MCMA History

MCMA

St. Pascalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in Queens, where a floor has been named to honor Juergen H. Schumann and the auditorium in memory of Douglas G. Louis.

MCMA

T H E M E T R O P O L I T A N C L U B M A N A G E R S A S S O C I AT I O N

A H E R I TA G E O F S E R V I C E BEYOND THE GAMES By William L. Quirin, PhD

Barry Chandler (left), president of MCMA, and John Bladt (right) presenting second $50,000 donation to the CMAAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Foundation Executive Vice President James Singerling (center).

A Heritage of Service

Contents Acknowledgments

Foreword

CHAPTER 1

Birth of the Metropolitan Section, 9

CHAPTER 2

CMAA: Club Managers Association of America, 15

CHAPTER 3

Charitable Endeavors, 25 Association for the Advancement of the Blind and Retarded, 25 Pathfinder Village, 38 Island Harvest, 41 Madonna Heights, 41

CHAPTER 4

T h e 7 5 t h A n n i v e r s a r y Ye a r, 4 3

CHAPTER 5

C l u b M a n a g e r o f t h e Ye a r, 4 7

CHAPTER 6

The Metropolitan Club Foundation, 51

CHAPTER 7

T h e Ve n d o r S h o w , 5 5

CHAPTER 8

Metropolitan Club Foundation Educational Programs, 59 MCMA Presidents, 61

CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 10

The Hall of Fame, 63 The Clubs, 109

Contents

Acknowledgments The following individuals have devoted many hours to gathering all the details and pulling them together as a historical document for the Metropolitan Club Managers Association and Foundation: Jay Mottola, Eugene Westmoreland, and hard-working MCMA Recording Secretary Ineke Pierpoint – Metropolitan Golf Association; Chris Weldon, Debbie Van Cura – Association for the Advancement of Blind and Retarded (AABR); Juergen Schumann – Pathfinder Village; James B. Singerling – Club Managers Association of America; Frank Tuma, Sheila Ray – Montauk Historical Society; Photography – Derek’s Photography; Photography – Nathan Beck’s Photography; Diana M. Simone – Executive Secretarial services; the many clubs for providing their interesting histories; Scott P. Burne and we would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge our past presidents and members of our Chapter who, years ago, prepared MCMA for the next millennium. Special thanks to James Glover for his unyielding efforts researching special stories. John Bladt, Bill Quirin, and Jim Glover.

A Heritage of Service

Foreword Let’s roll! The magnificent words heard recently could also be described as the motto for the leaders and members of MCMA since its inception in 1923. The “Let’s roll” philosophy illustrates the dynamics and principles of MCMA through the years providing leadership and visions for its members into the new millennium. The missions and duties of the manager from the time of the “Steward” during the Edwardian Elegance Age to the frenzy of the Jet Age has changed little – the principal goal being managing and preserving private clubs to provide joy, relaxation, play, and the sharing of quality life with family, friends, and business associates. Keeping its dignity and good taste unimpaired, MCMA’s noble interests over the years have expanded to include community involvement, charity work, educational needs, and assistance to its members in distress. This book is the result of more than three years of participation – reviewing files and pictures, and culling the memories of senior managers, some of whom have been in the same job for forty to fifty-five years, and some retired. The “Esprit de Corps” of MCMA in reaching out to help the less fortunate is a great part of this book in the Charities and Foundations chapters supporting local venues and, not least, our National Club Foundation. Thanks to our friend, writer, and collaborator, Professor William Quirin; this book’s development was edited and formulated to include the historic details of some of the most extraordinary club managers and employees in the Metropolitan area.

Foreword

An MCMA holiday party at Fenway Golf Club

A Heritage of Service

Ch a p t e r 1

Birth of the Metropolitan Section The modern golf or country club is a descendant of the city clubs, which themselves trace their roots back to the popular dining clubs in the major cities during the nineteenth century. That lineage traces back another generation to the British men’s clubs. The word “club” means “to form or gather into a mass.” As the clubs grew in membership services, the need for trained, professional management became essential. The term “club steward” soon disappeared from the vernacular, and the era during which a club was run by a husband and his wife came to an end. The first to recognize this need was a group of Club Managers from the Boston and Providence areas, who met in 1914 to discuss mutual interests. Those assembled found the interrelationship and information sharing valuable, and formed the General Managers Association of Boston in 1917. Instrumental in accomplishing this was Bill Moisier, who managed the Squantum Association in East Providence, Rhode Island, for forty-one years. A similar movement took place in New York, where a group of City Club Managers gathered in 1915. Both groups elected officials, and held regular meetings addressing mutual needs. By 1921 the two groups had formed a loosely-knit organization called the Association of General Managers, and had begun publishing Club Management Magazine, a bulletin about club happenings in the two cities, New York and Boston, which drew the attention of General Managers across the country. Missing from the equation at the time were the country General Managers in the Metropolitan area. That would soon change.

Birth of the Metropolitan Section

A Steward’s Story

The steward at Knollwood circa 1900, together with his family and the club’s bartender.

A Heritage of Service

During the first half of the 1900s, the Squantum Association was served, helped, and eventually even steered by a unique and most efficient steward named William G. Mosher. His application for a position in 1905 said in part, “In the capacity of a cook, I was employed for four years on the boats of the Ocean Steamship Company and the Merchants and Miners Transportation Company in the years 1888 to 1891. . . . seven years as General Manager of the Café at the vast and fashionable Narragansett Hotel where I catered to several of the shore clubs . . . understand thoroughly the setting up and serving of clam dinners. If I could be employed by you, I would be able to furnish dinners for fifteen people without assistance.” Apparently, the offer of combined gourmandise and economy was irresistible, and Mosher was hired at once. The Squantum association was indeed a happy one, as he stayed until he passed away in 1945. Mr. Mosher was a small man who barely exceeded five feet in height, yet he was exceptionally tactful and had great organizational skills. In the parched times of the 1920s, he was able to provide understanding, help, and contacts for members who wished to stock their homes or their Culture Room lockers. Mosher had two idiosyncrasies: his immaculate appearance, and his resistance to driving a car. His grateful friends at the club were happy to provide him with a car and driver. Since he was meticulous and never allowed the excellence of the menu to decline from previous high standards, he was vastly instrumental in keeping the organization going during the extremely difficult times of the Depression and World War II.

1923 • Warren Harding died of a stroke, and Calvin Coolidge became president. • Our last troops withdrew from Germany. • Dance marathons became the craze. • The Yankees beat the Giants in the World Series. • “Rhapsody In Blue” topped the charts. • Gasoline cost 22 cents a gallon, and a postage stamp cost two cents.

