The 1890s saw the quick and widespread popularity of the game of golf in America. One Louis Keller, publisher of the New York Social Register, decided to get in on the new rage. Keller owned 500 acres of land in Springfield Township. Some fifty years before this same land was farmed by a Scottish immigrant, named Baltus Roll, who had been robbed and brutally murdered on a cold February night in 1834. On this farm, Keller had a sporty old-fashioned golf course constructed and a farm house converted into a clubhouse. On October 19, 1895, Keller announced the opening of his new club, which would carry the name of the former Scottish farmer, but in a slightly contracted form – Baltusrol Golf Club.

As one of America’s early golf clubs, Baltusrol has hosted national golf competitions over the same golfing grounds longer than any other golf club in America. It was the club’s founder, Louis Keller’s vision for Baltusrol to play a prominent role in American golf and be a site for the sport’s major national championships. While most other early American clubs dropped off the national stage, over its eleven decade history Baltusrol remained a regular host of the major national championships at the highest level of Amateur or Professional competition for Men or Women.

The 1890s saw the quick and widespread popularity of the game of golf in America. Over a dozen early American golf clubs hosted the major national championships. For a variety of reasons most of these other early American golf clubs do not have a comparable history of major championship golf over their respective histories. For some like Englewood CC and Myopia Hunt Club, their golf course became obsolete to the technology improvements in golf clubs and golf balls. Other clubs like Shinnecock Hills, did update its golf course for modern play, but made conscious decisions to stay out of the limelight of hosting championships for most of the twentieth century.

THE MAJOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS PRE 1916 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

Those clubs that did not or could not modernize their courses fell out of the rotation for tournament play.

As described by Daniel Wexler, in his book The Missing Links, the so called golden age of golf course design began, “…a period in which the development of literally dozens of outstanding courses nationwide began to push such time-honored tournament venues as Newport, the Myopia Hunt Club, and Englewood to the sidelines. Indeed during the decade of the 1920’s, the U.S. Open visited 10 first-time sites, an occurrence which had never taken place previously, nor since.”

Baltusrol’s Distinguished National Tournament History

The early championships held at Baltusrol were considered to be the most successful of their day. Louis Keller’s vision of making Baltusrol a prominent player in American golf and a site for national championships would soon come to fruition. On the club’s founding in 1895, Keller had Baltusrol become an allied member of the United States Golf Association (USGA).

“Baltusrol, along with 14 other clubs, soon joined the five charter members of the USGA as the game’s governing body. This was a vital step, for it meant that Baltusrol members – many of them who had served as USGA officers and committee members – would have a finger on the pulse of developments in golf. It meant too, that Baltusrol would become a favored site for the national tournaments that the USGA had been expressly created to host.”

Baltusrol also was instrumental in creating the organizations that governed the golf competitions on a regional and local level. The club was a founding member of the Metropolitan Golf Association (MGA) in 1897. At the MGA’s inaugural meeting at Delmonico’s in New York City, John DuFais, a Baltusrol member, was named the first secretary, and served five terms. In women’s golf, Baltusrol also played the lead. In October 1899, one of Baltusrol’s founding patronesses and top players. Mrs. William Fellowes Morgan – her husband was one the first Baltusrol Governors and an early secretary and later treasurer of the USGA – was one of the founders, and named the first president of the Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association (WMGA). Later in an effort to develop golf locally in New Jersey, Baltusrol and five other clubs founded the New Jersey League, forerunner of the New Jersey State Golf Association (NJSGA), and a Baltusrol member, L.E. Graham, served as its first president.

Each of these organizations fulfilled a different need as golf took a strong root in America. The primary function of the USGA was to conduct the national amateur and open championships – a need that had become all too clear in 1894, when competing clubs hosted “national” tournaments, and the results were bitterly disputed. The USGA also set itself up as the formulator to the rules of golf, and it established a uniform system of handicapping. Similarly, the MGA and the WMGA were tasked with regulating the calendar of events in the metropolitan area to prevent conflicts between clubs, regulate the handicaps of club players, and to sanction tournaments that counted as legitimate championships – precisely the same role that he NJSGA would come to play in New Jersey.

