In the Fall of 1929, the William J. Burke Memorial Golf Course in the southwest corner of campus opened for use of Notre Dame students, faculty, clergy, and friends of the University. The course was donated by Notre Dame Trustee William J. Burke, President of the Vulcan Last Corporation of Portsmouth, Ohio. Vulcan was involved in a wide variety of industries and its divisions included the Vulcan Golf Company and the Vulcan Aircraft Company. Burke never played the course – he died suddenly of a heart attack in July 1928.
Interest in the game began to grow around the turn of the 20th century. In 1901, a course was created on the north side of St. Mary’s Lake [Scholastic, 05/04/1901, page 522]. In the 1910s, students were known to play on the quad in front of Badin and Bond Halls. Otherwise, students had to venture off-campus to courses in South Bend. As with other sports such as baseball, the students organized golf clubs. The number of interested students continued to grow, which propelled the team to varsity minor sport status in 1923.
The 18-hole course was first shortened to accommodate the building of the Rockne Memorial in 1939. More land was taken in the 1950s for the construction of Pangborn and Fisher Halls. In 1995, the back nine was sacrificed for the construction of the West Quad dorms – O’Neill, Keough, McGlinn, and Welsh Family Halls. These new halls became necessary for the displaced male students of Grace and Flanner Halls when they were converted from residential halls to office space. The women of Siegfried and Knott Halls were moved to McGlinn and Welsh Family to balance the gender mix on West Quad.
Sources:
Scholastic
PNDP 30-Go-04
UPCO 9/101-106
GNDL 6/21
GBBY 45G/0559
GSCO 1/63
I’m sure the golf course would have produced good golfers who must be thanking Notre Dame for all the Golf facility it provided.
i love golf! aand thank for share about William J. Burke 🙂 it’s nice info for me