The Origins of MCMA Adolph Koenig, who started his career as a chef and later became one of the founders and early presidents of the Metropolitan General Managers Association, wrote a brief history of the MCMA. We quote directly from that essay regarding the origins of the Association: Before the MCMA existed there was no manifestation of “esprit de corps” nor any signs of working fraternity among those who managed the numerous Town and Country clubs in the Metropolitan New York area. Each General Manager kept his personnel and management policies, according to which he discharged his various duties, to himself. The annual reports of operations of the various clubs were guarded more secretly than top secret documents at the Pentagon. Managers remained unorganized until May 1923, when, in response to an invitation of our congenial confrere, Franklyn S. Pearce, the follow-

Attending a 1970 CMAA Workshop at Hampshire are: seated (left to right) John Cremers (national director), Peter D’Angelo, Egon Jorgensen, Ted Van Cott, Arthur Parrish; standing (left to right) Alex Levchuck, Wolfgang Bulka, and MCMA President Jim Nolletti.

ing General Managers met at the newly erected locker building of the Westchester Hills Golf Club in White Plains, New York: Henri Check, St. Andrew’s GC Hugh F. Dolan, Pelham CC

Henry Hinton, Manursing Island Club Max Lambert, Sunningdale CC Adolph Koenig, Fairview CC Franklyn S. Pearce, Westchester Hills GC J. Squarazini, Round Hill GC Irvin C. Williams, Larchmont Yacht Club

Birth of the Metropolitan Section

Then and there they decided to form the MCMA, for the betterment of relations among club executives, to compose, adopt, and live up to a “code of ethics,” in short to work in fraternal unity for the advancement of their best professional and social interests. At the beginning, the nucleus of the MCMA membership resided in Westchester, but the ranks were soon supplemented by an influx of our colleagues from Long Island. By holding monthly meetings in the various member clubs, the members were afforded the opportunity to inspect their premises and operations, thus broadening their outlook and views and gaining much valuable knowledge. The MCMA was legally incorporated on April 25, 1931. Signing the certificate of incorporation were Hugh F. Dolan, Adolph Koenig, William Norcross, William G. Hetzel, Edward J. Leyden, and Samuel E. Mott. Prior to the incorporation, the MCMA was just a social and business association. The formal incorporation helped focus attention on the association’s mission to elevate the standards of integrity and honor among General Managers. By 1943 the MCMA had approximately sixty members, and scheduled golf outings in the summer to bring people together. However, their efforts were compromised somewhat by the quick turnover in General Managers at the time. That changed after World War II. As the United States flourished, so too did the MCMA. By 1951 the suburban lifestyle had become the attractive economic driving force in the country. Hence, the need for clubs grew quickly. In 1984, reacting to poor representation on the national Board and national committees by representatives of Regions I, II, and III, MCMA members Eric Caspers, Jim Glover, Artie Russell, and Juergen Schumann proposed an alliance between the three regions, then encompassing twelve chapters. That alliance was created, and has since provided a better forum for the communication of information of

A Heritage of Service

At an MCMA Board meeting in 1980, with President Roger Ross in command; at table (left to right) are Doug Louis, Richard Edgington, Peter D’Angelo, John Cremers, Egon Jorgensen, and Wolfgang Bulka; standing are Ted Van Cott, Bob Stanley, John McGuire, Alex Levchuck, and Sebert Griffith.

local interest and a common front for advising on national issues such as education, membership, and financial matters. The first meeting took place in 1982 at the Harmonie Club in New York City, hosted by General Manager Frank Saris. The first chairman was George C. Jehlen. Although the chairmanship rotated biannually among the three regions, the annual meeting has been hosted by Frank Saris until 2004, when Frank retired and the meeting was held in conjunction with the Metropolitan Club Foundation’s Vendor Exhibition at

the Glen Arbor Club in Westchester County. Today, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the role of the General Manager has become more complex than ever. Clearly, he must serve the needs of a large and diverse membership, and work effectively with the Board. He is also responsible for hiring and training his own staff, controlling the club’s expenses, and developing new members. The General Manager and his team provide the continuity that leads to successful club operation.

Helpful Hints From Jim Glover Rule No. 1: Remember, the members are always right. Rule No. 2: Even if they are wrong, yet insist they are right, go back to Rule No. 1 If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. What we anticipate seldom occurs, what we expect generally happens. Five Certified Club Managers employed at Century Country Club in 1985: (left to right) Frederick H. Hollister, Frank Ridout, James J. Glover, Executive Director/General Manager of the Century Country Club, Frederick G. Horan, and Victor F. Homberg.

When James J. Glover was Executive Director/General Manager of the Century Country Club in 1985, he enjoyed a rather unique situation. In addition to himself, there were three other certified General Managers on his staff. They were: Frank Ridout, who had been his front office manager since 1973, and in fact, has been at the club for thirty-one years. Frederick H. Hollister, who was retired, worked in the club’s accounting office. He was a regional director for the CMAA in 1953, national director from 1959 to 1961, and president of the Metropolitan Chapter during the 1940s. He served as General Manager of the Scarsdale Golf Club for twenty years and General Manager of the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club for seven years. Fred is a former president of Ye Hosts Square Club and, in his retirement, kept his hand in club business at Century. A member of CMAA’s 25-Year Club, Victor E. Homberg was

Small people think they are small, great people think they are great.

also retired and worked in the accounting office. Victor was president of the City Club Managers Association in 1949, and General Manager of the Drug and Chemical Club of New York for thirtyseven years, and General Manager of the Downtown Athletic Club for ten years. Victor was the second of three generations of General Managers in his family, and is currently followed by his son, Peter Hornberg, who is at the Penn Club. Peter has been a national CMAA director since 2000. In addition, Frederick G. Horan was in his second year as clubhouse manager at Century. He formerly served as General Manager at the Coveleigh Club in Rye, and was working to achieve his certified status at the time. Jim Glover reports that his club president once told him, “With a basketball team like this, we better have a good year, or we’ll all be in trouble.”

Kindness is the golden chain by which the employees under you are bound together. Show me a person who is thoroughly satisfied with himself, and I will show you a failure.

Birth of the Metropolitan Sectione

CMAA headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, with Executive Director Horace G. Duncan in foreground.

A Heritage of Service

Ch a p t e r 2

Club Managers Association of America A national organization was inevitable. The Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) traces its roots to mid-1926, when Colonel Clinton G. Holden, General Manager at the Olympia Fields Country Club near Chicago, invited a group of colleagues from clubs across the country to discuss matters of common interest and to spread information about the club management business. Statistics bear out the dramatic growth in the club industry at that time, and consequently, the need for some form of cooperation and exchange of information among the General Managers. Between the years 1915 and 1927, the number of town clubs had grown from 2,700 to 4,500, and the number of country clubs from 1,000 to 5,500. In 1927 the aggregate membership in city clubs exceeded five million, while country club memberships numbered approximately 2.7 million. Club usage increased by 35 percent in that same time frame. To make his proposed new organization more enticing, Holden promised no initiation fees or annual dues for charter members of the “National Association of Club Managers.” There were six men on the Organizing Committee, representing local “chapters” in Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, New Orleans, Detroit, and Bob O’Link. Temporary headquarters were set up in the Hotel Sherman in Chicago. The seminal meeting took place at the Hotel Sherman on January 24–28, 1927, “sponsored” by a club equipment exposition held there simultaneously (trade exhibits were barred from CMAA conferences until 1956). Approximately 1,200 general managers expressed interest in the organization, and approximately one hundred, including nine women, actually attended that first meeting.

