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David Harshbarger

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Dutchess G&CC has reproduced an article from 1897 on the founding of the club and the course layout, as well as an intro to game's fundamental concepts.

The article is embedded in the site, (and not readily copy-able via iPad) so browse to About Us->History

http://www.dutchessgolf.com/

Design: Mungo Park
Year: 1897
First Pro: John Forman
Next Pro: John Ingliss
Pace of play: 1 hour

Later Praised by: Devereux Emmet.  

I wonder what Dev's fee was for that (in Guineas or Pounds Sterling)?

« Last Edit: May 25, 2012, 11:17:42 AM by David Harshbarger »
The trouble with modern equipment and distance—and I don't see anyone pointing this out—is that it robs from the player's experience. - Mickey Wright

David Harshbarger

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Re: Dutchess Golf & Country Club - 1897 Article on Founding
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2012, 09:07:31 AM »
The article:

THE GOLF CLUB

 

The New Club Starts with

Fifty Members

 

THE COURSE LAID OUT WITH NINE

HOLES – MORE THAN A MILE AROUND –

FINE NATURAL HAZARDS – A BURN

AND A DYKE AND A GOOD STEEP HILL –

SEVERAL OF THE MEMBERS WERE

PLAYING ON MONDAY

 

Poughkeepsie is now in line with recent civilization.  We have a golf club, with a good size farm to range over, and a real Scotsman in command.  The club organized Saturday evening with fifty-one members, and elected Mr. John E. Adriance president, with the following board of governors: Messrs. John E. Adriance, W.A. Adriance, Wm. H. Young, Hiram Wiltsie, Robert. M. Ferris and Dr. W.G. Dobson.  One more remains to be chosen.

 

The Sloan Farm, where the links are located, is about fifteen minutes by trolley or bicycle from the court house.  It may be recognized from the old-fashioned yellow-painted farm house near the road.  The entrance is through a gate just north of the old house, and leads back to the barns and a new greenhouse devoted to violet culture.  Not far from the greenhouse the visitor comes to the first “teeing ground,” the start of the golf course, and here he meets John Forman, the professional just over from Scotland, who is in charge of the links.  The scenery is all one could wish, the green rolling hills and meadows of old Dutchess all around, the blue Catskills and Fishkills visible from many points, and the long line of river hills of Ulster, which resemble the hills of East Lothian in Scotland, as Forman says.  The course is all staked out, the holes are in place, and men are working at clearing the dried leaves and the weeds off where they are likely to interfere with the sport.  When the “putting greens” (the “u” must be pronounced as in “but” if you are going to play golf) have been rolled and cut short, everything will be in order.  A Little house, once a tenant house on the farm, is undergoing revision and reroofing to serve as a club house.  There isn’t enough room for a dance, but what golfer wants to dance.  There’s enough room to partake of a “wee drop of Scotch” when one is tired from a long tramp around the links.

 
The drive for the first hole is off to the right, and across a “burn,” which is the pride of the course and a fine natural hazard.  No bunker builders need apply so long as the “burn” and the “dyke” on the way to the second hole hold out.  Don’t know what a “burn” is or a “dyke” or a “hazard” or even a “bunker”?  Well, then there’s no use of your trying to play golf.  These things are among the rudiments.  A burn is nothing more than a little innocent stream of water, and it forms a “hazard” because it isn’t easy for a new player to drive his ball over it, and if the ball should light kersplash in the stream it would take sundry extra jabs at it with a “lofter” or a “cleek” to get it out, and every time you touch the ball it counts as a stroke against you.  The object of the game, of course, you know, is to get around the links with a few strokes as possible.  Before you drive the ball off first you “tee” it – that is, you squeeze up a little piece of dirt on the ground high enough to hold the ball an inch or so above the surrounding soil.  Then you strike an attitude and swing your club back of your head, and take a look off in the direction of the next hole, which is several hundred yards away, and is marked by a little flag.  Then you bring the club around with a tremendous swing, and if you are a good player, the ball spins away until it drops out of sight on the side of the hill across the “burn.”  If you are a poor player, you probably strike the ground and break off the end of your driving club, while the ball rolls only a few feet.

 

You have made your drive and you can’t “tee” the ball up the next time, but must play the ball as it lies and you “canna make it lie just as you want it”.  If it’s down in the grass you want a “lofter” to lift it out with, but generally a “cleek” will serve for the next stroke.  After a time you will find the ball within a few yards of the hole, or on the putting green.  You command your “caddy,” who has been carrying your clubs and laughing at your playing, to take the flag out of the hole, then you light your pipe and measure the distance with your eye, and if you ken how to play you may “putt” the ball in with not more than two strokes.  Skill is an important element just here, but a man who hasn’t forgotten how he used to play “roley poley” with a base ball in his youth ought to make a fair hand at “putting” after a year or two of practice.

