[Thomas Dai]

Forgive me if this has been covered by another thread or threads, but I would like to know more about the constructor companies, foremen, the guys on the ground who worked with/for the architects on GB courses built during the period up to say WWII.

Who were they and where did they work? Did they move between construction firms? Did they work with different architects? Did they even work in different countries? How many would typically be in an onsite crew and what different roles would they play?

For example, I've read that Harry Colt often used Harris Bros to construct many of his GB courses. Similarly that in GB Alister MacKenzie often used his brother Charles.

But who else did the actual construction work for Colt and MacKenzie in GB......and which courses?

And not just Colt and MacKenzie either. What about courses by the likes of Braid, Fowler, Simpson and others operating in the period up to say WWII?

Thoughts, details or advice as to other GCA threads or general further reading welcome.

Not just GB either, worldwide if you wish.

Atb

[Blake Conant]

Simpson predominantly used Suttons and Sons of Reading.

[Thomas Dai]

Thanks Blake.
Others?
Atb

[Niall C]

Braid developed a close working relationship with John R Stutt from about the early 1920's onwards, possibly due to the number of courses around Glasgow near where Stutt was based.

Niall

[Sean_A]

Colt = Frank Harris Bros; there is also the myserious Auguste Legouix used as a foreman starting with Swinley


Simpson = Suttons


Braid = Stutt


MacKenzie = Charles Mac GB&I 1921 to 1929; Jack Fleming, Robert Hunter & Perry Maxwell, Russell & Morcom


Willie Park Jr = I think he did a load of his construction supervision


Fowler = same as WPJ


Ciao

[Bret Lawrence]

In the USA, Willie Park Jr. and Fowler were tied to Carters Seeds.  The construction firm of Peterson, Sinclair and Miller did a lot of their construction work in the Northeast and Midwest.  Peterson, Sinclair and Miller were also involved with the construction of courses for Strong, Ross, Stiles and Van Kleek and Tillinghast in the early 20's.


Tull and Tull did some work for Walter Travis.


Alfred Tull did a lot of construction work for Devereux Emmet.


Calvert Winsborough was responsible for the construction of some of Tillinghasts redesigns such as Norwood, Brooklawn and Sleepy Hollow.

[Ed Homsey]

In addition to Willliam Tull, Travis used William Flynn to construct some of his courses, e.g. the Westchester-Biltmore courses, Onondaga GCC.

[Jim McCann]

I found out just the other day that Fred Hawtree constructed the bunkers on the East course at Sundridge Park in London for James
Braid, circa 1910.


Martin, Hawtree's grandson, confirmed that his grandfather worked with Braid for a while before he hooked up with J. H. Taylor and Braid joined forces with Stutt.


I was told: "the two gentlemen had something of a falling out over a sale of shares from JB to FG of the American Baking Company". 

[Stu Wolffe]

