Welcome to the Wayne Stiles Society, a free and open web based organization that
expands on The Life and Work of Wayne Stiles, published in 2008.
The site features many modern and historic course photos,
information, correspondence and plans, in addition to those included in the
book. Also featured will be news and notes
about restoration efforts, developments at Stiles and Van Kleek courses and upcoming publications featuring Wayne Stiles and other golf and landscape architects.
Visitors to this site are encouraged to provide any information, photos or
plans they may have and are welcome to download and share content for
themselves and their golf clubs.
In the spirit of the history and traditions of the game of golf, and in recognition to the lasting contributions of Wayne E. Stiles, Bob Labbance and I researched his life and work. Our goal was to honor a relatively unknown Golden Age American golf architect. Unlike Donald Ross, A.W. Tillinghast, Walter Travis and Charles Blair Macdonald, to name a few of his contemporaries, Mr. Stiles left behind virtually no writings and little had been written about him. Although Bob never designed a golf course, unlike Mr. Stiles, he left us with an extensive body of writings about the game of golf and its architects. Mr. Stiles was not inclined towards self promotion, was rarely photographed and primarily focused on pleasing his clients and designing enjoyable golf holes. His training as a landscape architect prior to his competitive golf years and subsequent golf design career gave him a strong understanding of the role of trees, sight lines and shading that would influence the long term strategic implications associated with course maintenance as well as the placement of trees, shrubs and grasses on golf courses. At many courses, much of his work has been preserved or restored; at others, virtually no Stiles features remain. The same is true for the plans, drawings and correspondence associated with the various projects he and John Van Kleek undertook. Our goal is to increase recognition of Stiles' and Van Kleek's work,
and to encouraged their clubs to preserve and ideally restore original
design features, while allowing for modern elements not envisioned during
the Golden Age of American golf architecture, among them golf carts and
CAD-designed adjustable weight drivers.
The authors:
Bob Labbance - 1952 to 2008
Bob photographing re-discovered historic documents at The Course at Yale in 2004.
Bob at Ekwanok in May of 2004.
Above: Stiles' orignal bunker between the 8th and 11th greens at Taconic installed during course restorations in the Fall of 2008
Obituary from the August 30, 2008 edition of The Barre Montpelier Times Argus, written by his wife Kathie Hickman.
ALS, the Disease - This link is provided for visitors to better understand the disease which took Bob from us. Please visit the site and contribute if you can to these wonderful communities helping to change people's lives.
A Tribute to Bob written by Kevin Mendik for the USGA, where Bob was a member of the USGA Museum & Library Committee
A Tribute to Bob's life and work which appeared in several New England Golf Magazines in 2008. Written by his long time friend and fellow golf writer David Cornwell.
A Tribute to Bob Labbance which appeared in the New York Post. Written by Ralph Wimbish, friend and fellow golf writer.
A Tribute to Bob Labbance (see bottom paragraph) written by Jim McCabe, formerly of the Boston Globe. More Globe links on Bob and the book can be found HERE...
Click here for GolfWeek's June 16, 2008 tribute to Bob's career.
Kevin Mendik
Kevin hitting out of the rough at Brae Burn while Randy Jensen looks on.
Kevin in familiar territory at the Myopia Hunt Club.
Kevin is a pure hickory golfer who plays exclusively with vintage hickory shaft clubs from the early 20th century; the same type of technology available to Golden Age golf architects and players. He sits on the Grounds and Greens Committee at his home course, the Pine Brook Country Club in Weston, Massachusetts. For more historical and modern information about Pine Brook visit the Featured Courses section on this website. He has written numerous golf articles for state, regional and national golf publications, and is a Rater for GolfWeek.
Mr. Mendik has worked for the Northeast Region of the National Park Service since 1990 where he handles environmental compliance. Click here to visit the National Park Service website. Click here to visit the National Register Information System where you can search to determine golf courses and/or clubhouses that have either been placed on the National Register or designated as National Historic Landmarks. Please note that all listed golf courses and clubhouses are not contained in a single section, but Kevin Mendik will be compiling such a list for reference in the near future.
A paper entitled The Challenges of Restoring A Classic American Golf Course was presented by Kevin Mendik at Preserve and Play: Preserving Historic Recreation and Entertainment Sites, held in Chicago during May of 2005 and subsequently posted in its entirety on GolfClubAtlas.com
Due for release in the fall of 2009 will be Shaping the American Landscape, a publication of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, which features over 150 profiles of Pioneers of American Landscape Design including profiles by Mr. Mendik of Wayne E. Stiles, A.W. Tillinghast and Charles Blair Macdonald. A profile of Tom Bendelow has been prepared by his grandson Stuart Bendelow.