| | The USGA Museum's Shippen Golf
Club 
February 4, 2009
By Rosemary Maravetz
 | | John Shippen worked as the head
professional at Shady Rest Golf & Country Club until
retiring in 1960. (USGA Museum) |
In more than 70 years of collecting golf's history, the USGA
Museum has been privileged to obtain invaluable treasures that
are essential to the game's legacy. There are also artifacts in
the collection that command an importance not just in the
history of golf, but in American history. Such is the case with
a club made and used by John Shippen Jr. (1879 - 1968), an
African-American golfer who was a rarity in his time.
Originally from Washington, D.C., John Shippen was one of nine
children born to a minister and his wife. Shippen's father
moved the family to Southampton, N.Y., in 1889, where he was
sent to serve as a preacher on the Shinnecock Indian
Reservation. Shippen was 10 years old at the time and
befriended a young member of the Shinnecock tribe named Oscar
Bunn. When Shinnecock Hills Golf Club opened in 1891, the two
boys became caddies. Showing natural talent for the game,
Shippen was taken under the wing of Shinnecock's golf
professional, Willie Dunn. He benefited from Dunn's
instruction, becoming an excellent golfer who was better than
most members at this pioneering American golf club. Dunn
rewarded Shippen with the assistant professional position,
which allowed him the opportunity to give lessons, repair clubs
and play the course regularly.
When the second U.S. Open was played at Shinnecock Hills in
1896, the club's members paid entrance fees for both Shippen
and Bunn, believing strongly in their talents for the game. It
has been said that the day before the championship was to
begin, various English and Scottish players threatened USGA
President Theodore F. Havemeyer with their withdrawals if Bunn
and Shippen were allowed to play, citing their races as
objectionable. Havemeyer explained to the players that the
championship would proceed as planned, even if Bunn and Shippen
were the only two competitors. The next morning, on July 18,
1896, the second U.S. Open Championship was under way, with all
32 players reporting for their tee times. Shippen finished the
championship in fifth place, but the next day the Chicago
Tribune observed that "anyone who plays Shippen has got to
forget his boyishness, and pay careful attention to his golf,
for Shippen is, in view of the circumstances, the most
remarkable player in the United States." John Shippen had
become the first African-American to compete in the U.S. Open.
Shippen decided to forego any further education and pursue a
career in golf. He went on to compete in the U.S. Open in 1899,
1900, 1902 and 1913, but his race was a continuous obstacle as
he was frequently denied the chance to play when he attempted
to enter other tournaments. Nonetheless, Shippen never
abandoned his passion for the game and was appointed as the
golf professional at various golf clubs throughout his career.
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But with "J.M. Shippen" stamped prominently on top of the wooden
club in the USGA Museum collection it is hard to resist asking the
question: could Shippen have used this club in his appearance at
the 1896 U.S. Open? As tempting as it might be to think this club
was used at that historic occasion, Shippen's position as a golf
professional provided him opportunity to make and sell his own
clubs over a number of years and he could well have made the club
for individual use or for sale in his shop. But when did he do so?
Crucial to the question is whether the club in the USGA Museum's
collection pre-dates or post-dates Shippen's participation in the
1896 U.S. Open. According to Pete Georgiady, author of several
books and an expert on early clubs and clubmakers, the stamp on the
club that reads "J.M. Shippen" was created by a die-cut stamp. This
is evident in the uniformity of the letters. Earlier clubs created
or owned by Shippen have been found to have a more irregular stamp,
a sign that the letters were imprinted individually. A die-cut
stamp, which cost about $10, a tidy sum at the turn of the century,
would have only been purchased by Shippen if he were creating and
selling his own clubs on a regular basis, according to Georgiady.
As he was not in a position to do that as a teenager at the 1896
U.S. Open it is unlikely he could have used this club.
By the late 1920s, Shippen was head professional at a club owned
and operated by African-Americans in Scotch Plains, N.J., the Shady
Rest Golf & Country Club (now known as the Scotch Hills Country
Club), where he would remain until his retirement in 1960. In an
interview with
Tuesday Magazine
, Shippen once said, "I wonder if I did the right thing when I quit
school and went into golf. Maybe I should have kept going and went
to Yale like my brother, who's a teacher. I wonder until I look out
the window and see that golf course. Then I realize how much
enjoyment I've gotten out of the game, and I don't wonder anymore."
Rosemary Maravetz is the former collections manager of the USGA
Museum. Please e-mail museum@usga.org with any questions or
comments.| | |
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