[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Fr. Mark Jette, a fantastic golf historian who self-published a wonderful book on the history of golf courses in Meriden, Conn., sent me a 1901 list of golf courses and golf clubs in Connecticut from the Harper's Official Golf Guide.

Does anyone have any background information on the publication, like when it ran and how it was compiled. Fr. Jetter found the 1901 version in the Yale library. Is it online anywhere?

Anthony

[john_stiles]

Tony,

Others will chime in, but the Harpers are very interesting. I  only have one pdf copy (1900) and have looked at the 1901.    USGA appears to only have those two Harpers in their archives.  Not sure of the total number of Harpers' golf annuals.

Maybe Bob Crosby can chime in.

Or send an email to USGA and ask them about Harpers.  They do respond fairly quickly.

The Harpers 1900 version had a wonderful state by state list of the existing courses with some description of each, like this for one this site favs.

....NEWPORT GOLF CLUB (A.)—Three miles from Newport Station, on the N. Y., N. H. & H. Railroad. Organized July, 1893. Incorporated 1895. Entrance fee, $100. Annual dues, $40. Visitors pay $1.50 per day. Membership, 125. The cightecn-hole course was laid out by W. F. Davis in 1896.
The lengths of the holes are: 1, 185; 2, 375; 3, 360; 4, 1:10; 5, 420; 6, 350; 7, 400; 8, 375; 9, 150; 10, 215; 11, 365; 12, 172; T3, 188; 14, 340; 15, 485; 16, 300; 17, 330; 18, 325. The amateur record, 79, is held by A. M. Coats. The professional record is 75, by W. F. Davis. The club possesses a very handsome clubhouse, and this and the other property of the club are worth $175,000. President, Buchanan Winthrop; vice-president, Wm, R. Travers; secretary and treasurer, R. I. Gammell, Providence, R. I.; chairman of house
committee, Royal Phelps Carroll, Newport, R. I. Governing committee: B. Winthrop, W. R. Travers, R. P. Carroll, A. M. Coats, J. C. Gray, Geo. P. AVetmore, Victor Sorchan, Arthur Kemp, F. P. Sands and R. I. Gammell. Greenkeeper, Yule


Harpers also listed a complete summary of the championships, printing the USGA rules, etc.

The Harpers have some marvelous photographs of the old courses in between the text for each courses. Most descriptions are like that for Newport.

Another annual summary publication is the  American Annual Golf Guide.  The USGA appears to have copies from 1916 to 1931.      This guide covers the many competitions (those outside USGA) very extensively, with articles, photos, etc.      

This guide doesn't appear to cover the courses very much at all, except for the occasional list.  But, I have only looked at 3 or 4 of these.

[Phil_the_Author]

The Harper's guides are a valuable reference source that have been gobbled up by many a private library. They giv egreat basic information and books of the same type were published well into the 1930's.

The PGA museum and library in Port St. Lucie has a complete set that can be examined on site.

[Craig Disher]

Is the title of the publication "Harper's Official Golf Guide" and was it published yearly? I'll have a look at the Lib of Congress next time I'm there. It sounds like a terrific resource.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Thanks for the help. I'm going to have to get to Yale and check it out. What has me confused right now is whether references are to courses or clubs that did not have layouts of their own.

Anthony

[Peter Flory]

Here is the online version. 
http://www.digifind-it.com/njhistoricalportal/data/usga/books/misc/Harpers%20Official%20Golf%20Guide%201900.pdf

I searched this forum and didn't see the link posted anywhere else, but lots of references to the guide itself.  So, sorry if this is a repeat, but I thought that I would put the link to the Harper's Official thread in case anyone else needs to find it. 


It's a pretty fascinating read if you are someone who hasn't viewed it yet.  I just went through all the Chicagoland courses and it is interesting to see some NLE ones that I had never heard of and also to see the opinions on their quality. 

For instance, on Chicago GC:
"There is no better course in this country than the one at Wheaton. It is laid out over rolling prairie ground, the holes are well placed, and the greens, bunkers and all hazards are kept in excellent order. The club has laid water to every green, and this is a very necessary addition to most golf courses in this country. " 

And that was in reference to the CBM version. 

And for Westward Ho, I found this interesting:
"The club has secured a five-year lease of 170 acres of farm land, and Herbert James Tweedie has laid out the longest eighteen-hole golf course in America, viz., 6,520 yards."

That is a beast in 1900.  Most golfers today play that length or less. 

Also, I had never heard of the club called "King's Daughters' Golf Club" which was in N Evanston. 

Some great pics in here too. 

[Anthony Gholz]

Peter:


Better late than never.  Great find.  I've seen the USGA copies and a couple in private libraries, but this is the cleanest, most accessible copy I've seen so far.


For early Michigan clubs it's a gold mine.


Thanks.
Anthony

[Peter Flory]

In the same spirit, here is the link to the Golfer's Green Book from 1901 (note that you can download it):


https://www.digifind-it.com/njhistoricalportal/data/usga/books/misc/Golfers%20Green%20Book%201901.pdf

[Brian Finn]

This Harper's Guide is incredible.  Really great stuff - can spend hours and hours perusing it.  Thank you for sharing!


I will check out the Green Book, too.  Thanks.

[Phil Carlucci]

I used the Harper's Guides for research and find it interesting that the 1901 edition is so much less descriptive in its summaries of the courses than the 1900 edition.  The 1900 book provided some historical background and detailed info on location, grounds and clubhouse, etc., much of which was removed the following year. 

[Sven Nilsen]

As far as I know Harper's was only published in 1900 and 1901. 

There were guides that went by other names for 1899, 1902 and 1908.  For anything before that time the best sources are Golf In America by James Lee or the Golfing Annual of 1896-97.

As noted, the American Annual Golf Guides came out in 1916 and ran until 1931.  There was a book published in 1938 that continued the history.

Here are some random press notations on the guides as well as the entry form for the Official Golf Guide that was to be filled out and submitted by each club.  I'm pretty sure Bendelow had a hand in compiling this information for one of the early efforts done by Spalding.

The guides themselves are informative, but I find there real value is by tracking the evolution of each course through the various years.  You can pin down things like when courses were lengthened or extended to 18 holes or had grass greens added.

Nov. 1899 Golf Magazine -






June 1900 Golf Magazine -





Feb. 1901 Golf Magazine -

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