My search for Donald Ross
This research project began for me in 2016 with a single question: Was Donald Ross really the golf course architect responsible for the current layout at the Country Club of New Bedford? My research efforts were an attempt to prove that Mr. Ross was in fact our designer.
Finding the answer to that simple question presented a true challenge and ultimately led me to discover that in fact he was not.
What follows below is a description of my process and the three year journey it took me to arrive at that final conclusion.
The Country Club of New Bedford had long been labeled a Donald Ross design or at least Donald Ross inspired - whatever that meant. Yet there remained a soft undercurrent that perhaps it was not his design. Some even went so far as to question whether or not he had ever even set foot on our course!
Mr. Ross is credited with designing more than four hundred and sixty golf courses across the country. In order to accomplish such a large body of work he often used subordinates, lieutenants if you will, who would supervise the work in his absence. Some people rationalized that perhaps our design was his, but that he was never here for the actual construction. It certainly remained a possibility that a subordinate oversaw Ross designed plans for the entire project.
The proximity of Ross’s summer home, located in Little Compton, RI, would have made it logical to conclude that he had a hand in the design of our golf course.
Historical record keeping over the years at the Country Club of New Bedford has been rather poor. The only sources of historical information that I uncovered at CCNB are the Minutes of the Board of Governors meetings and the Annual Meeting Reports dating back to 1902.
Several published sources credit Mr. Ross with designing CCNB in 1924, so I thought that I could simply read the 1924 Minutes and find the answer. Much to my surprise, there is absolutely no mention of Donald Ross anywhere to be found in the 1924 Minutes. In fact he is not mentioned anywhere within the 1923 through 1925 timeframe in the Minutes.
Not knowing where else to look I opted to start at the beginning of our golf history at CC of New Bedford in 1902. The brief notes about Board of Governors meetings have little detail or substance. They were initially written in rather flowery cursive handwriting that presented a challenge to decipher. The Minutes were reviewed from 1902 through the end of June 1932 for this portion of the project.
Early on in my research, contact was made with the Tufts Archives of the Donald Ross Society in Pinehurst, North Carolina for more information. Rumors that the Country Club of New Bedford was not listed there as a “Ross course” needed to be verified.
Mr. Jan Ludwig, a retired professor and volunteer at the Archives, was contacted. He was informed that at that point in my research I had found Mr. Ross mentioned only once in our Board of Governors’ Minutes. That single notation in 1917 was in fact a reference to developing plans for the expansion of the course from its initial nine-hole links design to an eighteen-hole facility. It seemed like a great lead!
The Minutes read that it was:
"Voted: that the Club appropriate the sum of one hundred dollars ($100) to purchase the expert advice of Mr. Donald Ross as to furnishing plans for a permanent layout of golf links, provided that an additional one hundred and fifty dollars be raised by subscription for the same purpose." *30
Sadly, Mr. Ludwig was only able to confirm that the Country Club of New Bedford was not listed at the Tufts Archives as a course attributed to Donald Ross. In addition he knew of no plans or drawings associated with such a project at the Archive. He encouraged me to do further research locally, since this small bit of evidence had been uncovered in the Minutes. He suggested that someone like myself researching CCNB further might just prove that the Tufts archival list was incomplete - as some course historians had succeeded in doing for their golf courses.
Golf Has Never Failed Me, which is a compilation of commentaries by Donald Ross himself, does have a reference to the Country Club of New Bedford. It exists on page 224 in a section called “A List of Prominent Golf Courses Designed by Donald J. Ross Golf Course Architect”. That page is part of what appears to be an appendix in this book and is not a part of Mr. Ross’ own commentary. Like all of the other golf courses contained in this section it simply lists our course by it’s name and location “Country Club of New Bedford, North Dartmouth but contains the added notation “Remodeled nine & added nine, 1924”.
There is no footnote to indicate any source for the information contained in this appendix, no author listed who organized the book of commentaries and this therefore presented no further opportunity to contact anyone to verify that listing.
My initial questions were - Why would CCNB be mentioned in this book when the Tufts Archives does not have CCNB listed? Why 1924? Donald Ross was mentioned only once in our Minutes, but that was in 1917 not 1924. That reference was only to hire him for advice on furnishing plans for a permanent eighteen-hole facility. None of this actually presented any confirmation of him ever having been involved in the expansion project itself.
I had been poking around the office at CCNB looking for information in the Board of Governors Minutes on this subject for only a brief time period, when a call came in to the office at CCNB from a Mr. Jim Caruso. He was with a newly formed Donald Ross Historian Society and was hoping to speak with the Club historian. There was no such position in existence at our Club at that time, but because I was then serving on the Board of Governors and had already shown an interest in the subject the contact information was forwarded to me. I was excited to return the call thinking that I would get a simple straightforward confirmation that Mr. Ross had been responsible for the redesign and expansion to eighteen holes at CCNB.
Jim explained that they were simply organizing a group of Club historians from Donald Ross designed golf clubs. Much to my disappointment, he only wanted to know if a historian from CCNB wanted to join their group. I explained that I was in the early stages of trying to prove that the Country Club of New Bedford was in fact a Ross design. I had found no other documentation at our club except the 1917 Board Minutes notation that referenced Mr. Ross. He jovially encouraged further research - suggesting that I contact the Tufts Archives, continue reading through the Board of Governors Minutes and search through local newspaper articles. He had no new information to offer for my research project, but extended an invitation to join his organization of historians who might have more suggestions.
Around this time I asked then Club President Mark White if I could be appointed as the official historian for the Country Club of New Bedford. Without hesitation he said yes and thus my research project developed a larger purpose. Rather than simply satisfying my own personal curiosity, I would attempt to prove Mr. Ross’ involvement at CCNB for the membership.
The search was on.
A troublesome timeline occurred immediately for proving that Donald Ross was involved in the expansion. As mentioned, the Minutes only reference of Mr. Ross in connection with the project was for the purpose of advising the Board of Governors on developing plans on April 30, 1917. There seemed to be no further action to follow through on that expansion project following this meeting.