Who helped who? Architects, construction co's, foremen etc.
Below is a list of individuals and companies that did work on courses designed by A W Tillinghast.  This list will eventually be added to the Tillinghast Association website...It is a work in progress by the Association with John Yerger being the worker bee.
We have updated the website and the list of Original Designs and Renovations and have used dates the courses opened.  There is sometimes confusion on these dates and we continue to improve on them.   As the group knows, many times temporary courses opened during the construction which helps lead to this confusion.
We have also added Course Examinations and Proposals.  These are courses Tillinghast either inspected or made proposals for but he didn’t get the work.
As I mentioned most, if not all of this research has been done but John Yerger.   
John believes that the Tillinghast Construction Company may very well have contributed to his personal financial problems.
We think it was started circa sometime in the early 20’s and by all appearances “Tillinghast Construction” dissolved at the end of 1923 / circa 1923. We are still doing research on this.
Some of the evidence:  In 1923, John Elliff stayed at Winged Foot as its greens keeper after building the course.  Willard Willkinson, his assistant, began his own business in early 1924, with Tillinghast helping procure his first two jobs.  David Honeyman, who we believe was his principle partner, continued to do work for Tillinghast. He later became the first superintendent at Forest Hills Field Club after completing the course in 1926. James McGovern left “Tillinghast Construction” at the end of 1923 and became a lead mine engineer for Henry Frick.  We believe another member of the construction company / team was Irving Stringer.
It is interesting that late 1923, Tillinghast had a very public auction of personal assets that was advertised in the New York Times and other metropolitan newspapers.  Some of the items included paintings, one by Edward Hopper, autographs and a large collection of books.
There is a strong likelihood that Tillinghast looked at the construction business as a way to leverage his architecture business but possibly it unfortunately may have contributed to his financial woes.
Below is a list of the Construction Firms John and the Tillinghast Association has attributed:
Construction Firms
Tillinghast Construction
Binghamton Country Club (Irving Stringer)
Brook Hollow Golf Club (David Honeyman)
Erie Golf Club (David Honeyman)
Newport Country Club (David Honeyman)
Owego Country Club (Irving Stringer)
River Crest Country Club (David Honeyman)
Sunnehanna Country Club (David Honeyman)
Tulsa Country Club (David Honeyman)
Williamsport Country Club (David Honeyman)
Winged Foot Golf Club (John Elliff)
Peter Lees (Tillinghast wrote “he has constructed  7 for me”)
Essex County Country Club
Hermitage Country Club
Norwood Country Club
Quaker Ridge Golf Club
St Albans Golf Club
Somerset Hills Golf Club
Franklin Meehan and Sons
Baltimore Country Club
Cedarbrook Country Club
Coffee Pot Golf Golf Club
St Petersburg Country Club/Davista
Shawnee on the Delaware
David Honeyman
Forest Hills Field Club (after building this he became its superintendent)
Southward Ho!
Wyoming Valley Country Club
Calvert Winsborough
Brooklawn-Engineer
Norwood-(1930)
Sleepy Hollow-Engineer
Tom Winton
Bailey Park Golf Club
Quaker Ridge Golf Club (5-holes 1927)
Lewis and Valentine
Fresh Meadow Country Club
Jackson Heights Country Club
Maurice McCarthy
Kingsport Country Club
Loon Lake Country Club
T.H Riggs-Miller
Swope Park
Bethpage Park
Alex McKay
Beavertail Country Club
George Low
Bluff Point Golf and Country Club
Midwick
A.G Vermilye
Bonnie Briar Country Club
Ralph Martin Barton
Bridgton-Highland
Arthur Peterson
Colonial Country Club
B.B Brooks
Davis Island Golf Club
T.F. Moorehead
New Castle Country Club
William Tucker
Ridgewood Country Club
D. Lloyd Reese
Old Oaks/Progress Country Club/engineer as well Engineers
Tillinghast Construction
Newport Country Club -James T McGovern
Sunnehanna Country Club-James T McGovern
Winged Foot Golf Club-James T McGovern
H.L Moffett
Island Hills Golf Club
Ridgewood Country Club

[Thomas Dai]

Stu,


Great stuff. JY must have spent a lot of time on research.


Anyone know of somthing similar for other architects?


Atb

[Ian Mackenzie]

In the US - specifically in Chicago - I believe there are examples where Ross was the foreman/construction guy for  Colt/Allison. ROss worked for CA around 1912-1916 then came back after the war to embark on his prolific solo career in the 20s.

[Niall C]

I found out just the other day that Fred Hawtree constructed the bunkers on the East course at Sundridge Park in London for James
Braid, circa 1910.


Martin, Hawtree's grandson, confirmed that his grandfather worked with Braid for a while before he hooked up with J. H. Taylor and Braid joined forces with Stutt.


I was told: "the two gentlemen had something of a falling out over a sale of shares from JB to FG of the American Baking Company".

Jim


It couldn't have been that bad a falling out since Taylor & Hawtree did the construction for one of Braids courses on the southside of Glasgow, can't remember which off hand but possibly Cathcart Castle. I suppose John Henry might have acted as a go between or alternatively the club instructed Taylor & Hawtree direct.


