Introducing the Bausch Archives (01/18/23 update): 1920 SF Examiner Reviews

[MCirba]

#71
1915
Photo of the new “globe standard” at Merion, aka the wicker basket.

Bonus points awarded for identifying the green at Merion the left-handed player is putting on towards the wicker basket.   

[Ed Homsey]

#28
Hugh Wilson, “who is responsible for the two most excellent courses at Merion”, designed 2 new holes at Philmont in 1914.
  I suppose this is not news ?




—

#37
And I did not remember that Travis had worked with Ross at Pinehurst.
How much work did he do there ?

Neil--I fully support Mike's recommendation that you read his piece on Travis/Macdonald and the NGLA affair.  In addition, I thought you might like to see what Travis said about his role at Pinehurst.  Some rather audacious statements, but as the late Bot Labbance pointed out in his book "The Old Man", there is no one disputed Travis's claims, to our knowledge.  Here's link to Travis's article:


https://walterjtravissociety.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/1920-10-9-20-years-of-golf-am-golfer.pdf

[Ed Homsey]

That link didn't come out as I expected, though when I clicked on it, it opened the article.  I'll try again:


https://walterjtravissociety.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/1920-10-9-20-years-of-golf-am-golfer.pdf

[Sven Nilsen]

I suppose you could argue that whatever Travis did at Pinehurst was so bad it took Ross 40 years to fix it.

[MCirba]

I suppose you could argue that whatever Travis did at Pinehurst was so bad it took Ross 40 years to fix it.

You could, but you'd be mistaken.   

[Sven Nilsen]

You'd be mistaken to argue that No. 2 as it exists today is in any way a Travis course.

[MCirba]

You'd be mistaken to argue that No. 2 as it exists today is in any way a Travis course.

Sven,

If it's true as Travis contended that he convinced both Tufts and Ross to toughen the course into a test of strategic thinking and execution for the better player, while remaining navigable for the duff, I'd say his influence forever altered what became #2 in a way that is still relevant and felt to this day.

The rest is details.

[Sven Nilsen]

Mike:


As long as we're translating influence into design credit, you probably should be giving Madonald a bit more credit for Merion.


 


Sven

[Joe Bausch]

Two more recent additions to the Bausch Archives:

1.  Player's Cigarette Cards:  Championship Golf Courses

http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/archives/PlayersCigaretteCards/index.html

2.  Early newspaper articles on St. Davids Golf Club

http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/archives/StDavids_history/index.html

[MCirba]

Mike:


As long as we're translating influence into design credit, you probably should be giving Madonald a bit more credit for Merion.


 


Sven

Well played. 

[Joe Bausch]

The latest addition to the Bausch Archives is early articles on Rolling Green Golf Club:

http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/archives/RollingGreen_history/index.html

[Brad Tufts]

Just saw the Players Cards on there...I actually have an original set of these at home someplace.


The plastic box they are in has "$300" as a price tag on it, but the person who gifted them to me said they got them for under $50...so I'm not really sure what they are worth! 


Very cool memento of the UK/Scotland courses.

[D_Malley]

I love how many of the articles about the origins of RG state that it is based on the English model where the golf course is the main focus not the clubhouse.


Quote: "Rolling Green is going in strong for the English idea that a golf club should be a golf club. The club and locker houses will be severely simple and all the spare money will be devoted to the upkeep of the golf course."

The clubhouse is merely a place for changing your "Togs" before and after your game.

How much did RG recently spend on clubhouse renovations?

[Joe Bausch]

The latest addition to the Bausch Archives is a series of articles from the 1928 Pittsburgh Press called "Golf Holes They Talk About".  It is a pretty cool series of articles:

http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/archives/GolfHolesTheyTalkAbout/index.html

All the material in the Bausch Archives at MyPhillyGolf is here:

http://www.myphillygolf.com/archives.asp

[Joe Bausch]

The latest addition to the Bausch Archives is coverage of the 1956 UGA (United Golfers Association) National Open held at Cobb's Creek Golf Course.  Of note is that Charlie Sifford won it for the 4th year in a row, this time by 15 strokes over the 2nd place winner, Harold Wheeler (notable in that he played cross-handed!).  Also an interesting read is the controversy that occurred in the ladies competition.

Here is the somewhat limited coverage by the Philadelphia Tribune:

http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/archives/1956UGANationalOpen/index.html

[Joe Bausch]

The latest edition to the Bausch Archives is a series of articles (10 total) penned by Jerome Travers and published in the 1915-6 Philadelphia Public Ledger:

http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/archives/TraversLedger/index.html

[Joe Bausch]

Some of the drawings in those Travers articles are pretty cool!

[Joe Bausch]

The latest update comes courtesy of a new microfilm scanner at my school.  It does a significantly better job at scanning photos from old newspapers.  Hence, I went back and regathered the pictorials of various courses in the Philly area from the 1920 Public Ledger.  Some of these are really awesome.

http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/archives/1920_PublicLedger_pictorials/index.html

[Joe Bausch]

This is my version of a Friday news dump.  These are articles by long time golf writer William Evans writing under the pen name Peter Putter in the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger in 1917 and 1918.  Good stuff here!

http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/archives/PeterPutter/index.html

[Neil Regan]

Joe,
 246 articles on a Friday dump ?
There must be a smoking gun in there.*
Any hints ?




*( Besides the well known fact that Gulph Mills was designed by Duncan Ross.)
http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/archives/PeterPutter/pages/page_156.html

[Neil Regan]

Not a smoking gun, but very interesting for GCA types.


The detailed cost of construction of Gulph Mills, 1918


http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/archives/PeterPutter/pages/page_166.html

[Neil Regan]

Ab Smith and Hugh Wilson responsible for Cobb’s Creek.
Hugh Wilson laid out the two Merion Courses.
Colt laid out Pine Valley, but Crump did the work.


Where was Bausch Archives when we needed it ? 


http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/archives/PeterPutter/pages/page_3.html

[MCirba]

Hopefully others are silently enjoying these articles. 

Thanks for sharing, Joe...

I can't even imagine how twisted and misinterpreted the history of Philadelphia region (and other regions) golf course architecture would be without your incredible efforts to unearth contemporaneous accounts from all of these sources.

[Mike_Trenham]

Joe:


I found it interesting that the article on Tredyffrin CC from 10/01/17 noted that Alex Findlay is also designed Plymouth CC.  I’d never heard this before.


BTW I hear good things about the work being done by Ron Prichard and Tyler Rae over there at Plymouth or 1912 as it’s been renamed.


So much good stuff here.  Thanks Joe.

[Joe Bausch]

I found it interesting that the article on Tredyffrin CC from 10/01/17 noted that Alex Findlay is also designed Plymouth CC.  I’d never heard this before.

BTW I hear good things about the work being done by Ron Prichard and Tyler Rae over there at Plymouth or 1912 as it’s been renamed.

It took me quite some time to figure out who did the original nine holes at Plymouth and Findlay was always a candidate!

Note:  I have a blurb from the early 20's when Plymouth was thinking about expanding to 18 holes and the article says they intend to seek out Donald Ross.  But we know how this finishes, not with Ross, but Flynn.

And now Prichard and Rae.