The Minutes did appear to show that the Club had begun to struggle a bit financially shortly after that meeting. Certainly the entry of the United States into World War I, which occurred in April of 1917, must have had an impact on leisure time activities like golf. The war ended in November of 1918.
By August 19, 1919, the Board authorized the President to approach a “bank for a loan of one thousand ($1,000) if necessary to carry the Club through to Oct,1, 1919.” There was again an issue regarding inadequate funding by Feb. 13, 1920. The Board amended its bylaws at that meeting because "the income was too small to meet the demands made on the Club". Article 1 of the bylaws was then changed by striking the words "maximum of thirty dollars and inserting the words fifty dollars" thus increasing the dues for the first time in Club history.
The Secretary recorded that a search for land began soon after. On October 25, 1920 the Minutes reported: “As Mr. George R. Cherry had done considerable work in looking up land for a possible extension of the golf course he was at this time invited into the meeting to explain to the Board what the prospects were.”
The matter of securing enough land for an 18 hole golf course was discussed and it was -
Voted: That the President, Mr. Cherry and Mr. Wilcox constitute a committee to endeavor to secure the Coggeshall farm on the Hathaway Rd; to secure the advice of an expert on golf courses as to the sustainability of the land; and to report back to the Board at it's next meeting"
Several possibilities for expansion of the golf course at the Slocum Rd. site were ultimately considered. At their next meeting on November 29, 1920 the Committee appointed to investigate purchasing additional land for expansion reported back that after consulting with an expert on golf courses the Coggeshall and Perry Grove properties were unsuitable for a golf course.
It appears as though the Board even considered the possibility of relocating the course entirely as seen in Minutes recorded on 12/27/20 "The Secretary was instructed to obtain a plan of land bounded by Slocum Road, Fall River Road, Tucker Road and Allentown Street".
The membership grew unhappy with the crowded conditions at their new Dartmouth facility. On September 26, 1921, a petition signed by John Morris and fifty-nine others recommending expansion to an eighteen hole golf course was received by the Board and it was -
Voted: The the Board acknowledge the receipt of petition addressed to the President and the same is laid on the table for action by the new Board.
On October 7, 1921, the President reported that he had appointed the following committee to investigate and act on additional property for an eighteen hole golf course.
Miner W Wilcox, Chairman
Elliott C Taber
Fred W Green, Jr.
Edward T. Pierce
Henry Marsh
The November 28, 1921 Minutes read as follows: " Mr Sherman reported for the Land Committee that it had arranged for the purchase a piece of property of 38 acres, more or less, on the Hathaway Rd for the extension of the golf course at a price of $41,000.
Voted to approve the acquisition of land for $41,000”
Miner W. Wilcox, who became the central figure in charge of the expansion project, was invited into the February 21, 1922 meeting. He detailed the purchase of land up to this time for the new golf course. This property had been subdivided into house lots prior to the Club’s interest in it. Mr. Wilcox reported on lot acquisitions for the necessary acreage to expand to 18 holes.
The final acquisition of the land necessary to enable the expansion did not conclude until February of 1922. By now the Board had delayed the possibility of starting the project for a full five years from the proposed hiring of Donald Ross in 1917.
It is a likely conclusion that Mr. Ross simply advised the Board of Governors at in 1917 that he could not reorganize the original eighty-six acres of land which the Club owned to gain an additional nine new holes. It is almost certain that during his only documented contact with the Board of Governors, he told them that they needed to acquire more land.
Since the acquisition of the land on the other side of Slocum Rd. wasn’t finalized until February 1922, Donald Ross could not possibly have drawn up any plans for eighteen holes in 1917. There remained the slight possibility that the current twelve holes on the original property were somehow his design, but ultimately no evidence was ever uncovered that he actually drew up any plans at all.
A group of members had been collecting historical photos for the clubhouse in 2016 while I did my research and among them was Patricia Ansay. She and I briefly collaborated on this history project. Local historian Dr. Robert Harding met with Pat and myself to discuss the history of CCNB. He had been working on a more general history of golf in Dartmouth for a presentation to the local historical society.
Dr. Harding subsequently shared several photos and newspaper clippings regarding the New Bedford Country Club that he had acquired while doing his own research. Among them was a newspaper clipping from the Boston Herald dated December 27, 1921 titled “Ross To Aid Hub Municipal Links”. This article discussed the potential redesign of a public golf course in Franklin Park, MA. and quoted Mr. Ross as saying he “would undertake the work when he returned to Boston in the Spring”.
Then there was this ... “The Franklin Park proposition will make five in Massachusetts in which Mr. Ross is interested, the others being the New Charles River Club in Newton Center, a second nine for the New Bedford Country Club, rebuilding the Mt. Tom course in Holyoke and a new course at Wayland.” *29
This seemed to lead me back to a reasonably correct timeline! Donald Ross himself was quoted as saying that he had the CCNB expansion job on his horizon in a list of projects to do in the December 1921 article and the BOG acquired the land across Slocum Rd. in February of 1922. It all started to line up for Mr. Ross as our golf course designer and architect.
Then came this plot twist from a subsequent Board meeting.
After acquiring the land necessary for expansion in February of 1922, the Board of Governors Minutes dated March 16, 1922 read as follows;
“Miner Wilcox, Chairman of Architect Committee suggested the name of Willie Park, New York City for golf architect and stated Park estimated his fees would be from $2,000 to $2,500.”
Voted " To employ Willie Park of New York to remodel the course at $150 a day and expenses for new 18 hole layout expansion”
This sudden shift was perplexing. Donald Ross was clearly interested in the project at the Country Club of New Bedford as reported in December of 1921. The land was finally acquired in February 1922 just three months later and yet when the Board of Governors met in March (just one month after the purchase) they hired another world famous Scottish golf course architect - Willie Park instead!