By early 1898, with its beautiful lawns and a design reminiscent of Scottish courses, Baltusrol's membership leapt from an opening day tally of 30 to a membership of nearly 400. The club had hosted several regional and state events which were quite successful and with the turn of the century came national attention for Baltusrol. The club hosted the 1901 U.S. Women's Amateur, its first national tournament, which was won by Genevieve Hecker.

In wrapping up its coverage, The New York Times wrote, “The tournament was splendidly managed by the Baltusrol Golf Club, and the large crowds during the week have been entertained with comfort to all.”

Miss Hecker would successfully defend her title the following year at the Country Club. She would also be the first woman to author a book on golf, entitled simply enough, Golf for Women.

With the success of Baltusrol’s first national championship, the USGA awarded Baltusrol the 1903 U.S Open which was won by Scotsman Willie Anderson, the former Baltusrol Pro who had previously won the U.S. Open at Myopia Hunt Club. Anderson’s victory at Baltusrol set in motion consecutive Open wins 1904 and 1905, making him the only man to win three successive Opens. This record still stands today. He also holds the most U.S. Open titles (4), which is a record shared only by three others, Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus.

“Today the Open ranks as the most important of all our national titles, but in that era the Amateur enjoyed even greater prestige; it was the prize that Baltusrol truly desired. The two previous national tournaments had proven to the USGA’s satisfaction that Baltusrol could stage a major event, and in 1904 Baltusrol was awarded the Tenth U.S. Amateur Championship. In a little less than a decade, Baltusrol had made its mark.”

The 1904 U.S. Amateur was won by Chandler Egan, one of the most impressive, popular, and enigmatic players in the early years of American golf. He successfully defended his title the following year at the Chicago GC and he would later become a noted golf architect working on the west coast.

After a fire destroyed the original clubhouse in 1909, the impressive English Tudor that stands today was built. With its new clubhouse, a further testimony to its overall grace, Baltusrol hosted the 1911 Women's Amateur, won by Margaret Curtis who was one of the most formidable and influential figures in women’s golf.

“All told, Miss Margaret, as she came to be known, played in 25 USGA Championships, her first coming in 1897, and her last in 1949, when she was 65. Margaret and Harriot Curtis (her sister) were also responsible for the creation of the Curtis Cup matches, which pit the finest women amateurs from the United States against those from Great Britain.”

In 1912, Baltusrol became the first golf club to host a U.S. president, President William Howard Taft. Three years later in 1915 four time U.S. Amateur Champion, Jerry Travers, was crowned U.S. Open champion at Baltusrol. His final round performance was considered to be the best finish in a U.S. Open to date.

“This Open was heralded by the press and officials of the USGA as the best Open tournament ever, a sentiment that would be echoed again and again in the future national championships to come at Baltusrol. Much of the credit was due to the dedication displayed by Baltusrol’s officers, members and staff. John G. Anderson, a leading amateur player, wrote that, “It has been my privilege to attend all the Open Championships which have been held since 1905 and I may say frankly that at no other club has there been such a fine control of the situation either in the club-house appointments, locker service, or the care of the affairs on the links.”

World War I would not stop Baltusrol’s desire to lead the way. The club actively supported the Red Cross Society and participated in a series of fund raising exhibition matches known as the 1917 PGA War Relief Tournament. These matches were organized by the fledgling PGA of America, which had just been formed the year before.

The roaring twenties brought prosperity and growth to Baltusrol. The legendary A.W. Tillinghast, now known as the "Creator of Baltusrol," plowed over Baltusrol's Old Course and constructed two new "dual" courses - The Lower and Upper Courses. Sadly, Louis Keller, Baltusrol’s founder and chief benefactor died in 1922, shortly before the opening of Tillinghast’s new courses. The National Amateur Tournament returned in 1926 marking the debut of Tillinghast's new creation. A record gallery of over 15,000 followed the final round in which Californian George Von Elm played under par to defeat Bobby Jones who was trying to win a record three Amateurs in a row. Von Elm’s victory marked the first time the Amateur Championship was won by someone from west of the Mississippi.

“I met George Von Elm for the third time in three championships, and George was too much for me. I played as well as I could, and played very good golf; I was a single stroke over par for the 35 holes the match lasted; and I had the breaks on a couple of stymies. George did not have the luck. He simply outplayed me. It was coming to him. I had beaten him at Merion and at Oakmont, and Lord knows nobody is going to keep beating a golfer like George Von Elm. I wanted to make it three championships in a row; but it wasn’t in the book. It was George’s turn.”

