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Baltusrol Golf Club GBC 1895 Pinback w/ Box. Free Shipping First Class Mail.

1.5” x 1.25”

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The Baltusrol Golf Club is a private 36-hole golf club in the eastern United States, located in Springfield, New Jersey, about twenty miles (30 km) west of New York City. It was founded 127 years ago in 1895 by Louis Keller.

Baltusrol Golf Club

Location

Springfield, New Jersey

Established

1895, 127 years ago

Type Private

Total holes 36

Tournaments hosted

List of Major Tournaments

* PGA Championship (2005, 2016)

* U.S. Open (1903, 1915, 1936, 1954, 1967, 1980, 1993)

* U.S. Women's Open (1961, 1985)

* U.S. Amateur (1904, 1926, 1946, 2000)

* U.S. Women's Amateur (1901, 1911)

Greens

Bentgrass / Poa annua

Fairways

Bentgrass / Poa annua

Lower Course

A. W. Tillinghast (1922), Rees Jones (2014 renovation)

Par 72 (70 for majors)

Length 7,400 yards (6,767 m)

Course rating 76.2

Slope rating 146

Upper Course

Par 72

Length 7,348 yards (6,719 m)

Course rating 75.9

Slope rating 151

Baltusrol Golf Club

U.S. National Register of Historic Places

U.S. National Historic Landmark District

New Jersey Register of Historic Places

Baltusrol Golf Club

Location in Union County

Springfield, New Jersey

Area 474 acres (192 ha)

Built 1909: Clubhouse 1918–26: Courses

Architect Clubhouse: Chester H. Kirk Courses: A. W. Tillinghast

Architectural style Tudor Revival

Tom McNamara at the 1915 U.S. Open

In 1985, Baltusrol became the first club to have hosted both the U.S. Open and Women's U.S. Open on two different courses. Both courses were originally designed by A. W. Tillinghast in 1918. The club has been the site of seven U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships.

In 2005, the club was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2014, it was further designated a National Historic Landmark in recognition of its importance to Tillinghast's career as a course designer.

History

Baltusrol Golf Club was named after Baltus Roll (1769–1831), who farmed the land on which the club resides today. In 1831, he was murdered at age 61 on February 22 by two thieves who believed that he had hidden a small treasure in his farmhouse on Baltusrol mountain. Two men, Peter B. Davis and Lycidias Baldwin were suspected of the murder. Baldwin fled to a tavern in Morristown where he killed himself with an apparent overdose of narcotics. Davis was apprehended and stood trial in Newark. Despite the overwhelming but circumstantial evidence, much of which the trial judge ruled as inadmissible, Davis was acquitted of murder. He was, however, convicted of forgery and sentenced to 24 years in prison, and later died in Trenton State Prison.

The land was purchased in the 1890s by Louis Keller, who was the publisher of the New York Social Register. He owned 500 acres (2.0 km2) of land in Springfield Township. On October 19, 1895, Keller announced that the Baltusrol Golf Club would open. The club's original 9-hole course was designed by George Hunter in 1895 and expanded to 18 holes in 1898. This course, which is called the Old Course, was further modified by George Low and no longer exists.

Keller hired A. W. Tillinghast to build a second golf course to complement the Old Course. However, Tillinghast recommended that the Old Course be plowed over and he would design and build two new courses. The club approved his design recommendation and commenced construction of the Upper and Lower courses in 1918. In August 1919, Golf Illustrated declared that "what they are planning at Baltusrol is on a vaster scale than anything that has ever been attempted in American Golf for the opening of the Dual Courses." The Dual Courses, or Upper and Lower, were the first contiguous 36-hole design built in America. Both courses officially opened for play in June 1922. In the years following their opening, refinements were made to prepare these courses for National Championship play. The first national championship held on the Lower was the 1926 United States Amateur. The first national championship on the Upper was the U.S. Open in 1936. Tillinghast served as the club's architect until his death in 1942.

In 1948, Robert Trent Jones was retained to update and lengthen the Lower course for tournament play. The Lower course was lengthened again by his son Rees Jones in 1992 in preparation for the U.S. Open in 1993. He also updated and lengthened the Upper course in advance of the 2000 U.S. Amateur. On both the Lower and Upper courses, Jones and his senior designer Steve Weisser reinstated and restored various Tillinghast design features which had been lost over the years. Some famous golfers to win tournaments at Baltusrol include Ed Furgol, Mickey Wright, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Janzen, and Phil Mickelson. In 1995, Golf Magazine recognized Baltusrol as one of "The First 100 Clubs in America."

Clubhouse

In March 1909, the original clubhouse burned down. That same year, a new clubhouse was quickly designed by Chester Hugh Kirk, a member of the golf club, in a Tudor revival style and construction begun in June.

In 1912, it became the first clubhouse to host a President of the United States, William Howard Taft.