What happened to hiring Donald Ross? What about his plans? Who was Willie Park? Why him? There were no answers to be found anywhere in the Board of Governors Minutes.
In the interest of clarity it should be noted here that the Minutes have incorrectly identified their new choice for golf course architect. We have an error in the Minutes, a “typo” if you will.
The man they hired was in fact Willie Park Jr. of Musselburgh, Scotland an entrepreneur who originated the term “golf course architect“, had established a multinational golf course design business and by then had opened an office in New York City. This office initially served as a base for the sale of golf related products produce by his company in Scotland where his employees made golf clubs, balls and other golf related items - many of which he had designed. By 1922 both this office and another he set up in Toronto, Canada also served as bases for his expanding golf course design business in North America.
There are in fact two Willie Parks from Musselburgh, Scotland. Both men are in the World Golf Hall of Fame but Willie Park Sr., a three time Open champion, died in 1903. His son Willie Park Jr., a two time Open champion himself, became a famous golf course architect in Scotland, England and Europe as well as North America. OK not a big issue but we need to keep some names straight as you will see.
The next entry is for a special meeting of the BOG only eleven days after he was proposed and it can clearly be seen from those Minutes that the BOG has definitely chosen Willie Park Jr. as their man! The March 27, 1922 Minutes read as follows:
"at 8:15 PM an informal meeting was held to discuss the New Golf Course plans submitted by Willie Park.
It was voted unanimously that the plans presented were satisfactory and that work should be pushed along as quickly as possible.” *32
It is important to note that there is no mention in the Board of Governors Minutes of exactly when construction began to remodel our golf course into an eighteen-hole facility or of when the project was concluded.
To recap - in 1922 the Board which had finally acquired the necessary land five years after the mention of Donald Ross in their Minutes, saw and approved Willie Park Jr.’s plans for a redesign and despite his interest in doing the project did not hire Mr. Ross for the expansion of their golf course to eighteen holes.
In fact there are multiple sources that credit Willie Park Jr. with the redesign of our original nine-hole golf course and the addition of nine holes at the Country Club of New Bedford.
According to the March 1924 Minutes, the year when Donald Ross is frequently credited for doing the expansion at CCNB, it appeared that the expansion project had been completed or nearly so because the following vote appeared in the Minutes:
Voted "That in appreciation of the services rendered by Miner W Wilcox (the man who recommended Willie Park Jr.) in superintendending the construction of our new course, he be exempt from dues for five years from April 1, 1924." *34
The case appeared open and shut. The land was acquired in 1922, Willie Park Jr. was hired in 1922, Miner Wilcox received free dues in 1924 for a period of five years as a reward for supervising the expansion to eighteen holes and there was no need for Donald Ross in 1924.
At the conclusion of reviewing the Board of Governors Minutes it seemed clear that the golf course architect for the Country Club of New Bedford must have been Willie Park Jr. However, with no plans in hand and no mention of either the beginning or the end of construction found in the Minutes, that conclusion had still not been completely confirmed. I felt that more concrete proof his activity at CCNB was required.
As I have mentioned, there are several sources that reference Donald Ross as the architect responsible for the redesign of the Country Club of New Bedford in 1924. Likewise there are multiple sources which credit Willie Park Jr. with doing the same project. I was still far from proving either man was the designer.
Was it possible that the two most famous architects of their generation both worked on the redesign at the Country Club of New Bedford in successive years? Was there any reason why this scenario could possibly make any sense?
It seemed unlikely - until further research uncovered the fact that both men occasionally used the same construction companies to do the actual labor and that Willie Park Jr. became seriously ill sometime around the 1922 - 1923 time period.
There is absolutely no mention of either man again in the Board of Governors Minutes beyond that February 27, 1922 notation regarding Mr. Park’s hiring.
Donald Ross was very prolific in the number of golf courses he designed or redesigned across the country. Willie Park Jr. designed fewer golf courses in the United States for several reasons: 1) Unlike Donald Ross, Willie Park Jr. personally visited every site under construction. 2) Park oversaw the construction of golf courses in Scotland, England and elsewhere in Europe before he relocated his business to North America. 3) Park also made ocean voyages back and forth between New York and Scotland several times between 1919 and 1923. 4) In North America Willie Park Jr. completed projects in Canada as well as in the United States. 5) When he died in 1925 at age 61 - he was fifteen years younger than Donald Ross.
During the time period between 1919-1928, Donald Ross committed to doing over 200 golf courses and there was often a 2-3 year backup for his golf course design services. It would seem likely that for this reason alone the Board of Governors at CCNB might have selected Willie Park Jr. instead of Mr. Ross. One can reread the lines of that second entry in the BOG Minutes pertaining to Willie Park Jr’s hiring and it can be seen that the Board was in a hurry. It reads as follows “... that the work should be pushed along as quickly as possible.” The Board of Governors that had taken five years to acquire the necessary land following their decision to expand their golf course most certainly would not have wanted to wait another 2-3 years for Donald Ross to begin the project to expand CCNB to eighteen holes.
The next issue to resolve was the potential that the timing for hiring Willie Park Jr. in 1922 might have been problematic. He ended his career as a golf course architect within two years of being hired by the Board of Governors due to illness. Various accounts describe his mental decline around this time and his final voyage back to Scotland occurred in October of 1923.
An obvious issue that needed to be resolved was whether or not Willie Park Jr. had enough time to bring the redesign at CCNB to its final conclusion before he became significantly ill and returned to Scotland where he died.
Without question 1922 was a rather eventful year at the Country Club of New Bedford. The extra land was purchased in February, Willie Park Jr. was hired to expand the course to eighteen holes in March and then the clubhouse burned to the ground on October 29, 1922!
This presented yet another concern for the Club and yet another question to be answered. Did the cost of rebuilding the clubhouse stall the expansion project in any way? If so, did this have any impact on Mr. Park’s work at our golf course that would have delayed the expansion and perhaps brought Donald Ross back into the picture?
