Ahh! Baltusrol. It’s a big, bad pastoral wonderland which happens to be the fiercest battleground in American golf history.
No club has such a rich, colorful history as Baltusrol, which was a crime scene long before it ever became a golf course.
In 1831, a prominent farmer named Baltus Roll was murdered near his house just outside of Springfield, N.J. Now, 174 years later, the PGA Championship is coming to Baltus’ homestead.
Golf itself arrived some 60 years after Roll’s mysterious death when Louis Keller, publisher of the New York Social Register, acquired the land and built a course that formally opened in October 1895.
By 1903, Baltusrol was ready to host the U.S. Open, and the club proudly saw host professional Willie Anderson, a native Scot, win the second of his four U.S. Open titles.
In 1909, the clubhouse burned down, but a new one was built before the Open returned to Baltusrol in 1915. The winner that year was Jerome Travers, a four-time U.S. Amateur champ from Upper Montclair CC.
In 1918, famed architect A.W. Tillinghast was hired to plow up Baltusrol’s old course and, by 1922, it was replaced by two new courses that became known as the Lower and Upper.
“The Lower is longer, straight-forward and more demanding,” said architect Rees Jones, who has done work on both courses. “The Upper is tighter, quirkier and climbs into the hillside.”
In 1936, when the Open was played on the Upper Course, Harry “Light Horse” Cooper bogeyed three of the last five holes – on one hole his ball hit a spectator and landed in a bunker – yet it seemed as if he had set an Open scoring record at 284. But then came a late charge from Tony Manero, who shot 67 to beat Cooper by two shots.
In 1954, the Lower Course was used for what would become the first U.S. Open to be nationally televised. Millions watched as Ed Furgol won the title after driving his tee shot into the left woods on the 72nd hole. Furgol chipped his ball onto the 18th fairway of the Upper Course and made par to finish one shot ahead of Gene Littler.
In 1967, Arnold Palmer finished second as Jack Nicklaus clinched his second Open title with a memorable shot on the final hole. From 238 yards out into a stiff wind, Nicklaus blasted a 1-iron onto the green to leave himself a 22-foot putt that he made to break Ben Hogan’s Open record.
Thirteen years later, Jack was back. In smashing his Open scoring record, he outdueled Isao Aoki to win his fourth Open title. When the Open returned in 1993, Lee Janzen tied Nicklaus’ 1980 scoring record and won by two shots over Payne Stewart.
This week, after seven U.S. Opens and seven other national championships, Baltusrol is ready for another battle. Yep, ol’ Baltus would be proud.