[Joe Bausch]

I've posted the next in the series before, but it was buried within a longer thread on one of the storied clubs in Philly, Philmont Country Club.  Bob and Labbance and Patrick White wrote in their centennial history book for Philmont that the famed north course was likely designed by Willie Park, and perhaps Flynn was involved.  The evidence for Park's involvement is really almost indisputable now.  Flynn's involvement?  Well, if you talk to the historian for Philmont, there is no doubt in his mind that Flynn was involved, and here is a piece of an e-mail to me detailing this:

With Park gone Gordon went to work for Flynn and we know Gordon was still on site at Opening Day in 1924 (while already working for Flynn). We are sure that Flynn was involved in much of the project with Gordon after Park was gone, and for all we know could have been responsible for the majority of the project especially at the Opening which is why it was always credited as a Flynn course, a long time before it became in vogue to know who the designer was or even who William Flynn was.

Anways, here is the J.E. Ford article in a perhaps slightly more readable format than what I posted a couple of months ago:

[Mike_Cirba]

Joe,

There is not a shread of evidence that Flynn had any involvement at Philmont, whatsoever.

All of which makes the long held belief that Flynn designed the North course all the stranger...

[Joe Bausch]

Joe,

There is not a shread of evidence that Flynn had any involvement at Philmont, whatsoever.

All of which makes the long held belieg that Flynn designed the North course all the stranger...

But they do have a photo, believed to be from the opening day of the North course, of Gordon standing on the green
with two other Philmont members!

[Mike_Cirba]

Well Joe, that's certainly proof enough for me. 

Seriously, do we even know when William Gordon began working for William Flynn?   

This whole Philmont attribution is interesting to me because as of about 18 months ago, it was believed that the South course was designed by Willie Park circa 1908 with Flynn on the North course in 1924.

Since then we've learned that John Reid did the South course, which was then significantly revamped and improved by Henry Strouse and Hugh Wilson around 1915-16.    Given Wilson's close ties to Flynn, that could have been some of the reason for the Flynn legend, but I find that unlikely because Flynn was still involved heavily with the two "new" courses at Merion at that time, as well as working on changes on the East course to get it ready for the 1916 US Amateur.

We also know that Strouse did most of the work on the Park plan "on the ground" for the North course.    Might Wilson have been there helping him at times?   Perhaps with Flynn?

In any case, I'm not saying that William Flynn was not involved.   Certainly we have learned a lot just in the past year...for instance, who knew prior that Hugh Wilson worked on Philmont South??

It's just that based on what's been uncovered to date, it's certainly about the flimsiest circumstantial evidence one could possibly hang a belief on.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Gordon more than likely worked for Toomey & Flynn, the construction company, and not William Flynn, the golf course designer/architect. Why wasn't Flynn in the opening day picture? According to the article, Henry Strouse, the Philmont member, was "in charge of construction" and "as the work progressed HE(emphasis added) changed the plans to meet conditions overlooked in the beginning." Ford states, "Park's original design was followed only in a general way." Why didn't Ford mention Gordon or Flynn in the article? I'd attribute North to Park/Strouse based on this article and the fact no Flynn drawings exist for Philmont North among the trove found in the barn.

[Kyle Harris]

The Gordon connection is most likely through Carter's Tested Seed Co., who were the preferred company of Willie Park, Jr.

Paging Tom MacWood - Red Courtesy Phone please.

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()