When you play as a guest at an old line esteemed country club there is always a moment, some time between when you lace on your Foot Joys and put the peg in the ground on the first tee when your host will chime in, “You know this is an original A. W. Tillinghast (or some other iconic designer from The Golden Age of Golf Course Design)……one of the only two that he did in this region.”   Rich people love to brag about the uniqueness of their possessions and the pedigree of their country club is often at the top of this list.

Well, as you can read in John Paul Newport’s Wall Street Journal article “Country Clubs Dig Up Their Histories”, you may want to put that claim to a bit of scrutiny because it may be an exaggeration or an outright untruth.

As Newport explains, the members of the prestigious Bloomfield Hills Country Club in Detroit boasted for almost 100 years that they have been playing a Donald Ross original design.  When in fact, as was unearthed by a renovation design team in 2009, Ross was hired twice to propose changes to Bloomfield Hills but his ideas were never implemented.  He had nothing to do with the original design or any subsequent renovations.

This is often how misguided club histories are put back in order since the renovation designers will insist on proper research of course lineage so they can find documentation that will help them adhere to the original intent of the designer as they try to return courses back to their classic character.

The design of Bloomfield Hills was done in 1913 by Harry Colt, an English designer of great repute, who did very few courses in North America.  His resume includes iconic venues like Sunningdale, Wentworth, and Royal Liverpool in England , Royal Portrush and Royal Dublin in Ireland, Eden Course at St. Andrews and Muirfield in Scotland, and countless others across continental Europe.  So these members really have nothing to be embarrassed about in acknowledging the truth.

Like with our first president it is often claimed by country club elitists up and down the east coast that “Donald Ross slept here”.  When in fact he may have simply waved from the carriage car as his train passed through town on his way back to Pinehurst.  Ross would have had to sleep only 2 hours a night for forty years to have been able to design all the gems people say he had a hand in creating.

If you see a Redan or Biarritz green on their course the member will undoubtedly tell you it was C.B. MacDonald or Seth Raynor that was responsible for this when it may well have been William Flynn who was equally talented just much less well known.  Flynn in fact may be the least acknowledged prolific designer of this Golden Age.  His originals include Shinnecock Hills on Long Island, Cherry Hills in Colorado,  and The Cascades in West Virginia and he had serious design or renovation influence at Merion, Pine Valley, The Country Club in Brookline among scores of others.

So the next time your friend tells you that it is a Tillinghast greens you just three-jacked or MacKenzie bunker that ensnared your wayward drive you may want to take it with a grain of salt.  You see the self-serving dissemination of disinformation is not the exclusive purview of the federal government.

(Click to read John Paul Newport WSJ article on Bloomfield Hills C.C.)

Wall Street Journal

John Paul Newport

December, 2013

There is no one in the golf world at this moment other than Adam Scott who should be wearing the emperor’s clothes.  Building on his Master’s victory in April and his win at The Barclay’s this fall, he has been on a run of good form the last month that has all the best players shaking their heads.

Until the very last hole at the Australian Open at Royal Sidney yesterday he was staring at a folkloric accomplishment, winning the Australian Triple Crown. This was set up by his wins the previous three weeks in Australia including the first two legs of the Australian Triple Crown-the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast and the Australian Masters at Royal Melbourne.  He threw in a third team victory for good measure with Jason Day winning the Two-Man World Cup at Royal Melbourne last week.

As you can read in this Boston Herald account of the final round of The Australian Open, Scott did everything he had to do to add his name to the distinguished list of Australian Open winners and become only the second player in history to win all three legs of the Australian Triple Crown in the same year.  That is everything except account for Rory McIlroy who was apparently closer than he appeared in the rear view mirror.

After an emphatic statement shooting 62 on the opening day, Scott just played as good as he needed to keep the field well at bay.  McIlroy, who has slowly been regaining his own swagger the last month, had a 65 on day two to make his presence known.

At the start of the final round Rory was four back of Scott and the two seemed to feint and parry their way through the first four holes until Rory unleashed his mojo with four straight 3’s  including an electric eagle on the seventh to Scott’s par 5.  Rory got within one at the turn and they went back into fencing mode over the back nine with Scott failing to convert a number of 10 footers that would have given him more breathing room.

Side-by-side in the 18th Fairway it came down who would blink on the final approach shot.  Rory stuck it to 10 feet while Adam’s effort meandered over the green leaving a dicey up-and-down to save par.  His pitch wandered away from the tin and he missed a long come back putt to settle for bogey.  Rory did what Rory does and just calmly make the decisive birdie putt on the last revolution to effectuate a two-shot swing and steal the Crown from Adam’s crown.

Great TV drama….two young champions pushing each other to the limit….the stuff of major championship golf.

(Click to read the Boston Herald account of Rory’s final round in the Australian Open)

Boston Herald
November, 2013

About 20 months ago Jarrod Lyle, an Australian pro of considerable physical size and commensurate ability, was told that the leukemia he had battled to a draw as a teenager had returned.   Given the fact that historically a second bout with leukemia has a much lower chance of success, it had to seem to him very unlikely that he would ever play a professional golf tournament again.

Yet yesterday, standing on the first tee of the storied Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the first round of the Talisker Australian Masters he heard those cherished words, “From Victoria, please welcome back Jarrod Lyle”.  To Jarrod and the throngs of supporters who poured out for his homecoming return to professional golf it brought tears of joy to their eyes…….this is the feel good golf story of the year.

As you can read in Matt Murnane’s account in the Sydney Morning Herald Jarrod Lyle’s begins a new journey in his fight to regain his career after his successful second round of treatment has once again put his leukemia in check.

The pictures in the article say it all, his wife and young daughter and hundreds of others wearing the supportive yellow of the Challenge cancer network.  They had come to provide a cloud of support for a local golf hero, playing the course he holds dearer than any other, in one of the big three events on the Australian golf calendar.

His opening par-birdie start was as much a release of pent up emotion than golf skill but it set in his mind that he was back where he belonged.  The golf gods did not issue him any free passes though.  On the ninth hole he pulled his drive and his Titleist wedged itself into the fork of a tree down the left side of the fairway.  “I think it was the same tree we were under in the Heineken (Classic in 2005, when he came to prominence),” said his father John Lyle. “He knows that spot well.”

Showing the grit he is known for with a resurgence on the back side Jarrod shot a one-over-par 72 and has positioned himself to meet his goal of making the halfway cut after tonight’s second round.

You can follow his progress as the Talisker Australian Masters is being broadcast live on the Golf Channel late this evening.  Great coverage with a cast of Australian announcers handling the duties with full Aussie jargon.  Ian Baker Finch is on the crew and is by far the most understandable accent in the booth.  Go figure!

Needless to say half a country and plenty of interested bystanders around the world are pulling for him to do just that.

Round 2 Update:  Jarrod Lyle shot even par today to make the halfway cut at one-over.  Those yellow Challenge Hats will be sold out for the weekend.  Great Stuff!!

Round 3 Update:  Lyle had three birdies and two bogies on his way to a one-under 70 and and even par standing through three rounds.  He is currently 29th and positioned will for a top 25 finish with a sub par round on Sunday.

Final Round Update:  Rough day for Jarrod starting off double bogey, bogey, and other in the first four holes.  He did make three birdies on the way to 79 and and T-57 finish.  Great to make a check….great to see him back.

(Click to read Matt Murnane’s article on Jarrod Lyle return to pro golf)

Matt Murnane

Sydney Morning Herald

November, 2013