Bob Labbance

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Wayne Stiles and Owasco Country Club

Owasco Country Club in Auburn, New York was founded in September 1896 as the Auburn Golf Club. Six holes were built on pastureland that is now part of Fort Hill Cemetery. Seeking a larger site for the growing membership, 50 acres were secured at the head of Owasco Lake in 1901 and the Club moved to the attractive locale overlooking one New York’s Finger Lakes. Additional parcels were added in the ensuing 20 years and a casual nine-hole layout developed.

Auburn is the home town of John Van Kleek and he lived at 60 Elizabeth Street until he entered Cornell University in 1908. Whether he had anything to do with the early layouts at Owasco is unknown, as there is no mention of it in his papers or the Club’s history. What is clear is Wayne Stiles involvement in remodeling and upgrading the course in 1930. The evidence is found in correspondence from superintendent Lou Agosta files, a gorgeous watercolor rendition of the layout hanging in the clubhouse and a tour of the course where numerous Stiles features can be observed.

In an August 12, 1930 letter to H.L. Ferris, Stiles once again demonstrates his reluctance to allow work to proceed without his approval. Unlike many of his contemporaries in the 1930s who directed course installations long distance, Stiles took pride in making sure construction of his plans were implemented to high standards. “I wish you would write me if you think it will be advisable to make another trip the early part of next week as I want especially to see the subgrade on the new 7^th green before any final loam surfacing is made,” Stiles wrote. “All other greens, with the exception of the 1^st, can be completed as I believe Mr. Farrington understands all suggestions which I gave him when I was there last week. It may be possible he will want a final check from me on the 2^nd green before he gets that prepared for seeding.”

Stiles also demonstrated his understanding of seeding windows that are still followed today, cautioning, “I would not advise to try to do any seeding on the greens until at least after the 20^th of the month. Any time after that, if you have had sufficient rains so that there is plenty of moisture in the ground, the seeding of the greens can be started with the hope that all areas can be finished and seeded at least by the end of the first week in September.”

The architect was also very cognizant of budgets, especially in the early 1930s. “It certainly should seem—from these figures—that there should be no question but that we will finish all the work planned, purchase all material, equipment, etc. and still be inside of the amount shown on the original estimate of $24,254.50.”

Over the years since the course was finished some features have been changed; once tiny trees have become massive specimens, a few green shapes have been compromised by rounding corners and some tees eliminated to accommodate country club amenities. But the large sand bunkers still direct play, the clever routing is relatively untouched, careful putting is still required to attain par and the skeleton of the Stiles layout is solidly intact. Superintendent Agosta and PGA golf professional Thom Forrest, once the head pro at St. Andrew’s in New York, have kept the Club’s heritage at heart.

Perhaps one of the oddest stories involving any Stiles course has come from Owasco. Starting in 2001, Agosta began noticing items missing from the property. Tee markers, trash baskets, flagsticks, benches and ball washers disappeared during the night. “I knew it was probably someone with an axe to grind in the golf business,” Agosta told reporter Gave Tobin of the Syracuse Post-Standard. “I never suspected a member.”

According to the December 6, 2004 article, Cayuga County sheriff deputies arrested two former members of the Club who were using the items on a three-hole course they built at their 104 acres. “Cayuga County deputies recovered five golf ball washers, 26 colored tee markers, two redwood and metal benches, two metal waste baskets, three divot repair pails, plastic chain used to guide golfers around paths, nine flagged pins and five directional signs,” according to the paper.

What makes the case bizarre to anyone who knows the history of Stiles and his contemporaries is the identity of the alleged criminals. Recovering $2,500 worth of equipment, the deputies “charged a second person in connection with the thefts: Ronald C. Ross, 67, of 213 Tareyton Dr., in the town of Ithaca. Earlier this week, deputies arrested Ross’ identical twin brother, Donald J. Ross.”

Wayne Stiles and East Aurora Country Club
July-August 2007

In 1921, when Wayne Stiles was trying to land a contract to design South Shore Country Club in Hamburg, New York he used his work at nearby East Aurora Country Club as a reference. Stiles secured the contract in Hamburg, but in subsequent years he never added the East Aurora citation to his course list.

