April 1913
Then, too, we
must anticipate the public course in
Fairmount Park. Recently a few
prominent golfers, at the solicitation
of President Lesley, journeyed
through the park and investigated proposed
sites. Their report, which has
gone before the commissioners, was
very favorable. Shall I say that golf
is booming here ? I would rather say
that it is rapidly but vigorously developing.
The building of the courses
is not being hurried with the "slapbang"
of past years, but every step is
one of intelligent consideration.
Here is a sad story. Some years
July 1913
FAIRMOUNT PUBLIC GOLF COURSE
BLOCKED.
"The Commission decided that there was
no available place in Fairmount Park for a
public golf course. The Committee on Police
and Superintendence, through its chairman,
Eli K. Price, suggested instead that
Councils be asked to appropriate $30,000 to
establish a free golf course in Cobb's Creek
Park, where there is an unbroken tract of
91 acres available for an 18-hole golf course.
"Mr. Price declared the subject had been
thoroughly investigated by the committee,
and that it had been agreed there was not
enough available land for an 18-hole course
in the Park. The committee, he declared,
had learned that it would require about
$15,000 to lay out a course along Cobb's
Creek, $15,000 to build locker houses and
$10,000 for its yearly maintenance. The
committee, therefore, requested the Commission
to ask Councils to set aside $30,000
for this purpose. The request was adopted.
"After it had been passed, Mr. Pollock
offered an amendment to the committee's
recommendation, that a five-hole golf course
be laid out in Fairmount Park. Mr. Mc-
Curdy attacked the motion, and declared
it was unfair to the poorer classes of the
city for the authorities to fence off any section
of the Park as a links. The amendment
was referred to the committee."
This report of the action of the
Fairmount Park Commissioners indicates
that the movement is blocked
for the present. Mr. McCurdy's comments
are quite amusing inasmuch
as the project was inspired by the desire
to provide golf for those who
could afford to indulge in the game
in no other way.
Your correspondent recently talked
with Major Blankenburg and he was
in great favor of it. This action of
the Commission, while regrettable, cannot
kill the public course. It only is
postponed. Philadelphia is slow to
act but when the course does come I
venture to say that it will be a good
one.
December 1913
T h o s e who
have been working
for a Philadelphia
p u b l i c
golf course have
not permitted the
first rebuff to dishearten
them nor
have they been
inactive. President
Robert Lesley,
of the Golf
Association of
Philadelphia, asserts
that the city
will h a v e the
course, and in
Fairmount Park,
too. The committee
believes that a
tract close by
Cobb's Creek is
suited nicely to
the requirements.
March 1916
IN APRIL the municipal golf course
will be thrown open to the public of
Philadelphia. Curious as it seems,
this great city was tardy in recognizing
the necessity of a public course,
and it was only after years of persuasion
that councils authorized the selection of ground and the building
of a course.
The Golf Association of Philadelphia,
from time to time, endeavored
to convince "Powers that be" that
such a course was a vital necessity,
but arguments and statistics proved
futile. The press of Philadelphia
threw itself into the campaign, and although
the columns of the papers reviewed
similar courses in other sections,
and showed how immensely
popular they were, the arguments
either fell upon deaf ears or were ignored
completely after the first paragraphs
indicated the nature of the
articles. Then the papers resulted to
ridicule, and the following is culled
from the Philadelphia Record, dated
over three years ago:
I've an old-time friend, named Thaddeus
Jones,
Who lives in a one-horse town,
Where there's nothing much to do or see;
And "'ceptin' when there's a spellin'-bee,"
They hit bed when the sun goes down.
Now Thaddeus Jones packed his bag one
day,
And to Philadelphia came,
For the first time in his life, by Gee!
And so of course it was up to me
To brag some of the city's fame.
Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell;
Thad saw all we had to show;
The Mint; League Island; here, there and
back.
He saw the Mayor and Connie Mack—
And to Fairmount Park did go.
And Thaddeus Jones looked around him
there,
And I knew he liked it well;
Then he said to me, "My friend, me thinks
I would like to try your public links;
I've my clubs at the hotel."
What was there to say? I told him the truth
But I sought his eyes with dread,
For long with pity at me he gazed;
I knew how greatly he was amazed;
"By Gosh!" was all Thaddeus said.
For you see in his little one-horse town
They don't have so much to show,
But they do have a free golf course up
there;
They have one in fact, most everywhere.
Why not here? We would like to know.
Apparently a steady fire of iron and
derision succeeded where reasoning
had failed, which brings us back to
the opening paragraph, and the Philadelphia
Public Course will be opened
in April.
The course is laid out in a section
known as Cobb's Creek Park, within
easy access of the center of the city,
for the Market Street Elevated Electric
Road will carry golfers to Sixtyninth
Street, which leaves only a short
walk to the links.
An old mansion, originally known
as the Gorman House, has been reconstructed
for locker rooms, and as a
proof of the course's popularity, already
there have been received applications
for lockers which could not be
satisfied were the capacity ten times
greater than it is.
In addition to the men's locker
room there is one for women, and
applications from the ladies have been
surprisingly many. These manifestations
of popular favor are driving
home in no unmistakable manner the
truthful predictions of those who had
observed the successes of public
courses in many other sections, and already
those who at first were "doubting
Thomases" are discussing the
necessity of building another public
course before very long.
A.W. Tillinghast (pen name "Hazard") - American Golfer Magazine