[Joe Bausch]

Was this really Park's first course here in the US?  And did it ever open?  See this article from the June 1, 1916 edition of the Middletown Daily Times-Press.



Note:  a quick search by Google on "grant hugh browne" suggests an interesting person with bankruptcy proceedings in 1908 after starting up a company called United Cobalt Exploration.

[Niall C]

Joe

If I read the article right its saying this course which is being built in 1916 (?) is Willie Parks first course in the US ? I'm no expert on what Park did in America but I suspect the writer is about a couple of decades out with that claim. I recall reading cuttings from UK papers that suggested he laid out Miscquamicut in LI (probably wrong spelling) in about 1895 and I think he was also responsible for a 9 hole course near the Presidio in San Franscisco (need to check that one).

Niall

[Melvyn Morrow]

Hi Joe

If you are seeking some info on the Park's Family check out this issue of The World Hickory Golfer - September 2010 http://sept10.worldhickorygolfer.com/page9.html   If you want to contact Mungo e-mail Lionel who might pass on you request; details on the web site of World Hickory Golfer.

Hope it is of some assistance

Melvyn

PS Check out http://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/Article/Willie-Park-Jr/1444/Default.aspx   http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst1969.html   plus http://www.worldgolf.com/golf-architects/willie-park-jr.html

[Joe Bausch]

Thanks Melvyn.

I have had e-mail contact with Mungo the last couple of years and have forwarded him the article above.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Niall:

There is a common incorrect perception that Willie Park designed or redesigned Misquamicut. According to the club's official history, that is not so. My understanding is that Park was the golf professional there for one season. The club history says that Thomas Bendelow redesigned the existing rudimentary layout in 1901 and Seth Raynor did work at the course in 1914. The Donald Ross course that still exists opened in 1922. Also, at some point before Ross was hired, the club paid Walter Travis to redesign the layout. He submitted plans to the club but they were rejected.

Anthony

[Joe Bausch]

Joe

If I read the article right its saying this course which is being built in 1916 (?) is Willie Parks first course in the US ? I'm no expert on what Park did in America but I suspect the writer is about a couple of decades out with that claim. I recall reading cuttings from UK papers that suggested he laid out Miscquamicut in LI (probably wrong spelling) in about 1895 and I think he was also responsible for a 9 hole course near the Presidio in San Franscisco (need to check that one).

Niall

Perhaps the author meant his first course since coming back to the USA in 1916?

[Joe Bausch]

Mungo has responded to my email and given me permission to add his reply to the thread:

Joe,
Many thanks - I have also just seen your post on Golf Club Atlas, and the information on Misquamicut. Bill Morton, Director of Golf there sent me some information some time ago that seemed to indicate Willie's involvement in 1896, but I have found no definitive proof.

As for Goshen, this is a new one on me, and would certainly seem to be one of the earliest pieces of work on Willie's return to the USA in 1916.

Looking at golf Club Atlas, Grant Hugh Browne seems to have been a fairly colourful character.

Well found and thank you!

Regards

Mungo

M U N G O    P A R K    A R C H I T E C T S    www.mungo-park.co.uk

And he had a follow-up e-mail as well:

I think I saw the information about Willie at  
Misquamicut on Douglas Seaton's web site as well - here is the link.  
See para 8 - I see he says 1895. Certainly in 1895 Willie was in the  
USA, working at The Maidstone.

www.northberwick.org.uk/anderson.html

Regards

Mungo

He has also sent along this March, 1896 snippet from the NY Times:

[David Hendler]

I was born in Goshen, NY and moved from there in 1995.  There was never a golf course growing up IN Goshen and no one ever mentioned an old course that was no longer in existence.

The only course in the area old enough to be a possibility is Orange County Golf/Country Club.  It was built at the middle point between Middletown, NY and Goshen, but I do not believe Willie Park was involved with that.

I am intrigued that such a prominent architect may have built a special course in my hometown.

[Joe Bausch]

I was born in Goshen, NY and moved from there in 1995.  There was never a golf course growing up IN Goshen and no one ever mentioned an old course that was no longer in existence.

The only course in the area old enough to be a possibility is Orange County Golf/Country Club.  It was built at the middle point between Middletown, NY and Goshen, but I do not believe Willie Park was involved with that.

I am intrigued that such a prominent architect may have built a special course in my hometown.

David, what are some of the bigger nearby cities to Goshen?

[David Hendler]

I was born in Goshen, NY and moved from there in 1995.  There was never a golf course growing up IN Goshen and no one ever mentioned an old course that was no longer in existence.

The only course in the area old enough to be a possibility is Orange County Golf/Country Club.  It was built at the middle point between Middletown, NY and Goshen, but I do not believe Willie Park was involved with that.

I am intrigued that such a prominent architect may have built a special course in my hometown.

David, what are some of the bigger nearby cities to Goshen?

Middletown and Newburgh are the only "cities" nearby that could be remotely close enough to Goshen for Goshen to be listed as the location of this course in question.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Orange CC's club history makes no mention of Park:

http://orangecounty.clubhouseonline-e3.com/About-Us/Club-History.aspx

[David Hendler]

Orange CC's club history makes no mention of Park:

http://orangecounty.clubhouseonline-e3.com/About-Us/Club-History.aspx

I saw that earlier in my "research" into golf in Orange County, NY.  I may call some old family friends still in Goshen to get some type of clarity on this issue.

