Ramsey County History – Summer 2016: “Robert Foulis—Minnesota’s First Golf Professional”

Robert Foulis—Minnesota’s First Golf Professional
Author: Joseph Gladke

As the popularity of the game of golf grew in the late 1890s, St. Paul’s Town and Country Club hired its first professional, Robert Foulis (1873–1945), in 1898. Foulis had been born in St. Andrews, Scotland, and had learned the game from his father and other professionals there. He emigrated to the Chicago area in 1895 before coming to St. Paul as Minnesota’s first pro. At the Town and Country Club, Foulis redesigned and improved the Club’s original course to make it more like those in his homeland, gave lessons, acted as the greenskeeper, made clubs and balls to order, and played in several tournaments. In late 1899, Foulis left the St. Paul club to continue his career first in Wisconsin and then in St. Louis.
PDF of Gladke article