The historic nine-hole layout in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. has existed as “America’s First Golf Course” in the shadow of The Greenbrier, but will now be put up for bid on July 28 as its owner starts retirement.
More than five decades into owning Oakhurst Links in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., 89-year-old Lewis Keller Sr. has decided to retire and put the historic nine-hole layout, where many golfers rent hickory-shafted clubs and hit gutta-percha balls off tees fashioned from sand and water while wearing fashions from the late 1800s, up for auction, the Associated Press reports.
Keller, known for sitting with Oakhurst visitors over a glass of lemonade and promoting the history of American golf, decided to put one of the nations’ original courses up for sale after years of trying to find a buyer. A Richmond, Va.-based group that planned to buy the property last year for $2.5 million couldn’t raise the cash to close the deal.
“I’m heartbroken to leave it,” said Keller, who is moving out of his home at Oakhurst’s entrance to live in a retirement village in Lynchburg, Va. His wife of 60 years, Rosalie, died in 2010.
The auction will be conducted on July 28 by Greenway’s Real Estate & Auction, Inc., which is billing Oakhurst as “America’s First Golf Course”. Details on the auction can be found at http://new.greenwaysrealestateandauction.com/
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Oakhurst was first owned by Russell Montague, who became enamored of golf while studying in Great Britain. According to Keller, Montague’s doctor advised him in 1878 to move from Boston to a healthier climate. Montague chose White Sulphur Springs, partly because of stories about its so-called healing waters.
Montague and a small group of colleagues built the course in 1884, predating by four years The Saint Andrew’s Golf Club of Yonkers, N.Y., which bills itself as America’s oldest continuously existing golf club. The first golf competition at Oakhurst was held in 1888 in the Scottish match-play tradition. Montague and most of the original members eventually moved away, and play on the course stopped after 1910.
Keller bought the 30-acre property in 1959 after learning about it from longtime friend Sam Snead, whom he had met 20 years earlier when Keller was a high-school golfer in Norfolk, Va.
Snead spent decades as head professional at The Greenbrier, the legendary resort that is six miles away from Oakhurst. Keller, who’d come down from New York to play golf with Snead, wanted to use Oakhurst as a summer retreat and as a place to raise horses. He had a vision about restoring the course, but didn’t act for decades until some nudging from a golf writer.
Golf designer Bob Cupp volunteered with the restoration, which started in 1991. The work was done by hand, with newspaper and magazine clippings and course photos serving as guides. Keller even added dozens of sheep to mow the grass the way it was done long ago.
At 2,235 yards, Oakhurst reopened for play in 1994.
PGA pro Daniel Summerhays played Oakhurst before the Greenbrier Classic was held at the nearby resort. He called playing Oakhurst a “really cool” experience that gave him a new appreciation for players such as Bobby Jones and Harry Vardon.
The National Hickory Championship then started a 15-year run of calling Oakhurst home in 1998. Mike Stevens of Tampa, Fla., won the tournament for the third time this year. He hoped it wouldn’t be his last visit to Oakhurst.
“There’s nothing else like it in this country that I know of,” Stevens told the AP. “There are a lot of older golf courses, but most of them over the years have been lengthened and changed. But Oakhurst is one of a kind. For those of us that go there every year, it’s just a wonderful place to go to because the property is so unique and everybody enjoys going there and the course is demanding. But it’s a lot of fun to play. Even though it’s a short golf course, it tests every aspect of your game.”
Stevens doubts the course could ever become a profitable operation, in part due to its remote location in a rural state. But he wants the best for Keller.
“I know he’s disappointed,” Stevens said. “I can understand his position, too. He’s almost 90 years old. He just can’t keep up with it at this stage. It’s going to be hard to find a person like him. That was a labor of love for him to restore that golf course to the way it was and to keep it running for as many years as he did.”
To Tommy Garten, who is handling the auction, Oakhurst is golf’s Cooperstown, likening the course to the home of baseball’s Hall of Fame.
“It needs to be preserved,” Garten told the AP. “It would be a tragedy if somebody didn’t come in, step up and continue this operation.”
Although the possibility exists that someone might want to convert the property into some type of housing development, Garten believes it’s too small.
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