The rise of the Municipal golf course came from the Progressive Era push for Parks in urban areas.In the Late 1850s New York began planned to build Central Park as part of the Progressive movement to build parks in urban areas. Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and other metropolitan cities followed New York’s lead realizing the benefit of parks in urban populations. Parks acted as the lungs of the city, a center point to bring people of all classes together. Parks also offered moral recreation and were a distraction to the vices of the city by keeping citizens out of saloons and brothels. The end of the nineteenth century brought a change in the Protestant criticism or outdoor recreation to a more supportive view towards athletics. A new positive view of the physical and psychological health through sports supported the growth of golf in the 1890s. No longer did the mentality exist of two types of men workers and loafers, now leisure was viewed in a positive light.
Golf exemplified Progressive Era values of a strong mind and healthy body, was democratic, emphasized leisure, and made use of the new public parks being built. Golf courses provided a way for city dwellers to escape urban life and walk the scenic countryside. It was democratic in that it was available to all people of all ages young and old, and men and women. The sportsmanship of the game of golf offered a good test to a person’s character, and offered a wholesome way to exercise. Golf became a leisurely way for all people to get some outdoor recreation. George B. Kirsch quotes in his essay Municipal Golf Courses in the United States: 1895 to 1930 the American Golfer “now most of the players on the municipal links are ‘regular guys’-men of all occupations, rich and poor alike, male and female, youth and old age, all in a melting pot of genuine sportsmanship.”
Municipal Golf Courses in the United States 1895-1930
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Golf Balls
Growing need for More Municipal Courses
Citizens in the mid 1890s began pushing to have public courses built for the masses not just the elite. Walter Camp a prominent sports reformer said speaking against private country clubs “It sprang from common folk and the figures of municipal golf carry out the fact.” He continued: “Golf is the people’s game. It should be a game any one can afford to play.” No longer was golf a game just for the wealthy; shopkeepers, skilled craftsmen, factory owners, lawyers, doctors, engineers, journalist, middle managers, sales people, secretaries, entertainers, other professionals and white collar workers became avid patrons to golf courses. During the years 1890 to 1930 rapid growth in the middle class brought forth a new era of consumerism and mass production. After World War I during the roaring twenties mass prosperity lead to an increase in leisure time, along with a changed mind set towards work and recreation making golf an appealing sport to the masses. Hundreds of thousands of the new Middle Class came out to patronize the links during this time.
By 1913 The New York Times estimated the sweeping trend of public golf courses was moving so rapidly that soon every major city would have a public course for the regular man. The demand for public course in cities became so great that Golf magazine stated “public golf links are becoming as necessary to cities as public libraries. Advocates of Municipal Golf courses in the 1920s insisted that no city could be considered a first class city without at least one public golf course. Municipal courses make golf affordable for all people rich and poor. In 1895 New York City opened the first Municipal Golf course at Van Cortlandt Park. The course like most Municipal courses to follow was free and only required a permit from the park. Soon courses began charging a nominal daily or seasonal fee to help to pay for the upkeep the courses.
The United States Golf Association helped to champion the building of Municipal Golf courses. Recognizing the grass root efforts by groups gathering and pushing for public courses the USGA sponsored the first Public Links championship tournament. Approximate numbers for the number of Municipal golf courses show an increase from sixty in 1921 to one hundred and forty in 1924 to two hundred and one in 1927 and to two hundred and ninety one in 1930. The USGA survey in 1927 showed most Municipal Golf courses were in the Midwest with one hundred, the South forty three, the east thirty seven, and the west twenty one. In 1930 Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio had the highest number of Municipal Golf courses. The majority of public courses were in cities with populations greater than 100,000 people. Even with the rapid growth of public golf courses they only account for about five to ten percent of all courses in the United States.
Municipal Golf Courses in the United States 1895-1930
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Golf Balls
Segregation of Class and Race on Public Courses
Municipal courses were on public land and were supposed to be for everyone. Not all public courses were open to the public. Most of the courses were as they were designed an affordable recreation for anyone. Wealthy Private Golf Clubs organized and would monopolize public courses for their own private use. They would deter lower classes golfers from enjoying the course built for them not the elite. The monopolizing of private clubs became a major issue in several cities. The Park commissioners had to step in and regulate the use of public land by private clubs by disallowing them to take over the course for any period of time on any day. Parks commissioner ruled that public land must be used for public use and cannot but run by a private group. This regulation forced many of the Private Golf Clubs to join private courses. Many of the Parks built during the progressive era push for public parks, built their parks on the outskirts of the city bordering suburban areas in an attempt to cater to the wealthy.
Blacks in Border States and in the South were limited or denied or limited access to play on public courses. They were allowed to work as caddies at both private and public golf clubs where they worked on mastering the fundamentals of golf. Some of the private clubs would allow blacks to play on Monday when the courses were closed to members. The early twentieth century marked the first efforts to challenge racial restrictions on public courses. Chicago banned three black golfers from participation in a public links tournament in 1910. Speedy Walter one of the golfers not allowed to participate in the tournament organized along with some friends the Alpha Golf Club. Speedy and his Club held the first African-American golf tournament at Marquette Golf Course. In 1921 the Windy City Golf Association, a black golf group, were denied entrance to the annual citywide tournament. Speedy and his friend sought legal help but were denied by the court. The following year the Windy City Golf Association hosted a nation golf tournament open to all armatures regardless of race. St. Louis restricted blacks from playing till a 1922 policy reserving the links on Monday from 6:00am to Noon for the play of colored golfers. In 1925 blacks gained the exclusive right to play a Lincoln Memorial Golf Course but were forbidden to play any of the other public courses. By the 1920s thousands of black golfers were out on public courses and forming their own private clubs on their own grounds. During the 1920 there were fourteen black golf clubs in eight states and the District of Columbia. (Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Illinois)
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