Alex Findlay

Alexander Findlay was born at sea on the English Channel in 1866, before living the first eight years of his life in Cornwall. The Findlay family then moved to Montrose, Scotland, where young Alex picked up golf under the apprenticeship of local professional Bob Dow. 

Findlay spent five years in Dublin, attending the Royal Hibernian Military School, before becoming a textile apprentice upon his return to Montrose. Shortly after turning 20, he made a bold move to rural Nebraska in the United States, where his friend had bought a ranch, Merchiston, some 100 miles west of Omaha. Findlay worked as a cowboy and brought the game of golf with him by laying out six holes on the grounds of the ranch in 1887. This would have been among the earliest golf courses ever established in the U.S.

Ten years later, Findlay got a job managing the Wright & Ditson Sporting Goods store in Boston, where he remained until 1909. His brand of golf clubs, “A.H. Findlay,” was promoted by his friend Harry Vardon during the latter’s 1900 tour of America. During these years, based in downtown Boston, Findlay began in earnest to lay out courses. While in Massachusetts, he modified Bass Rocks (1899) and Bear Hill (1900), and expanded Hyannisport Golf Club to nine holes (1902). Findlay ventured to Maine to lay out Grindstone Neck Golf Course (1898), Megunticook Golf Club (1900), and Tarratine Golf Club (1913), mostly untouched examples of early, rudimentary American architecture.

For railroad magnate Henry Flagler, Findlay built or renovated various courses along the Florida East Coast Railway — one in Palm Beach (next to the Breakers mansion) and two in St. Augustine, along with Ormond Links and Miami Golf Links. In addition to visiting the Bahamas to design Nassau Golf Links, Findlay traveled to the middle of the U.S., laying out Guthrie Golf Club in Oklahoma (1900), San Antonio Country Club and Beaumont Country Club in Texas (both 1907), and Butte Country Club in Montana (1909). His work in these locales established him as an important early pioneer of golf in non-coastal America.

In 1909, Findlay moved to another department store, Wanamaker’s in Philadelphia. Here, his courses would have the most lasting impact. He laid out the original nines at Galen Hall Golf Club (1910) and the Greenbrier (1911), and the original 18s at Bristol Country Club (1912, NLE), Pittsburgh Field Club (1915), Llanerch Country Club (1924, with an extra nine in 1928, NLE), Lebanon Country Club (1920), Coatesville Country Club (1921), Tavistock Country Club (1921, with Frank James), Reading Country Club (1923-1925), Basking Ridge Country Club in New Jersey (1927), and others in southeastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey. Findlay also laid out the original course for Aronimink Golf Club, but the club moved to a different location soon after.

While Findlay is not traditionally considered a member of the Philadelphia School of Golf Architecture, he was an important architect working in the same era and region as William Flynn, George Crump, A.W. Tillinghast, and Hugh Wilson. That said, his work is, regrettably, often confused with that of Donald Ross and other Golden Age architects. Which courses are Findlay’s and which aren’t is a topic still under frequent discussion. He stopped designing courses in the early 1930s and passed away in 1942 at the age of 75.