Attention Historians - What's on your wish list?

[Philip Gordillo]

Virtually all club historians know how maddening it is to be missing an important item from your club's archives.  This could be documents from your club's founding, additional details of a significant historical event, or maybe even a special piece of memorabilia that was lost over time.  Perhaps this thread will only interest a small group of GCA'ers (misery tends to love company  ) but I'll offer what's important to me with the hopes that the collective power of this group can offer support, advice, humor, or maybe be on the lookout for what is posted.  At Metairie Country Club, below are three items that I think about often and would be elated if eventually found.


Pipe dream:  Seth Raynor's original plans and/or clay models of Metairie Golf Club.  Yeah, I know, probably no chance in hell after >100 years, world wars, hurricanes, floods, renovations, etc.  But I can still dream!


Long shot:  William E. Stauffer Memorial Cup.  Mr. Stauffer was one of our founders, and a member of NGLA, who secured Seth Raynor and was instrumental in sending Joe Bartholomew to Long Island to gather the plans and to get trained in construction.  He died before the course was completed but his friends at National donated a trophy in his memory.  The deed to the cup was signed by C.B. Macdonald, George Walker, and many others.


Just maybe:  Photos of the Bobby Jones exhibition on January 6, 1935.  This one I actually think may be eventually found.  The Times Picayune sent a photographer to document the event but the newspaper sold off their photo archives many years ago.  I have poor versions of two photos from the newspaper article the following day but would love to see better quality versions.


So what is on your wish list?

[Greg Hohman]

Philip, I am not a club historian in the conventional sense, rather a writer who frequently uses history as springboard for fiction. This week I seem to have acquired a coveted item: a map identifying the outdoor sculptures adjoining Flynn's course at Kykuit, the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills, and their locations. Seem to have? The description of the map in a Rockefeller archive of which I was not aware leaves little doubt that it is the prize. Waiting for electronic access.

Of course I already have The Nature Faker.

[Jon Cavalier]

I am certainly not a historian, but ever since we did the book for Sleepy Hollow (and even before that), I have so badly wanted to see photos of the original 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th holes of the 1911 Charles Blair Macdonald course, as seen on the hand-drawn map below.  In the aerial photo (which I believe is circa 1922), you can still see the remnants of those holes, including the then-16th green, which must have been an absolutely epic par-5.








The holes are now underneath the homes of Briarcliff Manor.

[Ally Mcintosh]

For my own club (Portmarnock), the holy grail to find would be the 1919 design report by Colt. There were a number of changes made to the course in the 20’s by Guppy Cairnes and I’m absolutely sure most of them would have come from Colt… believed lost in the clubhouse fire.


I’ve also searched in vain for photos of the Mackenzie first three holes at Lahinch which were only in existence between 1928 and 1935. Plenty photos from before and after. None from that period, of any holes for that matter.

[Robin_Hiseman]

Restoring the lost holes of Sunningdale New Course would be thriling. They are still sitting there in the woods, with the shaping intact. The Course Manager cleared the hole corridors a decade or so ago but nothing came of rebuilding them. Maybe Gil Hanse's input will make a difference this time.

[Ronald Montesano]

I'd love to dive into the archives of the Country Club of Buffalo. The local muni where I grew up, Grover Cleveland, is the remnants of the second iteration of the club, and the site of the 1912 USGA Open Championship. The course was born near Delaware Park, where a few holes were crafted. Adjacent to the were the holes of the rival Park Club (get it?)

Both clubs moved to Williamsville in the 1920s. Park made the one move to its current site (Maple Road) while CCBuffalo headed a bit east to Main/Bailey, then out to Youngs Road.

My desires would be sated by a sense of the original, Nottingham Terrace holes, a look at the 1912 layout, and the plans for the current course. When the current course was restored, the decision was made to not restore the 17th hole. Members had grown too fond of a tree that sprang up in the line of what was the fairway, before RTJsr moved it north and added (shocker) a pond.

[Richard Fisher]

The holy grail for me would be documentary evidence (e.g. a scorecard) of the 'experimental holes' at Harlech designed by C.W. Limouzin and adopted (in part) for just a few years in the early 1920s. These involved using both duneland to the south of the current 16th but also the ground seawards of the current 9th and 10th. Too much blown sand and drainage issues meant that the holes never 'took' properly and were given up prior to the Ladies Championship of 1926, although the shape of one (beyond the current 16th) remains both obvious and very appetising. The area beyond the 9th and 10th is now pretty much under water a lot of the time, with the adoption in recent years of Natural Resources Wales wetland protocols.

[MCirba]

I'm not a member but I play one on TV. 


Despite the popularity of finding the Raynor routing of Cypress Point, the real Holy Grail to me would be finding Merion's Hugh Wilson's Committee's routing plan map (recommended by CBM) that was attached to their letter to Board members during the process of gaining approval to move forward.


The fact that by definition there were multiple copies of the plan (one for each very socially prominent Board member), no clubhouse fire or other damaging event) makes it even more maddening that none to date have been found.