Newly Discovered Tilly Design

Tilly
Illustrated
The Official Journal of the
Tillinghast Association
Table of Contents
Foreword
News and Notes
Newly Discovered Tilly
Design
Questions and Answers
Editor, Bob Trebus
24 Hadley Court, Basking Ridge, NJ
07920
Foreword
By Philip Young
Hello fellow Tillinghast Association members! We are very pleased to announce and
introduce this first issue of Tilly Illustrated. This is going to be far more than a simple
newsletter for we are far more than a ceremonial organization whose purpose is to honor
the past deeds of a great architect.
Tilly believed that golf courses should both test and please and to do so for as long as
they exist. He also recognized that the game of golf is continuously changing because of
technological advancements to the equipment used to play the game and so he designed
his courses to grow and evolve along with these. That is why of all the Golden Age
architects, it is his courses that have stood the test of time and continue to challenge the
greatest players of the game. In this first decade of the twentieth century more national
championships are being played on his courses than those of any other architect, living or
dead.
Each and every one of us shares a common bond as Association members in learning
about Tillinghast’s design philosophies and his courses. And so, through the monthly
pages of this journal we intend to update our members about all aspects of the golf
courses he designed. For example, many would love to know of restoration or updates at
his courses and how these were accomplished. In the coming months we will provide indepth articles including photographs chronicling the work done at courses such as the
preparations at Bethpage Black for the 2009 U.S. Open, and the Five Farms course of the
Baltimore Country Club which is hosting the season-ending Tour Championship of the
PGA Champion’s Tour beginning this year.
We also will be highlighting news items of interest. One current story of interest is the
fight to preserve Erie Golf Club, which is owned by the City of Erie, PA. This original
Tilly design was restored in 2006 with a two million dollar renovation program, but was
closed this year due to budget shortfalls by the City of Erie. The City is trying to sell the
course to developers who want to turn the property into a residential community. For a
number of months there have been a series of concerted efforts made by local players to
both stop the sale and re-open the course. A contentious litigation is ongoing on the fate
of Erie Golf Club.
The old saying that “everything old is new again” is most apropos when talking of Tilly.
He once wrote that he had designed several hundred courses during his career, yet we can
only locate 88 of them today. Well, let’s make that 89, as we can confirm his design of
the Colonial Golf Club in Atlanta – more on this amazing story later. We also continue
to learn more on the hundred or more courses for which Tilly provided design
consultation services.
We receive many requests for course information as well as questions about Tilly and his
work from many sources. We will be sharing many of these, and our responses to them.
In these pages we will share the efforts of Tilly members whose research has led to both
exciting discoveries and more questions of which we need help. An upcoming issue will
tell you of Claude Gravel and his 5 plus year search to locate Tilly’s long-forgotten
course, the Anglo-American Club at Lac Lachigan in Canada.
And this is just the beginning of the surprises that you will find in this and the upcoming
issues of Tilly Illustrated. We also plan to launch an on line discussion board on Tilly
Illustrated and related subjects, which will only be available to members of the
Association. It is another way to help us grow and meet our mission to preserve, interpret
and share the writings, design work and accumulated research on A.W. Tillinghast. We
are simply providing a place where Tilly fans, lovers of the game and those who want to
simply learn about his work can come, research and enjoy learning about a man who
many may recognize to be among the greatest artists of golf course design as long as golf
is played.
Philip Young, Tillinghast Association Historian &
Author of Tillinghast Creator of Golf Courses
News and Notes
Judge Denies City of Erie
After a protracted legal battle, the city of Erie, Pa, lost its motion to change the
deed restriction that was agreed to when the city purchased the Erie Golf Club in
1926. A determined group of local players led by an afternoon ladies golf league
who passionately love this original 1921 9-hole Tilly design which was
subsequently expanded to 18-holes after the City took title to the property. The
ruling does not prevent the city from selling the property, but it does mean that the
city, or anyone else who would purchase it from them, are bound by the deed
restriction, and must operate it as either a golf course, park or both. Unfortunately
the current mayor refuses to open the course or approve funding for its operation
due to fiscal crisis. Under the prior City major, the City expended two million
dollars to renovate and restore the course. The City has filed a motion to appeal
the ruling of the judge. We will keep you posted as this story develops.
