Sven, and all,
First, I have to echo Mike Cirba's comments. This is a fantastic collaborative thread. I have always been slightly nervous of holding such a public conversation, but I am learning so much useful information. It is great - thanks.
Sven - great time line and cuttings and much else besides - where to start?
Your assumption about 1900 - 1919 courses is correct. They should probably all fall within the 1916 - 1919 bracket. WP wasn't there between August 1896 and 14th April 1916. He first went in March 1895 - July 1895 (exhibition matches with Willie Dunn, time at Astors etc) and then he did have a second visit in 1896 (March to July), which is when he took my grandad (Mungo Jnr) over with him to run the ill-fated shop - and did Shelburne Farms course. He was not there in 1894 so the Harper's 1900 ref is incorrect, although their 1901 is good.
I have set about tidying up the list and will post it (assuming my competence stretches that far) as soon as it is done. Princess Anne looks solid with that reference, but there are still one or two queries, which I hope the combined minds of everyone involved can un-ravel for me.
They are as follows: -
- Do we know where St Louis AAA aka Triple-A CC comes from - if not I think it should be deleted?
- Philmont - are there two courses - Philmont Country Club and Philmont CC (North) - if so, are they both by WP?
- I have added Shorehaven, Pemberbrook, Newport RI.
- Do you or anyone else know any more about Reidsville and the 'Unnamed course in Meridian"?
- I have deleted Canton MA, as I am assuming that this is the same as Hoosie-Whisick (also in Canton MA). Is this correct?
- I have 3 club names in Detroit - The Automobile Club, Orchard Lake, and Pine Lake. Are they all the same, or are there more than one that WP was involved in?
Lastly the discussion about Peterson, Sinclaire & Miller is a most interesting vein, particularly as Willie Park and they seemed to share offices. That's a real nugget. I also noticed (Bret's post) that an Arthur D Peterson was President of Carter's Tested Seeds. Carters and PS&M consolidated in January 1920. From the web, Arthur D Peterson Inc. appears later in the "Market Place and Buyers Guide" of 1929, under 'Seed', and then again in Sept 1930 and February 1931, where they are selling Fertilizers, Golf equipment, Hose and 'Brown Patch Control'. I wonder what happened to them in the Great Depression?
I am sure I have read, probably in Adams, of whole trainloads of equipment and materials being hired, under the project management of the seed merchants and Willie Park to arrive at a railhead at the start of the contract. It would be fascinating to know more about the structure of these contracts and how they were set up. I have a copy of a spec. for Tynemouth GC, which makes interesting reading, and is very similar in many respects to the way construction contracts are set up over here now.
Thanks to all for a thoroughly informative thread - Bret for confirmation of Highland, Joe for nailing Glen Ridge, Mike for all the Peterson stuff, Niall on Glasgow clarification, Ben and Sven for kicking it all off etc. I am sure the protocol is not to thank everyone, but it is such a productive collaboration, and I am most grateful for it.
On Jan 12th, (before we went on holiday - hence silence), I said that nothing had been found to link Cambridge University GC to WP. Continued delving by Mike Morrison has revealed that he
was involved at Coldham Common (as well as Gog Magog) - but until this is checked and verified, I shall hold off putting it on the list.
One last query - Niall mentioned 2 courses in Vienna - I only know of the one on the Prater. Is there another?
Mungo