John Duncan Dunn

[Bret Lawrence]

Here is some information on JDD from 1905:


The Sun-May 29, 1905:



Golf-August 1905 (notice A.W. Tillinghast was also in attendance):

[Sven Nilsen]

Bret:

Thanks for posting the articles from earlier in his career.

My focus here was solely on his work in California, but I'm happy to expand the scope to his entire resume.  I'll add in additional articles here (and above) in a bit.

Additional Dunn courses (please add in more if you have additional info):

1896

CC of Buffalo (Buffalo, NY)

See the Oct. 10, 1896 The Sun article posted by Bret Lawrence above.

1897

Ardsley Club (Ardsley-on-Hudson, NY)

May 24, 1897 The Sun -



1898

Gables GC ( , FL) - The only source I've seen for this attribution, or a course by this name in Florida, is in Cornish & Whitten.

Sea Cliff GC (Sea Cliff, NY)

1900 Harper's Guide -



1899

Sequin GC oka New Britain GC oka Maple Hill GC (New Britain, CT)

1900 Harper's Guide -




Tampa Bay Golf Association (Tampa, FL)

1900 Harper's Guide -




Winter Park GC (Winter Park, FL)

Smith College GC (Northampton, MA)

1900 Harper's Guide -



Swannanoa G&CC (Asheville, NC) - may have just been a site visit during construction.

Chatham GC (Chatham, NJ)

1900 Harper's Guide -



Cranford GC (Cranford, NJ)

Sept. 25, 1899 New York Times -




Liberty GC (Liberty, NY)

See the June 20, 1899 The Sun article posted by Bret Lawrence above.

Long Beach GC (Long Beach, NY)

Aug. 13, 1899 New York Times -



Orange County GC (Middleton, NY)

May 19, 1899 Brooklyn Daily Eagle -



St. John's School GC (Manlius, NY)

Sept. 25, 1899 Brooklyn Daily Eagle -



Columbia CC (Columbia, SC)

Richland CC (Columbia, SC) - Were Richland and Columbia the same club/course?

July 1899 Golf Magazine -





Ekwanok Club (Manchester, VT)


1900

Catskills Villages GC ( , NY) - The only source I've seen for this attribution, or a course by this name in New York, is in Cornish & Whitten.

Interstate Park GC (Queens , NY) - Cornish & Whitten misidentify this as Interstate Parkway GC.

July 14, 1900 New York Times -




1901

Flushing GC (Flushing, NY)

July 1902 Golf Magazine -












1908

Essex CC (Manchester, MA)


1915

Quaker Ridge GC (Scarsdale, NY)


See the article posted below in Reply #28 by Bret Lawrence.


1919

Cape Arundel GC (Kennebunkport, ME)


1925

Waco Municipal GC (Waco, TX)

March 31, 1926 Waco News-Tribune




1929

Casa Grande GC (Casa Grande, AZ)

March 15, 1929 Arizona Republic -




1931

Muirfield Golf Links ( , NY) - The only source I've seen for this attribution, or a course by this name in New York, is in Cornish & Whitten.

Oceanside G&CC (Oceanside, NY)

Jan. 26, 1931 Brooklyn Daily Eagle -



Date Unknown

Belleair GC (Belleair, FL)

Ocala Municipal GC (Ocala, FL)

Elks CC (Hamilton, OH)
 

[Sven Nilsen]

Another update on Tommy's comments.

Brae Mar was certainly constructed, how long it stayed open is another question.

June 30, 1929 Los Angeles Times -

[Bret Lawrence]

Sven,


Sorry for expanding the thread.  I just felt like some of his earlier work might help us paint a clearer picture of who he was. I had a feeling you had a lot more information on the early days of John Duncan Dunn!


I have two more articles which you already made note of in your timeline.


Here is an article on Quaker Ridge from The New York Times-April 4, 1915




The second article notes his work at Oceanside.


The New York Times-January, 18, 1931:

[Sven Nilsen]

One of the courses noted above and commented on by Tommy is Dana Point Yacht & CC.  Tommy notes Dunn's version of the course was built, which I am not completely sure is the case.