Thomas Sets Record on the Black, Svoboda Takes Home the Silver
On July 20, 2007, Craig Thomas, the Head professional at the Metropolis
Country Club, set a new competitive course record on the course that hosted the
2002 U.S. Open Championship, Bethpage Black. He made eight birdies against a
single bogey to shoot a seven-under par round of 64 during the second round of
the 31st North Fork Bank sponsored New York State Open championship. After
sinking a 20-foot putt for birdie on the 479-yard 16th, he had to get up-and-down
to save par on 17. On the 18th hole, shortened to 340-yards due to rain causing one
of the right-hand fairway bunkers underwater, he hit his second shot to 15-feet
from the hole, and then just missed the putt that would have given him a 63. He
would shoot a five-over par round of 76 in the final round to finish tied for second
with Scarsdale resident, Chris Damiano. The championship was won by Andrew
Svoboda, professional from Winged Foot. Andrew is well-known locally and
nationally and for good reason as he showed with birdies on the demanding 15th
& 16th holes. He would finish the championship as the only player to best par with
a two-under total of 211.
Tillinghast Biographer Young Speaks at Baltimore CC
Our official Tillinghast Association Historian, Phil Young, was a keynote speaker
at the opening of the golf season at the Baltimore Country Club. Phil spoke on all
things Tillinghast and shared the trials, tribulations and joy of writing the
definitive biography, Tillinghast Creator of Golf Courses, (published by The
Classics of Golf, Peal River New York). We are not to be shy about this
promotion and would also point out that Phil will provide equal access to all
Tillinghast clubs, and with enough advance booking will avail himself to provide
similar presentations to all other Tillinghast courses.
New book on Pinehurst
Fellow Tillinghast Association member Richard Mandell’s new book, Pinehurst,
Home of American Golf (Published by Richard Mandell, Pinehurst, NC) was
influenced by Tillinghast in an interesting sort of way. In reading Tilly’s book,
Gleanings from the Wayside, Mandell was taken with the chapter on Tilly’s visit
with Donald Ross at Pinehurst. In particular, Mandell fascinated on the old aerial
photo of Pinehurst, which is in this chapter. From this photo, he realized that the
Pinehurst courses had changed and evolved significantly over the years. Much of
this design evolution was under the guidance of Donald Ross. Inspired, Mandell
thoroughly researched the design evolution of all the courses at Pinehurst and
produced this beautifully illustrated and well told story of Pinehurst.
Rediscovered
Tilly Design
By Philip Young
The Colonial Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia
Recently, while doing research into the lone Tillinghast design in Atlanta, Georgia
(the Ingleside CC course), this writer came across a reference to another golf course that
Tilly designed and built in the very heart of the city. It is a course that might have
changed the rotation of our national championships, the United States Open and Amateur,
for this course was designed and built with a primary purpose of hosting them.
Over the past 110 years the playing of these championships in the “Deep South” may
never have been given much consideration by the USGA. The extremes of summertime
heat in June and July, the perceived lack of worthy enough venues and the quality of
courses elsewhere in the country are among the reasons that have often been cited.
Time sometimes actually does change long-held views, and so we have been treated
to the wonderful Open championships staged on Pinehurst #2, the masterwork of Donald
Ross. Incidentally, in the 1930’s Tilly enjoyed touring #2 with his friend Ross and
praised the course as one of the great designs in his writing. Still, North Carolina is not
Georgia and, though long considered part of the Southern states, is really not a part of
what is referred to as the “Deep South.” Although the U.S. Amateur was played recently
at the restored East Lake Golf Club, the idea of holding a U.S. Open in the “Deep South”
in the month of June may still beyond serious consideration.
If only the Colonial Golf club had lasted longer, things may have been completely
different. But there I go, getting a little bit ahead of myself.
It was in the May 1928 issue of
Golf Illustrated in an article titled,
“A Chance For Some Good Work,”
that editor William Henry Beers
announced that Atlanta was about
to see some striking changes and
additions to the golf courses located there. What was not yet known was the vision that
the man behind one of those two new courses held for his new creation.
Harrie Ansley came from a wealthy family. He, himself, was a real estate developer
and always was always on the lookout for an opportunity to do something exciting,
especially
when that project would bring his name once more into the pages of the Atlanta
newspapers.
