[Sven Nilsen]

Noted below are the 18 hole courses that were in existence as of 1900 for which I have yardage records.  For the courses noted with an asterisk, the yardage is taken from sources dating from 1901.  There are several courses that I know had 18 holes but for which I do not have the distances (these include Santa Cruz CC, Cottage City GC, Point Judith CC, Tampa Bay Golf Association, Palm Beach GC, Pittsburgh GC, Ligonier GC and the W. Seward Webb Private Course).  Feel free to note any additions to the list if you have the relevant information.

A few quick thoughts:

A.  The list is an interesting snapshot of golf in the United States during its infancy.  There were a limited number of 18 hole courses, with probably around an additional 800 or so 9 hole courses in existence.

B.  Even in the early days, the press for longer courses was on.  Part of this was due to the changes in technology, but part was also due to hubris (or the desire to build the toughest tests).

C.  I plan to add additional lists for various years from 1900 - 1940.  In addition, with the data set I have I think it will be possible to track things like the average distance of courses built during any year (which will allow for a comparison to various developments within the game), the toughest courses (tracking distance v. par) and differences in the distances of courses built in different parts of the country.

Any thoughts or ideas regarding this data set or other comparisons or analysis you'd like to see are welcome.

1.      Westward Ho CC   6,520 2.      Midlothian           6,370 3.      Apawamis Club*   6,205 4.      Deal GC*           6,170 5.      Homewood GC*   6,100 6.      Garden City GC   6,070 7.      Town and Gown GC   6,038 8.      Chicago GC   6,032 9.      Nassau CC   6,022 10.      Baltusrol GC   6,003 11.      Detroit GC*   5,992 12.      Morris County GC   5,960 13.      Waverly GC   5,934 14.      Oakley CC*   5,902 15.      Onwentsia GC   5,894 16.      Euclid G&CC*   5,880 17.      Myopia Hunt Club   5,872 18.      Ekwanok Club   5,852 19.      Princeton GC   5,771 20.      Atlantic City CC   5,770 21.      North Jersey CC   5,769 22.      St. Andrew’s GC   5,747 23.      Van Cortland Golf Links*   5,729 24.      Essex County Club (MA)*   5,722 25.      Glen View G & Polo Club   5,700 26.      Lakewood GC   5,695 27.      Merion Cricket Club*   5,683 28.      Yountakah CC   5,645 29.      Los Angeles CC   5,624 30.      Philadelphia CC   5,550 31.      Rockaway Hunting Club   5,537 32.      Newark CC*   5,535 33.      Ardsley Club   5,505 34.      Lake Geneva CC   5,464 35.      Newport CC   5,445 36.      Baltimore CC   5,419 37.      Hartford GC   5,400 38.      Chevy Chase Club   5,371 39.      Shinnecock Hills GC   5,369 40.      Englewood GC*   5,340 41.      Stockbridge CC   5,320 42.      Tacoma GC   5,308 43.      Seabright GC   5,276 44.      Philadelphia Cricket Club   5,267 45.      New Haven GC   5,219 46.      Pinehurst CC #1   5,176 47.      Palmetto GC   5,155 48.      Tuxedo GC   5,091 49.      Oakland GC   5,074 50.      Richmond County CC   5,064 51.      Wollastown GC   5,017 52.      Essex County CC   5,011 53.      Waumbek Village GC   5,000 54.      Harbor Point GC*   5,000 55.      The Country Club   4,973 56.      Kansas City CC   4,826 57.      CC of Detroit   4,819 58.      Hillside Tennis & GC   4,736 59.      Hotel Champlain GC*   4,683 60.      Crescent Athletic Club*   4,648 61.      St. David’s GC*   4,587 62.      Knollwood CC   4,580 63.      CC of Rochester*   4,521 64.      Maidstone Club   4,322 65.      Scranton CC   4,273 66.      Miscquamicut GC*   4,180

[Nigel Islam]

That is fascinating to me. You come up with some great stuff.

[Sven Nilsen]

For purposes of comparison, here's what the list looks like in 1920 (for courses for which I have records of the yardage):