Often that means that either the architect wasn’t paid for his work, or that his efforts were promptly altered and the finished product did not meet his standards. An invoice dated September 14, 1921 and an entry in the club minutes clearly shows that Stiles received $250 for a “rearrangement of the present golf course;” $75 for a “visit and staking of new holes;” and $112.26 in traveling expenses. Thanks to the organization of the Club’s records and the expertise of historian Ray Zorn those facts are well documented. So what became of the work he cited in 1922 but failed to include on a 1924 course list?

When Stiles first visited East Aurora he found a nine-hole layout of only 2,587 yards; when he completed the work of adding two long holes and remodeling the other seven the course was stretched to 3,200 yards. There’s no question that eventually Stiles’ work was altered, but that didn’t occur for 40 years when the Club secured additional acreage and shoehorned nine more holes onto their grounds. The two longs holes he added as four and five still exist as sixteen and seventeen; but little else of his handiwork has survived subsequent alteration.

East Aurora occupies one of the most unusual pieces of property any golf course can be found on. Portions of the land are nearly as level as a tabletop and tightly contained by peat-bottom wetlands. The rest of the acreage is practically mountainous with abrupt rises, precipitous falls and nary a flat hole or lie anywhere. Every inch is perfectly manicured by Superintendent Drew Thompson, who has experience at some finely tuned tracks elsewhere. The successful player at East Aurora will need far more than a long tee ball to score well. In fact they’ll need shotmaking skills that went out of fashion a generation ago.

That hasn’t stopped the Club from trying to identify young performers of the ancient craft. Every year since 1953, this western New York private club has hosted the International Junior Masters, a prestigious invitational that started with local men 17 years of age or younger and has grown to include invitees from across the United States and Canada, as well as Mexico, Columbia, Scotland, South Africa and elsewhere. The talented champions win the Rennie Merritt Trophy, named for H.R. ‘Rennie’ Merritt, Jr., the Club member who got the ball rolling 54 years ago.

Wayne Stiles and South Shore
February-March 2007

From the forthcoming book on The Life and Work of Wayne Stiles by Bob Labbance and Kevin Mendik, to be published fall, 2007. The 200+ page volume will contain a wealth of historic and modern photos of the courses. 

Wayne E. Stiles was born June 22, 1884 in Boston, Massachusetts. He began his career as an office boy for the Boston landscape firm of Franklin Brett and George Hall. After being made a draftsman and finally a junior partner in 1909, Stiles subsequently opened his own landscape design office on Newbury Street in Boston in 1915. Within a year he branched into golf course design, not surprising for a four handicapper at Brae Burn. Although golf course design eventually consumed the majority of his time, he also completed subdivision, park and estate landscape projects, including subcontract work for the landscape firm of Frederick Law Olmstead.

Stiles added Cornell graduate John Van Kleek as an associate in 1923, and made him a full partner in 1924. The firm of Stiles & Van Kleek had offices in Boston, New York City and St. Petersburg, Florida. Van Kleek managed the St. Petersburg office, while Stiles spent most of his time in New England. The firm produced more than 50 designs, with many more underway when the Florida land bust and the Depression canceled dozens of projects. All told, with Van Kleek and solo, Stiles designed nearly 70 courses that still exist today.

South Shore Country Club 

Originally planned as the private Hamburg Country Club, the South Shore Country Club 13 miles south of Buffalo in western New York opened nine holes in 1924. The second nine was christened on July 3, 1926 bringing the three-year project to its culmination. The course was a solo design effort for Stiles before his partnership with John Van Kleek was formalized, and today remains true to its original routing. The course now operates as a reasonably priced public 18-hole layout; and we are fortunate that a considerable volume of correspondence between Stiles and the founders has been preserved in the Club’s files.

Stiles first visited Buffalo in 1922 at the behest of John Van Arsdale, a local business person and one of the Club’s founders. Stiles was in competition for the contract to design Hamburg with a local engineer. William Rathmann of the Buffalo Department of Public Works submitted a proposal for the design of the course, asking a fee of $1,500 which did not include design or staking of the irrigation system, planning the erection of the clubhouse or any landscaping. He offered to supervise construction for an additional $150 a month, an inviting prospect considering his close proximity compared to Stiles who worked from his Boston office.