Like most, Baltusrol suffered through the Great Depression. With unemployment climbing to a record 25%, the club membership declined precipitously. Miraculously, the club was able to remain solvent and host the 1936 U.S. Open on Tillinghast’s Upper Course. The Open was hailed by the PGA and the USGA as the best open ever held

The finish was a dramatic with the U.S. Open scoring record falling twice within an hour. As chronicled by Herbert Warren Wind, “…Light Horse (Harry Cooper) set a new record for the Open with 284 at Baltusrol. The record lasted about an hour—until Tony Manero galloped down the stretch with a 67 for a total of 282.”

The recovery of golf in America was put on hold with the onset of World War II. Baltusrol did all it could to support the War effort and the troops. Victory gardens were established on the fairways of the Upper and cattle and sheep grazed the fairways of the Lower. The proceeds were donated to the Red Cross to fund ambulances in the European Theatre. When the War came to a close, Baltusrol was back on center stage with the 1946 U.S. Amateur, the first to be staged since the tournament was suspended in 1941.

In the next decade the birth of television ushered in golf's modern era, and Baltusrol would lead the way. In 1954, the club played host to another U.S. Open, the first to be nationally televised. Millions watched Ed Furgol pull his drive into the woods on the final hole, the eighteenth of the Lower. He escaped defeat by playing to the adjacent fairway of eighteen Upper, securing the victory.

“The USGA estimated a record gallery of 39,600 for the three days of the tournament. Millions more watched the event on national television for the first time.”

Baltusrol continued to host golf's major shows. In 1961, the Women's U.S. Open, witnessed an extraordinary performance by Mickey Wright, which Herbert Warren Wind hailed as one of the best tee to green performances he had ever seen by man or woman.

“Eloquent as they are, these figures do not begin to suggest the near-perfection of Mickey Wright’s play on that double round… It is hard to think of a comparable exhibition of beautifully sustained golf over thirty-six holes in a national championship, unless it be Ben Hogan’s last two rounds at Oakland Hills in the 1951 Open.”

In 1967 Jack Nicklaus emerged and shocked the world of golf by winning the U.S. Open, defeating the legendary Arnold Palmer in a classic final round. His final 1-iron shot to the 18th green is considered one of the most famous in golf.

In Jack Nicklaus’s own words, “I figured I now had 238 yards to the pin, uphill, all carry, and against the wind. …It was certainly the longest 1-iron I’ve ever hit in competition, and quite likely the best.” (Jack Nicklaus, With Ken Bowden, My Story, Simon & Schuster, 1997, p. 213)

When the U.S. Open returned in 1980, Nicklaus, who the golf media had written off as over the hill, was again victorious, setting a new tournament scoring record along the way and letting golf fans everywhere know that "Jack was Back!"

The victory marked Nicklaus’s fourth and last U.S. Open Victory and was considered to be one of the most memorable in U.S. Open History. In a storybook finish, the record galleries followed Nicklaus up the 18th fairway chanting “Jack is Back.” In describing the scene, Nicklaus wrote, “It was by far the most emotional and warmest reaction to any of my wins in my own country, and it remains as sharp and wonderful in my memory all these years later as the day it happened.” (Jack Nicklaus, With Ken Bowden, My Story, Simon & Schuster, 1997, p. 399)

In 1985 the Women’s open returned to Baltusrol and thirteen years to the date of Nicklaus’s victory, Lee Janzen claimed the U.S. Open trophy a classic duel against Payne Stewart. At the turn of the millennium, Baltusrol was honored to host the 100th playing of the U.S. Men’s Amateur, which was won by Jeff Quinney. Baltusrol’s, first major national championship in the first decade of this century was the 87th playing of PGA Championship, which was won by Phil Mickelson. This PGA marked only its second playing in New Jersey – the first was at Seaview CC in Absecon in 1942.

The national championships conducted at Baltusrol are considered by many to some of the most historic and successful championships in golf. A brief summary of each of Baltusrol’s 16 major championships is attached as Exhibit A.

Major championships have been a constant over Baltusrol’s history, but the club has also been committed to hosting the many and various local, state and regional golf competitions on both the amateur and professional levels, which are conducted by the New Jersey PGA, the New Jersey Golf Association, the Metropolitan Golf Association, and other governing bodies in the sport of golf.