Was East Lake Better in 1955?

[Sven Nilsen]

April 5, 1908 Atlanta Constitution -

[Sven Nilsen]

May 1910 Golf Magazine -











June 1910 Golf Magazine -




 

[Sven Nilsen]

Nov. 1911 American Golfer-

[Sven Nilsen]

Dec. 1912 Golf Magazine -

[Sven Nilsen]

1913 Spalding's Official Golf Guide







April 1914 Golf Magazine -

[Sven Nilsen]

A few old images:

[Sven Nilsen]

A 1914 Spaulding's Official Golf Guide article penned by O. B. Keeler.

[Matthew Mollica]

Thanks so much Mr. Crosby and Sven (and others) who have contributed to this thread. I have often wondered about East Lake having driven by it on my one visit to Georgia many years ago. And also while reading O.B Keeler's "Autobiography of an Average Golfer". Thanks for fleshing out the details in this informative thread.

[BCrosby]

Thanks Sven. Good stuff.

I had not seen the OB Keeler piece from the Spalding Golf Guide. It is the first reference to A.H. Findlay I have seen.

Adair got around. Adair, Harry Atkinson (CBM's close friend and the founder of what is now The Southern Company) and Maiden did a tour of courses in NE and in Scotland in the summer of 1912. As I recall CBM took them around NGLA.

Bob


P.S. I meant to mention that if you are going to argue that EL is a Ross course, Keeler's entry in the Spalding guide is another 'dog that didn't bark' story you will need to account for.

[BCrosby]

The Spalding guide brings to mind an interesting sidebar. Chick Evans spent several winters in Atlanta playing EL while staying with Adair. For reasons I have never understood, Bob Jones disliked Evans. Jones would have been a kid at the time of the Evans visits and no doubt first met him then. Even as a teenager Jones would have given Evans a test. He had won the GA amateur at 14, held the course record at EL, played in an Open at Merion a couple of years later, etc.

They played together on a couple of Walker Cup teams in the early 1920's. Accounts note (subtly) that there was friction between the two, something unusual for Jones who got along with most everyone. I've wondered if their relationship didn't first go off the rails back at EL during Evans' visits to Atlanta. 

If anyone has an insight on the Evans/Jones thing, I would love to hear it.

Bob 

[Sven Nilsen]

Thanks Sven. Good stuff.

I had not seen the OB Keeler piece from the Spalding Golf Guide. It is the first reference to A.H. Findlay I have seen.

Adair got around. Adair, Harry Atkinson (CBM's close friend and the founder of what is now The Southern Company) and Maiden did a tour of courses in the NE and in Scotland in the summer of 1912. As I recall CBM took them around NGLA.

Bob

Bob:


In one of the earlier articles, Findlay is noted as having approved of the site Bendelow would design the course on.  Don't think he had any input into what went on the ground, but he was certainly consulted on suitability.


Sven

[Ben Hollerbach]

I recently came across a very high resolution aerial of East Lake from 1949. It is the cleanest I've seen from the time showing both the no. 1 and no. 2 courses. Especially the split green composition on both courses. (click on the images to see them in a larger format)




When comparing the course as it was prior to Cobb's renovation and how it is played today, Its amazing how much of the current front 9 has changed, while the back 9 has stayed relatively intact.

[Tim_Weiman]

As BC says, most of the ATL guys that were around feel the course across the street was better and was a Ross.  As for why the present course is referred to as a Ross....well he doesn't charge for his name the way a Nicklaus or other sig would .   While it can be argued the old course was better, there is no argument that the present conditions are as good as the tour will see most years.  That is what the average golfer sees and relates to with EL.  Adding the "Ross" to it for him just makes it that much better.  And there is no doubt the reverse of the nines will make it a much better tourney this year...
The sad thing about EL is there is not a club atmosphere since the rework.  It is so corporate that no one seems to be a member.  Just watch sometime and the front of the clubhouse will be littered with Clubgloves covers waiting for rides tot the airport....just big corporate golf.....

Mike,


Cool post. So, if the event at Eastlake has become “just big corporate golf” what was the best contrary example?


I would have to nominate the 2000 Irish Open at Ballybunion. What other golf tournament had anything like the parade thru town with a band marching to The Rolling Stones “Sympathy for the Devil”?


That was just the start. The town was wall to wall with people drinking until 3-4 AM!


I remember Darren Clarke telling a young Thomas Bjorn “We’re here to play Irish golf, not the F-ing Tiger Woods golf”.


Hope you are well!