“Now is the acceptable time for General Managers to begin to prepare for the big things that are bound to happen in the near future.” – FRED ROACH, 1927 President, Detroit Club Managers Association

Club Managers Association of America

Peter D’Angelo, Whitney Travis, and Peter Tunley

CMAA Presidents from Metropolitan Chapter 1930 John L. Keenaghan Beach Point Club

1946-1947 Eric G. Koch North Hills Country Club

1974 Peter A. D’Angelo Hampshire Country Club

1979 Whitney Travis Stock Exchange Club

2002 Peter J. Tunley Stanwich Club

2006 Burton Ward Century Country Club

A Heritage of Service

A 1975 meeting of past MCMA presidents, including two CMAA national presidents: (left to right) Eric G. Koch, national president from 1946 to 1947; William F. Bimer; Alexander H. Levchuck; Steven F. Yurasits; Egon Jorgensen, Peter A. D’Angelo, national president 1974; with Douglas G. Louis presenting the presidential gavel to Wolfgang E. Bulka.

A total of twenty “papers” were presented to the entire assemblage, with topics ranging from “why a club needs a General Manager,” to his salary and his relationship to the golf pro and greenskeeper, to cost accounting, budgets, and food service. A Bylaws Committee was appointed, and charged to produce bylaws, a constitution, and a charter by meeting’s end. Much heated discussion ensued, the debate centering around such topics as how the organization should be governed and who would be eligible for membership. A Nominating Committee was appointed, and produced a slate of officers, who were elected by acclamation of the seventy-three voters (a practice that continued for more than a decade). C. G. Holden was elected the first president, and five vice presidents were elected, basically to act as regional directors. The assembly also established a $5 entrance fee and $5 annual dues. Accounting practices were an early concern of the CMAA, which worked for five years before producing a uniform classification of accounts for country clubs in 1932. The system was revised in 1961. By 1970 computer systems had become available to do statistics, forecasting, and all aspects of accounting.

National Headquarters The new organization lived a vagabond’s existence for two decades. “Headquarters” typically meant the president’s club, and the CMAA’s files were kept in a drawer in the president’s office. During the years 1949 to 1957, national headquarters were established in St. Louis, Missouri, where the CMAA occupied the same building as Club Right: Peter D’Angelo on the cover of Club Management Magazine in 1974.

CMAA Board Members from MCMA Section The following MCMA members have served on the national Board of Directors. Peter J. Tunley Whitney Travis Peter M. Homberg Roger S. Ross Fred H. Hollister Peter A. D’Angelo John W. Cremers Ara Daglian Burton Ward

Colonel Clinton G. Holden Colonel Clinton G. Holden, the driving force behind the founding of the CMAA, and the Association’s first president, died in 1932. Holden also was deeply involved with the creation of the Association’s Code of Ethics and uniform system of accounts, as well as in establishing cooperative links with the associations representing the golf professionals and the golf course superintendents.

Management Magazine. In January of 1948 the rapid growth of the membership mandated the hiring of an assistant to the president, the position carrying the title “Executive Director.” In 1956 the CMAA decided to move the national Headquarters from St. Louis to Washington, DC, so as to be near the legislative and legal process. The move took place in April of 1957, and through 1976 the national headquarters moved several times within the capital region, always to leased space, typically because additional space was needed. Finally, in 1975 the Board decided that it made better business sense to own its property, rather than lease, and soon found a mansion in Bethesda, Maryland, the former Austrian Embassy on sprawling grounds. The Mansion served the CMAA until 1990 when the difficult commute was a primary reason for the move to the present headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. After selling the mansion for a considerable profit (approximately $1 million), the Board decided to construct a three-story building with 17,000 square feet of office space. A committee was appointed to oversee the Building Fund Campaign (MCMA’s John Bladt was a member) which approached individuals, clubs, organizations, and corporations to raise the money needed. The total cost of the building was $2.5 million, almost half of which was pledged by CMAA members.

Membership

National Conferences Hosted by MCMA: 1930 Astor Hotel 1936 Waldorf Astoria Hotel 1947 Hotel Pennsylvania 1957 Commodore Hotel 1980 Waldorf-Astoria Hotel

A Heritage of Service

CMAA membership grew rapidly at first, the roster growing from 272 names in 1927 to 488 at the end of 1931, just before the Depression reached its depths. Membership dropped during the Depression, and in 1935 there were 400 active members representing sixteen chapters. The losses had been recaptured before decade’s end, then expanded rapidly to nearly 600 in mid-1940.

Education In 1935 the majority of the nation’s clubs did not employ a trained individual devoted full-time to the operation of the club. The CMAA attempted to alert clubs to the advantage of having a General Manager, and also served as a job bank (as did the MCMA), maintaining a list of all unemployed members. At the beginning, and continuing through the present, the showcase educational tool has been the annual conferences that have always highlighted the concerns and trends of the times. The conference was conceived as a time of fellowship, of renewing old acquaintances and making new friends, of learning and refreshing one’s skills – and of reacting to the crises of the day, whether they be social, political, or legislative in nature.

Conference Highlights The 1936 conference was held at the new Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, the CMAA’s second visit to the Metropolitan district (the first was at the Hotel Astor in 1930). The managers were given a half-day tour of the hotel, and came away with many ideas that might be useful at their clubs. At times the settings themselves provided the entertainment. At the 1962 conference in Miami Beach, a luau was interrupted by a tropical storm. The 1971 Conference was held in London, and proved to be a revelation. The educational program centered around English elegance, and the managers attending witnessed the creative imagination of London’s finest gourmets. They brought home with them new concepts for food and its preparation, new styles in service, new programs in entertainment, and new adventures in dining.

The Planning Committee for the London Conference: seated, from left to right: Whitney Travis, chairman, and wife Marge, John Cremers; standing, on far right, Alex Levchuck and Doug Louis. Right: Big Ben stands ready for the 1971 Conference.

The 1976 Conference at the Washington Hilton was interrupted by a major strike. Some CMAA members served in various capacities until administrative help arrived. The members saw the new national headquarters in Bethesda, and several attended a meeting at the White House. John McGuire, General Manager at the Westchester Country Club, and Jim Glover, together with wives Patricia and Marette, respectively, had lunch with the executive chef of the White House, then took a tour. The White House chef once worked for McGuire at Westchester Country Club.

B a c k To S c h o o l In 1939 it was recommended that the CMAA act as a clearinghouse for literature on club management. Consequently, the CMAAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reference library was established, incorporating items from club by-laws and constitutions to menus and wine lists. In 1959 the Club Management Institute (CMI), which had been formed a few years earlier to oversee a

Former CMAA president and long-time Education Chairman Charles E. Smith (third from left) at a meeting with Metropolitan and Connecticut Chapters at the Quinipiac Club in 1986. From left to right: Gregory Felle, John Bladt, Smith, John Lippke, Edward J. Drew, and Michael Robinson.

