Landmark Period

Standardization of courses began and the actual definitions of an “ideal course” took form. During this time earthmoving and shaping equipment were utilized to design and layout holes replicating the terrain of traditional Scottish courses, often so precise as to recreate specific holes from various courses. This era was preceded by the arrival of Scottish pros and designers in the United States in the late 1880s and 1890s, the sudden availability of horse-drawn reel type mowers circa 1895, and the 1899 introduction of the Haskell ball, which flew much farther than the prior gutta percha, rendering most existing courses obsolete. These innovations, along with earth-working, allowed course designs to lengthen considerably, and encouraged designers to incorporate lateral as well as cross hazards. The term golf architect was coined.