Feature Interview with Richard Findlay is posted

[DMoriarty]

An example is the 1899 Open Championship at Baltimore CC where Findlay placed 11th and Harriman placed 13th.   Harriman was widely reported as the top finishing amateur in the tournament.

[Lester George]

Lester,

Do you think the work you were viewing at Tarratine was still Findlay's doing?   If so, could you perhaps describe some of what you thought might have been his work?   For example, you already mentioned blind shots, and not wanting to change the greens.  What was it about the greens that you liked and thought worth preserving?  Could you see the connection to any of the other Findlay work you have seen? For example the remnants at Rock Manor?   Thanks.

David,

I am fairly convinced the work at Tarratine was so basic it didn't appear anyone had altered anything, ever.  The tees and greens were so utilitarian it would be hard replicate them because they were obviously built by hand.  I seriuosly doubt any other labor was carried out.  Just piles of soils used to start and finish the golf hole.  Tiny, tiny features with nothing but clearing in between.  So incredibly basic I thought I was trapped in a time warp.  If you ever wanted to film "Golf in America" this would be the place to use as the "first" course.  Even Oakhurst Links in WVA has a more complete and modern (primative yet) look than Tarratine. 

Even Rock Manor had "advanced" features like squared off green complexes and ramps down into bunkers becuase his work had evolved for 30 plus years from Tarratine.  There are still a few sharp and quirky edges at the Greenbrier that indicate his remnants but you have to know where to look for them or you would just walk on by.  Thanks to Robert Harris for pointing them out to me.

Lester

[Steve_ Shaffer]

By happenstance, I visited Walnut Lane today to drop off some old golf bags and clubs for the First Tee program that is housed there.

Walnut Lane was my  "home course" during my 3 years at Temple Law School. I fondly remember having a hammer in my golf bag as one was needed to put a tee in the usually hard bare ground of the tee box. While carrying my old bags to the club house, I walked by the narrow tree lined first hole and noticed that tee box was green and well kept. That wasn't the case in the '60s.

Walnut Lane is a fun course to play. The 11th hole, a short 4par, was even featured in the old USGA magazine.

[Kyle Harris]

Walnut Lane is a fun course to play. The 11th hole, a short 4par, was even featured in the old USGA magazine.

One of the keenest memories of my golfing life to date was cracking my persimmon driver on to the green from this tee during a winter round here with Cirba.

[Mike Sweeney]

Taking the Matt Ward view of life, Mr Moore and myself have actually plaaaaaaayed Tarrantine:

http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,25025.0/


And Walnut Lane was the first golf course that I ever played...

Does anyone here still play golf!!??

[TEPaul]

That looks like the old 1st to me, MikeS.

Personally I don't think the course gets interesting until after the second. I would love to look at it again soon because I never looked at it with a concentrated "architectural" eye but I think it is safe to say it was probably just "laid out" with basically little to no earth-work, but you have to admit the rocky, craggy topography is pretty cool.

Maybe Mainites are used to that but to most people from elsewhere it's pretty unique.

How did you like that cozy little clubhouse, Mike?

Some years ago they decided to restore the clubhouse. They asked my aunt if she would help pay for it but she said she might be able to do better than that. John Travolta and Kirstie Ally live on the island so she got them to get their Hollywood friends to come to Dark Harbor and put on a play and the raise money for the clubhouse. Bert Reynolds came and directed it.

My mother was up there at the time staying with my aunt. When she came back I asked her how it was and how the Hollywood star play went. She said the island still hasn't changed much in a hundred years and these Hollywood people put on a fancy play and raised the money to restore the clubhouse. When I asked her who they were she said: "Oh that man Butch Reynolds and Johnny Ravioli and his friend that nice fat Christine Allen and her husband Parker Stephenson." I said: 'Do you mean Bert Reynolds, John Travolta and Kirstie Ally?" She said; "Yes, I think that's who they were; they were very nice to us old dinosaurs."

[Dan Herrmann]

I've always consider Findlay to be the "Johnny Appleseed" of golf in the USA.  He built so many courses, most all of which are fun and pretty well designed...   I used to belong to a Findlay course (Coatesville - PA) that could be really special if they would only cut down 85% of the trees.

[Yancey_Beamer]

Note that Sam Snead played in The US Open as a professional in Golf and The US Open as an amateur in Tennis.
To understand this first read the interview.

[Steve Lang]

  I very much enjoyed this inteview with Richard Findlay and learning about his grandfather's role in bringing golf to the masses..

 THANK YOU RAN AND RICHARD!

and then there's the lesson on how the written word can cut both ways..  

and then while the old cliche comes to mind "success has many fathers, failure is an orphan,"  isn't it the mother who knows for sure?  It seems as though twins were separated at birth, muni and public, still quibbling over a hundred years on..

[Willie_Dow]

Richard - A great interview, and a moment of reflection hits me as you mention those early years of golf in New England.

My uncle "Buck" Whittemore had an early day encounter of course building at Sorrento, ME.  He must have been an acquaintance of Fred Findlay, and I'd like to know if you have any knowledge of their relationship?