[Kevin Mendik]

I have been fortunate to research and publish work on several relatively unknown and underappreciated American golf architects including Wayne Stiles, Dick Wilson and now H. C. Leeds. Their golf courses and individual holes continue to challenge golfers and remain relevant today. Much has been altered, but many great examples of their original work remain, and equally important, are available to the public.

My research on Mr. Leeds was initially to be included in a book to follow Shaping the American Landscape (The Cultural landscape Foundation 2009), but I learned last fall that his profile did not make it through the editorial process; the editors choosing instead to include modern (post WWII) golf architects Dick Wilson and Geoffrey Cornish. I had concluded long ago that Leeds’s work was groundbreaking, well ahead of its time, and extremely important to the history of American golf architecture, hence the decision to seek a broader outlet for the research.

I naturally turned to GCA and spent additional time expanding the piece, adding photos and other images. Given that only 4 of his courses are extant and only 1 is public (although Palmetto allows a degree of public play during Masters Week), few golfers have had the pleasure (assuming one likes climbing stairs in and out of bunkers) of playing over his designs. His seminal work at the Myopia Hunt Club is largely intact, and given its competition history, classic early American golfscape and today’s restoration efforts, this article offers more glimpses of that club and its history.

I have been extremely fortunate to have spent considerable time at Myopia over many years, and with the valuable input and assistant of several people at the club, are able to bring this research to GCA. I look forward to your comments, discussions and queries (no doubt I have missed or mischaracterized some things here) and appreciate your collective patience in my responses. 

My primary goal is simple: to give Mr. Leeds the recognition he deserves as one of the most important figures in the development of American golf architecture. Here is the link:

http://golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/mendik-kevin-h-c-leeds-the-papa-of-american-golf-architecture/

 From my home office in Waban, Massachusetts overlooking a classic American golf course, August 2016. 

Regards,

Kevin

[Sven Nilsen]

Kevin:


Greatly enjoyed your piece.  Looking forward to the conversation that ensues.


Two quick thoughts:


1.  It was Tom Bendelow, not Stuart, that was the architect.


2.  Bendelow outpaced Findlay (referring to the quantity of their work and importance in the grand scheme of American golf course design) like Bolt outpaced Gatlin last night.


Sven

[Michael Whitaker]

Kevin,

You might want to take note that Palmetto is located in Aiken, South Carolina... not Georgia as is indicated in your text.

[Ronald Montesano]

Great stuff. Page 4 has a repetition of a large quote (probably intended to be a different quote):


After his visit to the UK, Leeds continued to revise the Myopia course based on the direct influence of what he saw in the UK, with impressive results. Myopia was far more challenging than anything golfers who had not played the game in the British Isles had experienced, as expressed in a 1903 description in Golf of collegiate matches with teams visiting from the U.K.[4][/font][/size]
[/color]“There is little doubt in the minds of the English players that the best course on which they played was that of the Myopia Hunt Club in Massachusetts. The reason why this course proved so popular was because it presented many of the characteristics of the British links. The holes are made to fit into the natural lie of the ground, and the ground is not tortured and twisted so as to afford holes of the supposed ideal lengths. Moreover, natural hazards are made use of and brought into play wherever possible, and the greens are not banked up and made true with a spirit level, but are left naturally rolling and undulating. All this is admirable, and it proves what a great advance has been made in the American conception of a great golf course.”
[/color]The Massachusetts Golf Association was formed in 1903 with Leeds serving as the first President. He convinced the new body to hold the first Massachusetts Amateur at Myopia, which was played that September and won by Arthur Lockwood. That fall, in the November issue of Golf, an English writer commented as follows on intercollegiate matches held that summer between teams from England and the U.S.:
[/color]There is little doubt in the minds of the English players that the best course on which they played was that of the Myopia Hunt Club in Massachusetts. The reason why this course proved so popular was because it presented many of the characteristics of the British links. The holes are made to fit into the natural lie of the ground, and the ground is not tortured and twisted so as to afford holes of the supposed ideal lengths. Moreover, natural hazards are made use of and brought into play wherever possible, and the greens are not banked up and made true with a spirit level, but are left naturally rolling and undulating. All this is admirable, and it proves what a great advance has been made in the American conception of a great golf course.

[MCirba]

Thanks Ran and Kevin...can't wait to read the piece tomorrow.

[MCirba]

Thanks for the detailed look at Leeds, Kevin.   

I have a few questions, some based on past conversations here that seemed to end in stalemate.   Any insight you may have from club records or other archival materials would be most appreciated.

First, were you able to determine the specifics and locations of the first nine holes, purportedly laid out in March 1894 by Appleton, Gardner, and Merrill?   I'd be curious to understand the difference(s) between those holes and the "Long Nine" by Leeds a few years later.    Related, did you come across anything on Willie Campbell, who was brought over that spring to work at Brookline, but who a few newspaper accounts mentioned "laid out" Myopia at that time, as well?

You also mentioned that Weeks claimed to have access to Leeds' journals, and perhaps other club records.   Does he mention that specifically in his 1975 book and what else does he use as sources in that regard?

As regards to Kebo Valley, I had the great pleasure of playing there this summer and it has some very distinct and noticeable comparisons to Myopia, as you mentioned.   It also appears from newspaper evidence that Leeds "introduced" golf there, rather than adding to an existing course as has been reported elsewhere.   I'm not sure if you came across the related thread but there is some very good stuff in it. 

