tillie deserves
hall treatment

more than 130 individuals have been inducted into the world golf hall of fame because they “positively impacted the game of golf.” with such a broad brush-stroke, the number of worthy contributors would be endless, yet after this year’s class of phil mickelson, peter alliss, sandy lyle, hollis stacy and dan Jenkins, there is no more glaring omission than a.w. tillinghast. the eccentric golf architect from philadelphia should have been inducted ages ago based on his range of design work. places such as winged foot, baltusrol, ridgewood and bethpage have hosted multiple majors, while designs such as somerset hills and san francisco gc elevated the art form. few know that “tillie” was one of american golf’s most important early promoters and later in life, he was an advocate for the pga of america, traveling the country looking for ways to reduce maintenance costs. tillinghast devoted his life to the game, and it’s unimaginable to think of the sport without his contributions. since too many hof committees have passed over tillie, maybe he’ll get help from a fellow inductee. think of fergie Jenkins, ernie banks and billy williams championing the cause of their former teammate ron santo for the baseball hall of fame. santo will be enshirned in cooperstown this august. all it should take is one world golf hall of fame inductee to back the legendary architect and put an end to the crime that is tillinghast’s place outside golf’s ultimate shrine. —Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac)