Private courses in the Philadelphia area

[ChipOat]

Recent discussion of Henry duPont's private 9 holer (now the Bidermann course at Vic Meade Hunt Club) on the Wilmington North thread leaves me with 2 questions:

First, somebody on GCA must know who designed the original private 9 holes and whether Dick Wilson just added to it, integrated it or tore it up and started from scratch.  The latter seems the least likely to me given what I know about the original club and how/why it started but, either way, it's an interesting Golden Age question, I think.

Second, what do we know about other private courses that were in and around the Philadelphia area?  Logic suggests there must have been a couple but I'm not aware of them.

Walter Annenberg was a Philadelphian but his course was in Palm Springs.  Pine Valley during the John Arthur Brown years comes to mind except he wasn't the original builder nor was he paying for the whole enchilada himself.

Who knows any details about what was out there?

[TEPaul]

Chip:

There were a couple of "private estate" courses done in the Philadelphia area. I should have them off the top of my head but today I'm having sort of a hard time locating the top of my head and so Wayno will be here soon to fill you in on the names and families.

[wsmorrison]

Chip,

Annenberg had a six or nine-hole par 3 course on his Wynnewood estate on Cherry Lane.  Jeff Lurie just purchased it from Lenore Annenberg.  I don't know if he plays golf or not.

Robert K. Cassatt (Mary's nephew) of the PA RR had a fascinating nine-hole golf course with 3 greens and multiple tees designed by Flynn off Ithan Avenue in Radnor.

Flynn designed a nine-hole course for George Woodward (owned most of Chestnut Hill) but I'm not sure if it was built.

There may be others, I'll have to think.  Tom, anything on the AJ Drexel Paul estate?  How about any of the other golfing Drexels or Pauls?  Was Mary Drexel the golfing nun before she gave away all your money (well, not all of it) and bacame a saint?

[Willie_Dow]

Hi Chip, good to hear from you.

Wayne uncovered an interesting layout by William Flynn for the Cassatt estate off Ithan Road in Rosemont.  I don't know if it was ever built, and being in Florida I don't have the drawing here.  But I know the land involved, and it would have been an interesting course.

Ah, I see Wayne has already mentioned this, but I'll be happy to show you this property sometime when you get down here.

[ChipOat]

Tom;

The top of your head is where your hair used to be - try there.

[TEPaul]

"There may be others, I'll have to think.  Tom, anything on the AJ Drexel Paul estate?"

Yeah, Wayne, there is. It's an 18 hole course in Wayno, Pa originally by Don Ross called St Dave's GC. The saint's name is Katie, not Mary. The book says there were only two smart people in the Drexel family, A.J and Kathrine, the saint. Both of them were extremely accomplished philanthropists. I don't know precisely how dumb that history writer is but I definitely don't call giving away my future money smart!!

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Leonard Abramson's(founder of US Healthcare HMO that was acquired by Aetna) estate in Blue Bell has a 3 hole course.

[Mike_Cirba]

Tom Paul,

Who knows...If the Pope only knew how much of your future money was given away for good works he might Saint you, as well.  

Of course, you'd still need a miracle, but for a small dispensation, I might be willing to vouch to the Vatican that it would be impossible for any one man to devote so much time to golf course architectural discussion in a short 8 year period and that you had to be at minimum supernatural!

At the rate Pope Benedict's granting new sainthood, I'm thinking that you could probably get in without too much scrutiny...even if you aren't Catholic.  

[Joe Bausch]

Leonard Abramson's(founder of US Healthcare HMO that was acquired by Aetna) estate in Blue Bell has a 3 hole course.

Here's a Google aerial of what Steve mentioned above:

[Mark McKeever]

I have seen this one from the air several times when flying into philadelphia airport.  Pretty neat course!

Mark

[TEPaul]

Actually there was another small private course done on a Philadelphia estate in modern times. Art Kania did some holes next to his Addison Mizner mansion on the Main Line. Unfortunately, Art sold the place in the last few years to some developer who tore the Addison Mizner mansion down to great controversy as it was the only Addison Mizner architecture north of the Mason Dixon Line.

