The SOCIETY Newsletter #99

Saving the Lost Seth Raynor Course

Golf has always been a game shaped as much by the land as by the hands that crafted it. Nowhere is that more evident than in the work of Seth Raynor—an engineer-turned-architect whose bold bunkering, sweeping strategies, and reverence for what CB Macdonald called the ideal holes that helped revolutionize American golf in the early 20th century. Yet among Raynor’s masterpieces lies a course that time has nearly erased: a lost layout waiting for someone to listen closely enough to hear its story.

To save a lost Raynor course is to rescue more than 18 holes. It is to preserve a chapter of the Golden Age—one that reflects the genius of a man who carved artistry from topography with slide-rule precision. Many of Raynor’s courses have already succumbed to development, war, neglect, or architectural “modernization” that stripped them of their original intent. What remains, especially when hidden under decades of overgrowth or altered routing, is fragile. But it is also profoundly recoverable.

Restoration begins with curiosity. Old aerials, boundary maps, newspapers, and sometimes club minutes revealing the bones of Raynor’s work—angles of attack, lasso-shaped bunkers, squared greens, and template DNA that link a site back to the architect himself. Ground truthing—walking the land—often uncovers even more: a buried Eden plateau, a sunken Road bunker, a sleeper ridge marking where a Biarritz swale once ran. These aren’t ruins; they’re archaeological artifacts of strategy and beauty.

Saving a lost Raynor course is an act of stewardship. It honors the players who once walked those fairways and ensures future generations can experience golf the way Raynor envisioned it: fun, cerebral, heroic, and relentlessly engaging. More than anything, it protects the cultural fabric of golf history—because once a course is gone, it is gone forever. But when it is recovered? When its geometry breathes again? It becomes a revival of American artistry at its finest.

The lost Raynor course doesn’t have to remain lost. It needs champions—historians, architects, clubs, municipalities, and golfers with imagination. And if golf has taught us anything, it’s that the greatest recoveries often come from the rough.

This past week the City of Lake Wales stood up against redevelopment - it fought back against what some may have called progress. Whether the Lost Raynor course of Florida gets restored today, tomorrow or some day in the future, the main point is that it is not down for the count. It can be restored because it continues to exist.

For my part- I will continue to try to buy the land. I have a plan to make the restoration a reality and I promise you that I won’t give up on what I believe to be a defining moment.

If you have an interest in joining this effort, please connect. If I am successful we will be offering up equity memberships for those who want to be a part of reviving a Raynor. I don’t need this to be something I did- I want this to be something we did together!

ANTIQUITY GOLF CO.

I can’t believe it, but we actually launched our website on Black Friday and it was an incredible success thanks to many of you.

We hope that it grows into a place that celebrates golf antiquities, golf art and golf apparel with a twist of golf history.

Check it out at www.antiquitygolfco.com

My biggest problem might be that I just can’t stop myself from designing more apparel. It’s addictive. I have even been commissioned to design a new logo for a PGA Tour event!

And I am working on a new hat for SOCIETY Members- here is a snapshot of where I am with the design (though this is not the final product).

If you bought something on the site- thank you. If you took the time to check out the website- thank you! It’s been a fun journey.

WHY IS IT CALLED THE SKINS GAME?

A Short History Behind Golf’s Most Entertaining Bet

With the resurgence of the Skins Game, many golf fans are asking a simple question: What exactly is a “skin”—and why do we call it that?

Like many aspects of golf’s vocabulary, the answer isn’t officially documented in some R&A ledger or forgotten USGA archive. But we can trace its likely origin through language, culture, and the long relationship between sport and wagering.

And here is my educated opinion:

A “Skin” Was Once a Form of Money

Long before printed currency, coins, or checks existed, everyday transactions were often made through barter. Among the most valuable and tradable items across cultures were animal skins —hide from cattle, deer, sheep, or other livestock.

Skins held intrinsic worth. They could be used for clothing, shelter, tools, or traded for goods. In other words, a “skin” was money.

As societies evolved, so did the slang. The term “skins” became a colloquial way to refer to cash, wagers, or stakes—much like “bucks” (which itself comes from buckskins used in Native American and frontier trading).

How This Became Golf Terminology

Golfers, especially in the early 19th and 20th centuries, were never shy about playing for a little action. Every club had its side bets:

 • Nassaus

 • Presses

 • “Best ball for a pint”

 • And yes… skins

A “skin” simply meant one unit of value—one pot, one stake, one winning.

Eventually, the format evolved:

Eighteen holes.

Eighteen wagers.

Each hole with its own “skin”—its own prize.

Win the hole outright, and you win the skin.

By the time the televised Skins Game debuted to national attention in 1983, the term was already baked into golf’s gambling vocabulary. The format didn’t invent the word—it just popularized it.

A Tradition Rooted in the Earliest Form of Currency

So while we can’t point to a single document declaring “this is when golf adopted the term,” everything points toward the same lineage:

Skin = hide = currency = wager.

A simple, rugged term that survived centuries of linguistic drift and found a permanent home in the great betting culture of golf.

And That’s Part of the Fun

The Skins Game works because it taps into something deeply human:

each hole is a fresh battle,

each prize stands alone,

each “skin” carries weight.

It’s a reminder that golf has always lived at the intersection of sport, storytelling, and a little friendly action.

And now that the Skins Game is back, it’s the perfect time to appreciate the old origins behind this beautifully simple word.

FIRST ANNUAL MEETING

We are coming up on our deadline to sign up for the first Annual Society of Golf Historians Meeting at Belleair Country Club on January 19, 2026. Email me at [email protected] if you have any interest in attending.

THANK YOU!

I try to say thank you after every newsletter because I mean it. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to read our newsletter or listen to our podcast. You have helped me celebrate something that I truly love - sharing golf’s great history. So in the spirit of Thanksgiving - THANK YOU!