A. W. Tillinghast

Albert Warren "Tillie" Tillinghast (May 7, 1876 – May 19, 1942) was an American golf course architect. Tillinghast was one of the most prolific architects in the history of golf; he worked on more than 265 different courses. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2015.

Tillinghast, along with William Flynn, George C. Thomas Jr., Hugh Wilson, George Crump, and William Fownes together made up the "Philadelphia School" of golf course architecture. Together, the group designed over 300 courses, 27 of which are listed among the top 100 golf courses in the world.

Early life In 1874, Tillinghast was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Lavinia Worell Davis and Benjamin Collins Tillinghast, owner of a successful rubber goods company there. He married 17-year-old Lillian Heath Quigley in 1894 in Philadelphia.

Career

Tillinghast-designed courses have hosted multiple professional golf major championships—the 1927, 1928, 1938, and 1949 PGA Championships, contested at Cedar Crest Park, Baltimore Country Club, Shawnee and Hermitage Country Club, respectively; the 2005 and 2016 PGA Championship, contested at Baltusrol Golf Club, which has also been the host of seven U.S. Opens; the 2006 and 2020 U.S. Open, contested at Winged Foot Golf Club; and many others. He also designed the course at the Ridgewood Country Club, used for the 1935 Ryder Cup and Scarboro Golf and Country Club in Toronto, host of the Canadian Open for four occasions. In 1916, he created the Municipal Golf Course, now called Brackenridge Park Golf Course in San Antonio, Texas which hosted the Texas Open from 1922 to 1959. He also designed Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio, which hosted the Texas Open 24 times between 1960 and 1994.

In Westchester County, New York alone, Tillinghast designed the Fenway Golf Club, Scarsdale; Wykagyl Country Club, New Rochelle; Old Oaks Country Club, Purchase; Quaker Ridge Golf Club, Scarsdale; Scarsdale Golf Club, Hartsdale, where he designed the back nine; Briar Hall Golf & Country Club and Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Briarcliff Manor; and Winged Foot Golf Club (East & West), Mamaroneck. In Rockland County, New York in 1920, Tillinghast created a course specifically for Paramount Pictures founder Adolph Zukor, now known as Paramount Country Club. Tillinghast was also the uncredited co-designer of several green complexes at Century Country Club in Purchase.

Personal life His wife, Lillian, had two daughters: Marion Frances (1896–1969) and Elsie May (1898–1974). He lived with his wife in Beverly Hills, California, and died at his daughter Marion Frances's home in Toledo, Ohio, in 1942.

Tillinghast was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2015, the "sixth architect to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in the Lifetime Achievement category".