Wayno, Art Kania is our buddy Art's father and the grandfather of the present GAP Player of the Year, Jim Kania Jr. Like Phil the Mick, young Jimbo Kania Jr. has a pretty fine short game but I guess that kind of thing happens if your grandpa had his own private course in the lower forty when one is a kiddo!   

[Mark McKeever]

Gotta love being able to practice on a golf course at your disposal Tom!

Mark

[Mike Cirba]

Tom the Paul,

When are you going to build your rudimentary course?

Let me guess...are you stuck at how to lay it out or how to lay it out on the ground??

Tell you what...just shoot me a topo map of your property and I'll create a plan and show you where to stick the stakes in the ground.  Do you think you can handle that?? 

[TEPaul]

"Tell you what...just shoot me a topo map of your property and I'll create a plan and show you where to stick the stakes in the ground.  Do you think you can handle that??    "



Do I think I can handle THAT??

Of course not, that would not be possible as I'm just an inexperienced lying drunken creep. But I'm hell on wheels with a tractor and mower. I've thought it all through now that my sister has taken off for Portland for good and will no longer be brow-beating me about messing with the little field birds McMansions. My design plan is to just get a load on, hop on the tractor and just mow a curvilinear (Serpentine to us sophisticates) course with short grass as the tees, fairways and greens and long grass as the hazards. You know what they say about getting something really random and great----eg just get the Village Idiot to do it---or in my case the "Eccentric Uncle."

[Mike Cirba]

Tom,

Speaking of curvilinear, I've googled your property and created a Land Plan to work with.

In that regard, and knowing your sophisticated palette, I've drawn a curvilinear road up thrugh the length of it, south to north, exactly paralelling your existing driveway.

Strangely, that has resulted in sort of an odd triangle of land at the top end that I'm not sure is wide enough for golf.

My question to you is simple...do you think this plan as described is sufficient to completely confuse future self-appointed historians?

[Dave Givnish]

Mike

The story that I heard about Biederman was that a group of Wilmington CC members were delayed playing on a Saturday morning.  They met for breakfast Monday, agreed to donate parts of their estates, and had bulldozers moving dirt by Wednesday of the same week.  Great story but probably not a shred of truth to it.

Dave

[TEPaul]

"My question to you is simple...do you think this plan as described is sufficient to completely confuse future self-appointed historians?"


I cannot say without first consulting with my two neighbors across the street---ie The MM Heiress and M. Night Shymalan. The latter at least should be worth a pretty interesting story that is bound to confuse anyone in the future as for some reason the man seems to have a Sixth Sense! I will go see both of them around midnight on my lawn-mower which is the way I visit my neighbor to the southwest. They say good fences make good neighbors whch is of course true and particularly if my neighbors are willing to fix mine but I say if you mow your neighbors walking paths on your way to visit him he should be indebted to you for all time to come.

By the way, I do not want any lines on my architectural plan that are in the shape of a triangle. I want no geometric lines at all as it reminds me of that curmudgeon who was in the clutches of some malady. I want lines that reflect my ultimate mentor---the GREAT Lancelot "Capability" Brown of the 18th century who actually designed great settings for parkland golf courses a hundred years before anyone even thought of such a thing as golf course architecture.

[TEPaul]

DavidG:

I could be wrong but I believe the land Bidermann is on was for a very, very long time owned by the DuPonts. I love that old story about the place that mentions that Mrs DuPont told some Englishman that when in Amrica he could come and play her course but when he showed up and asked to play was told: "Of course not, Mrs DuPont is on the course."

[Dan Boerger]

Tom - I have a thought: Take the tractor over to the Radnor Hunt Club property and start shaping holes with a steeplechase origin. I never see anyone riding there, save for their 3-day events and even then people only go there to look at other people!

[Mark McKeever]

Brilliant idea Dan!  It is a great piece of land with a neat clubhouse!

Mark

[Dan Herrmann]

Tom - You could end up in a movie if the design is "spooky" enough