[Joe Bausch]

Before Joe Dey became prominent as the first commissioner of the PGA Tour after his long stint in the USGA, he cut his teeth being a golf reporter for the long running Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (a newspaper that is back in biz these days, BTW).  Essentially every Mon, Wed, and Fri during the months of April and May of 1931 he wrote on a specific hole at a Philadelphia area club.  These are pretty fun to read.

This morning I'll present the first nine holes (17 more to follow in the next couple of days, finishing with the 11th at Merion East).

[wsmorrison]

Thank you for posting these, Joe.  Great job with the newspaper research.  The clubs in the Philadelphia area are lucky to have you put in such long hours. 

[Willie_Dow]

Joe

What a great read !  Thanks for giving me pause to plan playing these holes with my hickories.

Happy Easter, all !

[wsmorrison]

Hey, Bill.  Looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks.  I'm owed a round of golf at Rolling Green by the club.  I'd like you to join me later this spring.  I'll take photos of how you play the mighty 14th with hickories!

[Mike_Cirba]

Joe,

Tremendous. 

You're clearly the Indiana Jones of golf course archeology, and I think we need to get you a whip and fedora. 

It's neat to consider how most of these holes still exist 77 years later.

Of course, it's also sad to think of the loss of the 6th at Cobb's Creek, which must have been a unique, inspiring hole to play with 80 feet of elevation change on the tee shot.   It would have been similar to the 18th on Riviera on steroids!     

An interesting sidebar is that the hole is always logged as 380 yards, but doing the math on Google Earth I'm seeing about 415.   

In any case, it was an awesome hole that maybe...just maybe...we'll all see again some day. 

[Joe Bausch]

It turns out that it isn't taking as long to process the holes as I thought as I wait for the upcoming NCAA games to come on.  How ironic, at least to me, that on this first weekend of the NCAA tourney falling on Easter (which won't happen again for a couple of hundred years) that two of the only three remaining Catholic schools are matched up (Villanova vs Siena)!

Here are the next nine holes:

[Kyle Harris]

Interesting that today's 4th at Lulu is listed as the 11th.

Also interesting that the moat hole at Old York Road became a Par 3 so long ago. It was originally designed as a par 4.

[Joe Bausch]

Here are the last seven in the series.  Note:  Torresdale-Frankford was supposed to have a hole, but I could not find the article.  Perhaps the editor had something against DR. 

In the next seven are two from Pine Valley, the only course to have two holes featured.









(when have you ever heard two holes at PV followed by one at Juniata!)







That's all folks! 

[wsmorrison]

The 11th at Whitemarsh Valley is a Flynn complete redesign of Ross's redesign of Thomas.  Nice architectural lineage in those iterations. 

[Kyle Harris]

The 11th at Whitemarsh Valley is a Flynn complete redesign of Ross's redesign of Thomas.  Nice architectural lineage in those iterations. 

Wayne,

That hole is one of the most inspiring in Philadelphia, IMO. When I first played there in 2002, I stood next to my tee shot and just stared up the hole toward the green for about 5 minutes in complete awe of my surroundings.

No wonder it's a Flynn. ;-) Do you have any plans or other documentation?

[wsmorrison]

Kyle,

I have the Ross drawing, the Flynn drawing and aerial photographs (courtesy of Hagley and Craig Disher).  There is no bout adoubt it.

[Dave Givnish]

Wayne

How close is the current version of the hole to what it looked like when Flynn got finished?  Half of the trees on the right by the fairways bunkers probably could be removed, and the hole would still be intimidating.

Dave

[wsmorrison]

Dave,

See for yourself.  Flynn's prelim plan drawn over Ross's plan with a 1937 aerial and a recent Google Earth aerial:

[Kyle Harris]

I've never seen a Ross green like that.

[wsmorrison]

I have.  There are a number of Ross drawings that have some pretty weird looking green shapes and features. 

[Mike_Cirba]

What do we know about the design evolution of the original Philly Country Club course at Bala?

