The Estate Courses

[Sven Nilsen]

Kansas

Arnold Burns Private Course (Peabody) - Unknown

Hart Gilchrist Private Course (Rexford) - Unknown

James Rexford Private Course (Hutchinson) - Unknown

Ralph Hart Private Course (Cunningham) - Unknown

Senator Emerson Carey Private Course aka Willowbrook GC (Hutchinson) - Langford

-Wichita Daily Eagle Aug. 14, 1921

[Sven Nilsen]

Sven:

Innis Arden in Old Greenwich, CT was built on the estate of J. Kennedy Tod.  I am not sure if he built the course exclusively for his own use, but it was open to members as early as 1899.  The club and location still exists today.  The original course was laid out by J. Kennedy Tod.

Bret

Bret:

Innis Arden was started as a club, and never was an estate course as we're using the term in this thread.  But it is a great example of a club's course being built on private land, as explained in the first article below.

Sven

-Golf Magazine May 1898



-Harper's Report of 1900



-Official Golf Guide of 1902



-Golf Magazine Dec. 1902

[Sven Nilsen]

Louisiana

William E. Stauffer Estate (New Orleans) - Raynor

[Sven Nilsen]

Maryland

John G. Clarke Private Course (Baltimore) - Unknown

[Sven Nilsen]

Massachusetts

Charles Cory Estate Course aka Great Island GC (Yarmouth) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



George H. Billings Private Course (Wareham) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



George H. Hunt Private Course (Rockland) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



George Westinghouse Private Course (Lenox) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



H. A. Irish Private Course (Chicopee Falls) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



Harry Worcester Smith Private Course aka Grafton GC (Milbury/Grafton) - Unknown

-Harper's Report of 1900



-Official Golf Guide of 1902



Hunnewell Private Course (Wellesley) - Unknown

Joseph Skinner Private Course aka The Orchards (South Hadley) - Ross

N. M. Fleischmann Private Course (Lenox) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



Northbridge Private Course (Northbridge) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



Samuel Warren Private Course (Dedham) - Unknown

Stokes Private Course (Lenox) - Unknown

T. W. Lawson Private Course (Scituate) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902

[Sven Nilsen]

Michigan

D. W. Zintmaster Private Course (Marshall) - Unknown

[Sven Nilsen]

Missouri

Bruce Dodson Estate GC (Kansas City) - Dalgleish

Frank Seested Private Course (Kansas City) - Dalgleish


Nebraska

George N. Seymour Estate Course aka St. Maur (Lincoln) - Unknown

[Sven Nilsen]

New Jersey

George Post Private Course (Bernardsville) - Unknown

Gould Private Course (Lakewood) - W. Norton

Hominy Hill GC (Colt's Neck) - R. T. Jones

James Neilson Private Course (New Brunswick) - Unknown

-Harper's Report of 1900



Nathan Hofheimer (Warrenville) - Unknown

Point Pleasant Private Course (Point Pleasant) - Bendelow

Rockefeller Private Course fka CC of Lakewood and The Ocean County Hunt and CC (Lakewood) - Rawlins

Seymour Strong Private Course (Bernardsville) - Unknown

Stewart Rowbotham Private Course aka Hohokus GC (Hohokus) - Rowbotham/Blair

-Was the private course built by Blair the same as Hohokus GC?  1899 Golf Guide notes Hohokus GC was originally laid out by S. C. Rowbotham in 1893, and has been changed from time to time.

