Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (March 30, 1922)
Dublin Core
Title
Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (March 30, 1922)
Alternative Title
Chase Correspondence (March 30, 1922)
Subject
Chase, Sydney Octavius, 1860-1941
Chase, Joshua Coffin, 1858-1948
Country clubs--Florida
Golf courses--Florida--Orlando Region
Golf--Florida
Description
An original letter of correspondence between brothers and business partners Joshua Coffin Chase and Sydney Octavius Chase. Topics discussed in the letter include the formation of the Sanford Country Club and Golf Course and the type of grass used at St. Augustine Country Club.
The Sanford Country Club and Golf Course, which is now named the Mayfair Country Club, was originally purchased as a portion of a 20,000-acre tract by General Joseph Finegan for $40. In 1870, Henry Shelton Sanford purchased the tract and sold some of it in 1878 to Charles Amory.In 1922, the City of Sanford bought 152-acres to design and construct a municipal 18-hole golf course. The course opened in October of 1922 with only four holes available for playing. The remainder of the golf course was opened in September of 1924. From the year 1927-1939, the golf course and country club experienced once of its most successful periods as it saw some of golfs greatest athletes, such as Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen.
However, the club, for a time, saw a state of disrepair and depression. For a short time, the club became the Seminole County Club after renovation in 1945. Then, in the late 1940s, the New York Giants received the Mayfair Inn for Spring training, which allowed them to take control of the golf course. This led to the most prosperous period of the golf course and country club becoming a part of the PGA tour between 1955 to 1957, seeing players like Arnold Palmer tee-off on the course. In 2007, Maece Taylor, Inc. signed a 20-year lease with the City of Sanford for the golf course. In 2011, Maece Taylor filed a lawsuit against Sanford, claiming that the lease is invalid due to a clause in the contract that states that Donald Ross, a critically-acclaimed designer in the 1920s and 1930s, designed the golf course. The Chase papers contain letters that suggest that Cameron Trent designed the golf course, not Ross.
The Sanford Country Club and Golf Course, which is now named the Mayfair Country Club, was originally purchased as a portion of a 20,000-acre tract by General Joseph Finegan for $40. In 1870, Henry Shelton Sanford purchased the tract and sold some of it in 1878 to Charles Amory.In 1922, the City of Sanford bought 152-acres to design and construct a municipal 18-hole golf course. The course opened in October of 1922 with only four holes available for playing. The remainder of the golf course was opened in September of 1924. From the year 1927-1939, the golf course and country club experienced once of its most successful periods as it saw some of golfs greatest athletes, such as Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen.
However, the club, for a time, saw a state of disrepair and depression. For a short time, the club became the Seminole County Club after renovation in 1945. Then, in the late 1940s, the New York Giants received the Mayfair Inn for Spring training, which allowed them to take control of the golf course. This led to the most prosperous period of the golf course and country club becoming a part of the PGA tour between 1955 to 1957, seeing players like Arnold Palmer tee-off on the course. In 2007, Maece Taylor, Inc. signed a 20-year lease with the City of Sanford for the golf course. In 2011, Maece Taylor filed a lawsuit against Sanford, claiming that the lease is invalid due to a clause in the contract that states that Donald Ross, a critically-acclaimed designer in the 1920s and 1930s, designed the golf course. The Chase papers contain letters that suggest that Cameron Trent designed the golf course, not Ross.
Creator
Chase, Joshua Coffin
Source
Original letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase, March 30, 1922: Chase Collection (MS 14), box 50, folder 20.111, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Date Created
1922-03-30
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase, March 30, 1922.
Is Part Of
Chase Collection (MS 14), box 50, folder 20.111, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Sanford Country Club and Golf Course Collection, Sanford Collection, Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Referenced By
Folder referenced in Chase Collection finding guide, http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm.
Format
image/jpg
Extent
167 KB
Medium
1-page typewritten letter
Language
eng
Type
Text
Coverage
Sanford Country Club and Golf Course, Sanford, Florida
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Provenance
Entire Chase Collection is comprised of four separate accessions from various donors, including Cecilia Johnson, the granddaughter of Joshua Coffin Chase and the children of Randall Chase.
Rights Holder
The displayed collection item is housed at Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Rights to this item belong to the said institution, and therefore inquiries about the item should be directed there. RICHES of Central Florida has obtained permission from Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida to display this item for educational purposes only.
Contributing Project
Special and Area Studies Collections, University of Florida
Digital Collections (UFDC), University of Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
Source Repository
University of Florida, Special and Area Studies Collections
External Reference
"Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)." Florida Citrus Hall of Fame. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600.
Moorhead, Richard, and Nick Wynne. Golf in Florida: 1886-1950. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2008.
Sanford Historical Society (Fla.). Sanford. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003.
Transcript
March 30th 1922
Mr. S.C. Chase,
Sanford, Florida.
Dear Syd:
This morning's Time-Union carries a Sanford news item regarding the formation of the Sanford Country and Golf Club, with you as President. Here's hoping the Club will meet with every success and be the means of having you take an interest in the game and playing frequently. Even your brother Randall finally weakened, and has taken up golf and now has substituted golf for horseback exercise.
Naturally none of the other old fellows can play as good a game as the young fellows, but we can have just as much and perhaps more fun. Old Colonel Kay plays golf, and recently when someone suggested that he take lessons, he refused indignantly, with the statement that if he reduced his game from 150 to 100, he would lose 33-1/3% of his exercise, and he did not want to have his game any better than it was.
Yesterday I played at the St, Augustine Country Club. This course was laid out by Donald Rose. It was first opened in 1917 and was exceedingly rough. This season the greens are perfect, You had better find out what kind of a grass they are using not only on the greens but also on the course.
There is also a great deal in having the greens when they are originally built, constructed after the plans of an expert. You are fortunate in having rolling land on the old Amory Place, which will enable the golf engineer to give you really a better course than many of those that have been built in Florida.
When you are read to have the plan passed upon, will be glad to do so, and will bring with me someone from the Florida Country Club who knows more about the matter.
Your very truly,
JCC/s
Mr. S.C. Chase,
Sanford, Florida.
Dear Syd:
This morning's Time-Union carries a Sanford news item regarding the formation of the Sanford Country and Golf Club, with you as President. Here's hoping the Club will meet with every success and be the means of having you take an interest in the game and playing frequently. Even your brother Randall finally weakened, and has taken up golf and now has substituted golf for horseback exercise.
Naturally none of the other old fellows can play as good a game as the young fellows, but we can have just as much and perhaps more fun. Old Colonel Kay plays golf, and recently when someone suggested that he take lessons, he refused indignantly, with the statement that if he reduced his game from 150 to 100, he would lose 33-1/3% of his exercise, and he did not want to have his game any better than it was.
Yesterday I played at the St, Augustine Country Club. This course was laid out by Donald Rose. It was first opened in 1917 and was exceedingly rough. This season the greens are perfect, You had better find out what kind of a grass they are using not only on the greens but also on the course.
There is also a great deal in having the greens when they are originally built, constructed after the plans of an expert. You are fortunate in having rolling land on the old Amory Place, which will enable the golf engineer to give you really a better course than many of those that have been built in Florida.
When you are read to have the plan passed upon, will be glad to do so, and will bring with me someone from the Florida Country Club who knows more about the matter.
Your very truly,
JCC/s
Document Item Type Metadata
Original Format
1-page typewritten letter
Citation
Chase, Joshua Coffin, “Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (March 30, 1922),” RICHES, accessed April 27, 2024, https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/1628.