[Joe Bausch]

I was born in Goshen, NY and moved from there in 1995.  There was never a golf course growing up IN Goshen and no one ever mentioned an old course that was no longer in existence.

The only course in the area old enough to be a possibility is Orange County Golf/Country Club.  It was built at the middle point between Middletown, NY and Goshen, but I do not believe Willie Park was involved with that.

I am intrigued that such a prominent architect may have built a special course in my hometown.

David, what are some of the bigger nearby cities to Goshen?

Middletown and Newburgh are the only "cities" nearby that could be remotely close enough to Goshen for Goshen to be listed as the location of this course in question.

I'll try to figure out what the bigger newspapers were in that area at that time and see what is available via interlibrary loan.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Niall:

I stand corrected!

Anthony

[Steve_ Shaffer]

It seems that the Browne Estate was sold to the Salesian School in 1925 but no mention is made of a golf course:

http://my.hsj.org/Schools/Newspaper/tabid/100/view/frontpage/schoolid/168/articleid/60011/newspaperid/144/The_Salesian_School_The_future_and_past_to_the_infamous_Salesian_School.aspx

And the pictures here show no sign of a golf course:

http://sob.balsztree.com/downloads/GoshenSalesianProperty.pdf

[David Hendler]

The Salesian School turned into a summer camp and now is shuttered with most buildings on site condemned.  That property is close to the center of the village on Main Street just NE of "downtown."  I wonder how different Goshen would have been if a Willie Park Jr course was still (if ever) located there and what type of club would have been established.

As Goshen is my hometown, this has been fascinating.

[Rick Shefchik]

Park seemed to have a tough time completing his work in the U.S. in 1916. He was hired by the Minneapolis Golf Club in the fall of 1916 to design their new course in St. Louis Park, MN (the club had moved that fall from its original site in Golden Valley, MN). Park visited the club in mid-November 1916, according to the Minneapolis Tribune, and spent two weeks drawing up a design for the club's new course.

Construction work began the following spring, but Park didn't return. The club hired William D. Clark as its head pro, and Clark was given the responsibility of finishing the construction of Park's design. Clark had design abilities and ambitions of his own, and apparently changed some of Park's original design, lengthening some holes and shortening others.

Bolstered by the discovery of Park's plans, found in a Minneapolis engineering office, the club still considers the original layout to be a Park course, but it was significantly redesigned three years later by Donald Ross.

[Michael Ryan]

Amazing, I'm from Warwick NY and went to high school in Goshen.  I had many a basketball practice in the gym at the Salesian school and can recall going to retreats there on the property.  I read this post and the article and assumed that it was referring to an original version of the Orange County Golf Club.  While it's in Middletown today, I'm aware that the borders of different towns in Orange County have changed over the years and assumed at one time it was known as Goshen.  All this time I thought my first touch point with golf course architecture was in 1986 watching the US Open at Shinnecock on TV as a 12 year old, turns out when I was 10 I walked a property that once had a Park design and said to my dad, "this place would make a great golf course"

Mike

[David Hendler]

Amazing, I'm from Warwick NY and went to high school in Goshen.  I had many a basketball practice in the gym at the Salesian school and can recall going to retreats there on the property.  I read this post and the article and assumed that it was referring to an original version of the Orange County Golf Club.  While it's in Middletown today, I'm aware that the borders of different towns in Orange County have changed over the years and assumed at one time it was known as Goshen.  All this time I thought my first touch point with golf course architecture was in 1986 watching the US Open at Shinnecock on TV as a 12 year old, turns out when I was 10 I walked a property that once had a Park design and said to my dad, "this place would make a great golf course"

Mike

Your father said that while walking the grounds at Salesian? That is cool!

[Joe Bausch]

Here is where the answers on this Park Goshen course likely can be found:

http://chroniclingamerica.com/lccn/sn83031089/

I'll report back with findings in perhaps a few weeks.

[Tom MacWood]

I did some checking of the golf guides of that period and found no mention of this course. In the 1920s Willie Park produced a fairly comprehensive list of his designs, actually a couple of lists that I'm aware of, and this course is not on those lists either. I suspect Goshen was never completed for whatever reason.

There was Orange County GC in Middletown in the 1916 and 1917 guides, and later years. It was a nine hole course; the club was founded in 1899.

[Joe Bausch]

I did some checking of the golf guides of that period and found no mention of this course. In the 1920s Willie Park produced a fairly comprehensive list of his designs, actually a couple of lists that I'm aware of, and this course is not on those lists either. I suspect Goshen was never completed for whatever reason.

There was Orange County GC in Middletown in the 1916 and 1917 guides, and later years. It was a nine hole course; the club was founded in 1899.

Thanks TMac.

[David Hendler]

I sent emails to the staff email addresses provided on OCGC's website.  Hopefully they will help.

[Joe Bausch]

I've requested the 1916 and 1917 editions of The Goshen Democrat newspaper on microfilm by interlibrary loan.  By the end of the year we'll likely have a resolution to this Park course.

[Michael Ryan]

Your father said that while walking the grounds at Salesian? That is cool!
[/quote]

David-I'm proud to correct you and say that as a 10 year old, I said it to my Dad.  However, to provide proper context-at the age of 10 I was one year into playing golf, completely obsessed and I'm pretty sure I told him I wanted to make every open space we saw into a golf course.

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