San Francisco Golf Club Original Designer?

[Mike_Cirba]

For years, SFGC has been considered Tillinghast's earliest masterpiece, originally built in 1915.  

Now, in a sidenote on a recent thread, Tom Doak informs us that Tillinghast was not even on the property until 1920.  

Without wanting to start an uproar here of Burbeckian proportions, does anyone know the detailed story?  How many holes was the original course?  Who designed it, or routed it, or both?  Was any of the original layout incorporated by Tillinghast years later?  Who is truly responsible for the vast flowing bunkers so evident there, which seem to be unique in Tillinghast's inventory?

 

[Tom MacWood (Guest)]

Mike
That is damn good question. I asked a similar question a few months ago during the Bethpage debate, at that time no one seemed to know. I too wonder if he inherited the look of those bunkers or perhaps inherited a local construction crew that leaned that direction. His plan for the course doesn't look that much different than his Eastern plans but the results do.

[Mike_Cirba]

It should be noted that the Tillinghast Association has SFGC listed as an "original design", built in 1918.  

Anyone know where the 1915 date came from?  Is that the year of the club's charter?  And, if Tillie was never there prior to 1920, as Tom Doak mentioned...?  I'm confused.   :-/

[A_Clay_Man]

Maybe it was Sandy?

(couldn't resist)

 

[TEPaul]

I knew it! Why be confused? Young Joe Burbeck may have been there too and he may have done the routing. I heard C.B. Macdonald, Seth Raynor and Hugh Whigam were there too at some point and had to have given Tillinghast all kinds of advice.

[Tom MacWood (Guest)]

I looked into this a while back, and tapping my faulty memory what I recall is the club moved a couple of times. I believe they moved to their current neighborhood in 1915, but they had to reconfigure their course in 1918 because of a land agreement or some kind of situation that arose with the water department...or something like that.

The first move was from a site nearer the city out to their present location, and then for some reason they had to move again on to some adjacent land. As you can tell I never did completely get the story.

[Boo (Guest)]

Played SFGC last Nov and must say it has never been better.  They have redone the greens and are now firm and fast.  It really enhances the quality of the tee to green part of the course.

[Mike_Cirba]

Tom MacWood;

Thanks for providing some background.  I'm hoping that Tom Doak learned the whole story while working for the club the past couple of years, and will share it here.  I'm also hopeful that Rick Wolffe will share any research gathered by the Tillie Association.   

As you noted, SFGC seems quite unique among Tillie courses and I know you share my fascination (although many seem to not care very much based on a recent thread here) with finding out "who the architect was".  

[Tom Doak]

Mike:  Unfortunately, I don't know the whole story, and neither does the club.

The club historian gave me a write-up of the original layout from about 1916.  It could possibly have had the same routing for the first three holes (the lengths are about right, but the hole descriptions are much too vague to confirm it).  After that it was entirely different.

I very much doubt that Tillinghast inherited the bunkering style from the previous course.  The reason the bunkers are different is that SFGC sits on absolutely gorgeous sandy soils with a little bit of loam topsoil.  Thus the creation of those sprawling bunkers was relatively simple and natural -- which it certainly would not have been on the rocky sites A.W.T. frequented in the east.

[Tom Doak]

P.S.  I could have had the second date wrong -- Tillie might have been there to do the work in 1918, and it reopened in '19 or '20.  But I'm pretty sure this places SFGC after Somerset Hills in the AWT chronology.

[Mike_Cirba]

Tom Doak;

Thanks for the update.

It appears that between what Tom MacWood mentioned about the club having to move once, and then possibly again (albeit onto adjoining land), as well as your comparison of the routings, that the present course is probably all Tillinghast, including the unique bunkers, probably circa 1918 or so.  Would you concur?  

Anyone with additional supportive or contrary info is certainly welcome to contribute.  

[Kevin_Reilly]

Some of the back nine is not original b/c of the highway eminent domain.  They would be the holes on the right side of this hard to see pic:

[Mike_Cirba]

Kevin;

Oh yes, I'm aware of the three holes affected such but forgot about it when posting.  

Do you know who built the new holes at that time?  Was it an architect, or someone from the club?

Thanks!

[Dan Kelly]

I'm beginning to think this Tillinghast character was a figment of someone's imagination -- like Harvey.

Was Joe Burbeck a big drinker?

[A_Clay_Man]

If you look closely at the bottom right you''ll see most of the 12th. Look at that centerlne bunker and the side bunkers have that wavelike appearance. Now, going up the pic you'll see a tee above the left bunker from 12 and then it''s a narrow shoot thru those trees to the somewhat benign 13th. The nicest thing you can say about this hole is that it does add variety since no other hole is remotely like it.
14 is the severe dogleg right and the blue roofed building is adjacent to the 15th. Following the rest is easy with 18 being the hole that runs along the upper portion of the picture from the right.

That row of houses is hardly visible and I had no idea there were that many till seeing this pic.

thanx.

