Far and Sure: The Story of America’s First Golf Course

Far and Sure: The Story of America’s First Golf Course

as the fog lifts from this Valley to reveal these links you can imagine the Heritage from the beginnings in the old country and its forefathers from abroad it’s been played for centuries and its Origins are claimed by many but in the United States it can only be claimed by one it’s here where American Golf Course history begins in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains organized golf began with a small group of gentlemen who wanted a social gathering in 1884. the game had been around since the 1400s in some variety but in a tiny area known as White Sulfur Springs West Virginia Oakhurst links started match play and the humble beginnings of golf began in the United States there’s documentation that some form of unorganized golf was played in the colonies it goes far back Beyond Oakhurst or Saint Andrews Yonkers there’s a their bills of leading of of golf equipment sent from London into the southeastern states or in Charleston or Savannah back a long time ago maybe 150 60 years before Oakhurst was established Russell Montague was the only American of this group he was joined by Scotsman Alexander McLeod and his brother Roderick George Grant and Lionel Torin who lived in Ceylon how could these men from different backgrounds from different parts of the world Converge on this small remote spot on the map some came to this region for a healthier lifestyle or to be a farmer others maybe because it reminded them of their native Scotland Russell Montague was a wealthy Harvard educated lawyer who fell in love with the game while studying law years earlier in England on the advice of a doctor he along with his wife and son moved south from Boston to a healthier climate in 1880 they purchased property from George Grand including the 22 Acres that was known as Oakhurst Farms each summer George Grant’s cousin Lionel Torin came to America to visit tauren traveled abroad with his Hickory golf clubs and was well schooled in the game of golf Grant didn’t want to disappoint his cousin so the men started talking about making a golf course and that laid the groundwork for what would become known as Oakhurst links Mr Montague offered his property to be the site of the golf course so construction was commenced and you can imagine when we talk about construction today building a golf course a few men and a few hands on that farm to start preparing what is now uh Oakhurst is quite unusual I think the course was well into the planning stages but construction didn’t begin until tauren arrived from his transatlantic Voyage this course was originally over 2200 yards and may have been small by today’s standards but distinctive for a 19th century arcade course tauren brought his clubs with him but they needed more than one set they asked another local George Donaldson to bring back clubs while in Europe visiting relatives when George made the return trip to America and was going through customs one of the Customs officials said what are these and George says those are my golf clubs the Customs official said what and George said golf clubs man have you never heard of the game of golf so they talked to Frasier corn who was a very talented Carpenter in the area and said Frazier would you try your hand at repairing our clubs and by the way do you think you could make us some Fraser Corin is thought of as America’s first Club maker the home of fellow member George Grant was a short distance from Oakhurst at this large estate known as Graycliff this group had already begun playing on three holes they had laid out prior to the construction of the Oakhurst course players were allowed to carry up to five clubs and without a golf bag usually clubs were so hard to come by those players would often share them during a round the balls they would play with were Gutta perchaballs made of a resinous syrup from a tree found in parts of Malaysia the first competition was held at Oakhurst in 1884. there’s no doubt these men were passionate about this strange new game that neighbors laughed at and travelers would sometimes stop to see in 1888 they began playing for the Oakhurst Challenge medal well you can bet they were playing before I think they played and played it enough times that they thought you know we need a medal we need a championship metal The Challenge medal is the oldest known golf medal in the United States this group had this medal made to honor their competition which was usually held on Christmas Day for six years running six years straight is one thing but Christmas Day in West Virginia let me tell you this was some real men because it can be some pretty tough weather out there if Montague was supposedly unhealthy and he competed in that thing six years in a row he wasn’t too unhealthy these guys were horses they also played for it frequently and sometimes even weekly according to a carefully recorded journal the members kept a replica of the sterling silver medal is on display at the USGA Museum in Far Hills New Jersey The Originals still exist but it’s securely locked away the men of this club adopted a phrase they even had engraved on The Challenge medal far and sure people would ride up from the old white hotel to laugh and sometimes ridicule this group but the golfers paid them no attention however one time Montague took exception while on the First Tee the funniest story was when this Reverend Mason rode over from Covington one Sunday afternoon to watch a game and he he saw Russell top the ball and miss and he said that is so easy anybody can do it so Russell been kind of ticked at him he handed him a club and he said here you know you have a go at it so the story is that a hundred Strokes later the Reverend Mason hold out he handed the club back to Russell and said this is a science not a game shortly after the turn of the century this new game seemed to have caught on in the United States there were plans for a new course in the area but at the old white hotel now known as The Greenbrier resort by 1910 play had started to fade at Oakhurst by 1913 some of the members left America and traveled back to Europe to be closer to their families around the time of World War One whatever the reason was Russell Montague is quoted in a 1913 article as saying the boys just drifted away shortly after this The Greenbrier opened a new 18-hole course that would be known as the old white George Donaldson and Montague both started playing there and soon the ocher’s course fell dormant and remained that way for 80 years I think they stopped playing on that golf course because the new Greenbrier golf course was new and it was 18 holes and probably constructed with significantly more knowledge and more interesting strategies and Hazards and so on might have been even that it was flatter that might have had something to do with it but uh the the newer Golf Course was better than the one they did here Montague is seen playing at The Greenbrier in 1945. eventually he moved away to Richmond Virginia to be closer to his son Carrie later that same year the father of American Golf Russell Wortley Montague died and left his property to his two children as the years progressed the only living heir to Russell Montague decided to sell what was left of the Oakhurst Farm a friend of the Montague family Sam Sneed heard of Carrie Montague’s possible intentions to sell Sneed also knew Fraser Corin and had visited him while