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,5224.msg1504281.html#msg1504281

Last question; I believe I read where Leeds had some type of birthmark on the left side of his face that caused him to only be photographed (and rarely) from his right side.   Did you come across any personal accounts of the man or get any insight into his personality beyond his sporting achievements?

Thanks again for broadening our understanding of this rather unusual and accomplished architect.

[Kevin Mendik]

I  believe Weeks had access to Leeds' journals when he wrote his book in 1975, but they have not resurfaced. I'm not close to my copy now, but will have a look.
Glad you saw Kebo Valley, great experience. I recall hearing Kebo did not have golf before Leeds' work, but there was likely some type of pasture or natural golf holes in the area. Plenty of folks in Bar Harbor in the early 1890s who would have been exposed to golf in Boston, NY area or other locations and wanted to bring the game to their summer homes. Leeds likely laid out what were then considered more formal golf holes than what folks ,at have been playing on in the area at that time.
As for  golf pre Leeds at MHC, I'll run that by their historian and see what he knows. Again as with Kebo, likely the game was getting started at Hamilton in the early 1890s before they asked Leeds to lay out a proper golf course (foot that time).
Re the birthmark, it was a large red area that covered a lot of the left side of his face, thus he avoided any exposure on that side. I've never seen so much as a straight on photo of him; the four in the article are the only ones we found of him.
 He was pretty outspoken about Myopia's course; the only time he acceded to making a major change was making the 16th (original 9th hole) into a par 3; it had been a blind par four with the tee back near today's 15th green. Apparently it was a bit much even for the intrepid golfers of the day. Wish we had more info about the kind of person he was. No doubt highly intelligent, well travelled and a high achiever in anything he put his mind to.

[MCirba]

Thanks for your response(s), Kevin....much appreciated.

Any sources cited by Weeks in his book would be insightful when you have a chance, thanks!

[Sven Nilsen]

Its been around three weeks since this thread was first posted.  I was hoping some of the obvious errors in the linked article would be corrected, starting with the reference to Stuart Bendelow (Stuart is the grandson of Tom Bendelow).


There should be no debates as to who was the more prolific architect between Tom Bendelow and Alex Findlay.  The numbers speak for themselves, and it was Bendelow, not Findlay, that was referred to as the Johnny Appleseed of American golf.


If this was merely a draft, the corrections above are a good place to start on an edit.


Sven

[Jeff Bergeron]

Now, this is what I'm talking about! Fantastic!

[MCirba]

Sven,

As early as the 1920's, Alex Findlay was being called "The Father of American Golf" in the US newspapers. 

Hopefully Jeff Bergeron will enjoy our subsequent discussion on these and other matters. 

[Jeff Bergeron]

Sven,

As early as the 1920's, Alex Findlay was being called "The Father of American Golf" in the US newspapers. 

Hopefully Jeff Bergeron will enjoy our subsequent discussion on these and other matters. 

Come on Man! You know I only said what you and the gods are thinking.

[Sven Nilsen]

Sven,

As early as the 1920's, Alex Findlay was being called "The Father of American Golf" in the US newspapers. 

Mike:


That's great, but it doesn't change the facts that Bendelow (whose first name was Tom) was the more prolific of the two and was dubbed the "Johnny Appleseed" of American golf.


Sven

[MCirba]

Come on Man! You know I only said what you and the gods are thinking.

Come on Man!   I'm trying!! 

What...no love for my Rod Griscom  thread?  I did so easy serious digging for that one although I can see where most don't care much about early Philly social aristocracy.

[Kevin Mendik]

Folks, thanks for your notes about Mr. Bendelow and the text which have been corrected. My goal in referencing pre-1900 golf architecture in this country was to try and illustrate that the work done by Leeds at Myopia was well ahead of its time. Bendelow and Findlay also deserve their place among the pioneers of American golf architecture.

[Sven Nilsen]

Kevin:


I've copied two paragraphs from your piece below.  As noted above, there is no argument that Bendelow was the most prolific golf architect in America during the time frame you reference.  To state otherwise is an error.  It was also Bendelow, not Findlay, that was referred to as golf's Johnny Appleseed.  Where Findlay was mostly an East Coast architect, Bendelow's courses spanned the country, and it was his work and travels that brought golf and golf courses to many of the small towns across the United States.


Sven


C.B. Macdonald is often credited with introducing the concept of golf architecture to America through his use at National Golf Links of America of many features from the great golf holes found in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe. Alexander Findlay was arguably the most prolific golf architect in America during the late 19th and early 20th century and many of today’s great clubs got their starts on his layouts.
Leeds, the only of the three to be born in America, designed and built equally challenging and interesting holes at Myopia well before NGLA was conceived, and before he had focused closely, during his 1902 visit, on the great links of the UK. If CBM is considered the father of American golf architecture and Mr. Findlay golf’s Johnny Appleseed; in this author’s opinion, Mr. Leeds is clearly the Papa of American golf architecture and deserves his place among the best.

[MCirba]

I came upon a few interesting pieces about Findlay recently that I'll try to post as time permits this week. 

Early American golf was very fortunate to have both Mr. Bendelow and Mr. Findlay. 

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