More questions and still no final answer on Donald Ross’s potential involvement at CCNB! Now it needed to be established that the Club had sufficient resources to redesign its golf course and to rebuild its clubhouse simultaneously. There was absolutely no indication found in the Minutes that Willie Park’s golf course redesign project had even begun construction before the fire.
Was the expansion delayed or was it already underway? Did Willie Park Jr. have enough time or the stamina to finish the job at the Country Club of New Bedford before his illness became debilitating? Was the project completed before his final return to Scotland?
Without any conclusive evidence to the contrary in the Minutes, it appears likely that the redesign went on as planned despite the 1922 clubhouse fire. A $20,000 insurance policy on the clubhouse likely enabled the Club to keep the expansion work on schedule.
With no other historical documents detailing the history at CCNB to be found, I began a rather tedious, torturous and time consuming search through microfilm at the New Bedford Free Public Library. The reference desk librarian pointed me to the local publication of that time period - The Morning Mercury.
It can be concluded that the work did not disrupt the original links golf course itself immediately. This can be seen in a local newspaper article dated September 8, 1922. Reporting on the upcoming N. B. Country Club Championship the article says “... and the fact that work to rebuild the course into an 18 hole affair is soon to begin, the committee decided that any further delay would make the finals due about the time the course would be in no condition to play.” *38 Of course this statement refers to the likelihood that the original nine hole golf course would be unplayable due to construction. It does not preclude the probability that work might have already been underway on the six holes across Slocum Rd. Beginning construction there would have been the most logical place to start the project in order to minimize disruption of the golfing season.
A second article reported on the sports page of the Morning Mercury (July 5, 1923) shared the results of a medal play tournament at CCNB. The gross winner was Elliott C. Tabor who shot 78. This seemingly innocent article hinted that perhaps construction of the eighteen-hole layout was at least underway. The reported tournament result was the first to ever describe a medal play tournament at the Country Club of New Bedford with both “Out and In” nines. *39
A third article referenced play at CCNB by the former US Open Champion, Francis Ouimet. He was a cotton broker in the 1920’s and had been in the city on business. He was invited to play a best ball match with three members of the Country Club of New Bedford on July 27, 1923. This article also may have inferred that the Country Club of New Bedford’s new course was under construction. It reported that Mr. Ouimet shot 73 - one stroke off the course record and it also noted that “His putter was not working as well as usual yesterday, due to the poor conditions of the greens.” *40 Could this comment perhaps imply that some of the new greens were in play but had not yet had time to mature?
Unfortunately, none of these articles clearly stated that construction had even begun on the expansion project at CCNB. Two subsequent articles, however, revealed that the work was obviously nearing completion by August 17, 1923.
The initial proof that CCNB construction was at least underway comes from the Morning Mercury newspaper on August 17, 1923 whose sports page reads as follows: “Francis Ouimet played at the Country Club of New Bedford yesterday afternoon and was 61 for fifteen holes. He had a 36 on the old nine and 25 on the east side of Slocum Road. Had he played 1,3, and 4 of the old course he would undoubtedly have set a record as 80 is the best unofficial score as yet.” That same article went on to say that: “Eight of the new greens are in use to date. Six new ones the other side of Slocum Road, the one in back of the old first green and now being used for the first hole and number eight (currently our 4th hole) of the old nine”. *41
It was on August 31, 1923, that conclusive evidence appeared in the Morning Mercury which confirmed that an eighteen-hole layout existed at the Country Club of New Bedford. The sports page for that day reported on Seth Besse having reached the finals in “the tournament for the golf championship of the Country Club of New Bedford”. The Morning Mercury reported that he was still awaiting an opponent for the finals. Of note in this article was the following: “It is very likely that the new course will be played today or tomorrow.” *46
In addition, the 1923 Harper’s American Annual Golf Guide showed with certainty that the Country Club of New Bedford had “9 Under Construction” and revealed a new course yardage of 6100 yards.
Finally on September 4, 1923 the sports page reported on the results of the President’s Cup at CCNB. The article concluded with the following statement: “Most of the new holes are now in use and the course is coming along nicely.”
It seems that there was only one more question to answer. If Seth Bess was waiting to play the club championship on the newly expanded course, presumably finished by Willie Park Jr. before August of 1923, why was Donald Ross ever listed anywhere as being responsible for the redesign of the original nine holes plus the addition of nine new holes at CCNB in 1924?
In the course of additional research, a website called Golf Club Atlas was discovered. It appeared to be an open forum for golf course architects, historians and superintendents to have discussions and to share knowledge about golf course design. There were multiple references to Willie Park Jr. and several mentioned him in conjunction with the Country Club of New Bedford. In one of these discussions, CCNB was mentioned as being on “Mungo’s list” of golf courses attributed to Willie Park Jr.
Still searching for a connection with Donald Ross, a theory was postulated that perhaps Willie Park Jr. had been unable to finish supervising the construction before becoming ill and that Mr. Ross had been asked to step in to finish or refine the project because they often employed the same construction companies.
Much to my surprise I found a posting on the Golf Club Atlas website from a current member, Jon Sirois, in a discussion about “volcano greens” like our 15th hole. I had trouble navigating the site and was unable to get into the discussions section myself because the registration page had been closed. I reached out to Jon who then made contact on my behalf with a gentleman named Michael Fay who was active on that website.
It turns out that Mr. Fay is Captain of the Donald Ross Society Inc. The same group that had asked for a CCNB club historian to join them as this research project began. Michael Fay’s response was abrupt but clearly stated that; “CC of Bedford is not a Ross course. Apparently Mr. Ross made a drawing for CC of Bedford in the early 1920’s but it was never implemented. CC of Bedford was built in the late 30’s and early 40’s NOT by D. J. Ross and Company. The Club if I am not mistaken has long advertised itself as Donald Ross inspired (whatever that means). Hence there is no real connection to Ross that is in existence. Sorry for the bad news.”
