Hillside Fields: A History of Sports in West Virginia

2. Oakhurst Links: From the First Golf Club in America to the Greenbrier Classic

25 Oakhurst Links: From the First Golf Club in America to the Greenbrier Classic THE MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN drew many Scots, accustomed to rugged surroundings, to the blue-green Appalachian Mountains. Most were poor farmers with little time for golf, even though the game had been invented in Scotland and was avidly pursued by its leisure class. Eventually, however, the region and the game came together. When Lionel Torin, a wealthy Scot and passionate golfer, planned to bring his golf clubs on an extended visit to his cousin George Grant’s home near White Sulphur Springs, Grant could find no local golf courses where Lionel could play. For that matter, he couldn’t have found any in all of the United States. Grant discussed the problem with Russell Montague, who had played golf while reading law at Lower Temple in London, and Alexander and Roderick Macleod, gentleman farmers who had emigrated from Scotland. The four decided that a golf course was needed to entertain Grant’s cousin, and Montague agreed to build the course on his land at Oakhurst Farms. A 2,700 yard, nine-hole course with crisscrossing fairways, known as the Oakhurst Links was soon completed—possibly as early as 1882. It was the first golf course built in the United States during the modern era of the game. It easily predated the second course, the St. Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, New York, built in 1888, and the third course, Shinnecock Hills, built in Southampton, New York, in 1891.1 C H A P T E R 2 Chapter 2 26 Although Torin was detained in New York by customs officials who thought his golf clubs were “implements of murder,” he explained that golf was a lawn game like croquet and soon joined his friends on the somewhat primitive links. The fivesome began play by making small piles of sand to tee up the ball for drives. The fragile ball was made from sap of the gutta -percha tree, and if it broke, play continued using the largest remaining piece of the ball. A herd of sheep grazed on the course to keep the grass cut. Hitting a sheep with the ball cost a one-stroke penalty. If a ball came to rest in sheep “castings,” a free drop was allowed. Despite the primitive conditions, the golfers thoroughly enjoyed the game. In 1888, they had a medal made, called the Challenge Medal, which they awarded to the winner of their weekly informal competitions, and a regular match held on Christmas Day for at least six years. Guests at the Greenbrier Resort, then know as the Old White Hotel, often took the threemile carriage ride to Oakhurst to watch the men play. One observer concluded , “It may be a fine game for a canny Scotsman, but no American will ever play it except Montague.”2 Oakhurst Links fell into disuse around 1910, when the Scotsmen returned home and Montague moved to Richmond, Virginia. Despite its brief existence, Oakhurst Links placed West Virginia at the beginning of golfing history in the United States.3 * * * By the turn of the century, leaders in industry, banking, railroads and mining had begun to form a social elite in West Virginia’s small cities, and to establish country clubs. West Virginia’s first country club was chartered in Charleston, in April 1898, as the Glenwood Athletic Club. Originally, its clubhouse was located on the Kanawha River near Park Avenue and Kanawha Boulevard, but in 1907 the club moved to Charleston’s Edgewood Addition and was renamed the Edgewood Country Club. A new clubhouse and tennis courts were built in 1907, and a nine-hole golf course came later.4 Oakhurst Links 27 Although incorporated in 1902, the Parkersburg Country Club also claims to be the oldest in West Virginia. Their colonial style clubhouse was completed in June 1903 at a cost of $12,000. A six-hole golf course was added in 1905. An increasing interest in golf during the 1920s encouraged the club to build a regulation eighteen-hole course, which was completed in 1922.5 Other cities followed suit. In 1921, Guyan Country Club was formed in Huntington using the house and land of industrialist John Ensign. Noted golf architect Herbert Strong designed an eighteen-hole course, which opened in 1922. During the Depression, the club went bankrupt and in 1938 was sold on the courthouse steps for $18,000...