Community Golf Course (Hills Course) - Dayton, OHJoe Nicoll 1914,1918,1922, Earl Shock/Donald Ross 1923, Alex Campbell 1927
Doak Scale Score - 4The winding 3rd hole features a steeply uphill approach to a green that runs from front to back.Back in 1924, a true Rocky story happened in Philadelphia only it didn't involve boxing, but rather golf. Italian immigrant Joe Coble came to the United States with his brothers at age 11, landed in New Jersey and soon was caddying at Baltusrol. Incredibly, he caddied for Jerry Travers when the latter won the 1915 US Open there.
Coble went off to Europe to fight in World War I and when he returned moved to Philadelphia. Learning there was a public golf course available to him a Cobb's Creek, Coble took a job just down the street near 69th street station working as a waiter in an all-night restaurant. Enamored (obsessed?) with golf, Coble would leave his job in the middle of the night, sleep 3 hours, walk in the dark to the golf course where he would practice and play and practice and play virtually every day. Somehow he also had time to fall in love and get married to one of waitresses who was several years older than him, and they had two daughters.
Before long Coble was setting scoring records at the course and some folks entered him in tournaments at nearby private courses where he performed exceptionally well. In 1923 he went to the US Public Links tournament losing in the semi-final but the following year when the tournament was held in Dayton, Ohio at the Hills course of Community Golf Club he managed to win despite the crowd openly rooting against him largely because of his silent, stoic nature.
There's much more to the story but that will have to wait for the book.
Joe Coble driving from the first tee at Community Golf Course during the 1924 U.S. Public Links tournament.In any case, once I learned that not only did Community Golf Course still exist, but that it was virtually unchanged from the course Coble played, I made it a personal mission to get there. People at the clubhouse seemed surprised by my zeal when I arrived Coble-like at the crack of dawn but sometimes I think it's a case of not fully appreciating what you have. For indeed, despite less than manicured conditioning, the golf course itself was quite good, and in places, thrilling.
The course(s) were a gift to the city from John D. Patterson, who started the National Cash Register Company. Set on a parkland property that climbs into some rather hilly terrain, two courses (the Hills and Dales) were fashioned here. (the full story can be found here
https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,63914.msg1606286.html#msg1606286 )
The Hills course essentially plays around the perimeter of the property which is by far the most interesting and challenging terrain while the shorter Dales course sits mostly in the flattish plain in the middle. There's a lot to like here, and I found myself very impressed by the ability of Coble and his opponent Henry Decker playing a 36 hole finale on foot, with the Coble winning 2&1. These guys were made of sterner stuff.
So if you find yourself in Dayton with a few hours to spare, take a walk in their footsteps, or maybe even ride, and see if you don't find the same charm in the low-key setting surrounded by history and some rather good golf.