The Original Philadelphia School of Architecture
What was the original Philadelphia School of Golf Architecture? Was it a particular style, a particular look, a particular genre? It wasn’t really any of those things. John Ott, the Mayor of Pine Valley, described it most succinctly. He said; “It was just a collection of primarily 5-6 close friends and golfing companions who became transfixed by golf architecture and the creative and adventurous possibilities of the art in the incipient years of golf architecture in America and who collaborated freely with each other, as friends might, and with others of their day they respected.” To a man these 5-6 early architects were very good players, and extremely interested in competitive golf.
They were George Crump, William Flynn, William Fownes, George Thomas, Albert Tillinghast and Hugh Wilson. Of the six, four never took a dime for anything they ever did in golf architecture. Crump, Thomas, Tillinghast and Wilson were from the social and sporting aristocracy of Philadelphia and William Fownes of the same ilk from Pittsburgh was the son of H.C. Fownes, the founder and creator of Oakmont in 1903. H. C. Fownes initially designed Oakmont and both father and son spent the remainder of their lives improving and perfecting it. Albert Tillinghast, also from a prominent Philadelphia family, turned golf architecture into a productive 30-year career. William Flynn, originally from Milton Mass., after designing a golf course at age 19 in Hartwellville, Vermont, made his way to Philadelphia at 20 to work on the construction crew of the Merion East course in 1911. Flynn was the only one among them who could be considered a true “working man” professional architect.
George Thomas’s 1905 9-hole course in Marion Mass. was the first architectural product of the Philadelphia School architects followed in 1908 by Whitemarsh Valley C.C. built on Thomas’s parent’s estate. Also in 1908 Tillinghast designed his first course, Shawnee G.C. (on the Delaware).
The two enduring centerpieces of the Philadelphia School, however, were undeniably Merion East begun in 1911 and Pine Valley begun in 1912. At these two courses, particularly Pine Valley, true architectural collaboration among these 5-6 men, and others, began in earnest. Merion and Pine Valley were regarded as the best or near the best courses in the world following their opening, and today, almost 90 years later they still are. Certainly that alone requires that one look carefully at the two men who created them and those who were in and around Philadelphia who were closely associated with them architecturally. What was different or unique about the way they went about creating these two golf courses?
The first clear evidence of what was unique and different about Merion and Pine Valley in comparison to other golf courses is the massive amount of effort and particularly the duration of time each put into their projects. It’s remarkable to consider today both George Crump of Pine Valley and Hugh Wilson of Merion when they began their projects were, by any standard, rank amateurs in the art of golf architecture. Neither Crump at 41 nor Wilson at 32 had ever had a thing to do with designing and constructing a golf course.
What might be considered their preparation to undertake their tasks is interesting, and indicative of what was to come. Both took extended trips to Europe in 1910 to study and understand golf architecture. It’s believed that Wilson left first but not before visiting Charles Blair Macdonald at his home near the recently completed National Golf Links of America (NGLA) in Southampton, LI, New York for a two day cram course in all things to do with golf architecture and what to look for in the holes and courses of the British Isles.
Macdonald has become known as the “father” of American golf architecture and his personal project at NGLA is considered to be the first comprehensively superlative golf course on American soil. Coincidentally, NGLA was partially a copy of the great holes of Scotland and the British Isles that Macdonald had first become familiar with during his years at St Andrews University in the 1870s.
Armed with Macdonald’s advice Hugh Wilson spent 6-7 months in 1910 in the British Isles playing, analyzing and drawing the best of the courses and holes of that time. It’s not known if Wilson inspired Crump to travel to Europe to study architecture or if Crump also sought advice in 1910 from C.B. Macdonald. Crump spent approximately three months in Europe for the same purpose as Wilson. The only marked difference, at this point, was Wilson had been chosen by his club, in the process of a move from Bryn Mawr to a new site in Ardmore, to spearhead the design and construction of their new course. Pine Valley, however, was uniquely George Crump’s brainchild.
To put into perspective the quality of architecture of these two courses and the era in which they were created one should understand there were not more than a few courses in America at that time resembling what we think of today as even average architecture. Although golf courses in America were being “laid out” at a rapid rate in the years just preceding Merion and Pine Valley they would appear to us today shockingly rudimentary or in some cases even bizarrely geometric compared to what we know in golf architecture.
Although both Crump and Wilson were architectural novices preceding their individual projects they did their utmost to prepare for their tasks by grounding themselves as comprehensively as possible in the fundamental principles of the most sophisticated architectural thinking of their times which resided in Europe and in America at NGLA.
In 1910 golf in America was no more than 15-20 years old. At the turn of the 20th century the sport was not well known to Americans—golf implements and balls were very crude by today’s standards and were not readily available---the majority of the players were unsophisticated in the sport and in the potential of its playing fields and certainly the American golf courses of that time were evidence of that. But the sport was catching on like wildfire. People were flocking to the new recreation and the private clubs that were springing up everywhere to offer it.
Remarkably, interest in competition at all levels was also extremely strong from the very beginning. City, state and national competitions as well as interclub, intercity and interstate competitions had been organized. The United States Golf Association and the Golf Association of Philadelphia had been formed in the 1890s. Competitors and their equipment were improving rapidly and that had a fundamental impact on the rapid evolution of golf architecture of that time.
Merion Cricket Club’s original golf course in Bryn Mawr was deemed too short and an improved championship golf course was needed. George Crump, a multi-club member, and his golfing companions and fellow Philadelphia competitors believed the courses in the Philadelphia district were not of sufficient quality to test the skills of the region’s best competitors. He felt superior quality in architecture was needed to keep them competitive on an interregional and national level.
The Lesley Cup, a hugely popular team competition begun in 1900 involving the best players from Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts and Montreal and rotating annually had a lot to do with this belief and also much to do with companionship and architectural collaboration involving Pine Valley. Players such as Quimet, Travis, Travers, Fownes, Macdonald, Whigam Tillinghast and Crump competed in the Lesley Cup. An interesting historical side note to the Lesley Cup was the intense debate over its format. Some felt strongly it should be contested only at the alternate shot foursome format for traditional reasons and others felt equally strongly the only way to test player skill was the singles format. The solution was to use both formats and because of that compromise the later Walker and Ryder Cups took on the Lesley Cup’s format.
(Continued)