making clubs Sneed himself was a club maker at the Homestead Resort while working as a Young Man Carone who made clubs for these guys probably translated by Word of Mouth information that nobody else would have been privy to other than Sam Snead so I think that Sam is an authentic piece of documentation that has to be accepted for that reason Sneed played golf often with Lewis Keller and knew of his interest to find a summer home and a place to possibly raise thoroughbred horses conversations would always lead to finding a place close by in 1959 Sneed told Lewis and his wife Rosalie about the Montague property possibly being available there were already three casinos in the area Carrie who is a practicing Minister didn’t want to sell to anyone that would turn it into another gambling establishment the Kellers convinced Montague they wanted a place so that children could ride ponies Mr Montague was blind and it couldn’t see it all and took me by the hand as we had met him and chatted and walked me out on the grass to The First Tee pointed down the Fairway as to where the first hole was and walked me across the front of the property he showed me the ninth hole and the third tee and pretty much gave me some impression as he remembered with even his being blind as the holes were on the golf course with that visit and a gentleman’s handshake Carrie Montague agreed to sell the Oakhurst Farm to Lewis and Rosalie Keller they purchased these Hollow grounds for seventeen thousand five hundred dollars if he gave me a number he refused to accept a deposit refused to have any contract other than when he would have it drafted and sent to me it in my residence some artifacts from The Farmhouse and the course were packed away and had been taken to Richmond when the montagues moved from Oakhurst it was kind enough to give me the first medal that was played for here at Oakhurst and a lot of personal things that not only they allowed us which we kept but there the magazines and such dating back to 1903 1904 that articles written about Oakhurst and about his father and the founding members he still wanted to raise thoroughbreds and had been warned about the conditions of the property being too rough and steep if Lewis had listened to these experts and plowed the grounds the history of golf at Oakhurst and the real history of Gulf in America would have forever been lost the Kellers knew the history of the course but had no intentions of restoring it longtime friend and golf pro Gardner Dickinson set up a meeting with Lewis Keller Bob cupp and himself at Oakhurst cupp was a well-known golf course architect who had worked under Jack Nicklaus he told me about this place he said there’s a there’s a friend of mine has a farm up in West Virginia near The Greenbrier that that has an old golf course on it that has been uncovered and I think I want to take you up there and show you and he finally did while standing there overlooking the horse farm Lewis pointed out the course to Cup and told him the stories that were described to him he also showed him the artifacts that were found over the years the Kellers had started entertaining the thoughts of restoring the course but the raising of thoroughbreds was going extremely well the name that Oakhurst had made was becoming even more admired in equestrian circles so popular in fact that one day a visitor showed up at Oakhurst and with that random call the end of the Horse farm strangely was in question Sunday morning as I Was preparing for church this gentleman drags up in it and asked if uh would if he could see some of the horses and he said he was just getting into the Thoroughbred business and he had heard that over from The Greenbrier that we had horses here and he wanted to take a look and he said would you consider selling me uh one or two of your yearlings and I said well I’m not quite sure I said I will give it some thoughts so that evening was really the decision time after more than a hundred years it was time to awaken the Mystic aura that had walked on Oakhurst Farms Lewis had made a promise to carry Montague to preserve the memory of the Montague family Bob cupp had offered his Services earlier for this project but it wasn’t until Lewis and Rosalie had made up their minds about selling off the horses that his Services would be needed this was not a an economic Venture at all this was a very personal thing and I just finally called Lewis one day and said I think we could I think we ought to try to find it the remaining documents and artifacts that weren’t at Oakhurst had been kept for years in the garage of the Widow of Kerry Montague Mrs Montague after she got back to Richmond Virginia and they were unpacking having left the property here at Oakhurst they uh she called me and said they had uncovered uh the original clubs and that if I would stop by Richmond and pick them up that was a gift I had planned to be in Richmond on a given Monday morning to receive this one of these this great gift of the the clubs and she called early Monday morning the garage had burned down and the clubs were destroyed but they were the original clubs that they played with here at Oakhurst all that was left of Oakhurst was indeed at Oakhurst so the discovery process began the fields were heavily overgrown and a fence that was used to keep the horses from coming too close to the house divided the middle of the course the course was overrun but virtually undisturbed at the very first it was kind of like walking anywhere else any other golf property but as we walked and as it started to sink in what had gone on there 100 plus years ago I got a little bit emotional Lewis also had the first-hand accounts from being walked around the grounds by Carrie Montague when he purchased the fabled property but it was the nostalgic pieces and those memories that had to be used to begin the uncovering project without the items that were lost in the fire the assembled team had very little that was printed or written down to go on of course they had Snead’s memories and the stories that were handed down to him from Fraser Corin and Keller’s Knowledge from Kerry Montague there was a moving experience that I didn’t know I was going to have when I went up there that particular trip and it was after that that we went with the boys to get after the dirt but I had enough time to relay to them how important it was that we do things intelligently that we work toward an authentic Affair this is not a design project this is about history and honoring the the those ghosts and the Lewis Kellers and the Sam’s needs of the world that was a very emotional thing for me after several months of preparation the actual physical work began in the spring of 1994. Bob cupp and his crew who made the journey North from Atlanta began to literally uncover history with Snead in his 80s he wasn’t able to get around the property but was very active in the process Sam used to make regular visits he had to be with Bob cop and the man check on what was being done and talked to them he was very interested in in everything we did and was a great asset but all we found all the elements and the bits that were there pulling back the turf finding blackened soil where they had obviously dumped manure to fertilize grass also told me that perhaps there was grass on those greens as life was being breathed back into Oakhurst it became evident that golf was played here elements of the game and course design started to be noticed as well this group