A History of Michigan Golf: 1921-1930
By Art McCafferty,
Michigan Golfer Magazine
The "Roaring Twenties" was just that as Michigan added 89 courses to it golf course inventory; thus giving the state 162 as it headed into the 1930's.
The 20's also produced our own Walter Hagen who shocked the world by winning four British Opens and five PGA Championships. "I don't want to be a millionaire, I just want to live like one," the affable Haig would state on many occasions.
The U.S. Open was played at Oakland Hills for the first time during this decade and this was also the time when women's golf started to heat up with the matches of legendary English players Cecil Leitch and Joyce Wethered. They competed famously in the British Women's Amateur, each winning four times during a stretch from 1914 to 1929. Babe Zaharias would finally win as the first American in 1947.
In 1922 the Michigan PGA elected their first President, Alex Ross. Al Watrous reigned supreme during that time by winning the Michigan Open Championship four times, with the Haig winning it once in 1921. The Michigan PGA Championship was won a couple of times by Al Watrous and once by architect, Wilfried Reid. Over at the GAM, John Sweeney, Malcolm McGregor and Will Curtis of the Detroit Golf Club, were to fill the President's chair for the decade.
The 20's saw the continuation of Donald Ross's fine work as he completed an even dozen courses. The Scottish duo of Wilfried Reid and William Connellan teamed up to do a number of projects in Michigan, notably Indianwood, Brae Burn, Bald Mountain and Tam O'Shanter. Reid, was also known for his fine work with the Olympic Club, at that time the Lakeside Golf and Country Club.
H.S. Colt and C.H. Alison, who contributed the Country Club of Detroit and Plum Hollow, were known for their work at The Cloister, the famous Georgia resort. They reworked the original Plantation nine there and then created their own nine, the Seaside. Bobby Jones had indicated that the Seaside nine was "the best nine that he had ever seen."
H.S. Colt was also known for his work at Pine Valley where he worked with George Crump and his home course at Sunningdale, England.
Finally, the multitalented, but little heralded Midwestern duo of Langford and Moreau, were responsible for two terrific Michigan courses during this decade, Blythefield Country Club and Marquette Golf & Country Club.
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