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    Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age
    Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age
    Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age
    Ebook197 pages1 hour

    Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age

    By Stan Byrdy and Augusta Mayor Bob Young

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    About this ebook

    The game of golf got its start in the Southeastern United States in 1892 on four holes with sand greens at Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken, South Carolina. Within five years, Palmetto had expanded to eighteen holes and the first nine-hole course in neighboring Augusta, Georgia was designed at the Hotel Bon Air. For half a century, the Augusta-Aiken area flourished as the winter destination of choice for the rich, famous, and powerful in America. Presidents Taft, Harding, and Eisenhower vacationed here. Baseball great Ty Cobb bought a home in Augusta's quaint Summerville neighborhood. It was here that Bobby Jones began the improbable journey towards a Grand Slam, then built his dream golf course. By the turn of the century, winter tourism and grand resort hotels in the Augusta-Aiken area were well established. A favorable winter climate and easy rail access drew vacationers to Highland Park Hotel (1866), Willcox Hotel (1898), and Park in the Pines (1900) in Aiken; Hotel Bon Air (1890) and Partridge Inn (1913) in Augusta; and Hampton Terrace Hotel and Golf Club (1903) in North Augusta. Resorts in Florida and the growth of the air travel industry later coupled to mark the area's decline in winter tourism, but not before Augusta-Aiken's place in golf history was secure. In this unique volume, vintage images and accompanying text recall the unfo rgettable legends, the meticulously maintained courses, and all of the grandeur associated with the game.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateDec 3, 2002
    ISBN9781439642191
    Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age
    Author

    Stan Byrdy

    Author Stan Byrdy was voted Best Local TV Sports Personality by the Augusta Magazine reader's poll for nine consecutive years (1986-1994) and formerly served as sports director for WJBF-TV in Augusta. He culled photographs and memorabilia from local collectors, courses, museums, and civic organizations to create this memorable tribute to the game and the region to which it is forever linked. Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age will be treasured by area residents, golfers of all ages and backgrounds, and anyone with a love for the game.

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      Book preview

      Augusta and Aiken in Golf's Golden Age - Stan Byrdy

      Japan.

      One

      SUMMIT ON THE

      SAND HILLS

      While golf has been a major part of the social scene in Augusta for well over 100 years, sand hills have apparently been here a bit longer. As history records it, sand dunes crested an ancient seashore to form a large ridge dividing the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions. Left behind was a hill that would one day overlook the city of Augusta in a section of town aptly named the Sand Hills. When the Bon Air Golf Club was laid out in 1897, Sand Hills met sand greens, and the fate of Augusta was changed forever.

      By the time Bobby Jones was born on St. Patrick’s Day, 1902, Augusta was well established as a winter haven for the nation’s golf elite. Two decades later, Jones, too, found Augusta the ideal site to champion his game; its winters were milder than those in Atlanta, 135 miles to the west, and it had the natural setting on which to build his dream. Soon enough, Jones would capture the Southeastern Open at Augusta Country Club and Forrest Hills, and later that summer of 1930, the Grand Slam. As Jones turned his thoughts to even loftier goals, a new chapter in Augusta’s long and storied golf history was about to be written.

      From the quaint cottages, grand hotels, and golf courses of the early 1900s to Bobby Jones’s dream and Larry Mize’s sand wedge, Augusta enters a new century with a renewed vision for golf. The Golf and Gardens, Georgia Golf Hall of Fame, First Tee, and a new breed of golf champions intent on raising the bar to new heights will surely be partners in molding this next step in Augusta’s golf legacy.

      HARISON’S HOUSE, C. 1888. The elegant Hotel Bon Air is seen in a photo taken from Walton Way. Country Club of Augusta president from 1900 to 1920, Dr. William Henry Harison and family were major stockholders in the Bon Air and helped found Augusta’s first golf course at the Bon Air Golf Club. Harrison and head golf professional David Ogilvie later designed the Country Club of Augusta’s original Hill Course. (Courtesy Augusta Museum of History.)

      AUGUSTA’S FIRST GOLF COURSE, C. 1897. The pictures used in creating this lithograph were taken by the photographer Montell from the porch of the Hotel Bon Air in December 1897. Over a century later, the pictures were digitally connected, providing a panoramic view of the Bon Air Golf Course and Savannah River valley. Photographer Frank Christian commissioned the artwork as a fund-raiser for the Augusta State University women’s golf team. The lack of trees and shrubbery in the lithograph provides a stark contrast to the area overlooking downtown Augusta today. The road in the foreground is Battle Row and the home on the left is believed to still exist on Telfair near Milledge Road.

      Located on land adjacent to the Hotel Bon Air, Augusta’s first golf course was constructed in 1897 for hotel guests and winter residents of Summerville. The Bon Air Golf Club consisted of nine holes and a clubhouse, which played a major role in changing the fate of Augusta’s future. The structure in the middle of the picture behind the sand green is the golf clubhouse.

      For the season beginning in January 1898, according to a report in The Augusta Chronicle, a professional golfer, Mr. Fitzjohns, a recent arrival from Scotland, gave lessons, as each day brings new devotees to the sport. (Fellow countryman David Ogilvie arrived on the scene as the club’s first head professional two years later.) The report concludes, As yet, few Augustans have displayed any interest in this game, though it is thought the rage for this sport will be felt intensely here as in the northern cities.

      An article in the January 30, 1898 edition of The Augusta Chronicle reports that horseback riding at the Bon Air is in decline and that bicycle riding excites little or no interest; the fad with those who rode only for pleasure died the death of all such passing novelties. The article goes on to surmise that the new sport of golf may be the reason for these developments, as golf requires all the energy that can be devoted to outdoor sport. The report continues that golf has been lightly received by Augustans, In fact, the only reason the game is known at all is due to northern enthusiasts. To them a season without golf is what a barbeque without meat is to a Southerner. (Courtesy Frank Christian Collection.)

      BON AIR ARCHITECTURE, C. 1898. This architect’s drawing of the Hotel Bon Air was utilized as an advertisement for the grand opening of the winter resort on New Years Day, 1889. Constructed 350 feet above the level of the city of Augusta, the original Bon Air burned in 1921 and was later rebuilt. It serves today as a center for senior citizens. (Courtesy Augusta Museum of

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