-The Sun Aug. 19, 1896



Wolf Estate Private Course lka Cedar Court GC (Morristown) - Bendelow

-New York Times July 7, 1920

[Sven Nilsen]

New York

Alfred I. du Pont Private Course aka White Eagle Estate (Roslyn) - Unknown

Ammelita Galli-Curci Private Course (Highmount) - Unknown

Brander Estate aka Westmoreland (Shelter Island) - Unknown

C. M. Pratt Private Course (Glen Cove) - Bendelow

-The Sun April 13, 1896



Charles Francis Murphy Estate Course (Good Ground/Southampton) - Unknown

Daniel Guggenheim Private GC (Port Washington) - Unknown

Daniels Private Course (Long Lake) - Unknown

-Golfers Magazine Sept. 1916




De Zerega Private Course (Westchester) - Unknown

Donald Woodward Private Course (LeRoy) - Winton (may have become LeRoy GC)

-Daily News April 10, 1926



Durkee Estate aka Namkhe (East Patchogue) - Unknown

Edward S. Moore Estate GC (Roslyn) - Raynor



E. N. Howell Private Course aka Poughkeepsie GC (Poughkeepsie) - Unknown

-The Golfing Annual 1896-97



Erman Jesse Ridgeway (Elizabethtown) - Unknown

F. F. Proctor Estate (Central Valley) - Strong

Frank Lowden Private Course lka Wellesley Island Club (Thousand Islands) - Unknown (worked on by W. Watson)

Grant Hugh Browne Private Course (Goshen) - W. Park (possibly never built)

-Middletown Daily Times-Press May 11, 1916



H. P. Whitney Estate GC aka Greentree Course (Manhasset) - Macdonald & Raynor

Haight Private Course (??) - Unknown

-Golf Magazine April 1916



Harrison Williams Private Course (Bayville) - Emmet & Tull

Helen Gould Private Estate (Irvington-On-Hudson) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide 1902



Howard Gould Private Course (Sands Point) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide 1902



Isaac Guggenheim Private GC aka Trillora GC aka Villa Carola GC lka IBM GC nka Village Club of Sands Point (Port Washington) - Unknown

-http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,29041.0.html

James B. Taylor Estate Course (Jericho) - Unknown

J. Finley Shepard Private Course aka Shepherd Hills GC (Roxbury) - Unknown

J. P. Knapp Estate (Southampton) - Raynor

J. P. Morgan Estate Course aka Matinecock Point (Glen Cove) - Unknown

John Jacob Astor Private Course (Rhinebeck) - W. Park

-The Sun May 23, 1895



-Los Angeles Herald July 4, 1895



-Los Angeles Herald Aug. 12, 1895



-Official Golf Guide 1902



Kelley Estate Private Course (Glen Cove) - Unknown

Liggett Estate Private Course (Sands Point) - Unknown

Luckenbach Private Course (Sands Point) - Unknown

-Brooklyn Daily Eagle Dec. 22, 1918



Mackay Private Course (Roslyn) - Unknown

-Golfers Magazine March 1916



Otto Kahn Estate Course aka Oheka GC aka Cold Spring Harbor CC (Cold Spring Harbor) - Macdonald & Raynor

Paramount CC fka Mountain View Farms and Dellwood CC aka Adolph Zukor Estate Course (New City) - Tillinghast

Pocantico Hills GC fka John D. Rockefeller Private Course (Tarrytown) - W. Dunn/Flynn

-Harper's Report of 1900



Schiff Private Course (Oyster Bay) - Unknown

Sherrewogue Estate GC (St. James) - Emmet

Stephen C. Clark Private Course (Cooperstown) - Emmet

Stern Private Course (Westchester) - Bendelow

Stittson Private Course (Sterlington) - Bendelow

-Official Golf Guide 1902



Thomas Simpson Private Course aka Overlook GC lka Sunningdale CC (Scarsdale) - Unknown (remodeled by Raynor, Travis and Tillinghast)

Vanderbilt Estate GC aka Strathmore-Vanderbilt CC (Manhasset) - Emmet & Tull

Whitelaw Reed Private Course (Purchase) - Unknown

William C. Whitney Estate Course (Wheatley Hills) - Unknown

[Sven Nilsen]

