A.W. Tillinghast inducted into GHoF

**nevets88** · October 18, 2014

~300K rounds a year are played at Bethpage State Park. That's 3m in the past 10 years, 15 million in the past 50 assuming the aforementioned rate. Of the five courses there, Tillinghast designed 3 and had his hand in the other 2 (but that is contested), yet what do the countless who play there know about him, who also designed the courses at Winged Foot, Baltusrol and San Francisco GC?

http://golfweek.com/news/2014/oct/16/hall-of-fame-2015-aw-tillinghast-deserving-brad-kl/

http://www.golfdigest.com/blogs/the-loop/2014/10/hall-of-fame-aw-tillinghast.html

This is the longest piece on him, it's a little long winded at the beginning and gets to his course design in the middle:

http://www.tillinghast.net/Tillinghast/WELCOME_files/HANNIGAN%20ARTICLE.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/15/sports/golf/15tillinghast.html?pagewanted=all

Quote:

Who originally designed the course hardly matters except on sentimental grounds, and here the Stratfordians have an edge, because unlike the self-effacing Burbeck, who if he did design Bethpage never claimed credit, Tillinghast was one of the most vivid and flamboyant characters in golf history. He was a sort of mad genius, who along with his friends Hugh Wilson, who designed Merion in Pennsylvania, and the obsessive George Crump, who built Pine Valley in southern New Jersey, belonged to that gilded generation of American course architects who were completely self-taught and yet built courses that have never been equaled.

In the late 1910s and the 1920s, he traveled all over, building and remodeling courses as far away as Texas and San Francisco, and leaving his mark at Baltusrol and Winged Foot and more than 60 other tournament-quality courses. During the Depression, though, the golf course business dried up. The Bethpage commission was both a godsend, even though the fee, $50 a day, was far less than he was accustomed to, and a last hurrah. In 1937, after declaring himself disgusted with the golf course business, Tillinghast moved to Beverly Hills, Calif., where he went into the antiques business, probably selling off his own furniture. He died, broke, in 1942.

**Mulligan Jeff** · October 18, 2014

My Tillinghast story: Several years ago I bought two old books at an estate sale for $2 each. While driving home my wife noticed one of the books was autographed and also had two letters within dated 1920's. The book was titled "The Mutt and Other Golf Yarns" written by Tillinghast. When I got home I looked through the book, one letter was to "Till" from Grantland Rice, editor of American Golfer the other from CC Worthington an industrialist. I searched the Internet and found an autographed copy of The Mutt that sold at auction two years prior for $6450. I took digitals of the book and emailed a number of PGA pros hoping to snag a buyer. The following day the phone rang and my wife says Ben Crenshaw is asking for you. Well it was his manager calling to say Ben, who loves golf history, was willing to offer $5500 for the book.

**David in FL** · October 18, 2014

My Tillinghast story: Several years ago I bought two old books at an estate sale for $2 each. While driving home my wife noticed one of the books was autographed and also had two letters within dated 1920's. The book was titled "The Mutt and Other Golf Yarns" written by Tillinghast. When I got home I looked through the book, one letter was to "Till" from Grantland Rice, editor of American Golfer the other from CC Worthington an industrialist. I searched the Internet and found an autographed copy of The Mutt that sold at auction two years prior for $6450. I took digitals of the book and emailed a number of PGA pros hoping to snag a buyer. The following day the phone rang and my wife says Ben Crenshaw is asking for you. Well it was his manager calling to say Ben, who loves golf history, was willing to offer $5500 for the book.

Did you sell it to him?

**jamo** · October 18, 2014

My Tillinghast story: Several years ago I bought two old books at an estate sale for $2 each. While driving home my wife noticed one of the books was autographed and also had two letters within dated 1920's. The book was titled "The Mutt and Other Golf Yarns" written by Tillinghast. When I got home I looked through the book, one letter was to "Till" from Grantland Rice, editor of American Golfer the other from CC Worthington an industrialist. I searched the Internet and found an autographed copy of The Mutt that sold at auction two years prior for $6450. I took digitals of the book and emailed a number of PGA pros hoping to snag a buyer. The following day the phone rang and my wife says Ben Crenshaw is asking for you. Well it was his manager calling to say Ben, who loves golf history, was willing to offer $5500 for the book.

That's awesome!

**JetFan1983** · October 18, 2014

My Tillinghast story:
Several years ago I bought two old books at an estate sale for $2 each. While driving home my wife noticed one of the books was autographed and also had two letters within dated 1920's. The book was titled "The Mutt and Other Golf Yarns" written by Tillinghast. When I got home I looked through the book, one letter was to "Till" from Grantland Rice, editor of American Golfer the other from CC Worthington an industrialist. I searched the Internet and found an autographed copy of The Mutt that sold at auction two years prior for $6450. I took digitals of the book and emailed a number of PGA pros hoping to snag a buyer. The following day the phone rang and my wife says Ben Crenshaw is asking for you. Well it was his manager calling to say Ben, who loves golf history, was willing to offer $5500 for the book.

Do you still have it? Go on Pawn Stars!

Or sell it to Ben. Either way, awesome!

**Mulligan Jeff** · October 18, 2014

Did you sell it to him?

You gotta hear the rest of the story first. One of the letters in The Mutt was from Grantland Rice, editor of The American Golfer who later would become one of the founding members of Augusta. The other letter was from CC Worthington an industrialist who took over his fathers steam pump business. Later in life Worthington had a country home in Shawnee on Delaware in Pennsylvania. He built Buckwood Inn an exclusive resort with 18 hole golf course designed by Tillinghast. In 1912 Worthington invited professional golfers to compete on his course, this led to the foundation of the PGA of America. He also designed the gang mower to cut grass at his course and others. The company was sold in 1944 to Jacobsen. I sold the book, however not to Crenshaw.

**mchepp** · October 19, 2014

You gotta hear the rest of the story first. One of the letters in The Mutt was from Grantland Rice, editor of The American Golfer who later would become one of the founding members of Augusta. The other letter was from CC Worthington an industrialist who took over his fathers steam pump business. Later in life Worthington had a country home in Shawnee on Delaware in Pennsylvania. He built Buckwood Inn an exclusive resort with 18 hole golf course designed by Tillinghast. In 1912 Worthington invited professional golfers to compete on his course, this led to the foundation of the PGA of America. He also designed the gang mower to cut grass at his course and others. The company was sold in 1944 to Jacobsen.
I sold the book, however not to Crenshaw.

Really a great story.

**David in FL** · October 19, 2014

Really a great story.

+1. Very cool. I'd have struggled letting it go.

**Mulligan Jeff** · October 19, 2014

+1. Very cool. I'd have struggled letting it go.

It was a wonderful experience having the book pass through my hands. Most enjoyable was the research I put into it, the paths I took, the people I reach out to.

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A.W. Tillinghast inducted into GHoF

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