The 19th Hole Tradition

The Apple Tree Gang at the 19th Hole


From the Rough, with George Morton

Every golf game usually ends at the 19th hole. The 19th Hole is part of the ritual of golf that most players have in common. From the novice to the expert, they all have the same handicap at this hole.

“As local golfer Jimmy Care says, “I’m short on the course, but long at the 19th hole.”

The location of the 19th hole can be many places, including the clubhouse of the golf course, the home of one of the group’s players or the local bar around the corner.

As a player as well as a bartender, I am both a participant and constant observer of many 19th hole experiences. Playing the game allows me to participate in the 19th hole, while working at a local bar with several golf courses in the vicinity lets me watch the excitement of the 19th hole.

The history of the 19th hole in American golf can be traced back to St. Andrews in 1889. Not St. Andrews in Scotland, but St. Andrews in Yonkers, New York, a course that consisted of six holes laid out in an apple orchard.

Founded by (amateur) John Reid, the club consisted of thirteen members, known as the “Apple Tree Gang.”

According to “The Story of American Golf” by Herbert W. Wind, a book from the extensive collection of sports books in the library of Kenny Robinson, the gang pitched a tent behind the sixth hole and hung a picnic basket from a branch of an apple tree. The tent with the basket became the 19th hole as we know it today.

The first thing I noticed about the 19th hole is that the game doesn’t end on the course, although the hostilities that might arise on the course do. Players who had differences on the course resolve them at the 19th hole, and the players who have just played together for the first time are now friends for life.

One confrontation on the course I was involved in started at the fifth hole of the Greate Bay Country Club in Somers Point when it was the Sands. A friend who did not finish out the hole by putting, recorded a six on the scorecard and had not noticed that one of the other players was also having a bad hole. The other player finished with a seven.

I asked, “Did you finish the hole?”

He said, “Yes.”

I replied, “When did you putt?”

His reply was, “I didn’t, it was close enough.”

I said, “Nobody gave it to you, did they?”

“No.”

he lost the hole and had a fit that lasted the rest of the day. We did not say two words until we reconciled differences at the 19th hole in the clubhouse.

The 19th hole is the place where players discuss the day’s round and past rounds. The great shots are remembered by the player who made them, and the bad shots re remembered by everyone in the group but the person who hit them.

I remember five years ago when a friend took a ten on a par three sixth hole at Greate Bay. He could not recall most of the ten shots in the clubhouse but everyone else in the group could recall all the shots and laugh about each one. I can remember most of my great shots, but I forget the bad ones, which my close friends continually remind me of.

Business is always concluded at the 19th hole. All bets are paid off and discussed and plans are made for the next tee time. The money usually exchanged is spent by the winners on food and drinks, which the loser also enjoys. The score cards are totaled and everybody is told their score. Even after being told their score however, a player usually wants to take a look at the card to see if he is satisfied, or can find a way to shave strokes off his score.

The competition doesn’t always en don the course, merely transferred to other battlefields at the 19th hole, like billiards, shuffleboards and darts, allowing a competitor to redeem themselves after losing on the golf course.

The 19th hole is also a place where a golfer can catch up on the gossip of the club, since the bartenders and waitresses are always ready to supply the latest information in exchange of new gossip.

Being a part of this phenomenon from both sides of the bar, I have both given and received information that has created laughs that have lasted for several days.

The 19th hole always leads to at least one person giving or getting a lesson.

The 19th hole is indeed a great place. A place where business is concluded, the day of golf is relived, a lesson can be given or received for free, and friend are made and kept forever.

(George Morton is a bartender at the old Rugby Inn, now Ventura’s Offshore Café in Northfield)

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