Golf Club Atlas
GolfClubAtlas.com => Golf Course Architecture => Topic started by: Mark_Rowlinson on September 21, 2012, 02:09:55 PM
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Baltusrol? Murdered farmer.
Rome, Aquasanta? How holy was the water?
Berkhamsted? Ancient earthworks crossing the course.
Prenton? A Roman road crossing the course.
I mean seriously historic, not just that golf has been played there since 1512....
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I forget the hole but there was a duel at San Fransisco GC.
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Wasn't there a course at one time in Gettysburg?
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There are earthworks on East Lake that (purportedly) were built by the Confederates on the eve of the Battle of Atlanta.
I recall reading that Woking was built on the site of a massive paupers' grave used by the City of London in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Bob
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The Beacon and Iron Age fort at Painswick.
Roman road in front of 12th green at Royal Cinque Ports.
Gettysburg and Atlanta? Nouveau stuff.
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Baltusrol? Murdered farmer.
Not an attempted answer to your question, but ... perhaps there's a chapter about Golf and Murder.
Minikahda was built on the site of a notorious murder.
See Rick Shefchik's book "From Fields to Fairways: The Historic Golf Clubs of Minnesota."
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Shenley Pines (NLE here in Philly):
(http://xchem.villanova.edu/~bausch/images/shenleypines/Feb2_1922_Ledger.jpg)
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Haltwhistle GC:
Haltwhistle Golf Club claims to be the only golf club on both Hadrian's Wall and the Pennine Way as well as having excellent views over the Tyne Valley and of course of Haltwhistle. The course boasts a full 18 hole golf course. Haltwhistle Golf Club is roughly 20 minutes from our bed and breakfast accommodation in Gilsland.
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La Perouse (NSW). Captain Cook alit there in 1580 for watering.
I've been to a couple of golf courses in Idaho Oregon Trail GC, Soda Springs) and Wyoming ITrail Rut GC) which have traces of the Oregon Trail remaining crossing their fairways. http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,31126.0.html
The answer is probably around the Mediterranean or the Middle East
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Aren't there megalithic tombs at Painswick?
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Bill - in 1782 Mary Bax was walking along the ancient highway where the 12th is now when she was attacked and murdered by a Swedish sailor. A stone on the other side of the road reads;
On this spot
August the 25th, 1782
MARY BAX, Spinster,
aged 23 years
was murdered by
MARTIN LASH, a foreigner,
who was executed for the same.
To the right of the second tee on club land by the sea wall is the site of Sandown Castle built by Henry VIII in 1540. Then you have the pill box defence from the second world war on the right of the 16th. Alongside 17-15 on the right of the fairways in the rough is an 18" wide concrete footpath, this is also WW2 and was built to allow the gunners to cycle to the various defences.
I'm sure there are many courses on land with a colourful history.
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Old Head Golf Links is very historic with its conection to the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915.
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A duel at SF Club over slavery played a part in Lincoln being elected President by throwing the new state of California to him. That led to the US Civil War. It doesn't get more historical than that. And the dueling weapons hang in the locker room.
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Cape Kidnappers [the peninsula] got its name when the local Maoris kidnapped Captain Cook's translator [a native islander] to try and rescue him from the white man.
Moundbuilders G & CC in Newark, Ohio, is the site of ancient native American burial mounds which come into play on the course.
New South Wales was the course where I personally felt history most strongly. But I've never been to the course near the Pyramids in Giza.
Jim Hoak: I knew the story of the Broderick-Terry duel, but didn't realize it was quite that long ago [1859].
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Some of the final skirmishes during the Revolutionary War Battle of Princeton in 1777 were fought on land that is now part of the 6th hole at Springdale Golf Club in Princeton.
The 10th hole at Myopia Hunt features the "Taft bunker" about 20 yards short of the green. President Taft was a portly fellow and after descending into the bunker to execute his escape found that he could not climb out. They had to get horses from the club stables and ropes in order to haul him back into play.
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Cruden Bay was built on the site of the final battle between the Danes and the Scots in 1012. According to the Scots (the winners) 10,000 Danes were killed in the battle. Local legend has it that many of those 10,000 were buried on what is now the 17th hole, creating that feature mound in the middle of the fairway. The name of the famous (and truly great) 6th hole "Buildy Burn" refers to the burn guarding the green running red with Danish blood 7 hours after the battle was over.
That's pretty historic, at least IMHO.
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Caves riddle the cliffs upon which Pinnacle Point in ZA was built. Stone Age people lived in these caves around 150,000 years ago. The caves are believed to show evidence of symbolic behavior occurring far earlier than was commonly thought, going back to at least 75,000 years ago and including beads, heat-hardened tools -- so, in other words, this is where the command of fire was born -- abstract art, and systemic exploitation of shellfish. (Some speculate the nutrients in shellfish enabled these people to develop mental capacity.)
In other words, experts believe this area may be where civilization was born -- one controversial contention is the Ice Age wiped out humans everywhere but a swath of the African coast including Pinnacle Point, and that we all descend from that hardy band.
So: prehistoric -- but "historic".
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George Washington marched his Continental Army from Whitemarsh, which was felt to be too close to occupied Philadelphia and moved to Gulph Mills and camped for six days on the site of Gulph Mills GC. On December 19, 1777 they moved to Valley Forge, where they remained until the spring.
