Davie Strath holds a unique and tragic place in golf lore. He was one of several highly-accomplished players within the same family (Davie was one of four brothers and was a frequent partner with young Tommy Morris, Jr.), three of whom died young (including Davie) and were victims of circumstance, having lived just prior to the discovery of penicillin, which might have saved them all from their cruel fate. Miraculously, Davie (1849-1879) came in second place in The Open three times, in 1870, 1873, and 1876. It is that last event—in 1876—that sealed his place in golfing history. Golf Australia published a detailed piece on Strath in January 2023, which…

There was no joy in Skagit County in 1916. “Skagit County claims the best fishing in the state, its climate is unexcelled, the crops there grow almost overnight and tourists come in flocks to admire the scenery, yet the joy of residents still is incomplete – they have no golf links.” (Seattle Times 6-14-1916) With those words, Frank Hall, a local businessman dealing in sports equipment, joined with others to organize a golf club in Skagit County in the latter part of 1916. Twenty-five residents met on December 1, 1916 and formed a temporary organization called the Skagit County Country and Golf Club. They elected Wilbra Coleman, a prominent local…

Charles Lees was born in 1800 in Cupar, Fife. And while digital maps don’t offer an option to calculate the distance (in time) from Cupar to The Old Course by carriage, on foot it is three hours, and by motorcar (sadly, invented six years after Lees’ death in 1880), it would have taken only 15 minutes. However, it must be said, Charles Lees was not a golfer. But he would leave—for history—a seven-foot incandescent canvas with one of the most iconic and emblematic portraits ever made of the game, in 1847, immortalizing the 1844 Grand Match at St. Andrews, entitled, “The Golfers.” As a young man, Charles Lees trained as…

The Society of Golfers in and around Edinburgh, known today as The Royal Burgess Golfing Society of Edinburgh, is widely recognized as the oldest Golf Club in the world. The earliest Members formed a competitive and spirited Society, playing golf for wagers and enjoying a lively social life. Playing at Bruntsfield Links, their adopted clubhouses were popular ‘howffs’ such as Maggie Johnstone’s, or later at Golfhall on the Links where Thomas Comb, clubmaker, established his workshop, sharing the premises with a golfers’ tavern. During the 1760’s the Society’s fortunes became increasingly precarious until the membership stirred itself and a resurgence followed with the addition of 16 new Members in 1773.…

Although Walla Walla Country Club in Walla Walla, Washington indicates their club was established in 1923, the roots of golf in Walla Walla go back a quarter century earlier to 1898.  That year, some of Walla Walla’s most prominent men, led by Stephen B. L. Penrose, President of Whitman College, organized the Walla Walla Golf Club. A nine-hole course “with greens of hard, gravelly clay” was laid out near the railroad depot in 1899.   Read All About it Here!                     EmailFacebookTwitterPinterestPrint

NWHP co-founder Martin Pool is the author of most of the the course histories on our website (see Courses menu item).  In his latest post, he covers the history of Hood River Golf and Country Club, with Chandler Egan connections and more!  Click the photo for the full story.             EmailFacebookTwitterPinterestPrint

As noted in Alistair Beaton Adamson’s biography of Allan Robertson (Allan Robertson, Golfer: His Life and Times published by Grant Books) St Andrews, as we regard it today, wasn’t always a hospitable place for golf. Formally, golf was played at St Andrews for some time before Sir Robert Gordon’s book was published in the 17th century, The Earldom of Sutherland. In it, there is some of the earliest known documentary evidence, including reference to a license of January 25, 1552, granted by John Hamilton, “by the mercie of God archebishop of Sanctandros, primat et legat natie of the haill realme of Scotland” to the community of the city to rear rabbits…

The Leavenworth Golf Club was formed in 1927, site of the Pacific Northwest Sand Green Championship, won several times by Native American golfers from Nespelem, Washington!  Martin Pool profiles its history.  Read all about it here.           EmailFacebookTwitterPinterestPrint

The following article is from the Pacific Northwest Golf Association, who inducted Macan into their Hall of Fame in 1989. Every now and then, a personality emerges with such passion and conviction that he warrants being called a “renaissance man.” In Northwest golf circles, Arthur Vernon Macan was truly a renaissance man. Though he had considerable skills as a tournament golfer, Macan is best known for his brilliant golf course designs. Macan was born in Ireland. His eponymously-named father graduated from Dublin’s Trinity College with a degree in medicine in 1868. While serving in the Prussian Army as a field doctor, Macan Sr. learned advanced surgical techniques that would later…

