Frederick Law Olmsted and the Rise of Golf in the United States
Job #8209, 08209-01-ph02, Miss Marion Hollins, Santa Cruz, CA
Olmsted Archives
The U.S. Open has made it’s way to Brookline this year, and to celebrate, we’re looking back on Frederick Law Olmsted and his firm’s relationship to golf in the United States. After the Civil War, there was a boom in the popularity of sports. 52% of our modern sports came to fruition in the 1800s, with each new development promoting social reintegration, and new connections. Golf was a new sport to Americans and would require the sacrifice of pleasure grounds and the comfort of quiet enjoyment in parks. Frederick Law Olmsted feared for this sacrifice in his parks, believing the green space he designed was better equipped for passive recreation like walking and biking, not active recreation like baseball and golf. Olmsted feared that with golf, “not only are the attractive and harmless sheep driven out...what is worse, the nerves of the visitor are further irritated by the anxiety as to being hit by the hard and swiftly driven balls”
Job #8209, 08209-01-ph04, Miss Marion Hollins, Santa Cruz, CA
Olmsted Archives
The first of Olmsted’s parks to feel the impact of golf would be Boston’s Franklin Park. Five years after work was completed on the park, sports equipment store owner and Boston Red Stockings player George Wright held his 1890 golf game on the site. Wright had accidently been shipped a container of golf balls and clubs, and with his Rules of Golf library book checked out, made a request to the Boston Park Commission to play a round on the grounds of Franklin Park, which would officially become a golf course in 1896.
Job #8209, 08209-01-ph05, Miss Marion Hollins, Santa Cruz, CA
Olmsted Archives
When Olmsted Brothers take over after their father’s death, they are asked in 1910 to give advice on Boston’s Park System. Loyal even after his passing, Olmsted Brothers asked for the removal of the golf course that has grown in popularity in Franklin Park, something Olmsted Sr. never wanted. Boston Park Commission said no and for obvious reason; by the 1920s, Franklin Park saw over 75,000 golfers a year. In 1923 alone, Franklin Park brought in nearly $20,000 just by charging golfers a fee to play. Olmsted Brothers’ perspective on golf changed, with Olmsted Jr. supporting and even working on an early design for Fresh Pond, Cambridge’s own public golf course.
Job #8209, 08209-01-ph06, Miss Marion Hollins, Santa Cruz, CA
Olmsted Archives
After the Great Depression, golf equipment cost more than those for all other sports combined and dipped in popularity nationally. Surprisingly, Franklin Park didn’t feel any of these effects and continued to operate as normal. World War II didn’t seem to affect the numbers of golfers at Franklin Park either. Fast forwarding to the 1970s, where $1 billion in funding was given to the “Rebuilding Boston” program. Boston Parks and Recreation Department would receive $120 million, with Franklin Park alone receiving $1.3 million for its golf course. Despite Olmsted seeing golf as inappropriate in urban parks, golf in Franklin Park provided a healthy activity to over 40,000 Boston residents each year. People want to be entertained, and while Olmsted would hope that an open green space is enough entertainment, sometimes more is needed.