Jon then responded to Mr. Fay in order to verify that he was referencing the Country Club of New Bedford (not “CC of Bedford”) in North Dartmouth and to point out that our Club existed as eighteen holes prior to the 30s and 40s.
Mr. Fay replied “... we are speaking of the same club in N. Dartmouth. In my reference material I find of Willie Park, Jr. tied to the project building nine holes in 1902. This would have been a fairly rudimentary effort as the Haskell ball did not begin its popularity until 1903-4. As I stated before the current course was built in the late 30’s or early 40’s. There is some possibility that the Ross plan was referred to but nothing in the Archives that involved Donald J. Ross and Associates in the construction of the course.”
Noting errors in his timeline based upon what had I had already uncovered in our BOG Minutes and the Morning Mercury newspaper, Mr. Fay was contacted again and challenged on his information and dateline. First, evidence from both the BOG Minutes and the Boston Herald proved that the initial nine hole links course in N. Dartmouth was laid out by David Findlay in 1902, not Willie Park. Second, as has already been established, the redesign and expansion occurred in the early 1920’s not in the ‘30’s or ‘40’s. He was further challenged as to exactly how he had verified that CCNB was not a Ross design.
Mr. Fay’s next response was more expansive and left open a slight chance that the theory regarding Mr. Ross taking over a potentially unfinished project might have some validity.
“I am basically representing what our first Historian W. Pete Jones uncovered and repeated to me. I did a little digging at that time (Pete died in 1998) and could not find anything that led elsewhere. My mention of Willie Park, Jr. is taken from The Architects of Golf by Cornish and Whitten.”
I've seen nearly all of the Ross correspondence from the early 1920's. There was nary a mention of New Bedford. He spent his summers after 1924 in Little Compton, RI not very far away from North Andover (Did he mean to write Dartmouth?) It would have been a natural to approach Ross after the demise of Park, Jr. If that happened he did not note it in his correspondence.”
Digging deeper it was established that the mention of “Mungo’s list “ in the Golf Club Atlas posting was in fact compiled by a present day Mungo Park who had begun doing research on his golfing ancestors. The Park family seems to have a short list of male first names that makes things very confusing. Willie Park Sr. won the Open championship three times and had a brother named Mungo Park who won the 1874 Open championship and had four more top ten finishes himself. Willie Sr. had at least three sons - Willie Jr., John and believe it or not he named his second son Mungo!
The present day Mungo Park, Willie Park Jr’s grandnephew, is at least the third in this family! He, like his ancestors before him, is also connected to the sport of golf. Today’s Mungo Park owns an architectural firm in England which specializes in designing golf course clubhouses.
Communication was established directly with the present day Mungo Park via email. He seemed delighted by the contact and eager to share information. He confirmed that in the course of his research he had found the Country Club of New Bedford among the courses attributed to his great-uncle Willie Park Jr.
His research into his ancestry seemed to be a relatively recent project for him. He appeared to be disappointed that there was no society of historians who had researched his ancestors and that thus there was not yet any central source of information regarding Willie Park Jr. In addition, there did not appear to be any form of archival records of plans for the golf courses that he designed.
Mungo Park confirmed that the list mentioned in Golf Club Atlas was in fact his. His list was partially derived from a 1922 business card/advertisement from Willie Park Jr’s New York golf course architectural design business. The Country Club of New Bedford was listed there as one of several courses “planned, designed and supervised” by Willie Park Jr.
Mungo Park said that his research was still relatively incomplete and suggested a few people to contact who might have more information. Michael Fay who had already been contacted, Bradley Klein and Anthony Pioppi headed the list and thus the research project continued.
As I have detailed, the first reference I found regarding Donald Ross doing a “redesign of nine holes plus a new nine” was found in the Donald Ross’s book Golf Has Never Failed Me, but it was simply a mention in the appendix.
A second reference to Donald Ross’s involvement at CCNB was found in one of the Golf Course Atlas discussion forums about Willie Park Jr. but in this instance it questioned Mr. Ross’s involvement much as I had begun to do - “There are several courses attributed to him (Park) right after the turn of the century. One of those, CC of New Bedford, had its first nine holes built in 1902. One source notes that Park didn’t do work here until 1923, but does this make any sense with Ross coming in a year later to add nine holes?”
By this time contact had been made with a gentleman named Anthony Pioppi at the suggestion of the present day Mungo Park. Mr. Pioppi is an author, historian, Senior writer for Superintendent Magazine and has written multiple golf course history books. He had, in fact, just appeared on the Golf Channel to promote his latest book The Finest Nines: The Best Nine-Hole Golf Course’s in North America.
Anthony was extremely helpful in furthering this research project. He quickly and accurately documented via several listings in Harper’s Official Golf Guide the date of incorporation of the original Hawthorn Golf Club (1897) and established with certainty from the same source that in 1922 the Country Club of New Bedford was still a nine hole golf course with a length of 2,801 yards.
The next year’s listing was key to corroborating this research. In 1923, Harper’s revealed for the first time that the Country Club of New Bedford was officially an 18 hole golf course with a length of 6,100 yards with a notation “New 9 hole course under construction.” Clearly this had to be Willie Park Jr. at work.
The pivotal question still remained unanswered - Was Donald Ross involved at the Country Club of New Bedford in 1924 in any way whatsoever? How ironic, since this was where the project began. I had come full circle.
The only conceivable reasons which perhaps made any sense regarding Donald Ross’s possible involvement in the eighteen hole golf course at the Country Club of New Bedford in 1924 were: 1) if Willie Park Jr. did not finish the project or 2) if he did finish but the results were somehow unsatisfactory to the BOG. Again, the Minutes of the Board of Governors make no reference to hiring Donald Ross in 1924.
