The Transformational Restoration of Interlachen

A special congratulations to Interlachen Country Club and Golf Course Architect, Andrew Green for the rebirth of a Donald Ross Golden Age Classic. The club triumphantly reopened for their membership this past weekend after a 14 month restoration.

Interlachen CC has been the home of several Major Championships, as well as multiple amateur and professional team exhibitions. It was also the host of perhaps the most famous US Open in history, the third leg of the Grand Slam, the 1930 US Open famously won by Bobby Jones.

Today the course has been restored to a course Bobby Jones would remember fondly. A course that likely provided the sternest test in his quest to achieve the Impregnable Quadrilateral.

For more information please listen to the next TalkinGolf History Podcast on the History & Restoration of Interlachen CC.

From History Being Restored to History Being Made in Minneapolis

The 2024 US Amateur was played this past week at Hazeltine National. In the same week that Interlachen’s course reopened, Hazeltine National stepped back into national prominence with a brilliant display of difficulty.

Hazeltine National played to 7552 yards with 6-8 inch rough and greens maxed out to test the best amateur golfers in the world.

Congrats to the 2024 US Amateur Champion, Jose Luis Ballester of Spain!

As a graduate of the University of Iowa, I couldn’t be more proud of Noah Kent wearing the Black and Gold & representing Iowa in the finals of our country’s national championship!

Fun Fact: The Hazeltine National, which hosted the 2024 US Amateur is very different from the course that hosted the 1970 US Open. One angry professional called the original course “Dogleg National” and another “A Waste of a Good Hayfield.”

A Tale of Two Havemeyer Trophies

The last golfer to win the original Havemeyer Trophy was none other than Bobby Jones who was awarded the trophy at the 1925 US Amateur at Oakmont CC. In doing so Bob Jones beat a fellow East Lake Golf Club amateur, by the name of Watts Gunn.

As bad luck would have it- the original Havemeyer Trophy was on display in East Lake’s clubhouse in 1925 when a bolt of lightening struck the clubhouse, which caused a fire that destroyed the clubhouse and the beautiful Havemeyer Trophy.

Rather than recreate the Havemeyer in its original image, HC Fownes of Oakmont fame, commissioned a new Havemeyer Trophy for a new era of golf.

If you have followed me long enough on social media you would know that I consider the original Havemeyer Trophy one of the most beautiful trophies ever made.

Some fun facts:

1. Only two golfers in all of history have won both Havemeyer Trophies. Bobby Jones & his dear friend, Francis Ouimet.

2. While there are modern day replicas of the original Havemeyer Trophy, nobody in the world knows what the back of the trophy looked like! You read that correctly- every replica of the original Havemeyer was made with only images of the front of the trophy. There are no known photos depicting the backside, thus the replicas are a best guess of what the backside of the trophy looked like.

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Yours in Golf History,

Connor T.