[Colin Sheehan]

Brad and Dave,
Thank you for the nice words.


When I go to a course, I'm not someone who collects pencils or match books or tees or ballmarkers or buys shirts or tee shirts or Tervis Tumbles or whatever. Pretty much the only thing I keep from a visit to a course, other than the memory, is a scorecard and occasionally a tour visor. I enjoy having the cards in shoe boxes in the closet of my office and they tend to remain in chronological order from when they were played so I especially enjoy flipping through them and coming to a dozen from an overseas trip or a spring break out west to California. And I should add, there is never any scores written down on them.

But most clubs don't have any scorecard pride. They are on mushy paper stock and filled with redundant information and have miserably cluttered layouts and five sets of tees with five sets of handicaps. Like wft?


About 12 years ago, the archivist in the Yale Athletic Department handed me this gorgeous card of the Yale course from 1933. It was one of those moments, which many of probably have all the time, when I thought, "Wow...how did it all go so wrong?"


We had a fascimile of that card made and it was included in the Golf at Yale book published back then. I had a couple hundred extra copies printed and and every time I showed the card to someone, they instantly loved it.


Back in the fall of 2018, there was this New Haven Arts Space event at Erector Square in the Fairhaven section. It is an old factory building that is now home to artists studios and it was like an open door event where you could wander into each studio and see their work.


One of them was Dexterity Press, home of Jeff Mueller, a very talented letter press artist when he isn't kicking ass with his punk band. Jeff uses a 120-year-old German press he brought with him from Chicago when he wife took a job at Yale. The whole studio was filled with his art and all the machinery of a historic print shot.


While in his studio, it occurred to me to approach him about doing some letterpress scorecards and bring back the lost art of tasteful, vintage scorecards with devotion to typeface, layout, colors and paper stock. With a friend, I made three day trips to the USGA museum and photographed hundreds and hundreds of pre-WW2 scorecards of all the famous courses, living and dead.


I briefly had dreams of it being a commercial endeavor. That's definitely not the case. But I love making them for friends and clubs I like whenever possible. The first card I had done was for the New Year Foursomes at Ohoopee, an event Will Smith and I co-hosted in January of 2019. The moment it came off the press and Jeff trimmed and scored it, we were instantly makers of the finest scorecards in golf. Here's some proofs for cards.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/uQbA6cJ6uHzh2Bp98


And regarding Yale, here's a slideshow of the all the measurements of the course and as many cards as I could find through the years. https://photos.app.goo.gl/UWmAMripioMacz6U9

[Ira Fishman]

Colin,


That is great tour through Yale history. I cannot remember what version was being used in 1976, but I can remember writing down some horrid scores when Coach Paterson encouraged me to try out for the team. He caught me practicing in the nets at Payne Whitney. I informed him that my practice swing was a lot better than my real one, but he pointed out that the worst that could happen is that I got a couple of free rounds on the terrific course. After the second day, Coach Paterson came up to me and without missing a beat said, "You were right."


Ira

[Jeff Schley]

Colin very impressive products. I love the Fisher's Island card. Two toned is stunning. Out of curiosity how much would it cost to make a card did you guys figure? Would be cool for big events at some clubs I would think.

[Josh Woodward]

While in his studio, it occurred to me to approach him about doing some letterpress scorecards and bring back the lost art of tasteful, vintage scorecards with devotion to typeface, layout, colors and paper stock.

@Colin Sheehan, been following your work on IG for quite some time now. Thanks for being willing to fill a void (excellently architected scorecards) with your talents. No doubt their will be scores of shoeboxes filled with your work in the future! Well done.

[mike_beene]

I finally figured out what I like: a simple scorecard with back and front yardages, par and course rating. Logo on front and the three or four local rules. The local rules are unique reminders( or curiosities) and interesting to read. A course map gives the mystery away.

[mike_beene]

And I can do without: please smooth sand in traps, repair divot marks, and no sex in bathroom by 14 tee. In my view the membership should already know these.

[MCirba]

I'm conflicted on course maps.


On one hand they can be garish, but the one I have from North Berwick West links in 1985 is spectacularly simple and ultimately useful.


Further, if not for a course map on a scorecard I likely would never have played golf in the first place.  A few weeks before my 13th birthday some older friends of mine went to play and I chided them on their return, asking why they would want to play "an old man sport".   Having zero prior exposure, I guess I imagined golf as a form of croquet.


One of them pulled out a scorecard with a course map on the front, saying...on this hole you have to hit around woods, on this you have to hit over a pond, and so on...


Suddenly fascinated by the idea, and impressed with the scale I never imagined prior, I determined to join them if they ever went again and the rest is history.

[Sean_A]

I'm conflicted on course maps.

On one hand they can be garish, but the one I have from North Berwick West links in 1985 is spectacularly simple and ultimately useful.

Further, if not for a course map on a scorecard I likely would never have played golf in the first place.  A few weeks before my 13th birthday some older friends of mine went to play and I chided them on their return, asking why they would want to play "an old man sport".   Having zero prior exposure, I guess I imagined golf as a form of croquet.

One of them pulled out a scorecard with a course map on the front, saying...on this hole you have to hit around woods, on this you have to hit over a pond, and so on...

Suddenly fascinated by the idea, and impressed with the scale I never imagined prior, I determined to join them if they ever went again and the rest is history.

I'll give you a basic stick map. A proper map is for the course planner as should be the case for all the bells and whistles.

Ciao

[Jeff Shelman]

I like simple, especially on the front. I would say that if you are at a private club, you already know where you are and you don't need to name the club in big letters on the front of the card.


Pat, for your project in particular, there are too many words on the front of the card. I'd just roll with the flag/logo prominent in the middle with potentially some words at the bottom.


Also, I would make sure they are narrow enough to fit easily in a back pocket or in standard scorecard holders.


I was at a couple of places recently where the card was too wide to fit in my scorecard holder. Not a deal breaker, but a preference.

[Ben Hollerbach]

I'm conflicted on course maps.

On one hand they can be garish, but the one I have from North Berwick West links in 1985 is spectacularly simple and ultimately useful.

I'll give you a basic stick map. A proper map is for the course planner as should be the case for all the bells and whistles.

Ciao

Maps can be tricky, Often the look of a routing map goes in contrast to a clean and simple look desired for a scorecard. A stick routing can be a good compromise, but then the question you have to ask is what is the purpose for the stick routing? if you have a course that crosses over itself multiple times, the stick routing can be helpful to navigate you to the correct hole, but that's about all it provides. If you want to communicate course design information, the yardage book is clearly the best avenue for that.


I designed a walkers scorecard for Sweetens Cove that used a course map for the front. It works both as an aesthetic design decision and as an aid for first timers who don't know the course. With the multiple other routings they sometimes use out there, you can also change the routing on the front to reflect the routing for the occasion, rather than provide players a secondary piece of paper.

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