Harrie must have been elated at the
sight of the headlines announcing his course
in the September 2, 1928 issue of the Atlanta
Constitution.
Back then, even during this time of the
grandest of excesses, a quarter of a million
dollars was an immense sum of money to
spend building a golf course, especially
one this far south.
Harrie Ansley could have taught Donald
Trump a thing or two about self-promotion.
He greatly desired to be remembered for
building a golf course that the USGA would use
as a site to test the great players in the game. In
some ways, “Elaborate” barely describes his
plans for his masterpiece.
A local sports columnist in the Atlanta Constitution, Dick Hawkins, certainly
understood the man well. He was called the “Prime mover in the undertaking.”
“ Fool or genius?” Here was a man who might have been a good deal of both, yet
there was no denying that he had both vision and drive and the ability to possibly even
accomplish this monumental task he set for himself, and what a vision it was.
The project would contain a “large clubhouse of strict colonial architecture,
automobile parking grounds and practice course, riding school and grounds, and other
appointments of a fine country club.”
Oh yes, there was also that “18-hole golf course of 7,000 yards in length.” All this to
be built in the very heart of one of Atlanta’s wealthiest and most exclusive
neighborhoods.
And so on this first Saturday in September of 1928 the Atlanta Constitution also
announced of an application for a “Charter for the Colonial club.” Ansley had good
reason for doing this too. He wanted to foment massive public support for this ambitious
and one-of-a-kind private project, for despite its private club aspect, the golf course and
all areas of the grounds and clubhouse were to be open for use by the public too.
Harrie’s organizational plan was both elaborate and ingenious. He would finance the
building of the club through a stock and bond offering, which was handled by the Frank
Hempstead Company of Atlanta. He approached the “Leading citizens of Atlanta and
men capable of directing the club along the best lines interested in the corporation as
stockholders, officers and directors.”
Among the prominent citizens solicited to become both shareholder and corporation
director was Atlanta’s favorite golfing son, Bobby Jones.
Yet the citizens of Atlanta would also have their own portion, for they were to have
available, “A championship course that all may see, admire and play upon it, provided
they possess $1 and good character.” The article stated that, “Membership to the club will
be open to the general public with a single qualification of character. A fee of $1 will be
charged for investigating the character standing of applicants. On approval of the
applicant, membership cards will be issued entitling the holders to full use of the club
house facilities on all occasions. Members will be permitted use of the golf course on
payment of a green fee of $1 a day. Aside from these fees there will be no other charges,
all initiation payments and dues being eliminated, Mr. Ansley pointed out.”
Yes, some six years before the Bethpage State Park project would open their doors as
what Robert Moses would proclaim to be the “People’s Country Club,” there would be
one in the “Deep South.”
At the time of the article announcing the project, planning had been well underway
for more than a year. Actual work on the golf course was scheduled to begin on “October
1, with the grounds to be completed under special scientific methods on May 15 or June
1, 1929.”
Plans for the elaborate clubhouse were also under way with the work scheduled to
begin, “as soon as these plans are accepted.” Development for the entire project was to be
keeping “with the colonial idea.” The preliminary plans called for the clubhouse to have
“large locker rooms with service tables, dance floor, café, card rooms, rub-down quarters,
a grill fitted with music apparatus and serving meals at all times, and other auxiliary
rooms.”
The grounds themselves were described as embracing, “Gently rolling country with
running water, affording natural water hazards, and were chosen as an ideal site after
much investigation by Mr. Ansley. Location of the tract is in line with the city’s most
beautiful residential developments, being on the north side, between Peachtree Road and
Northside drive, and about a quarter of a mile from Peachtree Station.”
The golf course itself was to be as elaborate and grand as the clubhouse. For example,
there were, “Plans to cultivate bent grass greens… for the first time in this section.” In
fact, “each of the 18 holes will be equipped with two greens, eliminating temporary
winter greens. One of the greens will be grown with Bermuda grass, while the second
green of each hole will have bent grass, which is preferred in all the large tournaments…
Traffic on the course will be regulated by some one stationed on each hole.”
But that was not all. Plans called for, “The tees [to] follow the fashion of those of
Scotland, having no elevation and being readily shiftable…” Even the caddy program
was to be grand and different for the club would have “Three classes of caddies, with
rates of 50 cents, 75 cents and one dollar.” And of course, “Tipping anywhere in the club
will be prohibited.”