North Carolina

James Boyd Sr. Private Course (Weymouth Heights/Southern Pines) - Unknown

Overhills GC aka Overhills Land Co. (Overhills) - Ross

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,46197.0.html

R. J. Reynolds Estate Course (Winston-Salem) - Unknown

Vanderbilt Biltmore Estate GC (Asheville) - W. Davis

-New York Times Jan. 25, 1896

[Jim_Kennedy]

ca. 1930s - William T. Graham, owner of the Graham/Hoeme Plow Co. - private course of nine holes on his ranch in Silverton, TX.

ca. 1950s - William Todd, oilman - his own private course on his estate in Los Angeles - Bob Hope was a frequent visitor. 

ca. 1920s - John Madden Sr.  - had a private course on his farm in Highland, IN.

ca. 1940s - Lowell Mellett - Exec. Asst. to FDR - had a private course on his estate near Washington, DC.

This might not have been his own personal course, but it was the first course laid out by Bobby Jones. 



p.s. Bob,
        The death you may have had in mind that was related to the Stafford Hall GC on Cumberland Island was that of Tom Hutchinson, who was hired by W.C.Carnegie to teach him to play. Hutchinson fell off a horse and expired after a day and a half of agony.  Hutchinson was the Tommy Bolt/Tiger Woods of his day.

[Steve Lang]

    for the employees


Texaco Golf Club | 12800 Texaco Road | Houston, Texas 77013

Texaco Golf Club is a par 72 course between 6,200 and 6,300 yards in length. It has many interesting holes which offer a stiff challenge to the ability of its golfers.The Texaco Country Club was founded August 30th, 1924

Another

Alvin Golf & Country Club History
Alvin Golf & Country Club (AGCC) is a family-owned public golf course and country club that is owned and operated by Karen and Patrick Farrell. Karen and Pat purchased the golf course from its stock members on February 12, 2004, but this great lady has a long and storied history that began before either of them were born.


The Ghosts of the Past
In 1945, Karen's grandparents, Arthur (Art) Philip and Ethelind Joy Uzzell Schacht, along with two other buyers, purchased the land. It sits atop an old plantation. The present #1 and #2 holes are separated by the old road that is lined with 100-foot tall, 100-year-old pecan trees that led to the plantation manor house. The foundation of the manor house is only a couple of feet under the rough.Some say that the residents of the manor home and those whose worked the plantation still walk the course. Young and old, impressionable and cynical, report seeing, hearing, and feeling “presences” on the course, in the clubhouse, and in the three surrounding homes. Many golfers consider the ghosts part of the charm of the course and take the seemingly harmless spirits in stride. But other people who encounter the otherworldly presences for the first time have a less positive reaction. It has been a while since the lost spirits have been encountered. Maybe they found their way to their plantation in the other world.

Founding Members
Art was a minor league and company baseball player from St. Louis who made his way to the Alvin area. At one point, he played for the Texaco team, who required their players to work for the company between games. Texaco taught him to weld, and he learned his job well. Some time after his 10-year minor league career, he married Ethelind and opened the highly successful Schacht's Welding in Alvin. While the others in the shop did the simple welding jobs, he spent a lot of his time out on the oil rigs, often in the middle of the night in raging storms that had damaged the rigs. He also performed a lot of work for future members of AGCC who owned oil-service businesses. They were all one tight-knit group.


mamaw-champion.jpg

A Course is Born
When Art and Ethelind bought the property, it had most recently housed WW II soldiers, and their former barracks were the first clubhouse, complete with showers. All activities originated from the clubhouse, and they sold green fees and snacks from the split front door.The members eventually built a new clubhouse several yards away, and used the first building for storage. The faithful, cinder block structure stood until crumbling at last with the winds of Hurricane Ike. C.L. Spence designed the golf course, and in 1946, it became Alvin Golf & Country Club. From then until it was purchased by Karen and Pat in 2004, the country club was owned equally by 50 stock members, including a share owned by Karen's grandparents. Alvin Golf & Country Club was the only game in town throughout the forties, and not just for golf. The clubhouseSPORTED a piano, and if you catch the wind just right, you can hear the echoes of the music and laughter from the dances of that decade.

