Henry Mac Nair map of New England golf courses (1917)

[Greg Hohman]

 A challenge for the DG: Identify the starred “principal” golf courses of New England, as “arranged” (copyright 1917) by Henry Mac Nair.




 
The map is here courtesy of the Tufts Archives. Its catalogue number is A016189.
 
Joe Bausch enabled posting the image.

[Andrew Harvie]

Hard to know exactly which two they chose in Montreal, but one of the stars (the furthest left one) is for sure Royal Montreal's second location. Montreal's golf scene really began to pop in the 1920s, so I'm a bit stuck on what the other big-name there would be, especially with the location in the middle of the island.

[Greg Hohman]

Saratoga Golf & Polo Club, J. S. (Jesse Shepard) Mott, 1896.

New  London CT/The Griswold: Shennecossett, Ross, 1916.

Two speculations in the Hartford CT area:

1. Above HA: Manchester CC, Bendelow, 1917. (See correction courtesy of Bret.)

2. Below HA: NLE. (See correction courtesy of Bret.)

[Bret Lawrence]

I’ll take a stab at the Connecticut courses. The course by Waterbury would be the pre-Ross version of the Country Club of Waterbury.


From left to right on todays I-95 corridor:
Greenwich Country Club-Greenwich
Wee Burn-Noroton (Pre-Emmet course)
Brooklawn Country Club-Fairfield/Bridgeport (Pre-Tillinghast course)
Race Brook Country Club-Orange (Robert Pryde)
New Haven Country Club- Hamden (Robert Pryde) (Pre-Willie Park course)
Pine Orchard Golf Club-Branford (Robert Pryde)
Fenwick Golf Course-Old Saybrook
The star left of Shenecosset may be pointing to Fishers Island, but I can’t really tell, maybe Hay Harbor?
Shenecossett-Groton This is back when Shennecossett only had one ‘n’ in their name.  (Pre-Ross course)
Shennecossett is actually in Groton not New London.
North of Shenne is Norwich Golf Club (Robert Pryde)(Pre Tull and Tull course)
The courses north to south on what would be todays I-91 corridor are:
Enfield Country Club (NLE)
I think the two stars for Hartford likely indicate Hartford Golf Club (Pre-Emmet and Pre-Ross course) and Goodwin Park. 
Manchester CC was only 6 holes in 1917 and those holes were laid out by Edward Connery, their Scottish pro at the time.  Bendelow arrived in 1922 to build three new holes near the reservoir before redesigning Connery’s 6-hole course. 
The two courses south of Hartford appear to be Highland Country Club (Robert Pryde) in Meriden and south of that is Wallingford Country Club in Wallingford.


I may have used a cheat sheet
(From the Golf-Related Maps” thread):


https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:cj82kt837

[zachary_car]

The other Montreal course is most surely Beaconsfield, pre WPJ reno in 1920

[Greg Hohman]

Bret, Mac Nair has placed Hartford GC and Goodwin Park on the wrong side of the Connecticut River? As you probably know, Manchester’s website doesn’t mention Connery. (Related to Sean? ) Thanks for the Hodgman map.

[Bret Lawrence]

Greg,


I agree, McNair definitely has the Hartford courses on the wrong side of the River, but I interpreted the stars as hovering close to the “Hartford” label.  Hartford Golf Club and Goodwin were both 18 hole courses in 1917 and were likely considered two of the more prominent courses in the area. I may be wrong.  The actual location of the stars would be East Hartford and Glastonbury if we compared them to a modern map. 


McNair also included a few stars in New York, which isn’t technically in New England.  I’m not sure what the little boxes indicate that are surrounding those stars, but he covered a lot of area with this map and his star placements may not be pinpoint accurate considering how many courses he included.


I appreciate you adding this map to GCA, I always love looking at this stuff.  As for Sean and Edward Connery, I am not sure if there is any relation, would be interesting to find out.  Happy Holidays!

[Bill Shamleffer]

The Springfield Mass is Likely Springfield CC.  (Longmeadow CC did not exist yet in 1917).

In lower Berkshires could be - Country Club of Pittsfield, Greenock CC, & Wyantenuck CC