Historical Notes: Refuge Country Club

  Since 1922, the Refuge Open has provided some of the greatest thrills
 and biggest paychecks in golf.  The current purse of 1.5 million ranks
 the event with the most prestigious in golf.
 The Refuge Country Club, host of the event, has attracted all of the
 best names in the game to its velvet fairways and trimly-manicured greens.
 Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, and Sam Snead have all won four times here.
 Arnold Palmer has won three.  The list goes on and on (see attached file).
 The course and Open have an interesting history going back more than 200
 years.  During the Revolutionary War, Black Jack Phillipi made a fortune
 selling rotten beef and poorly-tanned shoes to both sides in Philadelphia.
 Upon dying, he left a most controversial will,  disinheriting his son
 (who was a clergyman) and setting up a trust fund to pass to his heirs,
 and theirs, for the span of 100 years, all interest to be re-invested in
 the fund.  The worthy clergyman immediately commenced litigation which
 stretched out for some years and doubtless would have consumed the estate
 in legal fees had he not been murdered by his own son, who was hanged for
 his presumption.  The remains of the estate might have passed then and
 there to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had not an unknown bastard son
 of Black Jack shown up in 1804 with incontrovertable proof of his ancestry.
 This son was known as Yellow Jack for his blond hair.  Yellow Jack meekly
 accepted the terms of the will and inherited the property and movables of
 the dead clergyman as well.  He immediately left Philadelphia for the West,
 and settled near Pittsburgh, where he began farming on a large tract
 granted by the Commonwealth.  Some years later, coal was discovered on the
 property, which he promptly sold for a considerable sum and re-invested in
 several large tracts in and around the city.  In fact, he became one of
 the earliest slumlords on record, and died in 1840 to not-universal
 mourning.
 His eldest son inherited the bulk of the property, and continued his 
 father's opportunistic ways, speculating in real estate in Ohio, Illinois,
 and Iowa and squeezing his tenants dry.  Yellow Jack Junior had high hopes
 of living to see the end of the entail on old Black Jack's fund (which 
 expired in 1787), but unfortunately, Junior expired first.  His own son
 blew a goodly portion of his father's estate in loose women and riotous
 living before dying in mysterious circumstances in 1886, leaving the 
 remains -- and the Fund -- to his son Wesley.
 Wesley Phillipi, in an endeavor to remove some of the stain on the family
 name, became as famous for philanthropy as he was well-known as a railroad
 speculator.  Like many robber barons of the Gay Nineties, Wesley made money
 faster than he could throw it away (no income tax in those idyllic years).
 Among his projects was the construction of a nine-hole golf course on the
 property of the old family estate (now crumbling into ruins), called 
 Refuge.  The course opened in 1896, making it one of the first playgrounds
 for the newly-imported game of the idle rich called golf.
 Initially Wesley only permitted friends of the family and celebrated pros
 to play on the course, but as professional golf gained in popularity, he
 recognized a rare opportunity to make some cash in fixing pro contests,
 so he ordered the enlargement of the course to the "regulation" 18 and 
 began, in 1910, a tournament renowned for the highness of its stakes and
 the crookedness of its results.  Respectable pros did not play Refuge in 
 those days.
 Wesley died in 1920 of a surfeit of cherries, and his son inherited with a
 distinct yearning to make his family respectable.  His first act was to 
 clean up the Refuge Open and to convert the private course into a very
 exclusive country club (or anyway, as exclusive as one could be in 
 Pittsburgh).  Thus 1922 begins the "official" record of the Refuge Open.
 The family lost a wheelbarrow full of money in 1929 and all that, but they
 had so much by then it almost made no difference.  Most of the family has
 moved to warmer climes since then, but a cadet branch maintains their home
 not far from the course.  The huge purse (which was initially the vasty sum
 of $500, to overcome the reluctance of respectable pros to play on a course
 with such an unsavory reputation) is still provided by Phillipi Industrials,
 a Fortune-500 company with concerns on six continents.

  Course Notes:
    
   The 6892-yard par 72 course is routed (one might say "flung") through a
   large tract of meadow and old farmland, with rolling hills and quite a
   bit of water.  It has been modified many times since its original
   construction, but maintains many quirks of design which have become
   trademarks.  Among these are four frightening par threes, all threatened
   by water and none of them particularly short, and four par fives so long
   only a healthy slice of luck (and enormous thews) could reach them in
   two.  The fairways are mostly of moderate width, the greens around six
   or seven thousand square feet.  In the hundred years of the course's
   history, many trees have grown to stately dimensions, and line the
   immaculate fairways.  You don't want to lose your ball in them.
   Vision is excellent.  Except for one intentionally blind approach (on 4),
   the player can always see exactly where his ball should go (and exactly
   where it ends up going!)  Most holes are doglegged to a greater or lesser
   extent, equally in either direction to favor neither a draw or fade.  All
   tees and greens are elevated to contribute to the excellent visibility.

   Course record is the blistering 62 posted by Greg Norman in losing the 
   1987 Open.  The record for the four-round tournament is the 26 under-par
   262 by Sam Snead in 1955.  (The course was a bit shorter then).
   Last year, the final round of the tournament was almost rained out, but
   Tom Kite came through with a sparkling 65 to win with 270, two strokes
   ahead of Greg Norman.

   The Refuge Open is played in the first week of May, and is followed by
   the Iron City Open one week later, at the nearby Brentwood Golf Club.
   Only three players have won the events back-to-back: Ben Hogan in 1954, 
   Arnold Palmer in 1965 and Lee Trevino in 1971.

   Charities supported include local health care services and services for
   disadvantaged youth, plus the Jack Phillipi Home for Fallen Women.


  Designers Notes:
    
   Refuge is an old JNUG design changed six or seven times since JNSE
   came out.  The objects, accordingly, are mostly modified JNUG types, 
   which I think look a lot better than the ones supplied with the game.
   The background is an original design of farmland and piney woods.  
   Although set in terrain typical of the rolling, wooded hills near 
   Pittsburgh (where I spent my dissolute youth), the terrain and course
   are completely fictional.
   Refuge and its sister course, Brentwood Golf Club, are located on the
   designer's FRP world, Refuge, where great atheletes (among others) are
   resurrected in their primes to compete against each other.

   Copyright 3/93, by Eric M. Hammer

   The designer welcomes questions and comments from players of this
   shareware course.  I can be reached on 19th Hole or Double Eagle, and
   at the address below.  Thanks for playing.

                                    Eric M. Hammer
                                    3855 Blair Mill Rd #227B
                                    Horsham, Pennsylvania
                                      19044-2804