The Florida Historic Golf Trail chronicles the state’s rich history in the sport, listing 56 courses that have been open to the public for at least 50 years.
One course that offers a most tantalizing historical perspective is Fort Myers Country Club, which dates back to 1917, plus the early membership included three American icons.
Among them were two famous Ohioans, inventor Thomas Edison, from Oberlin, and Akron’s Harvey Firestone, along with auto magnate Henry Ford. The three were friends and neighbors, who had winter homes a mile from what was then called the Fort Myers Golf & Yacht Club. It’s hard to imagine any golf club in that era having such a high-profile membership.
Edison definitely had a role in the course’s creation. Its restaurant/lounge is named after him and his pictures dominate the walls. One even has him pictured with Ford.
“But,’’ said director of golf Rich Lamb, who has worked at the club for 43 years, “Thomas Edison was never much of a golfer and neither were Henry Ford or Harvey Firestone.’’
Their concurrent connection to the club, however, invites digging by golf historians. Add to the mix the role of legendary architect Donald Ross and you have an intertwining of the giants of both golf and industry from a century ago.
Edison used Fort Myers as a winter vacation retreat from 1885 until his death in 1931. He was member of the board of directors when the club was known as the Fort Myers Golf & Yacht Club and likely recommended Ross as the designer, when the club decided to add a golf course.
Donald Ross is the original architect of record and newspaper accounts have him meeting with 15-member board members in 1916. He advised they had an ideal site on which to build a golf course and it opened for play, December 29, 1917. Ten years later the city of Fort Myers took over the operation of the club and has operated it as a golf facility ever since.
Edison and Ford reportedly enjoyed the course as players in the 1920s and Edison’s second wife, Mina, got her start in golf there. She made her debut with a whiff off the first tee in January of 1930 and shot 99 for her first nine holes. Mina, who was 19 years younger than Edison, got hooked on the game and immediately ordered a new set of clubs. She apparently didn’t use them playing with her husband, who was then 83 years old and told reporters that golf was “too much work.’’
The course, which had been built for $60,000 with Bahia grass fairways and common Bermuda greens, remains popular with area players and the Edison and Ford estates nearby became museums and popular tourist attractions.
In 1914, three years before the course’s centennial, architect Steve Smyers was brought in to oversee a $5.8 million renovation – the only major re-do in the club’s history.
This is an edited version. The full article can be found at: http://lenziehmongolf.com/uncategorized/thomas-edison-henry-ford-were-connected-to-this-florida-course/
