Baltusrol

I grew up in Springfield, New Jersey, home of Baltusrol Golf Club. The Course is meaningful to my family’s history/experiences:

• Our parents first date was at Baltusrol in the late 1940’s (Not sure how that happened. The location, not the date).
• My brother, John, caddied for four years between 1964-1968.
• I caddied for five years between 1968-1972.

A few brief Brother John stories:

John shares the story of shagging balls on the first hole of the Upper Course for Johnny Farrell (legendary Head Pro and 1928 US Open Champion at Olympia Field with a score of 10 over par*). I can only assume Mr. Farrell did not want to mingle with the clientele on the traditional driving range so, try to picture my brother standing in the middle of the fairway, donning a hard hat, simultaneously dodging and picking golf balls for the US Open Champion.

John had caddied for three years prior to the 1967 US Open Championship at Baltusrol (Jack Nicklaus was our winner that year with a score of five under par). At the time of the Open, John was rated an “A” caddy and a virtual lock for a long weekend loop in the US Open. Some sort of warped logic prevailed however, and John elected to work at the local A&P (grocery store) during the summer of 1967 preventing any opportunity to have a bag at the Open. I can imagine John’s conversation with the Caddy Master; “I am sorry, I can’t caddy in the Open, I need to take a few shifts at the A&P”. I do believe John would like to take a mulligan on that decision.

Baltusrol Facts:

• Only property in golf history to host US Open Championships on three different courses (Old, Upper, Lower).
• Club was named after Baltus Roll, a family patriarch who was brutally murdered at his farm during a robbery in 1831. Sixty years later, the farmland would be converted to a golf course.
• In 1918, A.W. Tillinghast was hired to design/construct “Duel Courses” on the property. At the time, the most historic accomplishment in the world of golf course design, subsequently plowing under the Old Course which was the host of the 1903 US Open.
• The trademark of an A.W. Tillinghast design is “elasticity”. He was a visionary and believed golf course designs needed to be designed to take into account the evolution of golf. To this day, the routing of the Upper Course and the Lower Course remains essentially unchanged.
• Baltusrol has hosted 17 USGA National Championships:
  o 7 Men’s US Opens
  o 2 Men’s PGA Championships
  o 2 Women’s US Opens
  o 2 US Women’s Amateur’s
  o 4 US Men’s Amateur’s
• Total cost to construct Baltusrol’s Upper Course and Lower Course:

$73,000 Land
$169,842 Improvements
$30,000 Irrigation System – installed in the last 1920’s
$272,842 Total

Get used to reading about Baltusrol, as I have many, many stories to share.

*Since 1909 (information unavailable for prior years), 45 winners were over par. Walter Hagen (with the highest score of any winner) won the 1919 US Open Championship at Brae Burn Country Club, West Newton, Massachusetts with a score of 17 over par.

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