Guys,
Let's not delete this.
While the entire story of Dutcher isn't clear yet, I think collectively we've put together a number of puzzle pieces to help tell the story of a historically significant course.
In some ways this reminds me of Dorset Field Club, which claims to have been playing golf on the same site since 1886, yet I've seen no contemporaneous newspaper (or other) evidence of that before 1896 when the club was formalized and they decided to build a clubhouse due to growth. In that case, it seems obvious they were playing prior to formalization but a decade seems a stretch without additional contemporaneous evidence.
Is it possible Bendelow planned a course but only 3 holes were built before Val Flood arrived? I think that's possible and I'd just encourage Tom and others to keep digging and keep an open mind on where the trail may lead.
Have a good day.
The following scenario about the Dutcher course has been published in various places for at least 23 years, and possibly more than 45 years based on input from a recent town historian that the scenario was originated by a town historian who died in 1975: 3-hole private course is built in 1885 in conjunction with the opening of the Dutcher House Hotel; in 1890 the course is expanded to 9 holes and opened to the public; the course became a municipal course in 1950 when John Dutcher's daughter-in-law (the last remaining John B. Dutcher family member) in her will donated the course property to the Town of Pawling with the stipulation that it remain a golf course in perpetuity.
My initial research surfaced a question about when the course became a 9-hole course, and subsequent research revealed the following: several contemporaneous newspaper articles that place the opening of a 9-hole course laid out or "superintended" by Val Flood in 1901; the absence of any newspaper references to a Dutcher course before 1901 except for a 1997 local article that references a 3-hole course in 1890; a newspaper article that places the donation of the course to the Town of Pawling in 1955 versus 1950. More recently, a 1898 New York City newspaper article surfaced with a report that Tom Bendelow laid out a course for John B. Dutcher in that year; except for this singular article, Tom Bendelow's grandson Stuart has no knowledge of this situation.
Presently, research is focused on finding contemporaneous information on the origin and evolution of the Dutcher course, including the Tom Bendelow aspect. Based on the extensive digging I've done on the Internet and in national and local newspaper archives, I don't believes these sources will produce the desired information. Therefore, research is centered in three areas: material produced by the deceased town historian; the personal and family papers of John B. Dutcher, if they exist; early records and artifacts of the Dutcher House Hotel, if they exist. This work is being handled by the former president of the Pawling Historical Society. It has been delayed by covid-related unavailability of access to society and town records.
If anyone would like a summary of the material described in the second paragraph above, send me an email at: tbuggy@aol.com. A video of the history of the course presented by a recently retired town historian is available on YouTube. To access it from within the YouTube app, do a search for "History of Dutcher Golf Course." As you will see, the video contains some disputed information, most especially that the course was expanded to nine holes in 1890 (although the historian does say "apparently" in a written document).