The High School
In 1958 Alvin Golf & Country Club began another tradition that stands today: the club became the home course of the Alvin High School Golf team. The Schacht's son, Robert, whom everyone knows as Bob, was in his junior year at Alvin High School. He and Pat Morgan formed the first golf team at Alvin High School in 1958, and they practiced at Alvin Golf & Country Club. Since the team consisted of only two golfers, the boys could only compete in individual events in their tournaments. But the program grew.Now the Alvin High School Golf team has girls and boys teams: Varsity, Junior Varsity, Sophomore, and Freshman. They practice and hold their home golf tournaments at Alvin Golf & Country Club, and golfers on the team are welcome to play at no charge on weekdays. Alvin Golf & Country Club is proud to be the home course of the Alvin High School Golf team.

[Mark McKeever]

Very cool thread guys!  I wonder how many of these places still exist, as estate courses, and how many have evolved into everyday golf courses.


Here in Upperville, VA there is an 18 hole golf course on the Mellon estate.


MM

[Tommy Naccarato]

Breaking these down by state post by post and adding in articles and other information where available.  Please feel free to contribute anything you might have that adds to the story.

California

Charles Cadwell Moore Private Course (Santa Cruz) - Unknown

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford Private Course (Rancho Santa Fe) - Unknown

Harold Lloyd Estate GC (Beverly Hills) - W. Bell

-Golf Illustrated July 1927


-From Golf Architecture In America


Isaac Hillman Private Course (San Leandro) - Bendelow

-The San Francisco Call Jan. 6, 1912


Mortimer Fleishecker Private Course (Woodside/Redwood City) - Unknown

Sunnyland aka Walter Annenberg Estate Course (Rancho Mirage) - Wilson

Will Rogers Private Course (Santa Monica) - Unknown

Sven,
The Harold Lloyd course was pretty cool looking in aerial photographs that I've seen.  It was spread over two pieces of property,my is actual backyard and what seemed like another parcel just across the street, South of it.  Today, the course is solid houses.


There was a story that Lloyd's neighbor's young child walked out onto his property and drowned in the lake.  Lloyd felt so bad that he had the lake drained and then never had another one of his annual golf artys ever again.


Regarding the Will Rodgers course, in the early aerials, I don't think it ever amounted to more then two or three greens with some bunkers on the main lawn in front of the house.  I've been on that lawn and three bunkers remain, The rest of the course is grown over Kykuya grass as one would expect being so close to Riviera.

[Will MacEwen]

In British Columbia, there is a 18 hole Nicklaus course on James Island. You can buy the whole island for $50 million, but be warned that you only own to the high tide line. Beaches are public access. If you want to meet the caretaker just pull ashore. He will buzz by immediately.


Dennis Washington has 9 hole course blasted out of granite on Stuart Island. He says it is the most expensive 9 holes in the world.


In Quebec, the Desmarais family has a private course, as does the Stollery family in Ontario.

[Sven Nilsen]

Ohio

P. B. Chase Private Course (Sparta) - Unknown

Rockefeller Private Course (Cleveland) - Mitchell

-Golfers Magazine Oct. 1905



-Golfers Magazine Jan. 1915

[Sven Nilsen]

Oklahoma

Marland Estate GC (Ponca City) - A. Jackson

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,53812.msg1312614.html#msg1312614

[Sven Nilsen]

Pennsylvania

Charles M. Schwab Estate GC aka Immergrun GC (Loretta) - Emmet

Curtis Private Course (Wyncote) - Connellan

-Golf Illustrated June 1921





Eugene Grace Estate GC (Bethlehem) - P. Maxwell

Grier Hersh Private Course aka Springdale aka CC of York (York) - Hersh/Bendelow

-Club history notes first course laid out by Hersh in 1895.  See Nov. 23, 1898 The Sun article below noting Bendelow laying out a 9 hole course.

