Tom Vardon advert 1927

[Anthony Gholz]

I found this in Diehl-Vardon's Golf Manual from 1927.  I love the line "Has complete knowledge…"  I don't think his lawyer read that one.

[Benjamin Litman]

Technically, most people could make that claim without fear of false-advertising suits, so this lawyer wouldn't have been too concerned.

But I agree this is a gem on many levels. To me, nothing beats "the great and the near great."

[Rick Shefchik]

Turns out, Tom Vardon really could locate green sites -- and build terrific greens. Here's #10 green at my home course, Stillwater Country Club, opened in 1927. This is my favorite green and my favorite hole on the course. With a decent drive you've got a short iron or wedge to the green, but you can also play a run-up shot down into the swale and up onto the green. The swale is all fairway, and very deep -- from this angle, someone could be standing at the bottom and you wouldn't know it.

[Jeff Shelman]

I agree with Rick that Vardon did a bunch of good work in the upper midwest.

I like Eau Claire CC, I like Stillwater, I think there are a bunch of good holes at Hillcrest, he clearly had something to do with Southview.

He isn't a big name and probably didn't do anything that was great, but he did design a number of above average golf courses.

[Phil McDade]

Vardon's Eau Claire CC, with some modifications and a routing change -- probably over-treed, but some very good routing over some interesting terrain and some solid green sites: http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,49805.0.html

Rick: Stillwater's 10th reminds me a bit of EC's 6th hole, with some volcano-like characteristics to the green site.

[PCCraig]

Great stuff.

Tom Vardon was responsible for some work to my home course, Town & Country Club in St. Paul, MN, in the 1920's. If I remember correctly most of the work revolved around rebuilding/moving some bunkers.

My guess is that Vardon was close to a resident architect in the Twin Cities at that time, therefore he got many of the calls in his era as it was probably far more expensive to bring in someone from one of the coasts. I'm sure his fingerprints are all over most of the courses in the area.

[Jason Topp]

The University of Minnesota course has a number of very clever holes as well - particularly the par threes and par fives.  If in good condition, it would still be one of the better public courses in town for 99% of us. 

[Wayne_Kozun]

The Vardons must be one of the top brother combinations in golf history as they finished 1-2 at the 1903 Open Championship. It seems that the only other time that happened was Willie Sr. and Davie Park in 63. The TMs finished 1-2 in 68 which is even more impressive although by 1903 there must have been a lot more competition.

[Rick Shefchik]

Vardon also had input into the White Bear Yacht Club course -- though we don't know how much. He became head pro there in 1916, a year after the 18-hole course opened. As WBYC Commodore William Graves wrote in 1925, "William Watson laid it out. Donald Ross gave freely of his advice in its development, and Tom Vardon ... was of great assistance."