Golden Age Courses: What Did They Replace?

[JJShanley]

I recently moved to the Philadelphia area, and my various journeys to work and the like have taken me past some of the country's finest courses. 


It got me wondering: what types of purposes did those properties (in Philadelphia and elsewhere) have before someone laid out a golf course?  Stables?  Someone's estate?  Early-twentieth century superfund?  Public lands?


And I'm always open to reading suggestions on golf's early decades in the United States.

[Tom_Doak]

Crystal Downs was part orchard, part farm, part woods until someone bought it to develop it as a real estate project.

[John Kavanaugh]

Baltusrol was a championshio course that had hosted two US Opens before Tillie came in and plowed it under. From what I have seen he eliminated some hazards where injury was prone...namely the Suicide Bunker. What a pity.

[Mark_Fine]

Many courses replaced open fields and/or farmland.  Architects often had the choice of property and choose sites that were conducive for golf.  They mostly avoided tough sites because clearing trees, removing rock, building bridges,...was very expensive, difficult, and time consuming.  Some architects even passed when offered a tough site like Tillinghast did at The Cascades.  He is quoted as saying there was no chance to build a great golf course there.  Flynn begged to differ and took the commission.