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golf
In 1924, the USGA tested new steel clubs against the traditional hickory clubs at the Jekyll Island Club Resort’s Donald Ross course. These tests changed the game of golf.
Jekyll Island Club Resort: John Newkirk Audio Interview
Audio of John Newkirk's recollections of his time as Bellhop at the Jekyll Island Club during the 1940s.
WATCH NOWThe Jekyll Island Club Resort on Jekyll Island, Georgia, began as an exclusive Gilded Age private retreat for America’s wealthiest families in 1886, but today the barrier island resort community is open to all. Guests can choose from any of the fine accommodations in several beautiful historic hotels and access to beaches, contact sports, cycling, fine dining, spas, and – of course – golf club. The original property opened in 1886 and the resort was inducted into Historic Hotels of America in 1994.
Travelers to Jekyll Island have played golf on its sandy courses for over 120 years: The first golf course at Jekyll Island Club was constructed in 1898. The oldest golf course still in play on the island is the nine-hole, par 36 Great Dunes Course designed by Walter “Old Man” Travis in 1926. Travis was a championship amateur golfer, an Australian immigrant to the United States who worked as a journalist between winning British, U.S., and Cuban tournaments throughout the Atlantic World.
Jekyll Island Club also features three 18-hole par-72 courses designed in the late 1960s-early 1970s. These are the Pine Lake Course, designed in 1968 and renovated by Clyde Johnson in 2002; the Oleander Course designed by Dick Wilson in 1970; and the Indian Mounds Course designed by Joe Lee in 1975.
Donald Ross, renowned course designer, contributed a course to the island resort in 1910, but his course was removed to give way for Dick Wilson’s Oleander Course.
The Jekyll Island Club Resort is one of a few holiday destinations in the United States that the U.S. Secretary of the Interior has designated a National Historic Landmark District. In golf history, along with hosting notable figures and golf championships, it is significant because the United States Golf Association chose it as the site for equipment testing. In 1924, the USGA tested new steel clubs against the traditional hickory clubs. The Association also tested golf ball sizes and densities. These tests on Jekyll Island’s courses changed the game of golf. Along with historic preservation, wildlife conservation plays a role at the Jekyll Island Golf Club. All four courses are members of the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf.
Today, Jekyll Island Club Resort guests are invited to take part in the heritage of the club. Along with tee times, there is a pro shop, private instruction for groups and individuals, and the island club can play host to private group contests and tournaments.
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About the Location +
Jekyll Island today is a state park managed by the Jekyll Island Authority on behalf of the Georgia state government. Easily accessible from the mainland by way of the Sidney Lanier Bridge, millions of people visit the island every year. It features many popular cultural attractions, including the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Founded in 2007, this fantastic facility is Georgia’s only sea turtle rehabilitation unit. Yet, Jekyll Island was not always a state-run park. The first known inhabitants of Jekyll Island were Native Americans part of the Gaule tribe, who resided along the Georgia coastline centuries before the arrival of European colonists. But the Gaule Indians called the area “Opso Island,” and mainly used the area as a spot to hunt and fish. When the English landed on nearby St. Simons Island in the 1730s, Jekyll Island remain largely unpopulated. It was not until a Frenchman named Christophe DuBignon purchased most of the arable land on the island that it finally had permanent residents. Fleeing from the mounting violence of the French Revolution, DuBignon chose Georgia as the place of his exile during the early 1790s. He subsequently bought dozens of acres on Jekyll Island for the creation of a grand plantation. DuBignon’s descendants operated the estate throughout the antebellum, until the American Civil War bankrupted their enterprise. Seeking a way to distance themselves from the failing estate, the family eventually sold the plantation to Newton Finney in 1886.
Jekyll Island is specifically one of Georgia’s Golden Isles, which themselves are part of a much larger geographic location known as the Sea Islands. Stretching from Jacksonville to Charleston, the Sea Islands are a beautiful chain of barrier islands that protect the coastline for much of the southeastern United States. The Golden Islands of Georgia are specifically a group of four islands that consist of St. Simons Island, Little St. Simons Island, Sea Island, and of course, Jekyll Island. They are also home to Historic Brunswick, a coastal city that English colonists under the control of James Oglethorpe first settled during the 1730s. Like the rest of the settlements in colonial Georgia, the English intended to use the Golden Islands as a bastion against incursions from Spanish Florida to the south. Brunswick was formally founded in 1771, just four years before the start of the American Revolution. It then went on to become one of the five major ports of entry by decree of George Washington during his first presidential term. Brunswick itself then lost some of its national economic importance as the country grew, although it became an integral site for the construction of merchant marine ships in World War II. Much of Brunswick’s rich heritage is preserved today within its nationally recognized Old Town Historic District.
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About the Architecture +
Jekyll Island Club Hotel is a resort complex consisting of several unique historic structures. The most historic among them is the Clubhouse, which functions as the resort’s main building. Constructed in 1888, the Clubhouse is the Jekyll Island Club Hotel’s most celebrated landmark. It was designed by renowned architect Charles A. Alexander of Chicago, Illinois. The Clubhouse displayed some amazing Queen Anne-style architecture, complete with a central hall and a gorgeous tower. The club’s third president, Charles Lanier, then commissioned the development of a four-story annex in 1901. This magnificent addition expanded the Clubhouse’s room count to a total of 56 room, as well as eight luxurious suites. Many of the exclusive suites contained access to new parlor rooms and views out onto the East River. Around the same time, celebrated landscape architect Horace William Shaler Cleveland created the layout for its surrounding grounds. Cleveland had worked all across the United States, crafting the design for parks in such major American cities like Omaha, Providence, and Minneapolis.
The Clubhouse was gradually joined by 18 unique summer cottages, which were scattered throughout the grounds by the club’s most illustrious guests. First to appear was William Rockefeller’s house called “Indian Mound.” Built in 1892, architect Gordon McKay crafted its memorable façade on Rockefeller’s behalf. The structure was then followed by buildings like the Dutch-style Moss Cottage (1896) and the Georgian Revival-style Goodyear Cottage (1903). Some of the other cottages featured cutting-edge amenities for their day, such as the electric elevator installed inside the Mistletoe (1903). But perhaps the greatest of the summer homes emerged at the club around the start of the Roaring Twenties, with Richard T. Crane’s marvelous Crane Cottage the best of them all. Built upon the site of an earlier house called “Solterra,” Crane’s residence cost around $500,000 to complete. It displayed some brilliant Spanish Revival-style architecture and was the largest of the club’s summer cottages. It was then followed by two more cottages called “Villa Ospo” and “Villa Marianna.” Built in 1928 for Walter Jennings and Frank Gould, respectively, the two were referred to as villas for their resemblance to Mediterranean palatial estates.
The rest of the Jekyll Island Club Resort complex contains many other unique historic structures. The most noteworthy of these buildings is “San Sourci,” which first appeared on the campus in 1896. A group of members led by John P. Morgan developed this fascinating construct, which many architectural historians have since considered to be among the first condominiums in the United States. Translated to mean “without care” in English, San Sourci stood three-stories tall and offered six luxurious suites. The resort is also home to Faith Chapel, a quaint church created with Gothic Revival design aesthetics. Built in 1904, the chapel featured four gargoyles inspired by the ones that adorn Notre Dame in Paris. Inside, is the spectacular King David Window, which many believe was installed personally by Louis C. Tiffany of the famed Tiffany & Co. The original proprietors of the club even constructed a luxurious indoor tennis facility that they called the “Morgan Tennis Court.” This local landmark was transformed a century later into a terrific convention center known simply as the “Morgan Center.”