Stiles had little work to hang his hat on at this point in his career. But he saw himself as reaching beyond New England for contracts and had already completed 36 holes for Norwood Hills in St. Louis. He was also working with a group in Chicago on a proposed layout so his travel to the mid-west by rail took him through western New York. His hope was to maximize his excursions with projects under construction along the route.

In a four-page letter dated February 9, 1923, Stiles detailed his experience and qualifications, offering nine references of his past work. With his background in landscape architecture he also cited his ability to handle every aspect of the project. “The work that I am now doing includes both the layout of the golf course itself and all the details and also the landscape arrangement of the entire club house site, including any features which may be desired.” He notes “training for some 20 years as a landscape architect,” which takes him back to 1902 when he first joined Franklin Brett as an office boy.

Stiles’ details the various steps of the project for his prospective client, starting with “the general layout of the various holes, and also the location of the clubhouse and any features such as tennis courts and swimming pools.” After the preliminary plan was accepted, a second plan showing tees and greens would be offered. Finally there would be “the preparations of details, plans and specifications showing the layout and construction necessary for the fairways, including such features as traps, mounds, ponds and the detail construction of the greens,” including “both the existing contour and the grading proposed for the construction of each green.” He eventually would add “shrubbery and tree planting areas, and all other details for the landscape treatment of the entire property. We would also plan on furnishing detail plans and specifications for the installation of a water system, also of drainage plans.”

For these complete design services Stiles suggested a charge of $1,500, though he also wished to supervise the work for an additional fee. “The number of these visits would be determined mainly by the size of the force that was put on; in other words, the time that was taken to carry out the work. The cost complete to the Club for this supervision on my part would be $1500. additional.” The architect suggested this could also be attained for a daily charge of $75 per visit plus traveling expenses. “These expenses would not necessarily mean that the Club would have to pay for instance from Boston or New York, as I have many reasons to believe that I will have several other courses in the middle west this coming season, and this expense would be divided pro rata.”

Although Stiles’ fees were entirely in line with the rates of the day for someone of his experience, the Club countered by writing, “The board of directors has carefully considered the matter and has decided to obtain plans and specifications for an eighteen hole course as set forth in your letter and for which they offer the sum of $1250.” On March 20, 1923, Stiles countered, “I fully appreciate the financial condition of the club at the present time and as I told you last, I want to do everything I can possibly do to help you out in getting the work started. I therefore have decided to accept your proposition.”

Construction of the course began in the summer of 1923 with nine holes open by the following year. The Club drew its membership from the many industrial companies headquartered in the region and by the opening of the full 18 holes was a thriving organization. Membership was capped at 300 and dues frozen at $100 a year. “This club, I found, is committed to a business-like policy of economy,” wrote one guest. “All expenditures are checked and double-checked against a carefully prepared 5-year budget. Expense must be kept within income at all times. The present clubhouse is comfortable and adequate. Expansions will not be made until permissible from regular income.”

Buffalo was an industrial center in the 1920s and the natural environment was pushed away from many people’s lives. South Shore billed itself as a respite from the commerce; its prospectus headed “Playing Golf in a Garden Spot.” Although the site was fairly level, a ravine bisected the property and forest covered part of the 150 acres. “Fairways have been hewn directly through them in some instances,” wrote another visitor. “Shady precipitous ravines cut back and forth. Often one pauses in sheer admiration of natural beauties. The course is barely two miles from Lake Erie and commands a view of it from certain holes. Seldom have I played a course anywhere that could match South Shore for scenic attraction.”

When industry deserted Buffalo in the modern era the base for South Shore’s private membership went with it. Declining budgets meant that many of the Stiles’ features were no longer maintained. In the 1990s the course was sold privately and opened to the public. Warren Bookbinder, whose family has been involved at the course since its genesis is the current owner.

Stand out holes include 315-yard, par-4 seventh—a dogleg with two water hazards and a ravine to play across; and the claustrophobic 129-yard par-3 fourteenth that plays from a small tee across the declivity to a tiny green in the trees.