Dana Point was a massive real estate development in Laguna centered around a harbor and a planned luxury hotel.  Reviewing the articles on the project one notes a flurry of activity around 1925, with plans for two 18 hole courses to be designed by Dunn and ground being broken for a temporary 9 hole course to be used during construction.  The project went quiet for a bit, and then in 1927 seems to have been revived with Max Behr and Billie Bell being brought in to inspect the property and MacKenzie and Hunter doing the same a couple of months later.  A conceptual plan for the project was printed in newspaper ads, depicting (whether accurate or not) a location for the golf course well away from the coastline.

Jan. 15, 1927 Los Angeles Times -



Despite almost daily mention of the development and sales effort of the real estate play in the papers, there is no mention of any progress being made on the golf courses, and I can find no mention of play on any of the courses, even the temporary course.

July 1, 1924 Santa Ana Register -



Jan. 1, 1925 Los Angeles Times -



Jan. 9, 1925 Santa Ana Register -





March 19, 1925 Santa Ana Register -



March 28, 1925 Santa Ana Register -



Jan. 16, 1927 Los Angeles Times -





March 13, 1927 Los Angeles Times -

[Tommy Naccarato]

Sven, The Dana Point course was built as I have an image of them playing one of the holes.

[Tommy Naccarato]

Hey Tommy , hope all is well. So nice of you to drop in !

Always good to hear form you Archie!

[Tommy Naccarato]

Sven, Bell used to include Santa Susanna on his advertisements as courses built.  I do believe the club was located on or near the Spahn Movie Ranch which gained notoriety when a certain "family" started living and burying dead bodies there in the 1960's


Also, El Merrie Dey was one I forgot to include which looks to have been built, but died in a fire which consumed the area.  Many of streets reflect somethng was there.

[Sven Nilsen]

Sven, The Dana Point course was built as I have an image of them playing one of the holes.

Tommy:


Do you have a source for the photo, the date alone would be helpful.


My guess is that was Dunn's temporary 9 hole course.


Sven

[Sven Nilsen]

Sven, Bell used to include Santa Susanna on his advertisements as courses built.  I do believe the club was located on or near the Spahn Movie Ranch which gained notoriety when a certain "family" started living and burying dead bodies there in the 1960's

Tommy:


I think you missed my point on this one.  From the articles I posted, it sounds like Santa Susana CC (the Bell course) and La Quinta CC (the Dunn design) were different projects.


It is possible that they were the same, but the descriptions of the developers, the timing of the planning and the locations cited suggests otherwise.


As for whether or not Santa Susana was ever built, the name of the club was changed to the "Biltmore Country Club" in 1925 (as that is where the Commercial Club, the club's sponsors, had their headquarters).  There was still discussion of developing golf courses for the Biltmore CC in 1928, but I can find no evidence that any course ever opened.  Happy to see something that suggests otherwise, but my searches haven't yielded anything.


Bell may have advertised the design, but it wouldn't have been the first time someone used a course that was never built in their ads.


Sven

[Sven Nilsen]

Also, El Merrie Dey was one I forgot to include which looks to have been built, but died in a fire which consumed the area.  Many of streets reflect somethng was there.

Tommy:


It is interesting to me that C&W note El Merrie Del as a Dunn course, along with Fairmede, but have them located in Florida.  Seems like an odd mistake to make.


Sven

[Ed Homsey]

Sven--

I noticed that you have John Duncan Dunn at Cape Arundel GC in 1919.  I had long thought that Dunn was involved in the design of the Cape Arundel course, but in my research of local newspapers, found no reference to Dunn relative to the design/construction of the golf course.  Do you have documentation that confirms Dunn's involvement.  If so, I would like to have it in order to set the record straight in the Travis Society's listing of Travis courses.

[Sven Nilsen]

Ed-


Pretty sure the source is from Cornish & Whitten, which after a quick search here I know you've had reasons to doubt on this front.  I don't have any contemporaneous accounts noting his involvement.


Just another in a long list of reasons why there needs to be an update to C&W.


Sven

[Ed Homsey]

Thanks, Sven.  I agree regarding the need for an update to C&W.  Their listing of Travis courses, alone, contains several errors. 

[Sven Nilsen]

Dunn in his own words discussing his early design philosophies.

July 25, 1900 Elmira Daily Gazette and Free Press -