Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2012 - 21

engineer and surveyor. He
was not as well known at the
time as Donald Ross, Tom
Bendelow, William Watson
or Willie Park Jr. (all of
whom had designed courses
in Minnesota at that point), but he
was associated with Charles Blair Macdonald,
the man known as the Father
of American Golf. Raynor had fi rst
worked with Macdonald on his most
famous course, the National Golf Links
of America, on Long Island.
Work began on the Somerset course
in late 1919. Raynor's style incorpoSeth
Raynor
lease
issues with the landowners
led them to look
for nearby land on which to
build an 18-hole course. In
January 1920, the club took
out a 20-year lease, at $1,200
per year, on the Walsh farm, a 110-acre
plot north of Roselawn in what was
then Rose Township. White Bear Yacht
Club head pro Tom Vardon walked
the property and was reported to be
" enthusiastic over its possibilities. "
The club members were intent on
hiring Ross, but he turned the job
down. Club president Arthur Logan
Because Raynor would be in town
while working on Somerset, and it was
not certain Ross would ever visit the
site, the club ultimately chose Raynor.
Raynor staked the course, drew detailed
plans for each of the holes, made
models of the greens and put Barton in
charge of plans for organizing the work
crews. Ultimately, Barton left his job as
mathematics professor at the University
to work full-time on golf course
design and construction with Raynor.
It is presumed that Barton returned to
Minnesota in 1924 to lay out Raynor's
design at Minnesota Valley.
In the meantime, the original ninehole
University course, renamed Minnepau,
was being lengthened to about
3,200 yards under the direction of
Clark, head pro at the Minneapolis
Golf Club. Clark, a Scotsman from Edinburgh,
had arrived in Minneapolis in
the spring of 1917, completing the Willie
Park Jr. layout of that course. Shortly
after Minneapolis GC announced
it would bring in Ross to renovate its
course, Clark resigned his position and
turned to a new endeavor: designing
and building the fi rst nine holes at Oak
Ridge Country Club.
Midland Hills's original
clubhouse, the Walsh
farmhouse (c. 1925).
rated Macdonald's concept of template
holes-inspired by the great golf holes
of the British courses and used over
and over on each succeeding design as
land allowed. Raynor's Somerset design
opened ahead of schedule; the fi rst
round played on August 1, 1920, with a
no-tee-time policy that remains intact.
While Somerset was under construction,
a group of University of Minnesota
professors were looking for an architect
to design a course they were planning
in Roseville-a course that was ultimately
named Midland Hills Country
Club. The professors had started the
nine-hole University of Minnesota golf
course in Falcon Heights in 1916, but
contacted Raynor, who was designing
Somerset at the time. Raynor agreed
to discuss the project on his next trip
to the Twin Cities. The club authorized
Ralph Barton's green committee to offer
Raynor " up to $500. "
Barton's committee met Raynor on
April 10 at the University Club in St.
Paul and was dismayed to fi nd that his
asking price was $1,600. They decided
that if they were going to exceed their
budget by that much, they should take
one more shot at Ross. Ross said he and
his assistant W. H. Fowler would lay out
the course for $2,000 plus hotels-but
his personal involvement was " provisional
upon other appointments. "
Oak Ridge was established on August
18, 1920, by a group of Jewish
golfers in Minneapolis who wanted a
club closer than the all-Jewish Northwood
Golf Club in North St. Paul. On
September 22, 1920, the club received a
proposal from Clark, applying for the
positions of head professional, greenkeeper
and golf course architect for
the new course. Given Clark's strong
credentials, the Oak Ridge committee
agreed to his terms immediately.
The course opened in early July
1921; by then, Clark was already looking
for his next project. In the winter
of 1922, he was chosen to design the
course at the Superior Golf Club (today
known as Brookview Golf Course).
Clark returned to Oak Ridge for the
club's second season in 1922, but later
left to take on the position of head
pro at Superior. By then, Clark's design
skills were in heavy demand. He
laid out courses in North Dakota, as
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Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2012

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