Road Game - Round Hill Edition

Your humble blogger is off to play Round Hill Club this afternoon, an Eastern Seniors Golf Association outing.  I've had the pleasure of playing there a couple of times previously, courtesy of business associates.  Round Hill is the Greenwich, CT club that no one has ever heard of.  They keep quite the low profile, and it always amazes me of how few people even know the name notwithstanding its proximity.

Round Hill was designed by Walter Travis, one of the truly interesting characters in the history of our game.

Travis 

 Travis was an Australian by birth who moved to the U.S. in 1886 at age 23.  It was a full ten years later that Travis first took up golf, yet he quickly turned himself into the best amateur player in the U.S.  In 1904 he became the first American (he was a naturalized citizen after marrying an American woman) to win the British Amateur, a feat that wouldn't be duplicated for another 22 years.

Here's an excerpt from The American Golfer about Travis' playing career:

"Our opinion is that Mr. Travis has won more low gross, low net and open tourneys than any other living golfer. He was practically unbeatable for a stretch of six years from 1898 to 1904 during which time he played in double or triple the number of events entered by either John Ball or Chick Evans. A guess at the number of his trophies would place it over five hundred and perhaps nearer to a thousand. In 1901, Travis was national champion and in 1915 he was again the Metropolitan champion. His southern victories were numerous."(The American Golfer, Jan. 1922)

From a guy who didn't touch a golf club until his mid-30's.  But Travis was so much more than that... he was what in baseball we call a five-tool player.  he was a prolific golf writer as well, his Practical Golf book received rave reviews from the N.Y. Times.   And he was quite the equipment innovator, being the first to win an event using the rubber-core Haskell ball.  He was also the first known to install smaller cups on the putting green for training, which he did at his home Garden City Club.

He also had a profound influence on golf course architecture, most notable through his redesign of Devereaux Emmet's (another interesting character) Garden City Club.  But he also was involved with Pine Valley, The National Golf Links and Pinehurst No. 2, quite the trifecta of behind the scenes work.

But Walter Travis will mostly be remembered for the Schenectady Putter.... has anyone heard of that?  Here's a rather long excerpt from his Wikipedia page on the story:

Travis with 1901 US Am trophy (and rubber-core ball).

The Schenectady Putter and Walter Travis will be linked together forever in the history of golf. The Schenectady Putter was invented by Arthur F. Knight, a General Electric engineer, who created a model reflecting his ideas in the summer of 1902 at his home course, Mohawk Golf Club in Schenectady, NY. It is noteworthy that Devereux Emmet, the designer of Mohawk Golf Club, was the first golfer of note to be shown Mr. Knight's new aluminum putter while he was visiting Mohawk. Emmet asked to take the putter with him back to his home course, Garden City Golf Club, where he proposed to "play with it, show it at Garden City and at Myopia and will then send it back to you". It is reported that "A day or two later Mr. Knight received a telegram from Mr. W. J. Travis ordering a putter like Mr. Emmet's, and one was hurriedly made and forwarded". (Brzoza, 1991) Later, a second putter was sent to Travis which was declared "the best putter I have ever used.". Travis used this putter to finish second in the U.S. Open Championship held at Garden City Golf Club. "Within a week thereafter, Mr. Knight received over one hundred letters from prominent golfers asking for a putter like Mr. Travis's". Knight was not prepared for such a response and was particularly concerned about what to call it. It is reported that he was "anxious to call it the 'Travis' putter'.". He arranged a meeting with Mr. Emmet and Mr. Travis. Emmet had consistently referred to it as the "Schenectady Putter" and Travis agreed that Schenectady would be "a more suitable and lasting name for the putter than his own, in which view Mr. Knight rather reluctantly concurred." After his initial success with the Schenectady Putter in 1902, Travis used the putter to win the 1903 U.S. Amateur and then, of course, the 1904 British Amateur. The putter became an instant commercial success.(B.B.H., 1911) 

Schenectady putters, marked "Patent Applied For" were produced prior to its patent on March

Gotta love that steep price.

24, 1903.  The Schenectady Putter was among the "centered-shafted, mallet-headed implements" that were banned by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club Committee on the Rules of golf in 1910, in response to a request from a golf club in New Zealand. The R&A's ban included the Schenectady putter. There is no evidence that Travis's use of the Schenectady to win the 1904 British Amateur contributed to this controversial ruling, though the myth persists. The ruling became controversial because, for the first time, an R & A ruling was not wholly adopted by the United States Golf Association. The USGA agreed with the banning of mallet-headed clubs but ruled that the Schenectady putter, and other center-shafted putters did not fall within this category. The R&A ban on center-shafted putters was finally removed in 1951. (Labbance, 2000) 

Long after he had retired from active competition, Travis agreed to a match with an old opponent, Findlay S. Douglas, to support the war effort of the Red Cross. The match was held at Garden City Golf Club. Following the match, Travis donated his Schenectady Putter to the Red Cross fund-raising auction. A member of Garden City Golf Club, Lewis Lapham, had the winning bid of $1700 and immediately donated the Schenectady to Garden City Golf Club where it would remain for the next 34 years. In 1952, it was taken from the club, and never returned.(Labbance, 2000)

So class, we've now covered the Schenectady Putter and Bobby Jones' Lily Pad Shot.  Anyone have any other requests, or should I just continue to wing it?