[Sven Nilsen]

I'm looking for information regarding these two books.  Similar to the earlier Harper's Guides and the Annual Guides that would be produced a few years later, these two books contained listings of the golf clubs in the United States at that time.

I'm curious if anyone has spent time with these works, and if so what your take is on the depth of the information they contain.  I've only seen snippets of various pages, but it does appear that the books contained fairly detailed maps of the locations of clubs in certain cities, which alone would be a valuable tool.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Sven

[RJ_Daley]

Sven, can you tell us where you have seen those 'snippets'?  From what location were they published or printed?   I think one person that might have run across that sort of material, if not a keeper of some of it, might be Stuart Bendelow, having compiled his treasure trove on his great grandpa Tom Bendelow.  From Stuarts book and quotes he offers in his book that came from various things Old Tom Bendelow wrote in many of the golf publications of the time, it might be a good place to start your inquiry. 

When this website was just beginning, Ron Whitten made a few posts.  Once he mentioned that he had made an expedition to William Langford's home in Chicago, and that descendents of Langford still lived there and that they gave him a crack at some old stored and molding boxes of papers and files of Langford's, presumably from his American Park Builder days. (remember Langford actually was the golf archie before Bendelow in that particular enterprise).  Maybe, Whitten found some old articles from golf publications of that era and he hasn't shared them in public.  Or maybe he has written or shared what he found, and I missed it.  Or, he didn't really find anything of interest... ?

 

[Sven Nilsen]

Sven, can you tell us where you have seen those 'snippets'?  From what location were they published or printed?   I think one person that might have run across that sort of material, if not a keeper of some of it, might be Stuart Bendelow, having compiled his treasure trove on his great grandpa Tom Bendelow.  From Stuarts book and quotes he offers in his book that came from various things Old Tom Bendelow wrote in many of the golf publications of the time, it might be a good place to start your inquiry. 

When this website was just beginning, Ron Whitten made a few posts.  Once he mentioned that he had made an expedition to William Langford's home in Chicago, and that descendents of Langford still lived there and that they gave him a crack at some old stored and molding boxes of papers and files of Langford's, presumably from his American Park Builder days. (remember Langford actually was the golf archie before Bendelow in that particular enterprise).  Maybe, Whitten found some old articles from golf publications of that era and he hasn't shared them in public.  Or maybe he has written or shared what he found, and I missed it.  Or, he didn't really find anything of interest... ?

 

RJ:

The guides were printed by Lakeside Press out of Chicago in 1908 and 1909.  I've run across these works in more than one place.  San Jose CC, which has an exemplary list of club related historical documents on their site, has these images: 

http://www.sanjosecountryclub.org/pdf/history/1908%20-%20The%20Golfer's%20Guide.pdf

I've found auction sites that list the works in past sales, and there's a copy of the 1909 work up for sale on EBay right now: 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GOLFERS-GUIDE-1909-Golf-Clubs-Golfing-Events-List-of-Professionals-Maps-1st-Ed-/370717608065

The photos from the Ebay listing give you a fairly good idea of the contents of the work.

Sven

[Joe Bausch]

From WorldCat:


Database: WorldCat
Query: kw: Golfers and kw: Guide and yr: 1908

All Libraries that Own Item: "The golfers' guide, 1908 ..."Location
                   Library  Code

US,CA LA84 FOUND OLY

US,IL UNIV OF CHICAGO CGU
Record for Item: "The golfers' guide, 1908 ..."    The golfers' guide,
                   1908 :
                   a complete handbook of useful information for golf
                   clubs and their members.

                   C C Chattell
                   1908 English  Book 280 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. Chicago
                   : Lakeside Press,

Availability:       Check the catalogs in your library. Libraries
                   worldwide that own item: 2 Search the catalog at your library
External Resources: Cite This Item
Title:              The golfers' guide, 1908 :
                   a complete handbook of useful information for golf
                   clubs and their members.
Author(s):          Chattell, C. C.,  comp.
Publication:        Chicago : Lakeside Press,
Year:               1908
Description:        280 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Language:           English
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor:         Golf -- Directories.
                   Golf -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
                   Golf -- Rules.
Note(s):            Directory portion lists the club name, city and
                   state, officers, club professionals, length of course and number of
                   members. Also lists the club affiliations. Published only in 1908 and
                   1909.
Class Descriptors:   LC: GV961.5
Document Type:      Book
Entry:              20020908
Update:             20130319
Accession No:       OCLC:               50562522
Database:           WorldCat
                   ------------------------------------------------------------------------

FirstSearch(r) Copyright (c) 1992-2013 OCLC as to electronic
                   presentation and platform.  All Rights Reserved.

[BCrosby]

Joe -

Does WorldCat pick up the USGA library's holdings?

If not, they would be a possible source.

Bob

[Sven Nilsen]

Joe and Bob:

The USGA appears to have copies of both books.  I've sent them an email noting they would be excellent additions to SEGL.

Going to try to get in to the Univ. of Chicago library some time soon to take a look.  Will report back.

Sven

[RJ_Daley]

Thanks to you great scavengers and excavators of the historical archives.  You gents do nice work and have great passion.  

For us less ambitious and perhaps too lazy to travel to, and scour the microfilm rooms and stacks of these libraries, we are even more grateful when generous guys like Joe, Sven and others post some of the interesting material they find.  

So, according to Joe's post, it looks like Chicago (perhaps due to being a hub of the ancient and earliest golf designer/architects like Bendy and Langford, American Park Builders, and Spaulding) is still among the most fertile areas to scour Uni libraries and historical societies.  I'm going to be in Madison in two weeks, and right across the street from the WI Historical Society there.  I will see if I can take an extra hour to see if they have anything in their catalogs on microfilm.  Hell, it has been so long since I used the facility, it may be a goose chase.    

[Joe Bausch]

Joe -

Does WorldCat pick up the USGA library's holdings?

I don't think so Bob.

[Andy Stamm]

Joe and Bob:

The USGA appears to have copies of both books.  I've sent them an email noting they would be excellent additions to SEGL.

Going to try to get in to the Univ. of Chicago library some time soon to take a look.  Will report back.

Sven

You should be able to go to your local library (probably online, in fact) and have them do an Interlibrary Loan to get the book sent to you at your local library. Of course, it's up to the lending library and the book itself, but I've had great luck from those 2 institutions, particularly LA '84 for golf books.

[Sven Nilsen]

Andy:

At least for the Univ. of Chicago, the works are in their Rare Books collection and are not available for interlibrary loan.

Trying to work out an onsite visit.  I do note that UofC allows non-flash photography of these works, which may result in some interesting additions to the routing and maps thread.

Sven

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