Links Corner Forum

While reading (a very good) book called A Course Called America, I came upon this story about where the name of Baltusrol Golf Club came from. After 40+ years of interest in golf (reading and playing), I'd never heard this story before, thought I'd share it here.

"On February 22, 1831, two men broke into a local farmer's home, beating him and dragging him out of the house as his wife watched in hiding, eventually fleeing the scene and running for help. She returned with three men, only to find her husband's body strangled and bound by the front gate, and their home ransacked. Two suspects quickly emerged: The widow fingered one Peter Davis as an assailant, while his accomplice killed himslef on hearing the news that Davis had been arrested."

"The macarbe details of the case gripped the New York press. The story of murder on a peaceful Jersey farm filled national headlines and became the subject of a popular book. Inadmissible evidence helped Davis beat the murder rap, but he was charged with other crimes while in custody and would die in prison while serving a twenty-four-year sentence. Today, the slain farmer's body rests in a cemetery in nearby Westfield, New Jersey. His name? Baltus Roll."

"Given the notoriety of the crimes committed there, the farm and surrounding area became known as Baltusrol, and when publisher Louis Keller decided to build nine holes on the farm in 1894, he gave his club the same name."

That's an interesting piece of history. Thanks for sharing

Interesting story. I always figured the name was a play on "Ball does roll".

I was going through a large folder of random images I've saved up over the years, and look what I found. I just noticed his first name is spelt "Boltus" on the headstone, but spelling was somewhat inexact in those times.