The Life and Times of

A.W. Tillinghast

A Photo Biography

Born Albert Warren to Benjamin and Levinia Tillinghast

On May 7, 1876.

Albert grew up an only child in Germantown, Pennsylvania.

His father owned a thriving rubber goods

businessin Philadelphia,

and the family prospered.

Both mother and father spoiled young Albert.

Young Albert (front & center) rides Jumbo the Elephant at theLondon Zoo on Family Holiday in the Summer of 1880.

Albert never graduated from any of the schools in which he was enrolled.

In his late teens Albert belonged to a cadre of wealthy, flashy and heavy drinking playboys. Playing cricket became his passion.

The Philadelphia Cricket Club served as his base of operation.

Albert who liked to be called by his nickname “Tilly” met

a beautiful teenage girl named Lillian Quigley.

Circumstances necessitated their marriage in 1894.

To them were born daughters Marion and Elsie.

The summer of 1896 found the Tillinghast family in

St Andrews, Scotland.

Tilly found a new passion… golf.

In St Andrews young Tillinghast met a man who would shape his career…Old Tom Morris.

The Tillinghast family would

return to the “Auld Grey” town over the next few summers, and Tilly would hone his golf

game and take upgolf photography.

He took this photo of Old Tom standing in the doorway of his

shop in the summer of 1898.

Tillinghast became a top flight amateur.

In 1903 he played on the US Team in the first international matches against a team from

England, the Oxford-Cambridge Golfing Society.

In the winter of 1903, Tillinghast witnessed the “birth, of the term “Birdie.” It was at the Atlantic City Country Club where it

was the habit of a few Philadelphia golfers to spend their winter weekends. It came to pass on the long 12th, when a screaming long second shot found the green and Bill or Ab

Smith remarked, “That’s a bird!”

Tillinghast’s best year of competitive golf may have

been 1904.

He won the Silver Cross, the medal for the 72 hole

Philadelphia Open Championship.

The Philadelphia Inquirer honored him as player of the

year for winning all his matches in Philadelphia District competitions.

The year 1904 also brought his “darkest

moment.”

In the U.S. Amateur at Baltusrol, he lost his

match to Chandler Egan, after Egan got a lucky

bounce off a tree.

Years later he avenged the loss when chopped the tree down to make way for Baltusrol’s new

courses.

In 1907, he captained the first U.S. team to travel outside the country to play a Canadian team at the Toronto Golf Club.

Tillinghast family’s friend CC Worthington owned the

Buckwood Inn on Shawnee-on-Delaware.

In 1907 talk began on building a

golf course there, and Worthington hired Albert Warren Tillinghast to design and build the new course.

The work commenced in the winter of 1909, and Tillinghast the

golf architect was on his way to greatness.

On May 27th 1911 the Shawnee Country Club formally opened for play. In the following year, the club’s president, one A.W. Tillinghast, ran

the first Shawnee Open, which would become the Eastern Open.

Tillinghast refined Shawnee over a number of years. At Shawnee and his other early courses, he built bunkers and mounds from the ground up.

He called his mounds “alpinization.” The picture shows some under construction at Shawnee; Tilly is standing on the far right.

At the 1913 Shawnee Open, Tillinghast witnessed both Johnny McDermott’s (pictured far right) winning play and verbal slight at Ted Ray and Harry Vardon.

The golf world publicly criticized McDermott for his remarks and Tillinghast reported that this criticism drove McDermott into the insane asylum.

As his competitive golf career waned, Tillinghast pursued a career in golf architecture and writing. He covered golf in Philadelphia for

The American Golfer under the pen name “Hazard,” and wrote articles for Country Club Life and Golf Illustrated.

In the photo Tilly interviews Howard Perrin (l) and George Crump (r).

In January of 1913, George Crump gives Tillinghast permission to publish in his syndicated weekly golf column the first

word of Pine Valley Golf Club, which Crump was building.

This photo of George Crump at Pine Valley was taken by Tilly,

and is displayed in the clubhouse today.

By November of 1913, the first five holes of Pine Valley are opened for play. Tillinghast, along with George Crump, Howard Perrin, and Richard Mott are the first to play these holes. This

photo donated to Pine Valley by Tilly, shows him playing the second hole with his wife, Lillian.

 

At Pine Valley George Crump built several of Tillinghast’s conceptions in their entirety, the long 7th and 13th, which were ever a source of great satisfaction to Tilly. The “great

hazard” on the 7th would become a trademark on Tillinghast designed Par-5s.  

By 1916, Tillinghast had established a practice in

golf architecture.

His course designs were scattered across the

United States.

They included Aronomink in Philadelphia, Brackenridge

Park in San Antonio, Davista in St. Petersburg, and

Shackamaxon and Somerset Hills in

New Jersey.

Tillinghast’s first book, Cobble Valley Golf Yarns And Other Sketches,

is published in 1915.

This book is a collection of short stories from a fictitious golf club called

Cobble Valley.

The characters and tales range from humorous to tragic.

Tillinghast’s second book The Mutt is a series of more Cobble Valley Golf Yarns.

Planning a Golf Course, Suggestions byA.W. Tillinghast is published in 1917.

 In this promotional pamphlet Tillinghast discusses his design philosophies for

Modern Golf Architecture.

Illustrative sketches of holes and features at various courses he designed including

St. Davids, Galen Hall, Shawnee, Shackamaxon, and San Antonio.

