1918 Chicago Tribune articles by George A. O'Neil: Ideal Golf Course

[Joe Bausch]

Back in late 2008 I posted a few of these articles by George A. O'Neil (Lake Shore Country Club) and now I've gathered up all the articles (big thanks to Matt Frey for some 'technical support'!).

Some of these are very good.  He recruited many different golfers and a few architects to contribute to the series.  It ran on Sundays for many months.

They are tidily organized below:

http://www.myphillygolf.com/uploads/archives/GeorgeONeilIdealGolfCourse/index.html

Please, enjoy!

[Joe Bausch]

Bump.

[PCCraig]

Holy smokes...these are awesome!

[Jud_T]

Joe,

Thanks for posting these.  The Chicago Golf Club, Flossmoor and Old Elm write-ups and drawings are particularly of interest.  Harry Collis gets his 15 minutes, a century after the fact!!  Here's an old thread on him:

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?topic=3294.0;wap2

[PCCraig]

Of particular interest is Donald Ross' choice of "Brookline Country Club"'s 10th hole. From the description and drawing, it looks a lot like the 12th on today's member's course. But it's much shorter today than 175 yards. And the green looks a lot different in shape.

Anyone know what happened to this hole?

[PCCraig]

And what happened to "Lincoln Park" in Oct. 1918?

[Peter Pallotta]

First off, thanks again Joe. Your work is simply stellar; and the packaging you do of these almost 100 year old articles incredibly user friendly.

Second: that period say from 1905 to 1915 or so: wow, it just seems that never before or since has there been such an explosion in "gca consciousness", some dramatic leap forward in how golf holes were described and understood in the context of both playability and aesthetics.

Hey, here's a question: if George O'Neil was around today and a member of this discussion board, do you think JK would complain about all the drawings he includes in his course profiles?

Peter

[Joe Bausch]

The relatively new (still in beta) archives of the Chicago Tribune is pretty nifty:

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/

[Matt Frey, PGA]

Very impressive collection. I've only started looking through everything...looking forward to reading it all! Thank you for sharing.

[Greg Ohlendorf]

Joe,

Thanks so much for posting these! I had seen the Flossmoor, and always assumed that there were others, but never thought to look them up. I enjoyed reading the others.

Greg

[Sven Nilsen]

This is a pretty intriguing series, as it gives some insight into the courses that the pros considered as among the best in 1918.  Its a Chicago-centric list, but its tough to argue with any of the holes selected.  

On a personal note, I was glad to see Bendelow list his 8th (now 6th) Hole at OFCC South, its one of my favorites anywhere.  I also was fascinated by Donald Ross selecting the hole at St. Augustine, a wonderful example of early strategic architecture.

A listing of the holes noted and who chose them:

1 - Chicago GC 1st Hole - Chick Evans, Warren Wood, Jack Croke, Stewart Gardner and Ned Sawyer
2 - Baltusrol 5th Hole - David Hunter and Jack Hunter
3 - The Country Club 5th Hole - Jim Barnes and George Bowden
4 - Mayfield 14th Hole - Hoover Bankard, Joe Mitchell and W. V. Hoare
5 - Brae Burn 5th Hole - Charlie Hoffner and Eddie Loos
6 - Pine Valley 2nd Hole - John Anderson and Jack Croke
7 - Old Elm 14th - Harry Collis
8 - St. Augustine 8th Hole - Donald Ross
9 - Midlothian 2nd Hole - Kenneth Edwards
10 - Indian Hill 3rd Hole - Jock Hutchinson
11 - Oak Park 4th Hole - George Simpson
12 - The Country Club 10th Hole - Donald Ross
13 - Rock Island 6th Hole - Warren Wood
14 - North Shore (NY) 15th Hole - Bobby Markwell and Douglas Tweedie
15 - Greenwich 6th Hole - Walter Hagen
16 - Minikahda 17th Hole - Jack Cady
17 - Rock Island 16th Hole - Jack Cady
18 - Olympia Fields (South) 8th Hole (now the 6th) - Tom Bendelow
19 - Flossmoor 17th Hole - Oswald Kirkby
20 - Pinehurst 16th Hole - Jack Jolly
21 - Chicago GC 18th Hole - Alex Duncan
22 - Lincoln Park 2nd Hole - Phil Gaudin
23 - Pine Valley 7th Hole - Jim Barnes
24 - Fox Hills 18th Hole - Bob MacDonald
25 - Edgewater 6th Hole - Bert Krogstad
26 - Columbia 18th Hole - Chick Evans

If anyone has the time, it would be cool to see a listing of the architects associated with each of these choices.  

[Joe Bausch]

I've updated the June 9, 1918 article with the text associated with the diagram (Lake Shore CC match).

[John McCarthy]

And what happened to "Lincoln Park" in Oct. 1918?

The range at Diversey is on top of the old Lincoln Park course.  This hole is across LSD and the green is half of the mouth of the harbor.  I had an old aerial somewhere.  The holes East of LSD are all gone, the seawall has been replaced in the last decade or so.  There is still a pedestrian tunnel under LSD.  I suspect there is the remains of a few tees and maybe a green pad by the playground near Belmont. 

There was a nice write up of Lincoln Park in the CDGA magazine in 2013 or 2014.