Turf for Golf Courses - Msu

224 TURF FOR GOLF COURSES
PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE IN GROWING TURF ON GOLF
COURSES NEAR PHILADELPHIA
Hugh I. Wilson
The Merion Cricket Club, of Philadelphia, played
golf on leased property for nearly twenty years
and, as is usual in this country, the land became so
valuable that the club was forced to move. This
experience showed the advantage of permanency,
so early in 191 I the Club appointed a committee
consisting of Messrs. Lloyd, Griscom, Francis, Toul-
min, and Wilson to construct a new course on
the 125 acres of land which had been purchased.
The members of the committee had played golf
for many years, but the experience of each in con-
struction and greenkeeping was only that of the
average club member. Looking back on the work,
I feel certain that we would never have attempted
to carry it out, if we had realized one-half the things
we did not know. Our ideals were high and for-
tunately we did get a good start in the correct
principles of laying out the holes, through the kind-
ness of Messrs. C. B. Macdonald and H. J. Whigham.
We spent two days with Mr. Macdonald at his
bungalow near the National Course and in one