With his new book about Seven Oaks Golf Club, Jim Ford MA’16 honors the place that helped set him on the right course.
The quaint town of Sevenoaks in Kent, England, is near where the Colgate family’s ancestral home was located in the 1700s. Its name served as the inspiration for what would become the University’s golf course. In his new book, Seven Oaks: A History of Golf at Colgate University, Second Edition, Jim Ford MA’16 provides a chronology of the course as it has changed throughout the years — from 1916 until the recent renovations in 2022. Here are some nuggets:
→ The first clubhouse on the present Seven Oaks course was the former home of Deacon Charles C. Payne, the ninth of 16 sons of Elisha Payne (one of Colgate’s 13 founders).
→ In 1919 the golf club needed a horse lawn mower, so during commencement week, “several generous guests of the University … contributed to a fund of $300 for this purpose,” according to the Hamilton Republican.
→ A cow named Susie, owned by buildings and grounds supervisor Lant Gilmartin, would eat the golf balls that landed near her pasture fence next to the course, reported Binghamton Press in 1932.
→ Starting in July 1954, women were allowed to play in shorts — as long as they weren’t more than 1 inch above the knee.
→ The course hosted the NCAA Division I Golf Championship in 1977. Preparations included rebuilding the pro shop to house additional facilities, including locker rooms, as well as installing a second putting green.
→ During COVID-19 restrictions, play on the golf course increased greatly because it served as a safe, outdoor activity.
→ The University began exploring the most recent renovations for Seven Oaks in 2010 and hired Forse Designs Inc.
→ A stone in one of the entrance pillars of the clubhouse patio is engraved with “Belvoir” — French for “beautiful view.” The stone is originally from the foundation of the old clubhouse.
Ford says he decided to publish this book as “a way to give back.” When he graduated from Madison Central School and was accepted to SUNY Oneonta with plans to major in history, Ford’s family would have found it difficult to financially support his education. Fortunately, the Seven Oaks golf pro at the time, Tom Parnell, offered him a job in the shop. Ford worked for Parnell for five summers, and “without that job, I could not have attended college,” he says. Ford published the first edition of his book in 2013, and it served as his Colgate master’s thesis project. He says he decided to write a second edition because “there have been so many changes at the course since 2013,” from the pandemic to the recent renovations.
Seven Oaks: A History of Golf at Colgate University, Second Edition is available at the Seven Oaks Pro Shop, the Colgate Bookstore, the Colgate Inn, and Hotel One75.