Washington addressed his troops at Gulph Mills and thanked them for their "fortitude and patience" and promised them, if they persevered, they would achieve "the end of our Warfare, Independence, Liberty and Peace."
Pretty cool!
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The Battle of Short Hills was fought on the fourth hole at Plainfield.
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Blue Rock Springs Golf Club in Vallejo was the site of one of the Zodiac killers murders & he also killed someone in very close proximity to the Presidio in 1969. One of the most infamous unsolved cases in history.
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Caves riddle the cliffs upon which Pinnacle Point in ZA was built. Stone Age people lived in these caves around 150,000 years ago. The caves are believed to show evidence of symbolic behavior occurring far earlier than was commonly thought, going back to at least 75,000 years ago and including beads, heat-hardened tools -- so, in other words, this is where the command of fire was born -- abstract art, and systemic exploitation of shellfish. (Some speculate the nutrients in shellfish enabled these people to develop mental capacity.)
In other words, experts believe this area may be where civilization was born -- one controversial contention is the Ice Age wiped out humans everywhere but a swath of the African coast including Pinnacle Point, and that we all descend from that hardy band.
So: prehistoric -- but "historic".
I am amazed they got permits to build the course under those circumstances, even if the caves are 100 feet underneath the course.
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I believe there was a little funky course among the ramparts at El Morro castle in San Juan a one point. I think a couple holes required a bank shot!
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Omaha Beach GC, Normandy (D-day)
(http://www.sammagenceweb.com/portfollio_gallery/Greendu6delaMer.jpg)
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There's also the Roman Road course at Celtic manor. There is the remains of a gladiator school on the site.
Isn't there the remnants of a really old racecourse on Somerset Hills too?
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Musgrove Mill is built on the site of a Revolutionary War battlefield--the Battle of Musgrove Mill.
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Do NLE courses count? There was once a course in St Augustine FL that was routed around the old Spanish fort. There were tee boxes located on the fort's parapets. There were greens located inside and outside the fort.
Not sure when the course disappeared, but I'd guess it is not highlighted in the the US Parks Service brochures.
BTW, even without the old golf course, the fort is worth a visit. Many years ago we took our kids to visit it and, just up the road, Gomeck, the giant alligator. I've heard that he is also NLE.
Bob
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I forgot to mention that the site for our Riverfront course in Suffolk, VA, included the remains of an early British settlement that was dated to around 1611 ... making it one of the oldest settlements in America! I thought that was cool until I saw that all that was left of it was the remains of some wood in the post holes, covered by a tarp. [It wasn't actually on the golf course, it's across the marsh to the right of the 8th green.]
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Caves riddle the cliffs upon which Pinnacle Point in ZA was built. Stone Age people lived in these caves around 150,000 years ago. The caves are believed to show evidence of symbolic behavior occurring far earlier than was commonly thought, going back to at least 75,000 years ago and including beads, heat-hardened tools -- so, in other words, this is where the command of fire was born -- abstract art, and systemic exploitation of shellfish. (Some speculate the nutrients in shellfish enabled these people to develop mental capacity.)
In other words, experts believe this area may be where civilization was born -- one controversial contention is the Ice Age wiped out humans everywhere but a swath of the African coast including Pinnacle Point, and that we all descend from that hardy band.
So: prehistoric -- but "historic".
I am amazed they got permits to build the course under those circumstances, even if the caves are 100 feet underneath the course.
Oh yeah, crazy. The value of the caves may not have been fully appreciated at the time. And now they're putting in liners and special water collection systems in the 9th hole to prevent leaching into one of the caves.
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I must admit i didn't know the (pre)history of the site when we visitted Pinnacle Point. However, i certainly knew it was the kind of location that would never get permitted for a GC in Australia - and,presumably, other "sensitive" countries like the US, GB & I etc. It's fantastic fun playing so many holes draped over such dramatic cliffs but i can only imagine the ferocity of the protests if you tried to develop something like that down here nowadays. There are 2 or 3 photo opportunities on almost every hole and i've got to work out how to post some of those I have showing (i guess) where some of those caves may be.
(http://)
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Do NLE courses count? There was once a course in St Augustine FL that was routed around the old Spanish fort. There were tee boxes located on the fort's parapets. There were greens located inside and outside the fort.
Not sure when the course disappeared, but I'd guess it is not highlighted in the the US Parks Service brochures.
BTW, even without the old golf course, the fort is worth a visit. Many years ago we took our kids to visit it and, just up the road, Gomeck, the giant alligator. I've heard that he is also NLE.
Bob
Gomek was actually a crocodile, Bob. RIP.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomek
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I built a course in Denmark, Lubker Golf Resort that was routed around Viking burial grounds...
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Rich -
Gomek HAS A WIKIPEDIA PAGE?!?!
What have we come to? Where are we going?
Bob
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Bob
Bo has one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_%28dog%29 and he would just have been an hors d'ouevre for Gomek.
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Rich -
Gomek HAS A WIKIPEDIA PAGE?!?!
What have we come to? Where are we going?
Bob
And THAT is why the Encyclopedia Brittanica is dead. It, too, was merely an appetizer.
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Mound builders country club Newark, oh plays through, over, around, in Indian burial mounds. Very quirky and a lot of fun to play Bendelow course.
http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/places/c08/octagon.shtml
http://www.moundbuilderscc.com/
http://www.moundbuilderscc.com/
http://www.moundbuilderscc.com/
Chris