Long time member William (Bill) Quinlan in his book, The History of The August Fourball, tried to make a case for Donald Ross at CCNB in 1924. He referenced a book by Bradley S. Klein, Discovering Donald Ross and seemed to imply that this book justified Mr. Ross’s work at our course in 1924. In Bill’s book he readily admitted that; “there is still a great deal of conjecture regarding Donald Ross’s activities at New Bedford.” He referred to a Fall 2001 Mass Golfer edition which summarized highlights of the book by Bradley Klein. Bill pointed to staff subordinates who oversaw construction of golf courses. I’ve already mentioned that Mr. Ross hired them as his surrogates on construction sites when his business was at it’s peak and often left the site inspections to them. Bill’s implied rational seemed to be that Ross’s subordinates were involved and thus provided the Ross connection for the redesign and expansion at CCNB in 1924.
Author Bradley S. Klein did extensive research on Donald Ross for his book Discovering Donald Ross - traveling the country to visit Ross courses, exploring the archives at Pinehurst, meeting with Mr. Ross’s daughter Lillian Ross Pippit and his granddaughter Elizabeth Shapiro and even staying in Mr. Ross’s former home in Little Compton. His admiration for Donald Ross and his achievements is evident.
Dr. Klein, who has his degree in political science, is the golf architectural editor of Golf Week magazine and runs its national golf course rating system. He has written for Golf Week, Golf Digest, the Financial Times, the New York Times and Sports Illustrated. He is an award winning author, a former PGA Tour caddie, a golf course design consultant and an expert on Donald Ross.
His book contains a section titled “Courses Designed by Donald J. Ross” with a listing done state by state. The identical listing for the Country Club of New Bedford found in Ross’s book Golf Has Never Failed Me appears here again - complete with the same notations regarding both a new course and remodeling nine holes done in 1924. I decided to contact Mr. Klein directly. Anthony Pioppi was most helpful again - this time by providing the necessary contact information.
In my email to Mr.Klein, all of the research done to date was presented. He was asked about the listings regarding the Country Club of New Bedford in both his book and Mr. Ross’s book which reference Donald Ross working at CCNB in 1924. He was asked directly just how he had verified the listing in his book. His response was “The list in my book has been adapted from previous lists and amended where I could verify it. That has not been the case with the list from Golf Has Never Failed Me. There remain some errors in mine.”
Almost immediately he emailed a second time to say “Mr Ross does not list Country Club of New Bedford in his fairly comprehensive promotional brochure of 1930.
Willie Park’s business card/brochure from about 1922 lists eight golf courses including New Bedford Country Club, New Bedford, Mass. in a list of “Other Courses Planned, Designed and Supervised” (in other words in progress). I cannot vouch for New Bedford, but I am certain that he (Park Jr.) did the other seven in that list. That would weaken the case considerably for Ross and strengthen it dramatically for Park Jr.”
The aforementioned Park business card/brochure is the same one mentioned to me by the present day Mungo Park in his earlier correspondence via email.
Brad Klein was kind enough to email images of both advertising brochures.
CCNB is the eighth course listed on that Willie Park Jr. advertising brochure - the only one that Brad Klein had not yet verified as being a Park design.
I had not mentioned that December 1921 Boston Herald shared with me by Dr. Harding to Mr. Klein. He had no way to connect the fact that three of the five courses which Mr. Ross expressed interest in pursuing - Charles River CC in Newton Center, Mt. Tom in Holyoke and Sandy Burr Country Club in Wayland are listed on that 1930 Ross promotional brochure as being completed by Donald Ross.
The only projects missing of the five Donald Ross expressed an interest in doing in that 1921 article are the Country Club of New Bedford and Franklin Park.
Mr Klein was then asked if he knew of any reason why Franklin Park was not mentioned in the 1930 advertising brochure. His response was “Why did Franklin Park get left off the list of Ross courses? He was amending an existing William Campbell course and I suspect that it would have been ill advised to claim credit for a renovation.”
Brad Klein was also asked if he had any idea how long Willie Park Jr. was in America before falling ill and returning to Scotland. I still needed to be prove that he had had adequate time to finish the project at CCNB. His response was “He was in the US at least until August 1923 when he worked on Castine GC in Maine. According to the Castine Golf Club history, Willie Park Jr. made two visits to the club during construction. They have a receipt made out to him for his last onsite visit in December 1922 in the amount of $657.29”.
Mr. Klein also informed me that Castine GC has an additional receipt made out to Mungo Park, Willie's brother and business associate, compensating him for making the final inspection on Willie’s behalf towards the end of 1923. “Park would've headed back to Scotland between very late 1922 and mid-1923.” The present day Mungo Park later informed me that Willie Park Jr. actually made his final return to Scotland in October 1923.
Questioning Mr. Klein about the 2001 Mass Golfer article that Bill Quinlan had referenced in an attempt to bolster his case for Donald Ross being involved at CCNB, Mr. Klein replied: “I doubt any reference to CCNB in that article came from anything I wrote.”
The scenario where the Board of Governors sought out Donald Ross because they were in any way displeased with Willie Park Jr’s efforts also appears to be without merit. The Morning Mercury, while reporting on the winners of the President’s Cup on September 4, 1923, stated that “Most of the new holes are now in use and the course is coming along in fine shape.” *61
The conclusion must be that Willie Park Jr. was responsible for the expansion of the Country Club of New Bedford in 1922 - 1923 and in the words of author Anthony Pioppi “If you have a Willie Park (Jr) course that would be quite a find!”
Thus I concluded that there was no need for Donald Ross to do anything regarding the golf course expansion in 1924. The course was completed before Willie Park Jr. returned to Scotland and the expansion was reported in the Morning Mercury to be satisfactory. This also explains why there was no further mention of Mr. Ross’s presence at CCNB during 1924 in the Board of Governors Minutes.
Multiple sources were found which credit Willie Park Jr. with the current eighteen-hole layout at CCNB done in 1923. The following are just a few: “Mungo’s List” compiled by Mungo Park *47, Willie Park Jr’s own 1922 business advertisement *48, Golf Club Atlas article by Thomas MacWood *49, GolfCourseRanking.com - Willie Park Jr. golf courses *50, 1GolfEU golf courses by Willie Park Jr. *51 and Albrecht Golf Guide to Golf Architects- Golf Courses by Willie Park Jr.