A Heritage of Service

The Club Managers Association of America Proudly announces that these General Managers as of 2005 have been awarded its highest honor The 500 Honor Society for Earning 500 points in the Association’s Certification Program during his most distinguished career in the field of Club Management Steven Arias, CCM

Robert C. James, CCM, CHE

John D. Assumma, CCM

Egon C. Jorgensen, CCM

Patricia T. Barbino, CCM

Alexander H Levchuck, CCM

John C. Bladt, CCM

Richard J. MacBain, CCM

Kurt A. Brod, CCM

Dennis R. Meermans, CCM

Ara Daglian, CCM

James L. Nolletti, CCM

Charles D. Dorn, CCM

Jack G. Ruddick, CCM

Danial J. Farrell, CCM

Randall J. Ruder, CCM

Ian D. N. Fetigan, CCM

Frank E. Saris, CCM

James J. Glover, CCM

Juergen H. Schumann, CCM

Michael G. Hoskam, CCM

Peter J. Tunley, CCM

Burton Ward, CCM

program of “short courses” offered across the country, prepared a course of study leading to a bachelor’s degree, available to any interested college. That same year, five one-day short courses were given across the country. In 1961 the CMI started a five-year program – one year in depth on each of five phases in club management. The program featured outstanding faculty members from leading universities. The CMAA was by no means the first to offer a college program relating to the hospitality industry. Cornell University’s program in hotel administration, developed by Howard B. Meeks (addressed as “Dean” Meeks on campus), began as a summer program in 1922. From a first graduating class of three in 1925, the program grew quickly, with 150 students in the program by 1932. In 1958 the CMI provided eight general managers to co-teach a course at Cornell. In 1967 the CMI published a textbook, “Private Club Administration,” written by Henry Ogden Barbour, CCM. A student membership category was established in 1977, and the CMAA began establishing student chapters at universities with hospitality programs. In the mid-1980s Joe Perdue, of Georgia State University in Atlanta, guided by Chris Borders, CCM, developed a club management curriculum that eventually led to the Business Management Institute (BMI). The first BMI course was offered at Georgia State in 1988, and the program has developed into a five-level professional development program now offered at seven renowned hospitality schools. The CMAA’s most recent development along educational lines was the Lifetime Professional Development Program, which came to fruition in 1990. It consisted of a series of specialized programs and conferences that help general managers constantly expand their knowledge, abilities, and resources.

Professionalism Professionalism has always been a major concern of the CMAA. A Code of Ethics was approved in 1930 to help establish the occupation’s self discipline in the public eye. (The MCMA already had adopted such a code in 1923.) The Association took a major step to “standardize” the profession in 1962 with the study of a possible certification program. The Certification Committee worked cautiously for three years, trying to balance the difference between educated general managers and those who learned “on the job.” Finally, late in 1964 they developed a point system that evaluated education, experience, and CMAA involvement, and established administrative procedures defining how the program would operate. The system was considered rigid enough to be valid, yet elastic enough to allow hard workers to get through. The first 150 to be certified were recognized at the 1966 Conference. A comprehensive

Master General Managers (as of 2005): Joseph F. Basso James H. Brewer Dorothy S. Donovan Laurice T. “Bud” Hall Edward Henderson John A. Jordan Jerry McCoy A. Graham McDeson Michael Robinson William A. Schulz Norman J. Spitzig, Jr. Mac A. Winker

Club Managers Association of America

In many professions, a successful career is marked by an appropriate degree of professional development verified by a credible certificate program. Recognized by both the public and one’s peers, the Certified Club Manager (CCM) designation has been the Hallmark of professionalism in Club Management. The following MCMA members have achieved certification as of 2005 Troy D. Albert, CCM William R. Aperance, CCM Steven Arias, CCM John D. Assumma, CCM Martin A. Badinelli, Sr., CCM Thomas P. Baird, CCM Patricia T. Barbino, CCM Thomas P. Bartek, CCM Bruce B. Becker, CCM John C. Bladt, CCM Kurt A. Brod, CCM Colin A. Burns, Sr., CCM William H. Burke, CCM Wolfgang E. Bulka, CCM Andrew T. Campbell, CCM James M. Cirillo, CCM Raymond Corcoran, CCM Arthur J. Crouch, CCM John G. Crean, CCM, CHA David Cugini, CCM Ara Daglian, CCM Charles D. Dorn, CCM Daniel J. Farrell, CCM

Ian D. N. Fetigan, CCM Dennis Harrington, CCM Kevin Harrington, CCM Richard R. Hackenburg, CCM Theodore P. Hennes, CCM Peter M. Homberg, CCM Robert C. James, CCM, CHE James J. Glover, CCM Egon C. Jorgensen, CCM Robert C. Josey, CCM Robert J. Kasara, CCM Richard G. LaCoursiere, Jr., CCM John Larsen, CCM Alexander H. Levchuck, CCM James J. Loper, CCM Michael D. Loper, CCM Michael A. Lopez, CCM Richard J. MacBain, CCM W. James Matthers, CCM John D. Matway, CCM Dennis R. Meermans, CCM Capt. J. Douglas Miller, CCM Mark Moon, CCM

James L. Nolletti, CCM Edward Noroian, CCM Meg O’Connor, CCM P. Robert Peters, CCM Jeffrey M. Plain, CCM Jeffrey Riegler, CCM Edward Ronan, CCM Jack G. Ruddick, CCM Randall J. Ruder, CCM Wayne J. Russell, CCM Frank E. Saris, CCM Rob Schlingmann, CCM David A. Schutzenhofer, CCM John R. Schuler, CCM Juergen H. Schumann, CCM David A. Shaw, CCM Michael H, Thorne, CCM Charles Torrance, CCM Peter J. Tunley, CCM David R. Tyson, CCM Burton Ward, CCM Siegfried P. Wiedemann, CCM Todd Zorn, CCM

The Metropolitan Club Managers Home at Richmond Hill.

A Heritage of Service

written examination (five tests, with ten books required reading) supplementing existing procedures was put in place in 1972. Today, to be certified, a manager must pass a day-long exam with questions taken from thirteen different textbooks, on subjects ranging from tax laws, insurance, and accounting to food and beverage supervision. In 1992 the Master General Manager (MCM) certification was established, recognizing lifetime contributions, including extensive education. Two years later, in 1994, the CMAA established “Premier Club Services” to provide innovative programs, products, and services that enhanced the successful operation of clubs. During its first year, the PCS published The Club Operations Manual, which immediately was called an industry standard. In September of 1995 the CMAA’s web site “ClubNet” started. Although primarily an information dissemination vehicle, it also provides an on-line distance learning course for General Managers.

The Modern Era In the late 1980s there arose a call for a change in the CMAA’s structure and its approach to promoting a consistently professional image. Early in 1990 the Board was looking for new leadership, and hired Jim Singerling, CCM, CEC, as the new executive vice-president. Singerling reorganized the CMAA’s financial matters, educational programs, and standards, and smoothed out relations with allied organizations. In 1985 a group of General Managers on the national Board level and others from around the country organized the Club Foundation. The idea was presented to the group by Jim Petsing. The organizing group included Bob Southwell, Jim Goslin, Mead Grady, Lee Steger, George Gasser, and Edward Don, all of whom were motivated by the Foundation’s first chair-

man, the dynamic W. R. “Red” Steger, CCM, the General Manager of the River Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas. Steger got the ball rolling with an impressive donation of his own money. The Metropolitan Chapter, under the presidency of Drew Campbell, was among the first to make a major donation, $50,000, which was presented at the North Hills Country Club, where Arthur Russell was General Manager, to CMAA President James A. Goslin, Jr., CCM. The Club Foundation, a charitable foundation created to endow educational pursuits into perpetuity, was established 1988. The resulting “Campaign for Excellence” set its goal at $3 million, and quickly received $1.6 million from members, before turning to vendors. The goal was reached in 1997 and a new goal to raise $7 million was established. The Club Foundation (CF) now contributes grants in support of the following programs: Assistant Manager In Development Program (AMID) Executive Computer Concepts Program Distance-Learning program Food and Beverage Management Program Certification Review Course Master Club Manager Program Education Grants for the CMAA World Conferences (starting 1997) ClubNet Chapter of the Year awards Membership Recruitment Contest awards BMI Programs Sports Management Wine Society Workshop Assistant Managers Conference The CMAA was recognized in 1992 as a “benchmark” by the US Chamber of Commerce, US Department of Labor, and US Department of Education – as the professional leaders in an industry that employed more than 8.3 million people.

