Issue link: http://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/168234
The Golf Chronicles For more than 60 years, golf has been the sport of champions at Furman. they walked the land, staking out the holes and greens locations. According to Tyler Seymour, former golf course supervisor who became Furman's superintendent of buildings and grounds, the concept for the design and construction of the golf course was determined by the need to keep costs down. Using earth-moving equipment, the men building the course simply "pushed up" dirt to form greens that were sloped and elevated enough to allow for surface drainage. The course was built without an irrigaAfter a promising start in 1930, golf became a popular sport at Furman. tion system or underground drainage. Coached by Dizzy McLeod (far left) the 1931 team included (left to right) Bob The greens and tees were sprigged Fiser, William Williams, Harold Seigler, Ben Ashcraft, manager Frank O'Kelley, with Tifton 427 hybrid Bermuda, and and Raven Mc David. the fairways were later overseeded Before the bulldozers started to grade Furman's new with common Bermuda. The first nine campus in the early 1950s, President John L. Plyler liked holes opened for play in the spring of 1956, and the back to walk around the 750 acres at the foot of Paris Mountain nine was finished in 1959. Although the course was primiand plan the location of buildings and other facilities. A tive by today's standards, it was a great asset to the univerbaseball player in his youth, he was convinced of the value sity at a time when few other colleges had courses. of athletics and wanted students to be able to enjoy sports Thanks largely to Dr. Plyler's dream of building a course, on the remote new campus. As he paced across the gently golf at Furman has flourished and brought more national sloping hills west of the main campus, he decided that this attention to the university than any other intercollegiate would be the perfect place for a golf course. sport. Over the years, the men's and women's programs "It was his dream to have a golf course," says Francis W. have attracted a great many talented players who have Bonner, vice president and provost emeritus who was then put Furman on the map in college circles. Many alumni dean of the Men's College. "He thought it would be a good have gone on to make a name for themselves - and Furway to use some of the land. man - in the world of professional golf. "Dr. Plyler and I would often get out and walk. There was a little log house where the pro shop is now, and Dr. Plyler said, 'This is where the first hole should be.'We actually laid out the first three holes. He also said we should dam up the stream that ran nearby and make a water hazard, and that's how the pond at the third hole was created." Plyler consulted architect General Robert Dean of Boston, Mass., and landscape architect R.K. Webel of Long Island, N.Y., who were collaborating on the design of the campus. They agreed that it would be possible to build a golf course, and Webel retained the consulting services of Walter Cosby, who was superintendent of grounds and greens at the posh Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Webel and Cosby designed the course as Built in the late 1960's as shown above, the Furman Pro Shop has been expanded twice to include offices and locker rooms. Men's golf began humbly in the early 1930s. During those difficult Depression years, enrollment at Furman declined steadily, and many students who enrolled could not pay their bills. After missing two faculty payrolls, the administration initiated a number of austerity measures. The football coach and one assistant coach were dismissed, and all athletic scholarships were eliminated. The president urged an emphasis on intramurals and less expensive spring sports. As one of those "less expensive spring sports," men's golf - which had been first played at Furman in 1930 - was made a varsity sport in 1932. The first team won half of its matches, and the 1934 and 1935 teams won the state championship. Although the team played some matches at the Greenville Country Club, scheduling and coaching problems, as well as the lack of a home course, plagued the team in its early years. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, male students were rapidly called into military service. By the spring of 1943, enrollment of men at Furman was only 40 percent of normal, and the board of trustees approved a recommendation that all intercollegiate sports be abandoned for the duration of the war. The golf program was discontinued until 1949. Coached by Bill Young, the head football coach, and later by former Furman golfer Bentley Hines, the team began rebuilding in the early fifties and showed gradual improvement. Led by Captain Jack Buice and freshman Heyward Sullivan, who would become one of Furman's star golfers, the team achieved a 12-2 record in 1956. One year later, with Walter King as captain, the team scored 17 victories and lost only two matches. The highlight of Sullivan's college career came in 1959, when he won the Southern Conference individual championship at Mid Pines Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. Former president of Hales Jewelers in Greenville, Sullivan never turned professional but is well known in amateur circles. He won the South Carolina Amateur title in 1967 and, in 1996, reached the finals of the U.S. Senior Amateur at Taconic Golf Club in Massachusetts. With 17 victories and only two losses, Furman's 1957 team enjoyed a winning season. Players included (front row, right) Heyward Sullivan, (back row, left to right) Walter King, Robert Dacus, Richard Smith, Jack Runion, and Ben Padgett. Former basketball star Neild Gordon (front row, left) was the coach.