In rereading my correspondence with Michael Fay, I noted that I had actually missed asking him about a potentially critical bit of information. Fay had casually referred to a drawing done by Donald Ross for CCNB in his email to me - a comment that I had completely overlooked. “Apparently Mr. Ross made a drawing for CC of Bedford in the early 1920’s but it was never implemented.”
Of course any plans drawn up by Mr. Ross would have been done in 1917 not in the early 20’s since Willie Park Jr’s 1922 plans were the ones the Board accepted. Mr Fay’s next communication also implied the existence of an actual Donald Ross plan. “There is some possibility that the Ross plan was referred to but nothing in the Archives that involved Donald J. Ross and Associates in the construction of the course.”
I felt that I had to run down the validity of this statement before I concluded my research. What about that plan?
Assuming Donald Ross actually drew plans in 1917, he would have had only the original eighty-six acres to work with. This parcel currently holds twelve of our eighteen holes with no room to spare. If any Ross plans existed, did the Board of Governors like them and then insist that they be followed for those twelve holes? It seemed unlikely.
If that were the case, it might explain what seems like a relatively quick eleven day turn around in presenting plans by Willie Park Jr. once he had been hired. Before drawing any plans, Willie would have had to walk the existing course and the newly acquired land before submitting any plans to the Board of Governors for approval. If Ross’ plans existed for twelve holes and the Board wanted those implemented, one could possibly assume that Mr. Park only needed to plan the six holes across Slocum Road. Yet would he take credit then for the entire project? Again it seemed very unlikely.
This would be a good opportunity to pause and dispel another bit of misinformation which circulated at CCNB concerning the six holes on the other side of Slocum Road. Rumors that those holes had somehow been designed and built by John S. Gilholm, Nathan Mitchel and Michael O’Grady are totally unfounded. This storyline even appeared in old membership handbooks!
John S. Gilholm was first hired as head golf professional in 1910, a position he retained until his retirement nearly fifty years later. He was offered the greens keeper position in 1912 and turned it down. Thus he would have definitely been onsite when the land was acquired and the expansion began in 1922. *42 Given his length of service and the prestige of his position, it is very probable that he was consulted on the project, but it is highly unlikely that he would have had any direct part in the design or construction.
Nathan Mitchell was not hired as greenskeeper until March 1, 1923 and only for a one-year term. *43 Although he could possibly have been involved in the construction immediately upon being hired, it is not likely that he had any influence in designing the expansion project since those six holes were already in play by September of that year. In addition, the Minutes specify that he was hired to be the golf course Superintendent and said nothing about involving him in rebuilding the course. Furthermore, he was dismissed rather abruptly by the Board on October 6, 1925, so it would appear that his services ended up being somewhat unsatisfactory. *45
Regarding the well-respected Superintendent Michael O’Grady’s possible involvement in those six holes it would have been impossible. He was not hired until October 6, 1925, to replace Mr. Mitchel, long after those six holes were constructed. In fact his hiring seemed rather tenuous at that time. This can be seen when reading the BOG Minutes. He too was only hired for a one-year term and it was noted that he was to be supervised by his uncle Mr. Thomas Gavin - then Superintendent of Rhode Island Country Club. O’Grady had been an Assistant at Rhode Island and had not yet built any sort of an individual reputation. *44
The research Michael Fay mentioned in his email was done by his deceased friend and colleague W. Pete Jones, however, Michael said that he had collaborated on the research a bit. Mr. Fay was again contacted and asked if he still had the Ross plans he had referenced and whether they were perhaps only for twelve holes. He said that he did not have any plans for CCNB because he had not done the original research. Then he stated that he was uncertain that the plans he remembered were even for the Country Club of New Bedford. In addition he could not recall what they looked like. He was, however, headed to the Tufts Archives in Pinehurst, NC in mid April 2018 and knew where to look for Mr. Jones’ files.
Following his trip to Pinehurst, Michael Fay reported; “I visited the Tufts Archives and looked up CC of New Bedford and found no file at all, which makes me believe that it was indeed another course we were discussing. Wish I had more to report.”
The present day Mungo Park has established that Willie Jr. hired exceptional crews to do his construction with outstanding shapers for his greens. In an email to me, Mungo stated that Willie typically spent “5 days of his time inspecting and staking out the course + a ‘rough blue print plan’, assuming a survey had already been done”. This fits the short eleven day time period between when his hiring was proposed and when he was actually hired.
We know that the original eighty-six acres had been surveyed and laid out by Olmsted & Olmsted in 1902. The newly acquired acreage across Slocum Rd. would likely have been surveyed as well since it had been subdivided into house lots and streets prior to its purchase. Thus a quick turn around for him to deliver plans seemed possible. With his plans accepted eleven days after he was asked to do them, Willie Park Jr. was hired to turn the Country Club of New Bedford into an eighteen-hole facility at a special meeting of the Board of Governors on March 27, 1922. Mungo also stated that “Detailed instructions based on the rough plan (split into Construction phase and Completion prior to seeding)” would have also been established. Given that the Board of Governors gave their quick approval, one would expect that all of this must have been completed within the eleven day timeframe.
As has been detailed, the New Bedford Morning Mercury presented clear evidence of both the actual construction and a rough timeframe for its completion in several articles that were researched on microfilm at the downtown New Bedford Public Library.
Almost three years after I began this research I was still looking for conclusive proof that Willie Park Jr. was our golf course architect. Beyond the brief entries in the Minutes of the Board of Governors, my conclusions were based solely on the snippets of information I had gathered from the Morning Mercury and those two advertising’s brochures. Knowing just how invested our membership was in CCNB being a Ross design, I was still uncomfortable presenting my findings. I still wanted to see something more concrete written about the final project somewhere other than the Board of Governors Minutes.
Jon Sirois reported my conclusion on Golf Club Atlas and someone there inquired about what newspaper sources I had used. I replied that I had been directed to the Morning Mercury by a librarian in the reference room. Suddenly it occurred to me that I had never thought to look for any other publications.
