Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2020 - 17

the PEOPLE'S GAME
I
were played,
n the years following public golf's 1916 introduction
to Minnesota, paying customers stampeded
to the state's public courses like it was no-fee day
at Pebble Beach. At first, the number of public
venues was limited to just three-Glenwood (now
named Wirth) and Columbia in Minneapolis and
Phalen Park in St. Paul-but the players' flow was
unbridled.
In 1918, Phalen's first full year of operation, 47,000 rounds
according to Minnesota golf historian Rick
Shefchik's book, " From Fields to Fairways: Classic Golf Clubs of
Minnesota. " Phalen expanded to 18 holes the following year, and
a staggering 98,763 rounds ensued.
Columbia opened with six holes in 1919, expanded to nine in
1920 and then to 18 the next year, when it hosted 53,692 rounds,
according to Shefchik.
By 1922, the course at Glenwood played host
to " more than 12,000 persons, an average of
400 a day " in the month of July alone, according
to the Minneapolis Tribune.
Public golf was bursting at the seams, and
the spillover would create more places to play.
Twin Cities municipal courses Armour (now
Gross), Meadowbrook, Highland Park and
Keller were all built in the 1920s. Outside the
metro area, Duluth (Enger Park), Rochester
(Soldiers' Field), Hibbing and Winona were
among the cities with early municipal or public
courses. Hilltop in Columbia Heights (now
defunct), Superior (now Brookview) in Golden
Valley and Minnepau in Falcon Heights, a
predecessor to the current Bolstad University
course, were early public courses that were privately
owned. Phalen Park became so crowded
that some of its regulars split off and founded
a course named Lakeview, which opened in
the northeast corner of St. Paul in 1921. It was renamed Hillcrest
shortly afterward and carried on for 96 years before closing in
2017.
LES BOLSTAD
Public Golf Shifts From Organic to Organized
" Better golf on the public links of Minnesota, " the Minneapolis
Tribune wrote on April 26, 1923, " is the aim of the new Public
Golf Association of Minnesota, which organization was perfected
at a meeting in the St. Francis hotel, St. Paul, Tuesday night. "
The new organization had but three founding clubs-
Columbia, Glenwood and Phalen. Harry Edmunds of Phalen was
elected the first president. That year's docket included a regular
series of inter-club matches, the first state public links championship
and perhaps a women's state championship, a May 1923
Tribune story suggested.
As for whether anything was " perfected " that Tuesday night,
well, maybe not so much.
The first state championship was to be held at Glenwood.
Controversy arose before the first ball could be propelled toward
the first green-which was anything but green.
" New Rules for Glenwood Meet, " read the headline on a
Tribune story on June 19, 1923.
" Special rules will be made to govern the play of the Minnesota
State Public Golf association tournament at Glenwood course, "
the story began. " One rule is: There will be no sweeping of the
greens with the clubhead before putting. " This rule was made
after many golfers complained that players were doing this in
match play.
" The sweeping of the green is a big help on a sand green. The
player brushes the sand to one side making a clear path to the
cup. Tom Comer [who was in charge of the tournament] thinks
that it is fair to one as the other to leave the greens the same and
have the players putt through whatever amount of sand happens
to be on the green. "
What was that all about? Good question.
Glenwood, Phalen and Columbia all had sand
greens, along with scores of other Minnesota
courses in the 1920s and '30s. Their surfaces
were literally circles of sand, generally mixed
with motor oil or a similar synthetic substance.
The ground was then raked or groomed to keep
this surface as smooth as possible. Though it was
a less-than-transcendent way to play the short
game, the lower building and maintenance costs
dictated that it was the right way to go for many.
The show went on for that inaugural state
public links, and in July 1923, Hardy Feichtinger
of Glenwood won the inaugural MPGA championship-presumably
without any undetected
or nefarious sweeping of sand. (Insert Patrick
Reed wisecrack here, if you wish.)
But the sand greens issue was far from dead.
In fact, it was a blackfly that would pester the
state's public golf association for the better part of a decade.
A Golf Great Plays the Role of Foil
Lester Bolstad was the state's first great public links player. Based
out of Columbia in 1925, he won the state public links championship
at his home course. The next year, playing out of the new,
grass greens Armour course (now named Francis A. Gross), he
was state champion once again, this time at his new home course.
His accomplishment qualified him for the 1926 U.S. Public Links
Championship, to be held at Cleveland Park in Buffalo, N.Y. He
won that title as well, in front of an audience of 2,000, becoming
the event's youngest champion at the age of 18.
Bolstad was duly celebrated at home. But, as a new season
dawned, consternation emerged. On April 26, 1927, the
Minneapolis Tribune reported that U.S. champion Bolstad would
not seek to defend his state title.
" During the past season, " the Minneapolis Tribune's John S.
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Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2020

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