Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2020 - 33

I
n 1893, fi ve coffee cans lay in the ground
just a few hundred yards east of the
Mississippi River at St. Paul's Town &
Country Club, introducing the state
to a game that would carry on for
decades. During the fi rst 23 years of
organized golf in Minnesota, the game
was rather exclusive and primarily
enjoyed by the state's well-to-do class. The 25 or so
courses that existed through those years were situated
largely in big cities or near lakeside getaways, with membership
rolls predominated by bankers, lawyers, doctors and
business magnates.
Then 1916 happened.
Two seminal events in Minnesota golf took place that year-
both in the same city and both with considerable upshot, but
under decidedly different circumstances.
Most famously, in late June 1916, the best golfers in the
nation assembled in southwestern Minneapolis to contest the
22nd U.S. Open at The
Minikahda Club.
The
national championship
had never been played
west of the Mississippi,
and though national
press coverage of the
event was modest (judging
by review of a handful
of major newspapers
from the day), the tournament
was by all indications
a sensation in the
North Star state.
Banner headlines prevailed
in the Minneapolis
Tribune.
June 27: " Golfers Start
Play Today in Qualifying
Rounds for Open Championship. "
June 29: " Excellent Golf in Qualifying Finals at Minikahda. "
June 30: " Chick Evans Leads in National Open at Minikahda. "
July 1: " Chick Evans Wins the National Open Golf Title. "
Evans, a popular amateur from Chicago, shot four rounds
totaling 286, a U.S. Open record, to defeat two-time U.S. Open
champ Jock Hutchison by two strokes. The Minnesota contingent
was well-represented: Interlachen pro George Sargent, also
a former Open champion, tied for fourth. White Bear Yacht
Club pro Tom Vardon tied for ninth. Six other Minnesotans
competed.
Streetcar lines afforded those interested in the nascent game
a ride to the private Minikahda grounds. At least one Tribune
story touted large galleries, and in recapping the event, the
THEODORE
WIRTH
Tribune reported that " President Frank Woodward of the
United States Golf Association declared that the tournament
had been the best managed of any National
Open. "
In a broad sense, golf in Minnesota had arrived.
But in another sense-likely more infl uential in
the long term, and with less hyperbole than what
Woodward offered-Minnesota golf also arrived with
a different seminal event less than a month earlier.
A Public Golf Proposal
Before 1916, public golf was not a feature of the Minnesota
landscape-though not for a lack of trying. As early as 1903,
detailed and unrelated proposals were made, attempting to
establish public courses at Phalen Park in St. Paul and in a
low-lying area near what is now the Parade Stadium area of
Minneapolis. Neither came to pass.
Around 1905, an attempt by Town & Country Club members
to have well-known architect William Watson design a
public course at Como
Park was met with derision
by a St. Paul Pioneer
Press columnist-later
the city's mayor-and
abandoned.
HILLTOP GOLF LINKS
This was
reported by Minnesota
golf author and historian
Rick Shefchik in
his book " From Fields
to Fairways: Classic Golf
Clubs of Minnesota. "
Then in 1907, park
board president Jesse
Northrup suggested that
the city develop a public
course in his annual
report,
according to
Minneapolis Park Board
historian David C. Smith. A request was made to build a public
course at Columbia Park in 1910, and records show similar
proposals took place in Minneapolis in 1913 and 1914. Across
the river, Phalen was on a front burner for more than a decade.
Shefchik reported that in March 1914, Minneapolis Tribune
reporter George A. Rhame-a member at Interlachen Country
Club in Edina-wrote a story supporting the establishment of a
public course in Minnesota, positing this:
" The time is overripe,
to put a public course on the
Minneapolis map. The main puzzle is to fi nd the 'bell cow'-a
leader who will start a campaign. "
A veritable herd of supporters emerged, including prominent
Minneapolitans with names like Heffelfi nger, Northrup, Phelps
and Bovey-all of them members of Twin Cities private clubs.
mngolf.org
Spring 2020 MINNESOTAGOLFER
33
PHOTO COURTESY OF JIM BJORK
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2020

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