of men in the 1800s with no background in course design and very little background in the game itself had shaped a course using the terrain and with principles that are still used today Keller’s Target date of completion was October 20th 1994. it was the week of the solheim trophy at The Greenbrier when the American team was playing the english team of the ladies and Dick Taylor arranged to have the writers they were covering the event here that morning for the inauguration in front of the International Golf press in an audience anxious to see this day come to fruition Sam Snead was asked to take the ceremonial tee shot Sneed after all was the pivotal figure in tying this remarkable puzzle together a special Club was made for this historic event by Ping golf Sam and Carson soham sat on the patio as the Press arrived when it was time Sam stepped into the shade of the number three Tee Box up comes this basically what appeared to be a seven wood with something that looked like a hickory shaft but the head was absolutely glistening like the hood of a car solid black I mean it was beautiful Sam looked at it swung it a couple of times I walked up lined up his shot and there was a little breeze blowing from right to left and he took the club back just as perfectly as could be and it came down and there was a horrendous sound a crack like a very seldom here and there were two things headed for the green and I was mortified I thought oh no after all of this Sam turned around to me and he said quote did either one of them get on the Green they didn’t know that prior to Sam hitting that shot he asked me to go into the golf the club room with him and he wanted to take a look at all the irons in there Sam took about five of the clubs looked down the shaft that every one of them to be sure that he got the straightest Hickory shaft and the next one Sam hid it so perfectly I mean it was Picture Perfect the ball arced up made a little slight turn to the left and drifted right in on the stick I mean it wasn’t 10 feet away and the place came apart there was plenty of evidence that pointed to Oakhurst being the original organized Club but some have doubted the distinction as the first course in America Saint Andrews which first started in 1888 in Yonkers New York had long been recognized as the first Golf Club in the States because it’s the oldest Club in continuous operation since being formed in 1897 Saint Andrews moved its course to the current location of Hastings on Hudson New York it so happened that the apple tree gang which is what came out of it no later as the San Andreas Yonkers club which were just people who would gather around a farm a farmhouse or a country home and hit shots out in the into the yard and they grew and it was established into a into a club now Oakhurst was much the same and I think it’s important that we as a West Virginian certainly I feel this some historical pride in the in the fact that the game is played here as a as a game as a using Scotty’s rules you might say because the USGA rules to this day relate back to the game across the water we outdate the other golf courses totally in the United States Mr Montague and his group in 1884 were indeed the first golf course and the first golf actually played here the other course is Fowler in history the United States Golf Association was formed in 1894. Lewis Keller had to prove to the USGA that oakers could rightfully claim the honor to say they were indeed first I believe that their feeling is that there’s a bit sufficient information there’s sufficient history that we have outdated Saint Andrews and oakhurst’s unquestionably the oldest golf club in the United States it took some time it took some effort and it took a lot of work in to bring to date that information in 2001 Oakhurst was placed on the national register of historic places several months after Oakhurst was open for public play the USGA approached Louis Keller about making it a working and operating Museum Lewis declined their offer he wanted it played as it was more than 100 years ago with vintage clubs and gutta-percha type balls but more importantly as a golfing experience it just sort of fits in the whole narrative that Sam’s need takes Lewis Keller there somehow that just seems appropriate you know that uh that as you you follow the line of this story uh you know Keller is taken by The Greenbrier comes here frequently and then it’s it’s literally Because by the time this is happening Sam stayed in the in the late 50s is a fairly legendary character and uh and so that that he he is the connection somehow seems appropriate in this in this story that ties all the way back to the beginning of golf in America it’s possible that the growing popularity of The Greenbrier resort also played a role in the ocher story living on and getting retold journalists would visit the Greenbrier to write about the young Phenom on the door Sam Sneed with Russell Montague playing at The Greenbrier even up close to the time of his death these journalists had the opportunity to hear firsthand accounts about the group who started the original golf course and Club in America an interview one of the founding fathers directly in Snead’s case you know really brings the The Greenbrier to National and eventually International notoriety which I think also brings a lot more interest to Oakhurst you know and kind of looking at all this um seems very possible to me that Oakhurst would have just faded away and literally literally be forgotten if Kerry Montague had sold his father’s property to someone other than Lewis and Rosalie Keller the story of Oakhurst may have just been a story almost a fictional place Lewis Keller was the person who had the foresight to literally uncover history I do believe the history would have been erased it would have been eradicated because it would have gone back it would have remain at Saint Andrews in Yonkers New York which was not the accurate site of the game the story of Oakhurst started less than 20 years after the completion of the Civil War this tiny spot nestled in the foothills of the Appalachians had a huge impact on this International game the history of golf in America began here at Oakhurst the gulf has so much potential so much flexibility so much variety that it’s a shame not to express it and no curse is as much of an absolute expression as Augusta National is you read the the history books on gov that’s what you find so I I’m not making any campaign of it personally but you’ve asked the questions and I and I put to you that I think it’s important that you and I and everybody else knows about Oakhurst has an obligation if not to anybody else or any to Oakhurst Founders and Lewis Keller into the state of West Virginia to talk about it because it’s it’s a part of the history of the game we should be proud of but it won’t be in the history books unless we make sure someone talks about it Oakhurst links was constructed by hand to pass the time in these Rolling Hills of West Virginia four scotsmen and one American are the ancestors to American golf courses today it traveled with some of them nearly 4 000 miles to this new land this Valley more than 100 years passed from the time Oakhurst was formed in 1884 until Lewis Keller uncovered it now the Links which consisted of the pastures that the founding fathers of American Golf walked on have passed through hands to another caretaker the land was auctioned off in 2012 only to sit idle again [Music] [Music]

