By John Fischer III
The 2019 PGA Championship was played at Bethpage Black, one of five courses at Bethpage State Park on Long Island. The course was designed by A.W. Tillinghast, one of the great golf course architects of the 1920s-30s, who also designed Winged Foot (East and West) and Baltusrol (Upper and Lower). Tillinghast was a genius at course design who lived life on his terms. He died in 1942 and was little remembered until 1974 when Frank Hannigan, USGA Executive Director, realized the USGA was hosting four of its championships that year on courses designed by Tillinghast. Hannigan wrote a lengthy magazine article about Tillinghast, his life and his work, which brought Tillie back into the golfing public’s eye.
Click here to see John Fischer’s story on Tillinghast and Bethpage Black for Morning Read.com. It was published May 14, 2019.