your part as usual. I was struck but the sheer amount of courses in and around Chicago and more particularly east of Lake Michigan/City Hall. Same with the glut of courses from lower Fairfield County Connecticut into Westchester County NY and the Bronx. Queens County NY into Nassau County is similarly loaded with courses. I'm not surprised that the higher concentrations would be in and around the large metro areas but again wasn't aware of the volume. Great stuff man!