[brad_miller]

late 1940's-1950 redesign of 13-15 by Harold Sampson-golf pro to give more buffer for highway being constructed on boundary.

[Mike_Cirba]

Thanks for the info, Brad!

I don't know why these architectural lineages fascinate me so much, but they do, and someone needs to keep track of all of this stuff.  

Great talking with you earlier today.  

[Tom MacWood (Guest)]

This is the little I know: The original course was up by the Presidio and Golden Gate. In 1904 they moved out to Ingleside near the current location leasing the land from the Spring Valley Water Company who owned throusands of acres of the SF peninsula. The water comapny sold the land or some of the land forcing another move. The club purchased land nearby and built a new course in 1918. I'm not certain if Tillinghast designed and built this 1918 course, and the opening was in 1920. Or someone else designed the course in 1918 and he remodeled it in 1920. I do know that in 1920/21 Tillinghast advertised SFGC as a 'reconstruction'.

I'm not sure the stylistic departure is due to sandy soil. He designed at least one course in Florida on sandy soil and it doesn't have bunkers that look anything like SFGC.

[Rick Wolffe]

Who has the burden of proof?  The architect that claims it his his or someone we have not found yet?

My recollection is that there was a primitive course there when Tillie started his work.  He basicly bulldozed what was there.  Tilly made several visits to SFGC and advised the club over a period of around 25 years.  

I will try to find what facts we may have in various files and post a few later tonight.

[Kevin_Reilly]

If anyone here is an NCGA member and packrat, I believe one of the association magazines last year had an article detailing the early history of the club.  It was part of a regular series covering the early years of golf in Northern Calif.  I could not find the articles on the NCGA site, though.

[Rick Wolffe]

Here are some references available to check:

1. There is a routing sketch that I believe hangs in the clubhouse at SFGC.  The sketch is attributed to Tilly.  It is reproduced on  page 23 of The Course Beautiful.

2. There are numerous references to SFGC made by Tilly in the three Tillinghast books, The Tillinghast Trilogy.

3. One such reference is Chapter 8 of Gleanings from the Wayside, in which Tilly provides a sketch of one of the holes under construction at SFGC.  The date of the article is February 1920, which would naturally post date Tilly in California.

4. There also is a Tilly advertisement on page 9 of The Course Beautiful in which he there is a photo of the 14th green at SFGC and reads, "Typical of the design and contour which Tillinghast created in America.  This great course was planned by him constructed under his supervision and definitely to his plan and specifications."  The bunkering pictured in the photo is distinctly Tillinghast.

5. We have one of Tilly's detailed qualification statements (brochure) from around 1926.  In it he has photo of another green from SFGC prominently displayed on the cover and captioned, "A Tillinghast Green - San Francisco Golf and Country Club"  Also in this brochure he lists SFGC as a complete newly designed Eighteen Hole Course.  Not to interpret too much in this listing, but Shawnee is the first course in this list followed by Essex CC in West Orange, Somerset Hills CC, Fresh Meadow CC, Illinois GC, Quaker Ridge, then SFGC.

6. My guess is that Tilly started work at SFGC in 1918 or 1919, maybe earlier.  Over the next 20 years Tilly made numerous follow-up trips to SFGC to refine his design.  There are other references to his visits in the Tilly literature.  Some of much interest to me are the letters Tilly wrote George Jacobus while serving as the PGA consulting golf course architect in the mid 1930's.

[A.W.T]

San Francisco, California
March 5th 1936
(Note; Yesterday’s Report was erroneously dated March 5th)

President of the P.G.A.

Dear Sir:

Today I drove to Ingleside at the Request of P.G.A. member William McEwan.  His assistant, Harold Stone, is also P.G.A.

I made a complete inspection of the course of the San Francisco Golf Club, and inasmuch as planned this lay-out it may not seem entirely proper for me to praise it too much.  But as it is regarded here as a truly great course, I will string along.

I was accompanied throughout the day by McEwan, Knox Maddox (President of the club) Dixwell Davenport (Chairman of the Green Committee) Frank Dolp (California Champion) Jim French Jr. (another clubmember and rated one of the best players in the state) and other officials.  At noon, President Maddox presided at a fine luncheon, at which were additional club officials.  Altogether it was a wonderful reception.

It must be mentioned that greenkeeper George Paulson accompanied us throughout the day, and I must compliment this man especially for the able manner in which all of my plans have been carried through, particularly the new first and second holes, as well as the new twelfth, which I designed when here last winter.  Today I gave them a rearrangement of the trapping of the fairway of the fourteenth, which has been the only weakness of the course.  The new plan will bring it up properly.  While I made numerous suggestions for refinements on nearly every hole, they were of minor character and not at all expensive to accomplish.

Dixwell Davenport is also a member of the United State Golf Association’s Green Section and he told me that in a recent letter to national president, John G. Jackson, he told him that, in his opinion the P.G.A. had ‘put one over’ the U.S.G.A. in sponsoring the course services.  Truly it was a day of wonderful compliments.