Nearly 140 years ago, in the tiny village of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, the beginning of American golf courses started at Oakhurst Links. Five men, from various parts of the globe settled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and carved a 9-hole golf course out of the rolling countryside and began match play.

This 28 minute historical documentary by West Virginia’s own Brett Ward and Mike Riley, dispels previous claims by other golf courses, including St. Andrew’s in Yonkers, New York, by proving golf started here in the Greenbrier Valley years prior to the founding of every other golf course and club in the United States.

For nearly 50 years, matches continued at Oakhurst until the Greenbrier Resort opened their first golf course. The pastures and fairways of Oakhurst sat dormant for almost 60 years until Lewis Keller began the uncovering process with Sam Snead and Bob Cupp. Oakhurst Links opened for public play in 1994 with a ceremonial tee shot by golf legend Sam Snead. In 2012, the land was purchased by The Greenbrier Resort but currently sits idle, undisturbed.

In 1994, when opened for public play, hickory golf clubs had to be used to play this 9 hole course. The National Hickory Championships were held at Oakhurst multiple times to crown a champion.

See interviews from the Greenbrier Resort’s own, Dr. Robert Conte, golf course architect, Robert Cupp, U.S. Amateur Champion, Billy Campbell and former Oakhurst Links owner, Lewis Keller.

Far and Sure tracks the story of Oakhurst Links and its original five members who founded it including the original owner, Russell Montague, who came to the region from Boston, Massachusetts. The other members; Alexander MacLeod, Roderick MacLeod, George Grant & Lionel Torrin came from different parts of the world.

Oakhurst Links is an important part of American history that’s never been told before on screen.