Plans and work were proceeding along so well, that at the time of this announcement,
less than a month before ground was to be broken in building the golf course, the only
thing that seemed to be lacking was a golf course architect to design it.
Yet even that seemingly minor detail was being cared for. In fact, Harrie Ansley
already was preparing a “Contract for laying of the course… for letting to one of five
experts under consideration. Among those is Donald Ross, famous golf course architect.”
The next few weeks would see a flurry of activity and a few changes as well.
Despite all of the hoopla and praise that Ansley was pouring on his project, not all in
the media seemed in full agreement as to the eventual success of his grand plan. After
referring to Harrie as being either “crazy or genius,” Dick Hawkins penned, “How can
anyone else build a championship golf course out of that wilderness back of Brookwood
Station? Who is this fellow, anyway, who hitches his wagon to a star?”
Further, putting even more pressure upon the relatively young Mr. Ansley, he noted,
“The eyes of Atlanta are turned toward that forest back of Brookwood Station and the
hopes of many golfers lie buried in those clay hills waiting to be uncovered by diggers
with a vision.”
Yet Harrie Ansley was no ordinary man with a grand idea, and Hawkins recognized
this as well. He concluded that, “Somehow we can’t believe anything but that Harrie
Ansley will soon see his vision rise up and cry to the golfing world in undeniable tones.
The money and the ideal are both ready – what will be the result? A huge flop or a great
triumph? Surely the latter.”
How would this be possible? Dawkins wrote, “Here is the answer. Harrie Ansley is a
worker and an idealist. What better combination? He has worked from daylight to
daylight again for many months… Now the top of the hill is nearly reached. The plan is
completed; its consummation remains as the only reward not yet attained… Today Harrie
is hitching his wagon to a star… He wants to build a national championship course in
Atlanta. He BELIEVES he can do it, and that is half the battle with a man like Harrie
Ansley.”
What would engender such confidence in so jaded a sports columnist as Dick
Hawkins? Who was this star that Harrie Ansley had hitched himself to? On whose
shoulders would he place the most important aspect of this grand project? He was a man
who was every bit as confident in his abilities to accomplish the impossible and to do so
under the glare of the brightest of public spotlights as Harry himself. In fact, he had
already done just so a number of times in the last decade.
His name, Albert Warren Tillinghast.
On October 5th the Atlanta Constitution carried a lead article in the sports pages
announcing that Harrie Ansley had hired Tilly to create what he believed would be one of
the great golf courses of the world.
Sportswriter Ben Cothran penned how,
“Three men trod over hill and dale, through field
and wood, beneath a hot midday sun Thursday on the outskirts of the city, talking the
while among themselves and referring ever so often to a chart.”
He continued how, “They weren’t searching for buried treasure, gold, nor were they
discussing politics. One was A.W. Tillinghast, another was Arthur Peterson and the third
was Harrie Ansley… The names, perhaps, mean nothing to you. They probably will later,
however. A.W. Tillinghast is the foremost golf architect in America. And when it comes
to the building of greens and their maintenance, the wise lads refer you to Arthur
Peterson. They are national figures in golfing circles and came here Thursday morning at
the instigation of the young Mr. Ansley…”
His vision and plans for this club seemed to be growing by the day, as did his ability
to engender favorable comments through clever marketing of the project. In fact, this
went beyond corporate selling of an idea, for Harrie Ansley was now determined to set a
model for all those who were interested in the game of golf to look toward and for
themselves to become.
He had started out determined that his golf course would be, “The finest in the south,”
and then that it would, “meet the requisites for the staging of a national golf
championship – something that has never been held in the south.”
That is why, in the beginning of September, just a few weeks before he was to see the
construction of the course begin, he ignored the five experts in golf course construction
that he had been consulting, even deciding that Donald Ross himself would not be able to
create the masterpiece that he wanted, and, “Hie’d himself recently to New York, got in
touch with these two big-wigs in the building of golf courses and brought them to
Atlanta.”
Ever since it’s formation in 1895, the “Gentlemen who compose the august body, the
United States Golf Association, do not think it exists in the south [a course worthy of a
national championship].”
It was, “For that very reason that Tillinghast has been secured to build the course.”