CMAA International Wine Society Barry Chandler (left), president of MCMA, and John Bladt (right) presenting second $50,000 donation to the CMAA’s Foundation Executive Vice President James Singerling (center).

W. R. “Red” Steger

CMAA Executive Directors Henry O. Barbour1948–1957 Edward Lyon1957–1971 Horace G. Duncan 1971–1987 James A. Shuping1987–1989 James B. Singerling1990–

The CMAA International Wine Society was founded in 1988 by a small group of General Managers to meet a growing need among CMAA members – to learn more about wine and appreciate it as a true gift of nature. Through the Wine Society, members with similar interests can join together to enjoy and appreciate the use of wine as well as learn about the roll wine plays in the club culture. The following is a current list of 2005 CMAA International Wine Society members: Troy D. Albert, CCM Martin A. Badinelli, Sr., CCM Frank A. Benzakour, CCM John C. Bladt, CCM Joseph M. Carraher, Jr. Barry L. Chandler Gerard C. Conway Gregg J. Deger Charles D. Dorn, CCM Richard R. Hackenburg, CCM Peter M. Homberg, CCM Robert C. James, CCM, CHE Robert J. Kasara, CCM Rudiger S. Loose Jeffrey Martocci Martel Meyer

W. James Matthers, CCM Richard J. MacBain, CCM Dennis R. Meermans, CCM William Minard Mark W. Moon, CCM Sam Nerses Ronald F. Passaggio Randall J. Ruder, CCM Craig G. Ruhling Frank E. Saris, CCM C. Robert Schlingmann, CCM John R. Schuler, CCM Paul Andrew Smith III Thomas M. Speramdes Peter J. Tunley, CCM Burton Ward, CCM

Siegfried P. Wiedemann, CCM

Club Managers Association of America

Frances Stillman, matriarch of the AABR, with Arthur M. Russell, Juergen H.Schumann, and Aage Nielsen.

A Heritage of Service

Ch a p t e r 3

Charitable Endeavors Association for the Advancement of the Blind and Retarded I n t h e e a r l y 1 9 7 0 s M C M A m e m b e r s b e g a n t o t a k e a n i n t e re s t in sharing their influence and resources to help those who were less fortunate. In 1974 as good fortune would have it, Martha Rosen and Max Posner, executive directors of the Association for the Advancement of the Blind and Retarded (AABR), were introduced to Frank Rotunno, General Manager at the Willow Ridge Country Club in Harrison, New York, by a member, and asked him if he could run a golf tournament to help raise money for AABR, to help support that group’s unprecedented services to children and adults on whom all others had given up. Notable among AABR’s supporters was Frances Stillman, whose gentle kindness and generous nature personified the AABR’s mission. At a subsequent President/General Manager golf outing at Century Country Club, Fred Richter spoke to those present about the AABR and asked the MCMA to support the organization. The first AABR tournament was held at Willow Ridge in 1974, organized by a committee consisting of Frank Rotunno, Fred Richter, Jim Glover, Jack Vallis, and John Daskos. The 1974 tournament also involved the Metropolitan section of the PGA. The format was unusual. Play was in groups of six, including one golf professional, one entertainer, and four guests. With New York Giants baseball great Willie Mays as chairman, and celebrities like Joe Garagiola, Rocky Graziano, Cab Calloway, and Phil Foster participating, the tournament raised $10,000 for AABR, and New York State matched it, making the total gift $20,000.

“. . . faith, hope, charity, these three; But the greatest of these is charity.” – I CORINTHIANS

Charitable Endeavors

The Metropolitan Club Managers Home at Richmond Hill.

The Gaspar Klamar home, commissioned in 2003.

A Heritage of Service

The Arthur Russell home, commissioned in 1992.

The Frederic G. Goldmann home, commissioned in 2002.

Among the specially invited guests at that first tournament were Long Island General Managers Wolfgang Bulka, Alex Levchuck, Arthur Russell, and MCMA President Douglas G. Louis, all of whom were invited so that word would spread back to Long Island about the MCMA’s new endeavor and its initial success. The Long Island General Managers enthusiastically supported the 1975 tournament at Willow Ridge, where former New York Yankees pitcher Whitey Ford was the chairman, and also the 1976 and 1977 events at Ridgeway. The 1977 tournament was so well supported that an overflow of golfers played across the road at Westchester Hills. That event raised $50,000, an amount once again matched by the state. With the tournament growing bigger each year, the MCMA decided in 1978 to change the venue to Long Island, where there were several clubs large enough to host the outing. Fred Richter was honored for his work with AABR, and as a founder of the AABR golf tournament, receiving awards from the MCMA in 1975 and from AABR itself in 1976. The MCMA received a Chapter Achievement Award from the CMAA at the latter’s annual meeting in 1975. Thus was born a partnership that has flourished for over thirty years. Through the establishment of the MCMA Charity Committee and its creation, the Douglas G. Louis Memorial Golf Outing and Dinner (so named in 1993, many years after the first tournament), the MCMA has had a measurable impact on the work of AABR. Special recognition was extended to Janet and Alex Levchuck for their tireless efforts each year for over twenty-five years working as financial administrators of the MCMA/AABR Tournaments – taking care of tournament and dinner registration and reservations as well as handling revenues from sales of thousands of raffle tickets. The Association for the Advancement of the Blind and Retarded was established in 1956 by a group of six parents whose only option at that time for their devel-

opmentally disabled and blind children was institutionalization. The parents rejected that option and proceeded to organize programs of education that to this day describe AABR's mission, “that each life may find meaning.” As the name implies, its mission is to educate and train those most vulnerable individuals in our society, the severely and profoundly retarded and, in many instances, those also blind and/or wheelchair bound. Since 1956, AABR has grown from an association serving 125 children to one caring for 700 disabled children and adults in residential group homes, day treatment programs, family based services, a home for respite care, a school for children with autism, an innovative thrift shop run for and by individuals in AABR’s training programs, and a group home for six adolescent males with autism. AABR’s steady growth, establishing quality homes and programs, would not have been possible without the unique partnership formed in 1974. What began as

Bettey Russell, who was very active with AABR, with baseball Hall of Famer Whitey Ford, for many years chairman of the AABR golf tournament.

“AABR was born of a Dream. It has been said that Dreams are illusions, fantasies, unreal, ‘rainbows in the sky.’ Our Dreams are alive, vibrant, active. Our Dream began in 1956, thirty-eight years ago, that one day multiple handicapped blind and severely retarded young people would discover meaningful lives in our society, because ‘In Every One There Is Something Precious That Is In No Other.’” – Frances Stillman, 1994 Left: Douglas G. Louis – the annual golf tournament is named in his memory, in appreciation of his tireless work and contributions to the AABR.

Charitable Endeavors

At an AABR luncheon at the Americana Hotel. Standing from left to right: Wolfgang Bulka, Max Posner, Martha Rosen; seated, Regina Bulka, Bettey Russell, Arthur Russell, Ann Ross, and Roger Ross.