Much to my surprise a Google search revealed there were two daily newspapers for the city of New Bedford in 1922! The Evening Standard was also on microfilm at the downtown library!
Willie Park Jr. was hired by the Board of Governors at a special meeting on March 27, 1922 and the Evening Standard reported his hiring the very next day complete with his rough sketch of our present day golf course layout - thus offering conclusive proof of his design!
My final conclusions are that Willie Park Jr. was indeed the golf course architect responsible for the redesign and expansion of the Country Club of New Bedford in 1922 - 1923 and that Donald Ross was not involved.
Willie Park Jr. was at the height of his skills between 1900-1923 when the Country Club of New Bedford was designed. His failing health aside, as our expansion project came to its conclusion, the design of our course follows the core principles which he invented and embraced.
Park is admired for his brilliance in innovation in golf course design. He was often described as an outstanding putter and was highly regarded for his undulating green complexes. The greens at the Country Club of New Bedford have been admired and complimented for decades. They represent a true challenge to our members and their guests to this day. Mr. Park’s design principles utilized the natural topography of the land he found available for his golf course designs. His layout for eighteen holes at CCNB follows the natural hills and valleys he found here in Dartmouth much as he did in his course designs elsewhere.
He frequently designed golf courses with only three par threes just as we find at CCNB. He designed all of our par threes with the distractions of man made hazards on the approach to the green - yet another Park innovation. All of the remaining holes are designed with options available for accessing the greens. The golfer can choose to either run a shot in or flight the ball accordingly. Golfers may choose their approach to his greens, but he inserted enough artifice in his hole design to ensure that strategic shot making was essential to play a Willie Park Jr. golf course.
The Country Club of New Bedford was designed with far fewer trees than seen in its current form. In his own words. “Trees are never a fair hazard if at all near the line of play, as a well hit shot may be completely spoiled by catching the branches.” Well over one hundred trees were added years later in a ”course beautification” attempt by Superintendent Michael O’Grady.
Willie designed his courses to challenge players of all abilities, but made sure his design allowed for the enjoyment of all golfers regardless of their handicap.
These are all trademarks of his brilliance and creativity in golf course design.
The timeline for the expansion of the Country Club of New Bedford would make it one of Willie Park Jr’s final golf course designs. His plans were accepted by the Board of Governors on March 22, 1922 and Willie sailed home to Scotland later that year on December 19, 1922.
Willie Park Jr’s mental health was in decline when he made his final voyage back to New York on February 28, 1923 to oversee the completion of his remaining unfinished projects. Ships manifests found by his grandnephew Mungo show errors in the recording of his age. There are references to his confusion where he returned to completed design projects in error bringing with him construction crews. Despite reports of dementia, work exhaustion or Alzheimer’s being responsible for his mental decline, the present day Mungo Park stated that he was likely suffering from thyrotoxicosis (hyperthyroidism) for which there was no cure at the time.
Willie Jr’s brother Mungo, a golf course architect himself in Argentina, also sailed for America in late February in 1923. He arrived in New York on March 4 to help his brother finish his design business projects and to help him close the New York office. It was reported that around this time Willie was being cared for by his youngest brother John. John was then the golf professional at Maidstone Golf Club on Long Island one of Willie’s most admired North American designs.
It is highly likely that Willie’s brother Mungo did the final inspection of Willie’s design work at the Country Club of New Bedford while Willie was convalescing with John on Long Island. Unfortunately, unlike Castine Golf Club, we do not have any records or receipts to validate this assumption so we will likely never know for certain.
All of the dates for Willie Park Jr’s voyages between Scotland and America, as well those between Argentina and the US by his brother Mungo, have been documented from ships manifests researched by Willie’s grandnephew - the present day Mungo Park The dates for Willie Park Jr’s hiring, designing, planning and ultimately the construction of eighteen holes at CCNB are all in synch with his recorded presence in the United States. These dates also prove that there was ample time for the expansion of our golf course from nine holes to eighteen before his illness ended his career. It is equally clear that a final inspection of the project by either Willie or Mungo could easily have taken place before Willie’s last return voyage home across the Atlantic. The Morning Mercury reported CCNB in play by September 4, 1923 and the Park brothers departed New York City on the Aquitaina on October 29, 1923.
Willie’s brother Mungo sailed aboard the Aqitania with him on his last trip back to Scotland. They sailed to Southampton, England where they met Willie’s wife. The three then traveled north together by train and Willie was hospitalized at Craigshouse Hospital in Edinburg, Scotland where he died on March 22, 1925 at the age of 61.
I have developed a second theory as to why the Board of Governors abandoned the idea of hiring Donald Ross for the expansion project beyond the one of expediency in not wanting to wait for Ross.
Longtime Club golf professional, John S. Gilholm Sr., came to us from North Berwick Scotland. According to a recent interview with his granddaughter, Mr. Gilholm was employed while still in Scotland in the manufacture of golf clubs and balls.
Willie Park Jr. expanded his father’s small golf products business and used his fame as a two time Open Champion to market their merchandise. He had a production facility in Musselburgh and another in Edinburgh - both of which are in close proximity to North Berwick! Surely John Gilholm would have known of Willie Park Jr. and his reputation as an Open Champion, businessman and world famous golf course designer. A copy of Willie Park’s plans for the Country Club of New Bedford’s redesign to eighteen holes were retained by one of Mr. Gilholm’s descendants until fairly recently. Sadly that copy of original drawings has been lost, but I have been told that John Gilholm’s name was in evidence on that set of plans. Coincidentally, when the CCNB clubhouse burned down in 1922 the first two people to respond were Mr. Gilholm and Minor Wilcox - the man who proposed Willie Park to the Board.
Could it be that John Gilholm Sr. recommended Willie Park Jr. to be our golf course architect instead of Donald Ross? In my opinion it is highly likely, but we may never know.