I know the history up til about 1905 or so, but it seems that the course was almost wholly revised/improved between then and its demise in the 20.

From the early aerials I've seen, it looks rather intriguing and certainly indicative of a course with some architectural merit. 

Some other observations;

The good news is how many of these holes still exist today in close to 1931 form.   Even the hole at Cedarbrook existed in a form (the last 180 yards or so) up til the past few years on the par three course.   

The only ones I know for certain no longer exist are;

Trydeffrin
Philly CC (Bala)
the 6th at Cobb's Creek 
10th at Gulph Mills (replaced by RTJ Sr to facilitate a driving range)
and just this past year, Ashbourne.

Am I missing any?   I haven't played Overbrook, so I'm not sure about that one.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

From what I've been able to uncover while researching the Whitemarsh course for the club history, Ross made significant changes to the 11th. He moved the green to the right and removed a gentle rise leading up to the putting surface that prevented the run-up shot. "Mr. Ross aims to eliminate this long upward slope," reads an account of his visit there in 1930.

Whether Ross ever built the hole to those plans is pure speculation.

Anthony

[wsmorrison]

Tony,

While it doesn't meet the standards of proof we require, if the hole wasn't built according to the Ross plans, isn't it doubtful that Flynn would have bothered to draw his preliminary plan overlaying the blueprint?

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Wayne:

You are probably right but who knows? The more I research Whitemarsh, or White Marsh as it was once known, the more I found out. Every time I open an email from Joe Bausch I have to rewrite the chapter. The amount of significant alterations made on this course is close to staggering.

Anthony

[wsmorrison]

Did you get the Hagley photos yet?  I had no idea (and I doubt anyone around here does) how much renovation work was done.  Of Thomas, it seems from the 1927 photo (if the date is accurate) that holes 1,2,3,4,6,7,8, 9 is not visible, so no idea, most of 10, some of 12,14,15, at least some of 16, 17 and the first part of 18 are Thomas.  It seems that Flynn redesigned holes 5,11, possibly some of 12,13, possibly some of 16 and possibly the green end of 18.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

From what I've been able to deduce Ross was there in 1919 and did lots of work. Alpinzation had taken place in 1913 while Bernard Nichols was the golf professional and bunkers were added probably starting right after the course opened, when it may have had none.


Anthony

[wsmorrison]

Oh, that's news to me.  I thought Ross came by in 1930.  If he was there as early as 1919 then the Hagley photos won't really help us determine what is Thomas and what is Ross or Flynn.  Unless there are some early photos or drawings predating Ross.  I think we can figure out what Flynn did by comparing the 1927 aerial with the 1938 aerial and Flynn's 1934 drawings.  However, who did what prior to Flynn (which is a bit less of a concern to me) is harder to figure out.  I hope club minutes, newspaper accounts and other archival material help you fill in the daunting gaps.  I'm looking forward to learning about your findings.

[TEPaul]

"10th at Gulph Mills (replaced by RTJ Sr to facilitate a driving range)"

Mike:

Seven original Ross greens are gone at GMGC (#7-12, #14). Frankly, I'd love to see a form of Ross' original 9th green restored on top of the hill next to the 10th tee making the hole a double green hole.

[Dan Boerger]

Really great stuff Joe!

Interestingly, the 17th at St. Davids is no longer a par 4. It was a great hole, but a redesign was needed to fit in a practice range. The new 18th is better hole than the old 18th so the club gained IMO.

I, for one, would like to see some of those left side trees removed at Whitemarsh #11. By the time you get to that hole, you'll have the Whitemarsh hooks, since it would be about the 7th hole you'll have just played with an OB right. And if it's your first time playing the course you'll probably also be twitching, too!

[Mike_Cirba]

Interesting that the 9th at Philmont North is included.

Boy, that's a hole I hate!   

I'm wondering if it was always that bad, or whether tree growth has negated all strategy and most playability.

I really enjoy Philmont North, but the holes nearest the clubhouse on both nines are not the high points.

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