When ordering cricket equipment from an English athletic goods catalog, Wright noticed a listing for golf balls and clubs.

Wright wrote a letter to the commission but was denied authorization, the stated concern that it was too dangerous for people walking in the park.

Undeterred, Wright personally attended the next commissioners' meeting on December 5 and received a hearing, and a permit was granted on an "experimental" basis.

Flagsticks were cut 3 feet in length with a piece of red flannel attached to serve as flags marking each hole.

However, while private clubs were being established in Massachusetts after Wright's "experiment", no further golf was played at Franklin Park or any other public course in America through 1894.

[8] The holes were named Harvard, Valley Gate, Schoolmaster, Pettigrew, Scarborough, Canterbury, Abbotts, Brooks and Misery.