Walter Travis "Dropped" from NGLA? NEW evidence found

[MCirba]

Since originally writing these series of articles some three years ago I've come across some additional articles that help to document and substantiate the main conclusion of the essay that Macdonald never "dropped" Walter Travis from the NGLA committee charged with the design and construction of the golf course as he later claimed in his book, "Scotland's Gift - Golf" written after Travis's death.   Instead, the contemporaneous record shows that Travis was there from literally the conception and research phases, serving as CBM's point person in the US while Macdonald was researching the best holes abroad, down to the site selection, design, build, grow-in, and Invitational tournament soft opening across the period from 1904 through 1910.

In fact, as this snippet from an article reproduced from a London newspaper in the Boston Evening Transcript in April 1910 as written by John Sutherland* after his November 1909 visit to the National Links shows, Macdonald even had an original (non-template) hole named after Walter J. Travis (and his son-in-law H.J. Whigham), the 15th now known as "Narrows".



More to come if there's any renewed interest.
* John Sutherland was the Secretary of Royal Dornoch Golf Club beginning in 1883 for the next 58 years.

[Joe Bausch]

Nice find!

[Neil Regan]

Mike,


As you point out, Sutherland says:
“The 15th -  named the “Whigham and Travis” - the Inference is obvious -  is 350 yards.”


What do you think might be the “obvious inference” ?
If it is just the connection of those two men to Macdonald and NGLA, maybe a better word would have been “reference.”
Do you think there might be an architectural inference ?
The other hole names, and indeed this hole’s current name “Narrows”, have an architectural reference.
Do you think it could be that Whigham and Travis designed this hole ?


Related: What is the oldest source for the hole names at NGLA ?

[MCirba]

Mike,


As you point out, Sutherland says:
“The 15th -  named the “Whigham and Travis” - the Inference is obvious -  is 350 yards.”


What do you think might be the “obvious inference” ?
If it is just the connection of those two men to Macdonald and NGLA, maybe a better word would have been “reference.”
Do you think there might be an architectural inference ?
The other hole names, and indeed this hole’s current name “Narrows”, have an architectural reference.
Do you think it could be that Whigham and Travis designed this hole ?


Related: What is the oldest source for the hole names at NGLA ?

Hi Neil,

Great to hear from you!   


My assumption is that CBM named the hole for them because they had significant input to the project as a whole and possibly authorship of the one in question.   Of course, without additional information that is just speculative.   I thought it was important to the timeline that whenever CBM "dropped" Travis (it was 1911, to be precise, but we'll get there ), it was long after the course was located, planned, designed, constructed, grown-in, and had a soft opening invitational Tournament in July 1910.   CBM's later assertion that he dropped Travis makes it sound like The Old Man had no input or direct involvement in the creation of NGLA but as seen from the essays, that isn't the case whatsoever.

Now I'm really curious to find out when the hole names were first decided.   More research for me!   

[MCirba]

Neil Regan,

The first mention of the named holes at NGLA I could find occurred in the preview of the course's Opening Day invitational tournament in September 1911.  By then the "Whigham Travis" hole was re-named "Narrows".   And although Walter Travis lost in the finals the previous year (and was pictured sitting next to CBM in the group photo) when the club had it's "soft opening" tournament in July 1910, The Old Man was no longer invited.   More on that shortly.

[MCirba]

A year prior, in July of 1910, NGLA had its "Soft Opening" in the form of an Invitational Tournament.   The winner was Fred Herreshoff, who defeated Walter Travis in the finals.   All was still hunky-dory between the two men who played together the first day of Medal play, and who sat together for the group photo.

[Neil Regan]

Mike,
Excellent research as always.
I am inclined to agree with your speculation regarding the Whigham & Travis name.
And your evidence is clear on your main point, that Travis was deeply involved throughout the creation of NGLA, and that apparently Macdonald tried to rewrite history.


Another related query:
Which of the hole names existed elsewhere prior to Macdonald using the name for his concepts or template?


Looking through old American scorecards from the 1890s, I see numerous courses with holes named Punchbowl, Plateau, Dell, Road, Alps.
There were several course on Long Island with a hole named The Narrows.


I’m not sure where this leads, I just find it very interesting.

[MCirba]

The final straw in the relationship between Macdonald and Travis was broken during January 1911, when the USGA made its very first break from the Royal & Ancient by permitting the use of the Schenectady Putter in US competitions.  Apparently Travis lobbied hard for this ruling, while Macdonald possibly for the first time since the creation of the USGA saw his powerful, almost authoritarian voice ignored in the matter.  Travis may have won the battle, but it's arguable that his subsequent expulsion from the historical record of the National Golf Links of America and his making of many powerful enemies within the USGA inevitably lost him the war in terms of loss of amateur status and long-standing reputation as the greatest, most influential amateur golfer in the first decades of American golf.