Wilmington Island, Savannah GA

[Stephen Brown]

The course is listed as a 1927 D Ross.....

Anyone know anything about this course?  Is it worth going to see?  Any Ross left?

Thanks

Steve

[A.G._Crockett]

I have not played there; I know there has been at least one redesign, but I have no idea how much of the original Ross remains.

Bacon Park in Savannah has 16 Ross holes that are essentially untouched; the other two were changed because of highway construction.  The problem is that an additional 9 holes were added much later and the Ross holes are split up among the three nines.  The Savannah Open each year plays over the Ross holes and then the course stays that way for a couple of weeks for the general public.  They have scorecards of the original course, and with some work to figure out where you are you can pretty easily play the original course.

Bacon Park is very public, and not in the greatest condition.  But it is distinct Donald Ross and a lot of fun, especially if you like public golf in the first place.

[Joel Zuckerman]

Wilmington is pretty "blah" to me.

I've lived here 16 years, played it twice.

Once every 8 years seems just about right.

[Mike_Young]

Wilmington Island used to be called Savannah Inn and CC and was owned and operated by the Teamsters.  The Ga State Open was there for many years and th JC Goosie Mini Tour hung around there.  It is a good Ross course but when the new guys got it they moved the clubhouse and changed the order of the holes.  In the 80's and 90's it was in good shape....I have always enjoyed it.

[Joel Zuckerman]

Wilmington Island used to be called Savannah Inn and CC and was owned and operated by the Teamsters. 

One of the juicy rumors in this town, which by the way has no shortage of juicy rumors, is that Jimmy Hoffa is buried on the property!

[Stephen Brown]

Thanks gents......Sounds like it may be worth going to see at least once!

[Mike_Young]

Wilmington Island used to be called Savannah Inn and CC and was owned and operated by the Teamsters. 

One of the juicy rumors in this town, which by the way has no shortage of juicy rumors, is that Jimmy Hoffa is buried on the property!

I used to call on them monthly in the late 70's until the mid eighties.  Google the name Lou Rosonova.  Lou was tied into Hoffa and was constantly followed by FBI or some type of Govt guys.  He was a teamster and a mobster but a really nice guy. They were pretty open about it.  Anyway. He ran the place and he had brought Bill Backus, the supt from Riviera( which they also owned) with him.  He ran a first class place and he kept a great restaurant there.  Joe Kapp, Ken ( the Hawk) Harralson, Fuzzy and other were always out there.   A loud group pulled up to the dock in a nice boat one evening and came into the bar and began to give Kapp some crap.  Rosonova asked them to leave and they popped off not knowing the guy.  He was very polite and apologized BUT when they went back to their boat it was on the bottom of the river...
AND yes, when Hoffa went missing they were building the little archway across the swimming pool and they did "check that out" to make sure the "concrete" was to spec .   
They really had a nice place but ended up selling ...seems one evening Bill had been watering the course and he had quick couplers which ran in a full circle.  One was wetting the road next to the course and a young girl was driving by that evening and spun out and died.  He never got over it ....it was and is a very good course...

[JMEvensky]

 Google the name Lou Rosonova. 

 Was he known as Lou the Tailor? A friend grew up playing SI&CC and always talked about him.

[BCrosby]

Great story Mike. All news to me.

Bob

[Mike_Young]

 Google the name Lou Rosonova. 

 Was he known as Lou the Tailor? A friend grew up playing SI&CC and always talked about him.

Yep.....

More info:
http://savannahnow.com/stories/102799/OPEDbartonone.shtml#

archives.savannahnow.com/sav_pdf_archive/text/.../D_2362539.pdf‎

And from SI  1972
"The saga of Denny McLain gets more curious by the pitch. Now a player for the Birmingham Barons, the former 30-game winner popped up in Savannah, Ga. recently on a road trip. Instead of sharing the same motel with his teammates, McLain chose to reside in a $75-a-day suite at the Savannah Inn and Country Club as the nonpaying guest of Executive Director Lou (The Tailor) Rosanova, a former Chicagoan with underworld ties. McLain, who still gets his major league salary of $75,000, said of life in the minors: "It's great until we have to go to the ball park.""

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/18/us/ex-convict-links-mafia-to-a-resort.html

[Ray Cross]

Those are great stories. Pls keep us posted for results if the helipad is ever broken up.