The discovery of Walter Travis’ original blueprints at The Pennhills Club began as a simple request from golf course architect Ian Andrew, who was tasked with making design updates while preserving Travis’ original vision. Longtime club members Lew Zande and Steve Kubiak uncovered a forgotten box of blueprints in a maintenance shed, where they had been stored for over 20 years in less-than-ideal conditions. Despite this, the documents—77 blueprints detailing both holes and greens—remained remarkably intact, including rare velum drawings, which experts at the USGA had never encountered before.

Realizing the significance of their find, Kubiak contacted the USGA’s historical museum for guidance on preservation. The organization immediately recognized the value of the blueprints, describing them as rare and historically significant examples of Travis’ architectural work. The documents, which detailed an original 18-hole design from 1922, helped clarify the evolution of the Pennhills course, including its delayed expansion and eventual completion under architect Dick Wilson in the 1960s. Understanding that they lacked the proper storage capabilities, club members made the decision to donate the blueprints to the USGA for preservation.

In October 2013, Kubiak and Zande personally delivered the collection to the USGA headquarters, home to the world’s largest golf memorabilia archive. While the original blueprints are securely housed in a climate-controlled vault, high-quality reproductions were made available online for architects and historians studying Travis’ work. The discovery and donation of these documents ensured that an important piece of golf history would be preserved for future generations, solidifying The Pennhills Club’s place in the legacy of classic golf course architecture.