H. V. Register Private Course (Overbrook) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



John M. Mack Estate Course (Torresdale) - Unknown

John Y. Boyd Private Course (Harrisburg) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



Joseph B. Kenney Private Course (Germantown) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



Joseph Townsend Private Course (Overbrook) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



Milton Hersey Private Course aka Hershey CC (Hershey) - Unknown/McCarthy

-http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,59041.msg1391851.html#msg1391851

Parrish Private Course (Wilkes-Barre) - Unknown

-Wilkes-Barre Record May 30, 1896



Percy Simpson Private Course (Overbrook) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



Phelps Private Course (Blue Ridge) - Bendelow

-See article above.

Phillip Small Private Course (York) - Bendelow

-The Sun Nov. 23, 1898



T. Harvey Dougherty and Harold Sill Private Course (Germantown) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



W. H. Maule Private Course aka Briar Crest GC (Villanova) - Unknown

-Official Golf Guide of 1902



-Golfers Record of 1903

[Sinclair Eaddy]

Bloomfield Farm, nka Whitemarsh Valley CC (Lafayette Hill, PA) - George C. Thomas 1908

[Jim_Kennedy]

Byron Nelson had a course on his ranch in Roanoke, TX.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Marvin Leonard (Colonial CC) had Joe Finger build (mid '60s) him a personal course on his Starr Hollow Ranch, which later became a rather exclusive club. It's located west of Granbury/north of Tolar, Texas, and it's considered to be the best 9 holer in the state. The 9th green is the same shape as the state itself.
   
http://starrhollowgolf.com/includes/fwmag.pdf

[Sven Nilsen]

Rhode Island

E. H. Potter Private Course (Providence) - Unknown

-Harper's Report 1901



-Official Golf Guide 1902




Francis Kinney Private Course (Narragansett Pier) - Unknown


-Kinney was a tobacco baron who purchased the Anthony Farm in Narragansett in 1897 and built a 9 hole course as part of resort.  Kinney's brother went on to found the town of Venice, CA.

-Official Golf Guide 1902




Ocean Links (Newport) - Macdonald & Raynor

-American Golfer Aug. 1921

[Jim_Kennedy]

ca. 1900 -  Baltimore, MD. - Private six-hole course was laid out on the farm of John G. Clarke on Park Heights Avenue.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
ca. 1900 Lenox, MA.- Erskine Park — Private course of George Westinghouse, Esq.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
ca. 1900 - Pride's Crossing, MA. - Pride's Crossing GC — Private course, laidout over the estates of five residents.
It is in full view of the sea and very beautiful views are obtained from each hole.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
ca. 1900 - Wayland, Ma. - Wayland Golf Club.— Private course on the Heard property, Wayland - Heard's Island, Mass.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
ca. 1900 - West Chester, NY - West Chester GC —  A six-hole course is the property of Francis Canley Thomas.

[Sven Nilsen]

South Carolina

Henrietta Hartford Private Course aka Lexington Plantation (Wando) - Unknown

Tennessee

Clarence Saunders Private Course (Memphis) - Unknown

Texas

Charles Taft Private Course (San Antonio) - Unknown



W. C. Kingsley Private Course (Mineral Wells) - Unknown

[Sven Nilsen]

Vermont


Charles Swift Estate Course aka Grosse Point Estate (Lake Champlain) - Lockwood

John P. Larkin CC aka Hour Glass CC aka F. A. Kennedy Estate Course (Windsor) - Unknown

Kipling Private Course (Brattleboro) - Unknown

Shelburne Farms Course aka W. Seward Webb Private Course (Shelburne) - W. Davis (9 holes added by W. Park)

Theodore N. Vail Private Course aka Sleepwell (Lyndon) - Unknown

[Ed Oden]

Sven, I ran across this article in the September 13, 1925 Brooklyn Daily Eagle relating to the NLE original Deepdale course.





It looks like the original concept was for a course on Vanderbilt's estate strictly for the use of his friends.  I don't know if the course was ever operated that way or whether it immediately became a private club.


All the best,


Ed