A Heritage of Service

a dream grew into a full commitment to the AABR, involving the Messrs. Bulka, Levchuck, Louis, Russell, Schumann, and Yurasits as well as Richter, Glover, Vallis, and Daskos. Through MCMA’s efforts and the many friends who followed, a bond was forged. To date, MCMA has contributed almost $3 million to AABR enabling AABR to invest in and expand services to the severely and profoundly retarded, and to children with autism. The following is a chronicle of the MCMA/AABR partnership from its birth in 1974 through the MCMA’s Seventy-fifth Anniversary celebration in 1998 . . . and beyond. In 1974 immediately following the initial gift from the MCMA, the AABR was able to open its first residential home in St. Albans, Queens, the Posner/Rosen Residence. To this day, adults from the initial AABR community together with former residents of Willowbrook live in their home community, close to family and friends. These fifteen people have a home of their own for the rest of their lives, and will never again know the despair of living in an institution. Plans and ground breaking for a second community home, AABR’s Innervision Residence for young adults in St. Albans, Queens, began in 1975. It was also in 1975 when New York Yankees baseball legend Whitey Ford joined the MCMA tradition as co-chairperson, continuing in that role until 1986. Because of the AABR’s unique experience with day programming for children who were retarded, and a few who were blind, the agency became the most logical choice to develop programs for the New York area’s Day Training Program for Adults. This program was chartered in 1976 for twenty-five adults. The following year, it was formally established as New York State’s first Day Treatment Center for Adults. Parkway Village Residence for young adults, AABR’s third residence, opened in Kew Gardens, Queens, in 1977. Soon after the 1978 MCMA Charity Golf Outing on Long Island, AABR opened the first of three resi-

dences dedicated as Metropolitan Club Managers Association Residences. The first MCMA home was opened in Kew Gardens, Queens, soon followed (in 1979) by the Water Street Residence for young adults in Manhattan. The third Metropolitan Club Managers Association Residence for young adults, the Grand Avenue Residence, was opened in the Bronx, soon after the Seventh Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament in 1980. At the MCMA Christmas Party in 1978, Fred Richter announced a donation of $5,000 to St. Basil’s Orphanage Academy in Garrison, New York. By 1981 the original Highland Avenue School for Children was beginning to show wear and tear. The proceeds of that year’s MCMA Golf Classic, coinciding with the worldwide celebration of the “International Year of the Disabled,” made possible the renovation of Highland, which in turn permitted an expansion of programs there. In 1982 Juergen H. Schumann, MCMA Golf Chairperson and host at Old Westbury Golf and Country Club, introduced tennis into the Ninth Annual MCMA Celebrity Golf and Tennis Tournament. AABR’s Austin Street Residence in Rego Park, Queens, was dedicated soon thereafter. In 1983 the AABR’s Highland Avenue School for Children was once again expanded, offering students daily clinical services, including speech and language therapy, medical, psychological and social services. AABR’s Cromwell Avenue Residence on Staten Island and Tiebout Avenue Residence in the Bronx were opened for young adults in 1984 and 1985, respectively. Newscaster John Johnson accepted the first MCMA “Man of the Year” award from MCMA President P. Eric Caspers at the Twelfth Annual Celebrity Golf and Tennis Tournament at Old Westbury in 1985. As AABR adolescents became adults, their needs changed. In 1986, to accommodate these needs, the Highland Avenue School for Children – facility and

“A heart filled with love Always has something to give.” – Frances Stillman

Jason came to AABR in 1977, lacking any self esteem and most basic daily living skills, including hygiene, dressing, eating, and socialization. Today, Jason has a sense of worth, is motivated, capable, can communicate, tell time, and prepare a simple meal. He has a job in the community, enjoys dancing and competing in the Special Olympics. – MCMA Journal 1990

“House For All Seasons It is their haven! There they can spend vacations – celebrate birthdays – enjoy holidays – swim – bike – plant in the vegetable and flower gardens – visit museums – attend village fairs – walk along the ocean beach. A new world will be open to them”. – Frances Stillman, 1994

Charitable Endeavors

At the 1985 AABR outing: Roger Ross, Alex Levchuck, Artie Russell, and Wolfgang Bulka.

A Heritage of Service

equipment – was updated and Highland was reorganized and chartered as the Highland Day Treatment Center for Adults. The MCMA presented Whitey Ford with its “Man of the Year” award in 1986. The first MCMA “Humanitarian Award’ was presented that year to Jean Kennedy Smith (President Kennedy’s sister), and an additional special tribute was presented to tennis great Ivan Lendl. By 1987 MCMA had contributed about $1 million to the AABR and opened its John Johnson Residence for young adults in the Bronx. New York Islander Brian Trottier came on board as Honorary Co-Chairperson with Arthur Russell as MCMA chairman. Jean and Juergen Schumann were honored as “couple of the year.” The Posner/Rosen Residence and Innervision Residence were completely renovated and modernized in 1988 and 1989, respectively. At this point in time AABR had invested the generous efforts of the MCMA in facilities and programs that were helping more than 300 severely and profoundly retarded children and young adults every day. In 1990 the Metropolitan Club Managers Association Residence in Kew Gardens, Queens, which had been opened in 1978, was renovated and modernized to conform with the building code. The MCMA’s first Journal was published in conjunction with the 17th Annual Charity Golf Tournament and dinner at Old Westbury. In 1991, as a result of New York City’s fiscal crisis, it became increasingly difficult for agencies like the AABR to open new community residences. Together with new barriers put in place by community activists, the obstacles were formidable. AABR, determined to fulfill its commitment to offer adequate community services for families caring for their disabled children at home, developed a totally new service, the Family Services Program. This unique and innovative program was the first of its kind for AABR, bringing daily

St. Pascalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in Queens, where the auditorium is named in memory of Douglas G. Louis and Frances Stillman.

assistance such as clinical services, therapy and respite, to these families in the comfort and security of their homes. In 1992 Hanid House in Mattituck, Long Island, was planned as the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first full time, year-round vacation and respite residence. Much needed, this unique program is completely supported by private donations. It was later renamed the Arthur Russell House. Also, the Austin Street residence was named in honor of Martha

Wellington Hall, in Queens, New York, in which one program has been named in memory of Jean and Wolfgang Bulka and Jean and Juergen Schumann.

and Murray Berkowitz and sons, long-time supporters of MCMA and AABR. The fourth Metropolitan Club Managers Association Residence for disabled adults opened in Richmond Hill, Queens, in 1993. This home became the loveliest jewel in the crown of love built by the MCMA over the years. In 1993 at Pine Hollow, the MCMA Charity Golf Outing and Dinner was dedicated to the memory of

Douglas G. Louis, a much beloved member of MCMA, who had died in August at the age of seventy-four. The event was named the Douglas G. Louis Charity Tournament at this time.

A Heritage of Service

Metropolitan Rookies: Peter Stanley, Whitey Ford (honorary chairman for the AABR tournament), Tom Heaney, Keith Roth, and Fred Goldmann at a golf outing in the mid 1970s.

A Heritage of Service

AABR Charity Outing Host Clubs 1974–1975 1976–1977 1978–1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985–1986 1987 1988–1989 1990 1991 1992 1993–1994 1995 1996 1997 1998–2000 2001 2002–2003 2004–2005

Willow Ridge Ridgeway Muttontown Engineers Old Westbury Glen Oaks Cold Spring Old Westbury Glen Head Muttontown Old Westbury Pine Hollow Glen Head Pine Hollow Glen Oaks Seawane Muttontown Old Westbury Pine Hollow Brae Burn/Century Westchester CC

Congratulations from President George H. W. Bush.

