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Joey Chase

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #225 on: February 26, 2013, 02:48:50 PM »
Jim,
That was quick work.  I've spent some time at Silver Spring and had always known of it as a White course.  I had never heard the Emmet or Banks stuff before, not that I would question it.  I would love to see more proof about the idea that Banks had a routing that was used by White.  Like you say, even the club's website acknowledges only White. 

Jim_Kennedy

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #226 on: February 27, 2013, 11:53:15 PM »
Glad this thread came back to life.

I have notations of a number of courses that do not appear on the MacWood list noted earlier in the thread that have been attributed to Emmet from different sources.

If anyone has any information on the following, I'd greatly appreciate hearing if these are misattributions, courses known by different names or mysteries that have already been cleared up:

Fulton Estate (CT) - NLE, Mainly known as Hob Nob Hill, less than a mile from my house.   :'(   info in earlier posts 
Silver Spring (CT) 
Clauson’s Inn fka Coonamessett GC (MA)
Green Hill Yacht & CC (MD)
Antlers GC (NY) -  Amsterdam NY, DE enlarged it in 1922/23- now known as Rolling Hills Battle Island GC (NY)
Brentwood GC (NY)
Iroquois GC (NY)- info in earlier posts
Manhasset GC (NY)
Oswego CC (NY) - Another redo of an existing course. I think his work was redone by AWT, if I"m not mistaken
Pawling G&CC (Design Only) (NY)- Never got built, as far as I know
Schalren CC (NY) - built for the Masons in Schenectady, NY
St. Regis River GC (NY) - info in earlier postsTuscarora CC (NY)
Willow Ridge f/k/a Green Meadow (NY) -info in earlier posts

"I never beat a well man in my life" - Harry Vardon

Jim_Kennedy

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #227 on: February 28, 2013, 12:09:03 PM »
Sven - Brentwood was a nine hole course. In 1924 Emmet redesigned it, w/Phil Turnesa doing the 'constructing'. The club's website lists Emmet, and I've come across a couple of articles mentioning Emmet as the architect.
"I never beat a well man in my life" - Harry Vardon

Chris_Blakely

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #228 on: February 28, 2013, 12:50:23 PM »
Sven - Brentwood was a nine hole course. In 1924 Emmet redesigned it, w/Phil Turnesa doing the 'constructing'. The club's website lists Emmet, and I've come across a couple of articles mentioning Emmet as the architect.


Brentwood GC, NY is all Emmet.  Allout of neat stuff still out there as well.

Chris


Jim_Kennedy

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #229 on: February 28, 2013, 01:14:02 PM »
Chris,

These are from '24 and '25:



"I never beat a well man in my life" - Harry Vardon

Dave Doxey

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #230 on: June 15, 2013, 08:11:23 AM »
Before Mark takes on creating detente between posters or figuring out the sexuality of private men who have been dead for 75 years  ;), perhaps we can refocus on Mark's updated course list with the help of many here:

http://devereuxemmetsociety.blogspot.com/2010/11/devereux-emmet-course-list.html

Anything still missing?



The blog seems to have gone away.  Did it move somewhere or just go away?

Ronald Montesano

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #231 on: June 15, 2013, 06:50:24 PM »
the URL has either been hacked or poached...hope Mark didn't let it lapse.
Coming in August 2023
~Manakiki
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Ian Andrew

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #232 on: July 29, 2013, 04:02:22 PM »
Does anybody have or know of a good biography of Emmet?

I've been hired by Huntington Country Club and would like to put together a biography as part of the Master Plan.


Regards,

Ian
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Mark McKeever

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #233 on: July 29, 2013, 04:05:40 PM »
Ian, what does the course really need done besides mowing out some fairway and green surfaces?  I was out there last year and thought the course is delightful.

MM
Best MGA showers - Bayonne

"Dude, he's a total d***"

David Harshbarger

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #234 on: July 29, 2013, 07:31:55 PM »
Does anybody have or know of a good biography of Emmet?

I've been hired by Huntington Country Club and would like to put together a biography as part of the Master Plan.


Regards,

Ian

Ian, Mark has been working on one.
The trouble with modern equipment and distance—and I don't see anyone pointing this out—is that it robs from the player's experience. - Mickey Wright

Andrew Carr

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #235 on: December 18, 2015, 02:49:15 PM »
As a big fan of Devereux Emmet, Ian Andrew & Mark Chalfant, I'm bumping this thread in hopes of reigniting the discussion of a Socieity for Mr. Emmet.  I, for one, would be very interested in participating in such a Society.

Ian Andrew

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #236 on: December 18, 2015, 02:54:48 PM »
Ian, what does the course really need done besides mowing out some fairway and green surfaces?  I was out there last year and thought the course is delightful.


Interesting to answer that after the fact. It was mainly grassing work (done), some tee work (ongoing), tree removal (almost all done) and the area around the clubhouse ended up as part of the conversation too.



You can see the mow outs and tree removal around the 11th
« Last Edit: December 18, 2015, 02:57:23 PM by Ian Andrew »
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Robert Emmons

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #237 on: December 25, 2015, 08:49:00 AM »
and 8 new tee's, so far...RHE

Joe Bausch

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #238 on: December 25, 2015, 01:10:26 PM »
and 8 new tee's, so far...RHE


Sounds like 2016 is going to be very good at HCC!
@jwbausch (for new photo albums)
The site for the Cobb's Creek project:  https://cobbscreek.org/
Nearly all Delaware Valley golf courses in photo albums: Bausch Collection

Andrew Carr

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #239 on: December 25, 2015, 01:19:57 PM »
It's such an amazing place that seems to get better every time I go there.

Can we all set an ambitious goal for 2016 of getting an Emmet Society off the ground?

Anyone who is involved in another architects society care to give us some advice for starting?