1.      Lochmoor Club   7,300 2.      Hollywood GC   7,200 3.      Swope Park GC   7,140 4.      CC of Detroit   6,861 5.      El Paso GC   6,800 6.      Highland Park Municipal GC (OH)   6,776 7.      City Park GC   6,767 8.      Red Run GC   6,765 9.      Westchester CC (West)   6,733 10.      Los Angeles Muncipal Links   6,653 11.      Brooklands G&CC   6,643 12.      Glen Oak CC   6,625 13.      Colorado Springs CC   6,605 14.      Los Angeles CC (North)   6,604 15.      Highlands G&CC   6,600 16.      Canoe Brook CC (North)   6,600 17.      Sunnyside CC   6,600 18.      Florida CC   6,591 19.      Battle Creek CC*   6,574 20.      Onwentsia Club   6,570 21.      Inverness Club*   6,569 22.      Chicago GC   6,540 23.      Oakmont CC   6,536 24.      Troy GC*   6,525 25.      Northmoor CC*   6,511 26.      Hillcrest CC (OH)*   6,510 27.      Sunnyside CC*   6,500 28.      Idlewild CC   6,500 29.      Shackamaxon G&CC   6,500 30.      Gulph Mills GC*   6,500 31.      Spring Lake G&CC   6,500 32.      Lido Club   6,500 33.      Oakwood Club   6,500 34.      Spring Lake CC (TX)*   6,495 35.      Del Paso CC   6,489 36.      St. Louis CC   6,487 37.      Chevy Chase CC   6,485 38.      CC of Detroit (South)   6,482 39.      East Lake CC   6,464 40.      Evanston GC   6,464 41.      Lakeside G&CC   6,464 42.      Olympic Club (Lakeside)*   6,464 43.      Green Valley CC*   6,460 44.      Palma Ceia G&CC   6,455 45.      Olympia Fields CC*   6,454 46.      Whitemarsh Valley CC   6,452 47.      Midlothian CC   6,450 48.      Excelsior Springs CC (South)   6,450 49.      Overbrook GC   6,450 50.      Pine Valley GC*   6,446 51.      Broadmoor GC*   6,437 52.      Brae Burn CC   6,435 53.      Wheaton GC   6,433 54.      Woodway CC*   6,430 55.      Grassy Sprain CC*   6,430 56.      Kent CC   6,429 57.      Belmont CC   6,426 58.      Hot Springs GC   6,420 59.      Sylvania CC*   6,420 60.      Garden City GC   6,417 61.      San Diego CC*   6,415 62.      North Jersey CC   6,413 63.      Myopia Hunt Club   6,410 64.      Wannamoisett CC*   6,409 65.      Garden City CC   6,408 66.      Wilshire CC*   6,404 67.      Flossmoor CC   6,402 68.      CC of Mobile   6,400 69.      Idle Hour Club   6,400 70.      Hacienda CC   6,400 71.      Bob O’Link CC   6,400 72.      Hempstead G&CC*   6,400 73.      Park Ridge CC   6,400 74.      Fort Wayne CC   6,400 75.      South Bend CC   6,400 76.      Essex County Club (MA)   6,400 77.      Flint CC   6,400 78.      Algonquin GC   6,400 79.      Rumson CC   6,400 80.      Inwood CC   6,400 81.      Salisbury Golf Links   6,400 82.      St. Albans CC   6,400 83.      Toledo CC   6,400 84.      Wanango CC   6,400 85.      Grand Beach CC*   6,400

[Alex Miller]

Wow! What a huge jump in yardage. Perhaps it could be argued that one of the virtues of the golden age of golf course architectue was to create a course that provided a challenge to the very best of golfers with the use of modern (at the time) equipment?

[Sven Nilsen]

Alex:

By 1931, there were probably around 600 courses that measured over 6,400 yards.

What is interesting is that the high end of the scale didn't change much between 1920 and 1931, as there were only 30-40 courses over 6,800 yards.  The list includes names like Laconia, Meadow Lake, Davenport, Swannoa, Holston Hills, Oakmont, Grotto Park, Bonnie Brook, Arrowhead, Oakland Hills (South), Forest Lake, Ashtabula, Hershey CC, Shaker Ridge, CC of Scranton, Timper Point, Port Austin, Indianwood, Bob O'Link, Hackensack, Clearview Municipal and Scioto.

Hoping to start working on the average distance by year calculations, but it may take a bit to get things set up.

Sven

[Niall Hay]

Is this Lochmoor Club in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan? Walter Travis course?

[Jud_T]

Is it a bit ironic that the 1920 list is plenty of golf for the majority of today's players?

[BCrosby]

Somebody check my math, but if you want to build a course today to play as long as a 6500 yd course did in 1920 for the pros, the course today would have to be about 8,200 yds.

My math assumes an average pro drive in 1920 of 230 yds and an average pro drive today of 290 yds. Even if you fudge those distances, you still get a modern course of around 8,000 yds.

(NB. 8,200 +/- yds is the length a modern course would need to be to play like a course of middling length in 1920. The modern equivalent yardages explode if based on 1920's courses that were considered long at the time, say those of 7,000 yds.)

Breath-taking. A stark reminder of how dramatically the game has changed. 

Bob

[Sven Nilsen]

Is this Lochmoor Club in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan? Walter Travis course?

Niall:

That is Lochmoor in Michigan.  However, the 7,200 yards may be inaccurate.  The 1920 Annual Guide quotes that number, but later guides have the distance at around 6,400 yards.

Sven

[BCrosby]

Because I can't help myself, let's reverse the math.

As is often the case today, Tour events are played on courses that are 7500 yds long. We think of that as long. It's not. It's incredibly short. How short?

Relative to how far pros hit it today (let's again assume an average driving distance of 290 yds.), the 7500 yd modern course is the equivalent in 1920 (when pros hit it 230 yds) of playing a 6000 yd. course.

Which even then would have been considered laughably short. Ergo, 7500 yds today is likewise laughably short if you match historic apples to historic apples.

Jaw-dropping.

Bob  

[Tom_Doak]

Sven:

Which Hollywood GC is that in the 1920 list?  Hollywood in New Jersey?  It's not nearly that long today.

[Sven Nilsen]

Sven:

Which Hollywood GC is that in the 1920 list?  Hollywood in New Jersey?  It's not nearly that long today.

That's the right one.  They listed the yardage at 7,200 from 1920 up until 1931, when it dropped to 6,781. 

Its probably important to note that these are the numbers the clubs self-reported for inclusion in the Annual Guides.  In certain cases, its apparent that the numbers aren't entirely accurate.  Whether that was due to laziness, intentional exaggeration or something else is open to debate.

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