Charitable Endeavors

John Bladt finishing his 8th New York City Marathon, 2003. Left: Burton Ward finishing the Boston Marathon.

“I . . . offer my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to MCMA . . . They have a true reverence for Life, and have helped to establish a fine and noble tradition. their tireless commitment, devotion, and dedication is truly an inspiration to all.” – Alfonse M. D’Amato United States Senator, 1996

A Heritage of Service

In 1994, in response to a heart-wrenching plea for help from families in total despair, without hope for their children with autism, the AABR expanded its mission to include such children. In a storefront in Queens Village, the area’s first pre-school education program offering the scientific-based Applied Behavioral Analysis approach, the New York Child Learning Institute was opened. Enrollment increased as calls for help came from around the country. Soon, a waiting list for services was established. Almost immediately, the AABR expanded the Institute to its maximum enrollment and relocated

to a site in College Point, Queens. At the same time, the AABR developed an approved school curriculum for the children that was chartered by the New York State Board of Education. At about this time the AABR’s St. Pascal’s Adult Day Program in Jamaica, Queens, underwent a complete renovation and restoration. The 1996 MCMA gift of $112,996 from the Douglas G. Louis Golf Outing and Dinner was applied to the construction of the auditorium at the St. Pascal’s Day Treatment Center, a portion of the renovation that was not eligible for funding from New York State. The auditorium, including beautiful stained glass windows, was dedicated to the Metropolitan Club Managers Association and named in memory of Douglas Louis; one of the restored windows includes the MCMA letters. The auditorium is enjoyed daily by the disabled individuals in AABR’s programs. It is also used to host many special events throughout the year, including MCMA meetings and AABR parents’ meetings. At the Twenty-third Annual Dinner at the Seawane Club, MCMA President Gaspar Klamar honored AABR’s Frances Stillman as MCMA’s “Woman of the Year” for her twenty-two years of inspired leadership to AABR and MCMA. In 1997 the agency named its first community residence for adolescent boys with autism, the Frances Stillman Home, in appreciation for and in honor of all that she had accomplished for the AABR. This new home in St. Albans, Queens, now residence for adolescents who had been living in institutions, was officially dedicated in 1998. The same year, in keeping with its mission “that each life may find meaning,” the AABR opened a unique and innovative thrift shop, the Treasure Box, at the former site of its administrative offices on Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. This fulfilled the need for some AABR individuals to engage in advanced activities that placed them in daily contact with the public. The Treasure Box is completely managed and operated by

AABR individuals, carefully supervised by AABR staff experienced in habilitation development. Several MCMA General Managers and their families have contributed clothing, small household items, and jewelry to this retail/resale program. Another benefit of this program is its full acceptance by people in the neighborhood who truly appreciate the quality and value of the goods they are able to purchase. Especially significant is the growth in confidence and self-esteem on the part of AABR individuals as a result of their interaction with their neighbors. At the Twenty-fourth annual Dinner in 1997, the MCMA honored Wolfgang Bulka, Fred Goldmann, Alex Levchuck, Arthur Russell ,and Juergen Schumann for their lifelong distinguished Service to the MCMA and the MCMA/AABR partnership. In November 1997 MCMA’s newly installed president, John C. Bladt, joined families and friends of the AABR by running in the New York City Marathon. This venture not only supported the AABR’s efforts for children with autism, it strengthened the mutual mission of MCMA and AABR to help disadvantaged and severely disabled people live meaningful lives. It has become an annual event now, with several General Managers and friends of AABR participating. A group of Club Managers and AABR associates run marathons each year to raise funds from friends, family, and Club Managers for the support of AABR. Their slogan is “Managers for Sports Helping the Handicapped, or Run for Fun – and the AABR.” In 2003 the net was $30,000. The MCMA’s Twenty-fifth Anniversary Golf Classic and Dinner Dance to benefit the AABR also was a celebration of the MCMA’s Seventy-fifth Anniversary. Hosted by one of the MCMA’s Founding Charity Committee members, Juergen Schumann, at Old Westbury Golf and Country Club, August 31, 1998, the event was made even more special by the participation of the Metropolitan PGA golf professionals. Under President John C. Bladt’s leadership, Charity

“All of the members of the MCMA are to be commended for their tireless efforts, self-sacrifice and resourcefulness in enhancing the quality of life for individuals with multiple developmental disabilities”. – George E. Pataki Governor, New York State, 1997

The 1999 Tournament Committee. From left to right, upper level: Wolfgang Bulka, Chris Weldon, Gaspar Klamar, Alexander Levchuck. Middle level: Aage Nielsen, Frederic Goldmann, Donald Mollitor, Armand Ausserlechner, Robert and Margaret Josey. Bottom level: Janice Sussman, John Bladt, Debra Van Curra, and Juergen and Jeanie Schumann. Seated, Frances Stillman.

“The great use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it.” – Frances Stillman, 1995

Charitable Endeavors

AABR Charity Outing Chairmen Frank Rotunno 1974–1975

Hans J. Juenemann 1984

Fred Richter 1976–1977

Arthur Russell 1987

Wolfgang Bulka 1978

Brian Trottier 1987

Keith Roth 1981

Gaspar M. Klamar 1988–1991

Juergen Schumann 1982–1983, 1985–1986

Don Mollitor 1992–1997

In 1998 the Diamond Jubilee Committee consisted of Wolfgang E. Bulka, Scott Burne, Frederic G. Goldmann, Thomas B. Heaney, Gaspar M. Klamar, Alexander Levchuck, Donald F. Mollitor, Arthur M. Russell, Juergen H. Schumann, and James J. Glover, chairman. Juergen Schumann 1999–2000 Gaspar Klamar 2001 Dennis Harrington 2002–2005

A Heritage of Service

Committee Co-Chairs Wolfgang E. Bulka, Frederic G. Goldmann, Thomas B. Heaney, Gaspar M. Klamar, Alexander Levchuck, Donald F. Mollitor, Arthur M. Russell, and Juergen H. Schumann pulled out all stops to host the MCMA’s most memorable outing ever. Guests were treated to a traditional, yet elaborate, brunch on Old Westbury’s patio; continual food and surprises were available on the course. In the evening, a tempting “around the world” cocktail reception was followed by a full course dinner, entertainment, and dancing to the Mark Stevens Starlight Orchestra. This was yet again followed by non-traditional casino, Viennese reception, and disco into the early hours. The MCMA Silver Anniversary Golf Classic and Dinner Dance raised $155,041, bringing the MCMA that much closer to its millennium goal of $3 million to help the children, young adults, and family members served by the AABR. One month after the Silver Anniversary outing, a Metropolitan Club Managers Association contingent congratulated Frances Stillman on her ninetieth birthday, and announced the AABR Frances Stillman Endowment established in her honor. Juergen Schumann announced a $25,000 gift to the AABR Frances Stillman Endowment from MCMA, and MCMA’s promise that the MCMA/AABR partnership will continue for another twenty-five years! Don Mollitor, together with MCMA members and wives, unfurled “miles of MCMA love” for Frances Stillman. On August 28, 2000, Mr. and Mrs. Juergen H. Schmann were honored by the Association for the Advancement of Blind and Retarded (AABR) at the Metropolitan Club Managers Association’s Annual Golf Tournament. The charity presented a bronze plaque at the dinner, announcing the dedication of the largest wing of the new AABR facility in the couple’s honor. Christopher Weldon, executive director of AABR said, “The Schumanns will forever shine as a model in how to care, how to give, and how to love the most fragile among us.”

