By John Yerger III
Founded during the industrial era, this book traces the clubs history to the earliest days of golf in America, beginning in 1895. In 1921, A.W. Tillinghast was hired and designed a course that would survive largely intact. In 1937, William Flynn would be retained to improve on the course and would make several notable changes. Design drawings from both Tillinghast and Flynn and golf correspondence are accompanied with photographs from the golf courses earliest years.
The Sunnehanna Amateur was the nations’ first major medal play amateur tournament that changed amateur competition nationwide. The book covers the tournaments 50 years, as well as its predecessor the Sunnehanna Invitational. The Sunnehanna Invitational, which began in 1936 and was ended in 1951, was won by an 18-year-old Arnold Palmer and included among its competitors Julius Boros and Art Wall. Issues with the Invitational’s Calcutta led to its termination but set the stage for amateur golf to return four years later.
The Sunnehanna Amateur is covered in year-by-year detail and includes supporting photographs of young contestants, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickleson., Fred Couples, Curtis Strange, and Ben Crenshaw to name a few.