Ralph Barton

Ralph Barton's career in golf is one of the more unusual ones. Rather than starting as a golfer, greenskeeper, or landscaper, Barton's first career was as a mathematician and teaching professor at Dartmouth College. He had attended Dartmouth as an undergraduate and worked part time on the grounds crew of a local course there. It took Barton 11 years to finish his undergraduate degree, and he was the only Dartmouth math professor to hold only a bachelor's degree. Even without advanced academic credentials he quickly rose through the ranks to become president of Lombard College in Illinois by the age of 40. He eventually took a job at University of Minnesota and joined a group of professors who were building a golf course there. They hired Seth Raynor to design the course (Midland Hills), and Raynor was so impressed with Barton's acumen for the game that he hired him as an associate. Barton argued later in his life that he deserved more credit than he received for his role in designing two of Raynor's best courses -- Mid Ocean Club and The Course at Yale. One course that is attributed to Barton alone is Sleeping Giant in Hamden, where you'll have a much easier time getting a tee time than you would at Yale.

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