Established 1923 Course Opened First Nine: 4-30-1927; Second Nine: 1958 Course Architect: 1927 – Francis L. James; 1958 – unknown A year before the City of Longview was incorporated, a group of businessmen met in the summer of 1923 to organize Cowlitz County’s first golf club: the Longview Golf and Country Club. The club initially planned its first golf course at the base of Mount Solo, just west of Longview. Given the primitive roads at the time, the distance proved to be too much, and those plans were dropped. They then decided on another course closer to the soon to be City, and a nine hole course was built on…

Golf was first introduced to Boise in 1900 by a group of golf enthusiasts who laid out six holes at Fort Boise, a federal army installation also known as Boise Barracks. From all indications this was an unflattering course, probably more akin to what we now know as a pitch and putt course. Nevertheless, it was golf, and by any measure this was a very early appearance of golf in the Northwest, and most likely the first in Idaho. Only a few golf clubs existed at that time in the Northwest states, most notably the Tacoma Golf Club (1894), the Seattle Golf Club (1896), the Country Club of Seattle (1896),…

Allan Robertson, Golfer: His Life and Times By Alistair Beaton Adamson ISBN090718605X 1985 Grant Books, Worcestershire Tom Morris of St. Andrews; The Colossus of Golf By David Malcolm and Peter Crabtree ISBN139781841588186 2008 Berlinn, Edinburgh   Legends of 19th Century Links By Robert Birman, co-founder NW Hickory Players Old Tom Morris’ renown and acclaim – now stretching more than 150 years – can be in part attributed, in my view, to the formative influence of his mentor and playing partner, Allan Robertson.  In fact, Robertson might well have been the first name everyone today associates with the “founding” of golf in Scotland, had it not been for the fact that…

With a population of 9,300, Lutterworth, England, might appear to be an odd place to find one of the most active hickory golf club sellers on eBay.  In the 14th century, the religious reformer Canon John Wycliffe, who hailed from the vicinity, was traditionally believed to have produced the first translation of the Bible from Latin into English.  Later, in the days of the stagecoach, Lutterworth was an important stopping-place on the road from Leicester to Oxford and London, and many former coaching inns remain in the town. The town also contains some historic half-timbered buildings, some of which date back to the 16th century. Half way between London and…

Read all about it here!  Click image below. EmailFacebookTwitterPinterestPrint

Tom Dunn, son of Willie Dunn, was a clubmaker and golf course architect.  Dunn competed only in The Open Championship during his lifetime, racking up four top-ten finishes (6th place, being the highest) in 1868, 1869, 1878 and 1884. He played in four others through 1886, never finishing outside the top 20, but skipped playing in eight-straight Opens from 1870 to 1877 only to come in 9th in 1878.   Early life Dunn was born in Musselburgh.  His father, Willie Dunn Sr, and his twin brother, Jamie, were notable golfers of their time, routinely playing against Allan Robertson and Old Tom Morris. Willie was apprenticed under the Gourlay family. At…

Lionel Freedman, former secretary of the Musselburgh Golf Club and founder of the World Hickory Open has passed away. Freedman, a warm and gracious man, was friend to many hickory golfers, worldwide, and made numerous trips to the United States to support the meteoric growth of the game on this side of the pond. Amid a lifetime of honors and volunteer positions to support the game of golf, Freedman served as the honorary starter and was recognized for his contributions to the game at the inaugural World Hickory Match Play in Philadelphia in 2014, by invitation of the Metropolitan Hickory Society and event-creator, Brian Schuman. NWHP co-founder, Robert Birman, recalls…

Born on March 1, 1959, golfer Perry Somers has been a staple of the international hickory golf scene for years.  A member of the Australian PGA, Somers holds titles across Europe and has won the Australian Hickory Championship in 2010.  The PGA of Australia wrote, “He is good at the game he plays, maybe the best going around.” Now based in Cologne, Germany, where he teaches at the Golf and Country Club Velderhof, while at the same time supporting his wife Henriette in her career with the Cologne City Council, Somers is a throwback to a time when golf was pure.  “I feel like I was born 50 years too…

Like something out of Loyal Chapman’s fantasy golf holes, the image on the cover of the April 14, 1927 issue of The Youth’s Companion magazine appears unreal. It depicts a young man teeing off a precipice facing Mount Rainier, located 85 miles from Seattle, Washington, and rising to some 14,000 feet above sea level. Is this for real? How long was that drive? Did he make par? Alas, no such golf hole existed on Mount Rainier in 1927. This was a staged photo opportunity. Yet, sometimes life imitates art, and in 1931 a nine hole golf course was indeed built on Mount Rainier. The Rainier National Park Company, which had…