As grand a vision that Ansley had for the Colonial Golf Club, he realized that none of
it would see reality without the golf course he envisioned. Addressing a group of wealthy
Atlantans at a dinner dance held in the ballroom of the newly opened clubhouse of the
Ansley Park Golf Club, he told those gathered that, nothing can be attained without
setting up a definite object. We have set about to get the best golf course in this part of
the country and we’re going to get that first. The clubhouse, construction of tennis courts,
polo fields and all that can come later. We’re after a golf course.”
Harrie Ansley was a man determined to succeed in this.
Still, even now, the vision was expanding and being embraced by many who could
recognize the potential impact on both city and community. For example, in a program
that most certainly was far ahead of its time. “Ansley has conceived a great plan for the
teaching of golf to Atlanta’s youth. Special rates will be made to college students and
school children and they will be urged to play the game.”
Dr. Thornwell Jacobs, President of Oglethorpe University would speak on this plan
and highly praise the idea. “A boy goes to college,” he would say, “and plays football or
baseball. That ends with his college days. But in golf he can go on forever. Golf is a
gentleman’s game. A gentleman at golf is a gentleman anywhere. It is a splendid idea that
Harrie Ansley has conceived and I am heartily in favor of it.”
Tilly himself remarked that this plan would allow their town to, “Keep the world’s
championship for many years to come.”
And so on that splendid Autumn afternoon, walking the fields in the Brookhaven
locale of Atlanta with Tilly and Petersen, Harrie Ansley unreservedly turned his life’s
dream over to Tillinghast, fully confident in his ability to create it.
In his column of October 6th, Ben Cothran would observe that, “The lay-out,
construction – in fact everything – is being left up to Tillinghast. When you consider that
Tillinghast has been at the game for more than several years, during which times he has
built such courses as Baltusrol… and Winged Foot, country home of the New York
Athletic club, it is easily discernible that Mr. Tillinghast knows whereof he speaks when
he opens his mouth to say something about a golf course.”
Arriving in Atlanta the Thursday prior, Tilly immediately began by inspecting “The
other golf courses in Atlanta,” before inspecting the property upon which Ansley’s dream
was to take shape.
Tilly would go to bed that evening excited by what he had seen, “Satisfied with the
site and… confident that he can build a championship course.” He found property where,
“The land is rolling and thickly wooded,” and, “something like 100 of the 130 acres are
in timber which has stood for 75 years. A stream winding its way through the property
will afford numerous opportunities for water hazards.”
He must have spent that night thinking of how the course would lay itself out, for
surely it did so in a most natural way. He would spend Friday, “Staking out the course,”
and would, “stake out 14 of the 18 holes,” before addressing those gathered at Ansley’s
dinner dance that evening.
He told those gathered that, “Construction of the course could get under way now,”
and that it, “would be ready for use in June of 1929.
Tilly went on describing some of the details of the course that he himself now
envisioned. They had already decided that unlike any other course yet built in America,
that the Colonial Golf Course would have no rough! “I am not given to freakish holes,”
he would tell those gathered, “and I have a distinct abhorance of rough.”
He had to stop speaking for the hearty applause this statement drew forth from his
audience.
So this first week of October of 1928 saw the commencement of the design and
construction of the greatest golf course of its time in America’s south and possibly
anywhere. Today, nearly 80 years later, this masterpiece is no more, wasted to the
vagaries of financial disaster and municipal necessity.
But can this Phoenix rise from its ashes? What remains of Harrie Ansley’s
masterpiece – Tilly’s grand creation? What can we find in the municipally-owned and
maintained Bobby Jones Golf Club, where the same Colonial course once wound its way
majestically through those 75 year-old trees, of this Tillinghast masterpiece? How did the
homes and apartments located on Colonial Drive impact the Colonial course?
The rest of the story of Tilly’s Colonial Golf Club, from the acclaim at its grand
opening through its plummet into economic collapse, will be told in the next issue.
Questions and Answers
The Association receives questions from members and others regarding Tillinghast.
Through this column we will respond as we can. We hope that all will feel free to give us
opinions and questions. Send them by email at either [email protected] or
[email protected].
