In doing some research on the Tom Bendalow-designed 9 hole Park Golf Club in North Plainfield, NJ (NLE), I came across something odd that I hadn't seen before. I was hoping that our collective knowledge could help solve the mystery.
I found a treasure trove of old black and white photographs of the golf course in the archives of the Plainfield Library. The photos show fall scenes from the club at some point between 1898 and 1915. As I was looking through the photos, I noted a number of small flags on the course that appear to be miniatures versions of the larger club red and white pennant. The flags are mounted on on wooden poles approximately 5-6' high. The distinctive bright white chevron on the red field makes them easy to pick out. (see photo below).
Club Pennanthttps://www.dropbox.com/s/9s7llk59wly9vrn/Park%20Golf%20Club%20Pennant.jpeg?dl=0Miniature Pennanthttps://www.dropbox.com/s/ekxblwf5l4his8w/C11347-FLAG%20MARKED.jpg?dl=0 I was pretty quickly able to ascertain that they were not the obvious - flags atop flagsticks marking the location of the hole on a green. Interesting, the pins used for that look like old railroad switches. (see photo below)
Railroad Switch Style Pinshttps://www.dropbox.com/s/ty1dznzr37t28t5/C11349.jpg?dl=0Nor do they mark tees since they don't show up around tee markers.
Tee Markershttps://www.dropbox.com/s/ls2ow7hpms9bfja/C11351.jpg?dl=0I thought it was possible that they were 150 yard markers or directional markers until I saw this photo with hole #1 on the left and hole #9 on the right. From an old scorecard we know that #1 (the downhill one on left) was 345 yds. Hole #9 (the uphill one on right) is 365 yds. If they marked 150 yards from the green, the flag for #9 would be uphill of the flag for #1. However that is not the case.
1 and 9https://www.dropbox.com/s/lkunmht5y68j4tq/C11356-FLAG%20MARKED.jpg?dl=0There aren't enough photos to determine whether they appear on every hole, but I've seen them often enough to think that they almost certainly do. There is never more than one on any hole (making a flag day tournament unlikely), plus they appear permanently affixed on very large rough hewn wood poles.
You'll have to zoom in to 100% to see what I'm talking about in pretty much all of the photos, but here is a link to the full gallery of them. I've marked the flags with green arrows to make them easier to spot. (To zoom in hit the ... button in the lower right and click "View Original" then the click the magnifying glass on the image). The link to the image gallery containing the 6 photos of the marked pennants is here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b69jxfkizgiyt6e/AADb6Gma18oztEeBPl8yZEsja?dl=0The full Park Golf Club image gallery (about 50 photos, postcards and clubhouse blueprints, including all the images that aren't marked to show the flags) is here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/twsza1q7oidlqkz/AADJD9yPyiBtdIVcZg0Fl_O3a?dl=0I'd be very curious if anyone has come across anything like this before and would be appreciative of all theories no matter how far-fetched.