The answer to the question of who routed the 1930 era Knollwood course is complicated for a variety of reasons, yet there is information to be found.
In the July 1925 issue of Golf Illustrated there is an article titled, “Old Knollwood to Change and Lengthen the Course” beginning on page 16. The first 5 paragraphs of the article compliments the old course and details some of its history, but the next paragraph, the 6th, begins to shed light on the answer.
“A.W. Tillinghast, the golf architect, was employed to look over the situation and make recommendations. The result was that some 40 acres were purchased and work has been started to build seven new holes which will be on somewhat higher ground, and rearrangement of some of the old holes will be made without interfering play. The new holes will be ready perhaps in July of next year…
“Play will be reversed on the first and second holes, the first tee being at the second green. The third tee will be the same, but the second shot will be over the sixth fairway to a new green short of the bunker. The fourth will be a new one-shot hole to a new green in front of the present seventh tee. An artificial pond will be constructed in between. The fifth will be the first of the new holes with a tee where the present sixth green is. The sixth will parallel the fifth with a row of old oaks in between to a green back of the present seventh tee. The seventh will be a stout one-shotter, with a new tee and a new green, though the play will be over the present seventh fairway. The new eighth will be played from a new tee over the last half of the present tee over the last half of the present third fairway to a new green in front of the present eighteenth tee, a dog-leg hole with the approach shot over an artificial pond that guards the green and adds much interest…
“The ninth will be played from a new tee back of the present ninth and tenth fairways to the present ninth green. The 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th will all be on new ground, The present 14th and 15th will be combined and the play reversed, playing from a tee at the present 15th green to the present 13th green. Play on the 16th will be reversed. The 17th will be a one-shot hole. The 18th will be down the valley to the present 12th green. The present 4th, 5th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th will be eliminated…
“When finished, Mr. Tillinghast believes that the Knollwood course will be one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful in the East. There is some consolation in the thought, and also some consolation in the fact that the new course will be easier to play, as the more arduous climbs will be eliminated, and while par on the course will be raised… [it] will be considerably easier to make par on the course.”
In the July 1927 issue of Golf Illustrated, another article titled, “The New Knollwood Course” appeared. It told of how, “A three-day series of tournaments recently marked the opening of the ‘new’ Knollwood club house and course, of 6,300 yards – a thousand yards longer than the old one, with par 70, only one stroke more for the thousand yards…”
The article goes on to state that, “The late Seth Raynor, internationally known golf architect who constructed Lido, the National, Piping Rock and other celebrated courses, planned a re-modeling of the Knollwood course which was somewhat modified and carried to completion by his associate, Charles H. Banks. The work required two years. The expenditures for improvements made, acquiring land, etc., approximated $200,000. The thirty-eighth acres purchased by the club…”
The article goes on to detail most of the holes on the new course. In some instances these differ from the ones described designed by Tilly. For example, whereas Tilly’s 17th was a “one-shot hole,” the article describes how, “the long drivers like the 545-yard seventeenth…”
Consider carefully what these two articles report. First, that Tilly did a design and that the club BOUGHT an additional 40 acres of land. Second, that work was well underway and that it was expected to be completed with the course finished and open for play the following year.
Obviously something happened and the club dumped Tilly, but did they COMPLETELY dump all the new holes and changes to the existing one from his design? What could have been the possible motive for firing him and hiring Raynor/Banks?
A hint might be what the article reported after the mention cited above about the purchase of the new acres. “The thirty-eight acres purchased by the club were found to be extremely wet in spots, and large areas had to be drained by ditching and tiling…”
It may be that Tilly blew it when he recommended the purchase of the land the club bought and that the water and drainage problems caused costs to skyrocket. In the 1925 article it states that the planned project cost was $100,000 whereas the 1927 article states that the final actual cost was $200,000. With the Raynor’s success with the Lido course and others where major water problems needed to be overcome, it might have been only natural that an angry Board of Directors would fire someone, even with Tilly’s stature, who cost them that much money. That is but one possible explanation.
Did the club purchase an additional 38 acres after the 40 that Tilly recommended? This seems unlikely, but it would take a careful search of the club’s records to ascertain this for certain. More likely is that the original mention of a 40 acre purchase was an approximation with the actual size closer to the 38 figure mentioned later.
More importantly, did the club chuck out Tilly’s entire plan for new holes and redesign of the rest of the course? This also may not have happened and it is quite possible that Raynor used some or a good amount of Tilly’s recommended changes and additions. This also would require a very careful search of the clubs records to ascertain the answer.
So who did the routing seen in the 1930’s map in the scorecard? I think that there can be no definitive answer without a lot more research.
The bottom line is, whether Raynor used some, all or none of Tilly’s planned design, the course today is a wonderful one in which he could take great pride.