Recently, we were sent the following on Brook Hollow Golf Club:
“I am a member of Brook Hollow Golf Club (Tilly, 1923) in Dallas… Supposedly,
Tilly designed BHGC's brook to be covered in his initial design - the original brook runs
in front of 18 green (par 4), 10 green (par 3), 6 green (par 4), 9 green (par 4) and 8 green
(par 3) – [and the] brook is dammed here to create a pond. But, I do not know what the
original intent was for sure. Crenshaw/Coore redid the course in 1993-94 and Ben
decided to keep the brook covered as is per the general quality of membership golf
ability…
“Recently, I played, Winged Foot and found the open brook through the west course
[to be] very nice, simple and rarely comes into play. It made me begin to wonder if Tilly
really designed BHGC's brook to be covered. Ideally, I would like to know for a fact
whether Tilly designed brooks, creeks, etc. in or out of the top 10 ranked Tilly courses.
Can you help me with this?”
Our response:
Tilly liked to incorporate water into his courses whenever possible. Whether it be a
lake, river, stream, brook or even large puddle, he believed that they were not only
necessary but desirable. He wrote quite often about the use of water in golf course design.
Note his view of how, "It is curious how water hazards, judiciously distributed to a
reasonable extent, appeal to golfers...” and how “Water hazards are popular and the
builder of courses is glad enough to introduce them in his plans wherever he can…”
The reasons for his beliefs about the importance of using water in golf course design
range from the practical to the sublime. Consider, “There is no sand to be hauled and
cared for. When the banks once are smoothed until they meet the water in a natural
fashion, they only have to be trimmed up occasionally and the cost of upkeep
consequently is very little… It makes pleasant breaks in the course and generally the
beauty of the surroundings pleases the eye...”
Still, he recognized that many times the needs of the design outweighed the desire to
incorporate its usage. He wrote that, “Often enough the streams serve their duties
admirably, but there are times when they occur at spots which are not quite to the liking
of the builder. As a matter of fact it is no great work to change the channel of a modern
meadow or woodland stream.” Easy said and done in Tilly’s day, but probably a lot
harder to say and do with today’s environmental laws on riparian way.
Now as far as Brook Hollow is concerned, on p.27 of Tilly’s book titled Gleanings
From the Wayside, there is chapter about Brook Hollow titled, And They Built A Course
By The Trinity River. Originally, written as an article in the November 1934 issue of Golf
Illustrated, this chapter contains two things most germane to this question. The first is a
photograph of the pond in front of the 8th green and the other is a copy of the aerial
photograph of the course taken in 1926.
A magnifying glass may be needed to get a good look at the details, but one can
clearly see areas where the creek runs between fairways yet where it would go across
them, it is covered over. One can also clearly see the front of the 18th green where there
is no water.
We are uncertain as to why Tilly covered over this stream at Brook Hollow. It may be
that the membership desired it be done this way, or maybe it was done to prepare the site
for general construction. We have reproduced a photograph from Gleanings From the
Wayside of Cameron Buxton crossing a swampy area on the property during the routing
of the course.
Whatever the reason, it must be remembered that from the first day it opened for play,
Brook Hollow has presented a stern test to the finest players and a fair and fun round for
all regardless of their skill level. Brook Hollow produced a very fine seventy-five year
history book in 1995, titled simply Brook Hollow Golf Club. The aerial and images
pictured here are also printed in this book. Authored by Rhonda Glenn, the book details
the early days of Brook Hollow, but we could not find reference to the covering of this
stream. The book does reference heavy rains and flooding on several holes, which
delayed construction for a time, but these passages may only be adding to our speculation
on why the stream was covered.
In The Next Issue
Part two, and the conclusion, to the tale of the newly-discovered Tillinghast masterpiece
of original design, the Colonial Golf Club, in Atlanta, Georgia.
A question about where a long-missing Tilly masterpiece may have been located… and
has it actually now been found?
An interview with Masters Champion and Golf Architect Ben Crenshaw.
Much more is planned in future issues. We plan to interview Keith Foster who created
the Master Plan and oversee the restoration at the Five Farms Course of the Baltimore
Country Club, site of the next five PGA Champion’s Constellation Energy Senior Players
Championship. There may even be a few pictures...
Golf Architect Richard Mandell will tell us his story of his restoration and redesign work
at Erie Golf Club, the same club for which a legal battle on its future is ongoing.