Very truly yours
A.W. Tillinghast

[A.W.T.]

February 4th 1937

George Jacobus
President of the P.G.A.
Box 231, Sarasota, Fla.

Dear Sir:

A steady, torrential down-pour is San Francisco’s portion today.  When I tried to look out my window this morning I could scarcely see for sheets of water.  I was scheduled to visit Earl Fry today at the Municipal Golf Course of Alameda, but missing the inspection today at this course will not make any difference for Earl’s position there is controlled by politics and he is rather on “a spot” when it comes to suggesting any deviations from the official routine of the city’s program.  However the chief object of my visit there was accomplished by telephone at even o’clock, when fry advised me of the absolute futility of attempting to get out there today.  I had wanted him to have a chat with him, as he is secretary of the Northern California P.G.A. section and there was one point in particular that I wanted him to rule on as an official.

When I was there last March we had a request from P.G.A. member William McEwan to visit the course of the San Francisco Country Club, the outstanding course here.  I did so and conferred with McEwan and club officials, making certain recommendations.

Yesterday, Dixwell Davenport, Chairman of the Green Committee, telephoned me and wanted to know if I would be able to visit the course again and check up on the work there.  But he explained to me that there had been certain differences between the officials of the club and McEwan and that the situation was strained at present.  Davenport wanted to know if my revisit there to check up last year’s recommendations must depend on McEwan’s new request.  Consequently, I put the decision squarely up to Fry.  He advised me that McEwan was rather peculiar and, although a member of the association, made no effort to associate with his fellows here at any time.  Therefore Fry advised me to go ahead with the visit on the strength of the original request.  I feel that this is a wise decision.

Fry also expressed his gratification over this year’s extension of our service in this section and informed me that the personal reaction of the members, whose courses I have visited, gave the officials of the section great pleasure.

I have five more courses to inspect in Northern California before leaving for the South and I am sending a summary of the work here to president Dewey Longworth and a copy to secretary Earl Fry.

Very truly yours
A.W. Tillinghast
 

[A.W.T.]

San Francisco, California
February 6th 1937

President of the p.G.A.
(Box 231, Sarasota, Florida)

Dear Sir:

It was fortunate that I managed to get through with the examination of Beresford yesterday, for no sooner had I returned to the hotel than the hard rain started in again and fresh storms predicted all along the California coast.

This morning it was raining again and a telephone message from Dixwell Davenport advised me that it would be foolish to attempt the visit to the San Francisco Golf Club.  Consequently this was postponed until tomorrow (Sunday).  However at ten o’clock Davenport telephoned again as there were indications of clearing and asked me what I thought about it.  I replied “Let’s go” so I drove to the club.  Of course it was very wet underfoot and sticky.  Out here it is not the falling rain which hinders nearly so much as the bad footing, on the ‘Dobe soil.  However at the San Francisco Golf Club there is a somewhat different soil condition, more sand than usual in these parts, so it is possible to walk around.

Here I contacted P.G.A. members William McEwan and Harold Stone.  I checked on all work, which I recommended last March.  Of course I am particularly familiar with this course as I laid it out some fifteen years ago.  However some of the construction work has not altogether pleased me and gradually this is being corrected.  They have applied for the U.S. Open for 1939 and by that time the course should be altogether satisfactory.

Today I additionally instructed them concerning the raising and contouring of the right side of the 3rd green; the left-front of the 5th and located a new site for the 10th green to the right of the present (one of their own making, which has left much to be desired.)  All other opportunities for improvements were made note of on my last visit and definite records made at that time by the committee.

I am informed that you made a short visit to this course when on your recent visit to San Francisco.

Will it be possible to supply Dixwell Davenport with back copies of the P.G.A. magazine, containing my monthly articles?  He asks for them urgently and says that he had his subscription sent but with no reply.  Will you also advise him if he may subscribe?  He is a member of the executive committee of the United States Golf Association.

This completes my present visit to the Northern California P.G.A. Section and I leave for San Jose tomorrow (Sunday).

Very truly yours
A.W. Tillinghast

[Mike_Cirba]

Thanks for all of the additional info Rick/AWT.

I went through your books this evening, and did see many of the things you pointed out.  However, I also see where Tillie mentioned that he was brought out originally to "reconstruct" the existing course, and that the owner asked him to stay for a couple more days to oversee the shaping of a few of the greens.  

I'm not sure what that says about the original, pre-Tillie course that existed on the site, but it does seem from his wording that Tillinghast saw his charge as something at least slightly less than rebuilding a brand new course from scratch.

My guess is that is was probably something like Baltusrol, Quaker Ridge, or Fenway, where some fragments or routing of the original course still exist in some indeterminate proportion, but that most of what he built was original.

I'd still like to hear more about the original course at SFGC, or who designed it if anyone can dig up the NCGA article that Kevin Reilly mentioned.

Thanks, again.