President Taft lobbies for public course for Philadelphia By jwbauschMay 30, 2012November 13, 2017Cobb's History, Cobb's News May 30, 2012 update: William Evans, the golf writer for the Public Ledger, grew tired of there being no public course in Philly, and recruited the help of President Taft. Below is the letter Taft wrote to Evans and published on February 23, 1913.