The U.S. GOLF ASSOCIATION CLAIMS THAT THE TERM birdie first took flight in 1904 at Atlantic City Country Club.
“Brothers and members Ab and Will Smith were playing with George Crump (who later design Pine Valley) and A.W. Tillinghast (Baltusrol’s designer)”, says club historian, Kerry Robinson.
“At the par-four second hole Ab Smith knocked his approach shot next to the pin and made the putt. Crump call the shot a bird, slang on those days for something good or beautiful.”
As was fitting for the future gambling resort, bets were paid off after each hole instead of the conclusion of a round.
“Ab made the birdie and felt he deserved something more,” Robinson says,”
“So he received double the bet, and the term birdie was coined for playing a hole one under par. The term eagle (two under par on one hole) was coined at the club the following year, but the people and circumstances involved have been lost to time”
"GOLF TEE?" Circa 1919
Prepare for Liftoff…
FOR MORE THAN 400 YEARS, GOLFERS PREPARED FOR a tee shot by drizzling a pinch of dirt or sand into a pile and perching the ball on top. If you don’t like getting your hands dirty, thanks Maplewood, New Jersey dentist Dr. William Lowell, inventor of the wooden tee. Lowell created the tee in 1910, patented it by 1920, and convinced golf legends Walter Hagen and Joe Kirkwood to use it in 1922. Today there are more than 200 patents on golf tees.
-David Chmiel-
(Excerpt from New Jersey Golf Magazine)
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