Dave Doxey

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #240 on: November 18, 2022, 04:24:31 PM »
Does the Devereux Emmet Society still exist?  All links or sites mentioned no longer work.

Connor Lewis

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #241 on: November 25, 2022, 08:54:44 PM »
I am organizing a Devereux Emmet Society to honor this underappreciated golf course architect. I will be publishing a quarterly newsletter and plans are in the works for a spring meeting to celebrate his work.


I am extremely interested in doing a podcast on the History of Devereux Emmet. He is on my very short list of architects.

Jeff Schley

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #242 on: November 26, 2022, 03:39:47 AM »
Conner please do the podcast, in today's age unless a history is documented online outside of books etc. it seems like it will continue to erode.
"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice your gifts."
- Steve Prefontaine

mark chalfant

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #243 on: November 28, 2022, 08:51:57 PM »
Dave, Jeff and Connor,


Thank you for your interest in Devereux Emmet! I will be creating a new Emmet website early in 2023.





Andrew Carr

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #244 on: December 23, 2022, 09:38:19 PM »
Mark, I'm in!  How can I help?


Connor, I'm certainly not at Mark's level on Emmet, but I would be more than happy to share the history of Wheatley Hills Golf Club on Long Island.  And Brad Klein wrote a wonderful book on Emmet's St. George's, so he's is a spectacular resource.

Ian Andrew

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Re: Devereux Emmet Society
« Reply #245 on: December 27, 2022, 09:33:51 AM »
I think I had help from Mark on this, but it's a decent short biography

Devereux Emmet was born in Pelham, New York on December 11, 1861, the son of a wealthy Sugar Company executive William Jenkins Emmet. He was the great grandson of the famous American lawyer Thomas Abbot Emmet.

He was one of eight children. His four brothers went on to be successful business men and his three sisters were respected artists. Devereux himself went to Columbia University and earned a law degree in 1883. While the others were quick to establish themselves, Emmet was the child who seemed to march to a different drummer. He seemed to be far less interested in any form of work and was described as socialite or wealthy sportsman. He was also an excellent golfer talented enough golfer that he made it to the quarter finals of the British Amateur in 1904.

In 1889 he married Ella B. Smith in an elaborate wedding at her home in New York City. Miss Smith was the daughter of Judge J. Lawrence Smith and a niece of Alexander Stewart. Ella's sister Elizabeth was also the wife of famous architect Stanford White. They had two sons together Richard and Devereux Jr. This connection would play a key role in his future as a golf course architect.

"The bride's gown was of white satin and point lace adorned with pearls. A wedding breakfast was served by Pinard, and about 500 hundred guests attended the reception in the afternoon...... After a three week honeymoon Mr. and Mrs. Emmet will return to New York, but they will soon make their home at Cooperstown, where the groom has a large estate."

New York Times, January 27, 1889

Rather than become a lawyer like his famous great grandfather, Emmet bought hunting dogs in the South, raised them, and then sold them in the British Isles in the fall. He then spent his time overseas hunting and playing golf before returning home for the winter. It was on one of these later trips that he spent his time measuring and producing sketches of the famous British golf holes for his friend CB Macdonald who was then planning The National Golf Links of America. Emmet would eventually become a founding member of the National and play a small role in the purchase and planning of the course.


In the early 1870’s Alexander Stewart began the development of a community called Garden City. This project included George Hubbel, who would see this project through to the end for the family, and architect Stanford White. The community called for housing, parks and eventually golf courses as part of the overall plan. In 1899, based upon Devereux Emmet’s skill and enthusiasm for the game he was selected to layout the original nine-hole course.

School boys mostly ignore the game – make fun of it. Only to find out when they are thirty five years old and too old to be really good golfers, that it is the only game they care about for the rest of their lives. There is a mistaken idea among young people that is it’s a soft babyish game, requiring no courage or hardihood. As a matter of fact it calls for more pluck than any other form of athletic contest. The great efforts must be made with perfect sangfroid in the face of imminent disaster.”

Devereux Emmet on golf

The original nine was called Island Golf Links and was influenced by Emmet’s multiple trips to United Kingdom. Emmet was familiar with St. Andrews, Prestwick and North Berwick among other famous links and brought many of the ideas he saw there to his new holes. Eventually he would draw upon those golfing trips and adapt many of the famous holes into his own work. The 7th hole at Huntington Country Club is clearly his own adaption of the Road Hole and is in my opinion the best adaption I have seen in the United States.


Originally he accepted no fee for his work, likely because the first few projects involved his wife’s family, but it wasn’t soon after that Emmet became a professional golf course architect accepting fees. His practice grew as golf began to expand rapidly. In 1916 the USGA instituted a rule banning golf course architects who accepted a fee for their services from competing in amateur tournaments. Emmet’s design business continued to flourish in the 1920’s as golf went through a period of rapid expansion fueled by the roaring twenties. In 1924 Emmet hired Alfred Tull as a design associate.

“He may be classed by our intelligent golf legislators in the same category as caddies and club makers, but he must have imagination, education, love of nature and naturalness, and lots of technical knowledge and special knowledge thrown in to do justice to the job. It pays to employ a good golf architect – the best you can get. Then you won’t have regrets nor changes to make.”

Devereux Emmet on professional golf architects

Emmet had many interesting project along the way including the creation of The Women’s National Golf and Tennis club with Marion Hollins. Hollins provided Emmet with sketches of famous holes she had collected on a trip to England and some of those were incorporated into the design. Emmet even served as the club’s secretary for period too.

In 1929 Tull was promoted to full partner of Emmet, Emmet and Tull. The firm included his son Devereux Emmet Jr. who worked with the firm until his father’s death on December 30th 1934.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2022, 09:44:49 AM by Ian Andrew »
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