Niall

[Tom_Doak]

Stu Wolffe:  that is a great list and I think it does well to show that any accomplished architect is likely to have worked with a ton of talented helpers over their career - that's one of the main reasons they were so accomplished! 


Many will try to assign the lion's share of credit to one or two guys by looking for particular names, but that is often unfair to the others.  A really valuable construction guy or lead associate is usually working on one main project for 12-18 months, so if the designer is building multiple courses at a time, there must be different guys filling the key roles at each.


I noticed in the Rank My Courses thread that my top 5 courses were supervised by five different lead associates:


Brian Slawnik at Tara Iti
Jim Urbina at Pacific Dunes
Brian Schneider at Barnbougle
Bruce Hepner at Ballyneal
Eric Iverson at Rock Creek


That said, the greens on all of my best courses were generally shaped by the same guys:  four of the five above (all except Bruce), plus Kye Goalby (4-5 courses), Jerame Miller and Gil Hanse (2 courses each), and myself.


Somewhere I have a fuller list of credits and which guys worked where.  For my best projects I would say it's typical for 5-7 guys on site to have contributed something of value to the design, and over my 35 courses that must include at least 40 people in total.

[Thomas Dai]

Some interesting insights and acknowledgements here. Thanks for sharing.
Others?
Atb

[Stu Wolffe]

Tom thanks for the response and I believe that was the main goal John had when he began researching this aspect of golf course architecture.
One of our / The Tillinghast Association goals is try and provide information to broaden our understanding of the “Tillinghast” legacy as well as to help acknowledge the people that contributed to his work.
We know he didn’t do it alone!   Through John’s research it has become obvious over a period of time that he had a trusted a group of people he knew he could rely on. 
He didn’t always get to pick who was hired to do the construction but when you look at the period from 1920-1924 he certainly had some influence and John believes it also coincided with many of his best courses and you can argue that is true. 
Tilly very well may have looked at a construction company as an avenue to make money.  But he most certainly had to be aware of the impact the construction team would have on the quality of what he designed.
 
John offline asked that I add his direct thoughts…
 
“There's a reason many of Tillinghasts best creations took place when he had his company. He had an outstanding staff of knowledgeable people.  Some of his best early works were done by Peter Lees, his reputation was beyond reproach when he was hired to build Lido.  Sadly Somerset Hills is the only “true” Tillinghast/Lees course left from that era but what a great legacy!  The sketches from his early work show the influence of Mid-Surrey and Lees.  The most overlooked person in course design was the engineer.  The managing of water was critical and while land was moved many times bunkers were put in places to act as short term holding ponds with internal drainage or to divert water. When these were moved or changed there were unintended consequences that were not appreciated by the superintendent or grounds chairman.”
 
I noticed a mistake in the list I posted before…I made it a bit clearer (I hope). 
 

[Ian Andrew]

For you Stu,


 Scarboro G&CC in Toronto

Out of the minute books:

On June 25^th, the membership approved the proposed work in a special meeting after the Greens Committee had already approved everything. In July 1924, Tillinghast arrives with his construction foreman, Mr. Honeyman, a team of horses, and plough to begin construction. He insisted his own men supervised construction (at the cost of 10% of the total cost of the project). While Tillinghast had promised no disruption, there were still numerous complaints about the disturbance during construction. Tillinghast made a visit on October 29^th and he advised that the bush on the new 3^rd fairway be cleared that winter. He was quite satisfied with the growth of the greens.




 

[Stu Wolffe]

Ian....thanks that is excellent! 


Thanks! 

[Ed Homsey]

William Harries was in charge of the construction of the course that Travis designed for Cherry Hill Club, in southern Ontario.  Harries created a course map that was identical to the original Travis map, with the exception of a few details, including a reversal of the nines.  Cherry Hill Club has a wonderful set of greens that most attribute to Travis, but I wonder about the Harries influence.

[Thomas Dai]

Would it have benefitted those designing and laying out courses in the period after 1918 that the guys overseeing the job on site or the guys within the construction crew had likely served in or witnessed trench building and camouflaging during WWI? I am not thinking steam shovel construction here more manual labour, horses and scoops.
Atb

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