Around this time he moved his design practice to New York where there was more design and construction work. He was awarded

commissions at Essex County and Mountain Ridge.

Over a 30 year career as a professional golf

writer, Tillinghast wrote hundreds of feature

articles and opinion pieces.

 He wrote on all things golf...from the history of the game, to recent and historic championships

for both men and women, to topics on golf architecture and green

maintenance.

By 1918, Tillinghast’s design style changed markedly.  He stopped the practice of building “alpinization” and replicas of famous holes from Great Britain. 

Rather he worked to build original new hole types – blending course features into the terrain to appear natural in every

respect.  

Tillinghast’s design philosophy revolved around the Course Beautiful.  He wrote, “produce something which will provide a true test of the game, and then consider

every conceivable way to make it as beautiful as possible.” 

 He developed his own original design features, which are commonly found on his courses.

He incorporated natural features into greens, bunkers and hazards. He blended the slopes and had an aversion

for straight lines and right angles.  

Contoured Greens

IrregularFairways

Great Hazards

Double Dog Legs

Oblique Lines

Tiny Tims

Immaculate Approaches

Elbows

In November 1918, Louis Keller, Baltusrol’s founder, and the Baltusrol Board hired Tillinghast to design a second course to complement the existing one which had hosted 5

national championships. Instead Tilly recommended they plow over the Old Course to make room for two new “Dual Courses.” In the photo Keller is third from right.

The word on Baltusrol’s plans spreads quickly. In August 1919, Golf Illustrated declared “they are planning at Baltusrol on a vaster scale than has ever been attempted in American golf

for the opening of the Dual Courses.” 

The notoriety Tillinghast gained from Baltusrol brought him more

design commissions. 

Quaker RidgeSan FranciscoBrook HollowWinged FootFive FarmsNewport

BinghamtonLakewood

Philadelphia CricketSunnehannaRidgewood

and many more.

The opening of the Dual Courses at Baltusrol in 1922

brought Tillinghast more acclaim.

Golf Illustrated declared him to be a “Creator of Golf

Courses” and the “Dean of American

Born Golf Architects.”

The magazine runs a full page copy of a sketch by H. Hymer depicting Tillinghast at work

in the field.

Over the years writing professionally about

competitive golf, Tillinghast became convinced that his

style of Modern Golf Architecture was responsible for the marked improvement

of the American golfers as compared to their British

peers. 

The photo is at the 1923 opening of one of Tillinghast’

sternest tests, the “Man Sized” 36-hole Winged Foot course. 

Club President C.C. Nobles is on the left.

After 10 years in the practice, Tillinghast became one of the top-flight golf architects in the US.  His courses were beginning

to garner consideration for national championships.

 By 1925, he had designed well over 50 courses and been involved with the redesign of more than twice that number.

The 1926 U.S. Amateur on Baltusrol’s Lower Course brought Tillinghast’s designs to the national spotlight. Tilly was now

spinning himself as the “Creator of Baltusrol.”

Additional national championships

would come to the new Tillinghast’s

courses. 

Tillinghast proudly promoted his achievements.

Five championships in five successive years on his courses.

In 1934, one-fourth of the courses selected for the US Open qualifying rounds were designed

by Tilly.

Tillinghast believed that Byron Nelson would not have reached his potential greatness without the two years he spent working for Head Professional George Jacobus honing his game on Ridgewood’s

27-hole course. The picture shows Byron Nelson at the 1936 Metropolitan Open at Quaker Ridge. 

Tilly is in the gallery, where he was often seen at major golf championships.

Tillinghast succeeds A.C. Gregson as the editor of

Golf Illustrated in June of 1933. 

He would serve as Editor for over two years until the

Magazine failed in 1935.

Its last uncirculated issue was September 1935.

In late 1933, the Long Island Park Commission embarked on the largest golf project every conceived – 4 golf courses at Bethpage State Park. Tillinghast served as consulting course architect and designed the Black, Blue, and Red courses and

redesigned the Green course.

In August of 1935, the PGA of America hired Tillinghast to tour the country as its official consulting golf course architect.  Over the next two years Tillinghast surveyed and consulted to more than 500 courses across the United States.  He traveled by car

accompanied by his wife Lillian and reported on his work by letter to PGA President George Jacobus on a daily basis.

With the PGA tour winding down and architecture work scarce, Tillinghast and his

wife Lillian decided to move west.

They resettled in Beverly Hills, California and a year or so later started an antique

shop with their friend Nedda Harrigan.

Tillinghast kept his hand in golf in California. He went into

partnership with Billy Bell and wrote a monthly column for the

Pacific Coast Golfer.

After suffering a heart attack in May 1940, circumstances

necessitated Tilly and Lillian move again.

They took residence in the home of their daughter

Marion in Toledo.

On May 19, 1942, Albert Warren Tillinghast passed away.

PGA President George Jacobus penned a fitting tribute which

was published in the PGA Magazine the following month.

Copyright The Tillinghast Associationwww.tillinghast.net

The Tillinghast Association is organized as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization under the internal revenue code of the United States.  The Association is

dedicated to preserving and interpreting the life and writings of A.W. Tillinghast. 

Source references for this slide show included The Course Beautiful, Reminiscences of the Links, Gleanings from the Wayside, and A.W. Tillinghast,

Creator of Golf Courses.