Albert Warren "Tillie" Tillinghast (May 7, 1876 â€" May 19, 1942) was a noted American golf course architect. Tillinghast was one of the most prolific architects in the history of golf; he worked on no fewer than 265 different courses. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2014 and was inducted in July 2015.
Tillinghast was born in 1874 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Benjamin Collins Tillinghast, owner of a rubber goods company there. He died in 1942 in Toledo, Ohio.
Tillinghast-designed courses have hosted multiple professional golf major championshipsâ€"the 1927 and 1949 PGA Championships, contested at Cedar Crest Park, and Hermitage Country Club, respectively; the U.S. Open in 2002 and 2009, contested at the Black Course of Bethpage State Park; the 2005 and 2016 PGA Championship, contested at Baltusrol Golf Club, which has also been the host of seven U.S. Opens; the 2006 U.S. Open, contested at Winged Foot Golf Club; and many others. He also designed the course at the Ridgewood Country Club, used for the 1935 Ryder Cup and Scarboro Golf and Country Club in Toronto, host of the Canadian Open for four occasions. In 1916 he created the Municipal Golf Course, now called Brackenridge Park Golf Course in San Antonio, Texas which hosted the Texas Open from 1922 to 1959.
In Westchester County (New York) alone, among the most noted of the sixteen courses that Tillinghast designed there are Fenway Golf Club, Scarsdale; Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle; Old Oaks Country Club, Purchase; Quaker Ridge Golf Club, Scarsdale; Scarsdale Golf Club, Hartsdale, where he designed the back nine; Briar Hall Golf & Country Club (now Trump National Golf Club Westchester) and Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Briarcliff Manor; and Winged Foot Golf Club (East & West), Mamaroneck. Another notable Tillinghast golf course was created specifically for Paramount Pictures founder Adolf Zukor in 1920, now known as Paramount Country Club, in Rockland County, New York. Tillinghast was also the uncredited co-designer of several green complexes at Century Country Club in Purchase.
The Wissahickon Course at the Philadelphia Cricket Club is dedicated to Tillinghast, who designed the course in 1920.
Results in major championships
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
Yellow background for top-10
Source for U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur: USGA Championship Database
See also
- List of Tillinghast courses
References
External links
- The Tillinghast Association official site
- "Top 10 Tillinghast Courses" (with photographs)
- The first biography of A.W. Tillinghast "Tillinghast: Creator of Golf Courses" was published in 2006 by Classics of Golf
- World Golf Hall of Fame profile