 

When the ball finally rests in the hole you announce the number of strokes it has taken you to get there, and your antagonist tells you [that] you have forgotten several of them.  An appeal to the attendant caddies will perhaps settle the matter, and then you fish your ball out with your fingers (the only time you are allowed to touch it, except with one of the authorized sticks or clubs), and “tee” it again for the drive to the next hole, which on the Sloan place takes you over a “dyke,” another beautiful natural hazard, and lying right at the foot of a steep hill.  A “dyke” is a plain, ordinary stone wall, built originally for the purpose of keeping cows out of a grain field, but now serving a much nobler purpose.  If your ball lights in that stone wall – well, the writer hasn’t yet learned how it could be got out under the rules.

 
The course leads back in the country half a mile from the South Road and one of the drives on the return is at the top of a steep hill over both a dyke and a burn.  If you don’t get drowned, or sprain your ankle, or smash all your clubs and lose your ball, you will in about an hour arrive at the “home hole,” near the start, tired but happy, and after a brief visit to the club house you are ready to start again.

The trouble with modern equipment and distance—and I don't see anyone pointing this out—is that it robs from the player's experience. - Mickey Wright

David Harshbarger

  • Karma: +0/-0
Also found this interesting piece from the North Berwick site.

Quote
Mungo Park born 1877, High Street, Fisherrow, son of Wilie Park Snr. and his wife Susanna Law. Mungo followed his father as a golf pro at Musselburgh before moving to the West Links at North Berwick where he was granted a pro license on 16th June 1894 and was living at 17, Victoria Road. His brother Willie Park Jnr opened a store in New York City in 1895 and 19 year old Mungo was sent over to manage the shop. In 1897 Mungo laid out the nine-hole course at the Dutchess Golf Club (NY). The following year he was appointed pro at Dyker Meadow Golf Club, Brooklyn, while working during the winter months as a clubmaker for Slazenger & Son in New York City.

http://www.northberwick.org.uk/musselburgh.html
« Last Edit: May 25, 2012, 10:33:45 AM by David Harshbarger »
The trouble with modern equipment and distance—and I don't see anyone pointing this out—is that it robs from the player's experience. - Mickey Wright

Jim_Kennedy

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This is a view of the entrance from RT. 9, the main N/S thoroughfare into and out of Poughkeepsie. The club is fenced off from the street and if you didn't know there was a course there you'd never find it.
 


The course itself is packed into a 110 (approx.) acre site, and even though it borders a very busy highway it's very quiet once you get away from the first hole. There are some quirky holes but it's a very nice place to play. The greens are small, from around 2,500 sq.ft. to the largest, which is about 6,000. They're usually in vg condition, along with the rest of the grounds.   
The course that shows up on the right side of the photo is McCann Memorial, a very busy muni.





"I never beat a well man in my life" - Harry Vardon

Kalen Braley

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Jim,

Not be a stickler, but that's actually  the exit.  Here is the entrance a couple hundred feet south of there!  ;D



Jim_Kennedy

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Kalen,
Not when I visit there.  ;D  I miss the damn gate every time.

p.s. notice that I have both 'entrances' in my photo.  ;)
"I never beat a well man in my life" - Harry Vardon

Kalen Braley

  • Karma: +0/-0
Kalen,
Not when I visit there.  ;D  I miss the damn gate every time.

p.s. notice that I have both 'entrances' in my photo.  ;)

Ahh yes you're right... you did squeeze it in there...damn!!   >:(  ;D

David Harshbarger

  • Karma: +0/-0
It is a very nice course, IMHO.  The only criticism I have is that the 14th, the cape in the upper right, has trees along the lake that limit how much of the cape you can take on.  Too bad, because the gap you shoot into includes a huge hollow left, which is the penalty for being chicken on the drive.  With the tall trees, even a slightly left tee shot through the gap can end up down there.

I agree with Jim that the few times I've played the course is inVG condition.  I've also seen deer and turkey each time there.  Like Jim said, it's quite pastoral throughout.
The trouble with modern equipment and distance—and I don't see anyone pointing this out—is that it robs from the player's experience. - Mickey Wright

Jim_Kennedy

  • Karma: +0/-0
David,
It would be nice if they opened that area up. It's a tough tee shot, unless you possess a guaranteed 20/30 yard fade or a Tiger-like stinger to keep it under the branches of the trees on the right.

 
"I never beat a well man in my life" - Harry Vardon

David Harshbarger

  • Karma: +0/-0
Jim,

I completely agree.  I asked a member about them and he said they had been there as long as he'd been there, and he must've started caddying there in the 50's. 

To me it's a textbook example of how a classic strategic template can be transformed into a penal hole.  Even if you make the heroic carry you can still be screwed by the trees.

OTOH, he also said they had a touring pro give an exhibition, and he asked where the green was.  They pointed it out, and he just wailed it over the trees.

Dave
The trouble with modern equipment and distance—and I don't see anyone pointing this out—is that it robs from the player's experience. - Mickey Wright

Jim_Kennedy

  • Karma: +0/-0
David,
I don't doubt it. An old friend of mine, the King of "I ddn't come here to lay up", blasted it right toward the green and ended up with a little pitch shot.

I don't know how many times anyone could get away with that.  ;D
"I never beat a well man in my life" - Harry Vardon

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