The annual golf tournament returned to Westchester County in 2002, for the first time since 1977. The host clubs were Brae Burn and Century. Brae Burn was thought to be the only club in the county large enough to accommodate the number of golfers involved, but one of the largest turnouts in the tournament’s history created the need for a second golf course, which neighbor Century graciously provided. According to event chairman Dennis Harrington of Meadow Brook, the event raised approximately $120,000 for the AABR cause. As 2004 draws to a conclusion, many of the adults the AABR serves are now working in libraries, nursing homes, and the two AABR thrift shops. The AABR’s commitment now includes twenty-two residential homes, two day-treatment centers, and the New York Child Learning Institute (a program for children with autism). The MCMA/AABR partnership continues to fulfill criteria established twenty-five years ago by the original charity committee – to do measurable good. In the years ahead, many more new opportunities for pioneering efforts will present themselves. For example, in the same way that the general population (on average) is aging and coming into their senior years, AABR faces new and unique challenges with the changing needs of its aging population. As the general population ages, senior citizens modify both leisure and recreational activities. At some point, motor coordination declines, eyesight and hearing diminish. Many individuals succumb to the temptations of more passive activities such as watching television and/or listening to the radio. Some others pay less attention to nutrition and/or grooming. AABR is in the process of designing programs to address the needs of the older individuals who cannot withstand the activity of the present-day treatment and habilitation programs. These new programs, including a multi-sensory approach, must enable these individuals to maintain their current functioning level, and contin-

ue to improve their level of community integration. When MCMA General Managers and guests visit AABR’s St. Pascal’s Adult Day Center for a meeting or event, they are greeted with a chorus of AABR group home residents singing “the best they can be.” As tears swell in the eyes of MCMA guests – tears, not of sadness, but of love and pride – one can only imagine what state officials were thinking about years ago when they decided to keep these beautiful human beings in institutions. The Metropolitan Club Managers Association’s promise to maintain its unique partnership with the Association for the Advancement of the Blind and Retarded, sharing its influence and resources with the AABR, will enable the AABR to have a “measurable impact” addressing the needs of these less fortunate individuals, holding fast to the mission “that each life may find meaning.” ROLEX has unequivocally supported the AABR over many years. In addition they have also supported the Newington Children’s Hospital in Connecticut for as many years. As of 2004 they have donated thirty-two ROLEX watches plus thousands of dollars in support of MCMA’s efforts to reach out. Their involvement started in 1985 when a top ROLEX Executive, Rene Dentan, a club member of Rolling Hills Country Club, found out what its manager was doing for charity. Thirty-two watches later, the watches are still generously being donated to the AABR and the Connecticut Club Managers Association.

Pathfinder Village

Pat Fedrico leading the Christmas carols at a party held for the benefit of Pathfinder Village, at Old Westbury Golf and Country Club, 1986.

Pat Federico For many years, Pat Federico has been an MCMA icon. A longtime member of the MCMA, and for seventeen years a member of the Charity Committee, Pat also served on the MCMA Board of Governors, and was a member of the Entertainment and Golf Committee. Pat would be the lead singer at MCMA dinner-dances, and would sing the National Anthem whenever it was called for. Pat served for twelve years as General Manager at the Bedford Golf and Tennis Club, and for another eighteen years, owned and operated the Post Lodge Restaurant. Pat was born in 1919, and is a graduate of Mamaroneck High School and a World War II veteran. A resident of Port Chester, he has been very involved in town politics, serving in numerous capacities, and was named “Outstanding Citizen” in 1979.

A Heritage of Service

Pathfinder Village was founded in 1980 to “develop the individual potential of each resident through meaningful educational, vocational, social, and spiritual programs set in an integrated community.” The residents at Pathfinder Village are children and adults with Down Syndrome. Pathfinder is the country’s only lifelong residential community for people with Down’s, and offers its residents the chance to experience the joy of school and work that most take for granted. Independence, self esteem, and confidence are some of life’s skills developed at Pathfinder, as are responsibility and obligation. Some of the older residents work on site, while others work in the surrounding communities, some at Baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, twenty miles away. Among the activities are field trips and an annual formal dance. As part of Pathfinder’s Twentieth Anniversary celebration, residents worked for a full year writing and staging a sixact play. Pathfinder Village is located in the rolling hills of central New York, just outside Edmeston, ninety miles from Albany in Leatherstocking Country. The facility opened in 1980 with seven houses and a red brick school, situated around a village green. In subsequent years, a Meeting House, Commons, Country Inn, bakery, an adult residence, and a Sports and Recreation Center were built. The All-Faiths Chapel, built in 1841, was moved to the site. In more recent years, a Pavilion, Activity Center, and the Kennedy-Willis Center were added, the latter providing a venue where information and advances made at Pathfinder may be shared with the outside world. The facility is located on a 170-acre site and was established by the MCMA headed by Jean and Juergen Schumann. Pathfinder Village is privately endowed and debt free. Among the many scholarships that support residential life is one funded by the MCMA, whose participation was initiated by Juergen Schumann in 1987.

Mary Griessing and best friend Pepe Gilmann in 1984.

Pathfinder Village had been the home of Mary K. Griessing, daughter of Ed Griessing, General Manager at the North Shore Country Club until his retirement (and previously among the founders of the New Jersey Chapter of the CMAA).

Mary Griessing at age 58. Right: Pathfinder Village, founded in 1980 in Edmeston, New York.

Charitable Endeavorse

A joyful show at Pathfinder Village.

In the fall of 1987 Marian Mullet, president and CEO of Pathfinder Village, and Marion Mossman, director of development, were invited to make a presentation to the officials of the MCMA, who were very cordial and enthusiastic about Pathfinder Village and the cause of Down Syndrome. That meeting was followed by an invitation to the Christmas Party at Old Westbury Golf and Country Club, where a fundraiser netted well over $10,000. Thus began a relationship that is profoundly impor-

A Heritage of Service

tant to children and adults with Down Syndrome who live at Pathfinder Village and around the world. A few years later funds were collected at an annual beach party hosted by Bill and Kathy Rugolsky at the Lawrence Beach Club, and donated to Pathfinder Village, where they were useful in providing services Pathfinder would otherwise have been unable to afford. Later, funds were raised to support those unable to afford the services of Pathfinder Village. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A human scholarship,â&#x20AC;? as Juergen Schumann calls it.

William and Kathy Rugolsky of the Lawrence Beach Club, with Marian Mullett, president and CEO of Pathfinder Village, standing in front of the Interfaith Chapel. Bill and Kathy, and the Lawrence Beach Club, have contributed in excess of $50,000 from the proceeds of the MCMA annual summer picnics at the club.

Barry L. Chandler (center) is photographed here with the “God Squad,” Monsignor Thomas Hartman (right) \and Rabbi Marc Gellman (left) upon receiving the Island Harvest “Wind Benerath My Wings “ Award.

Island Harvest Island Harvest was founded in 1992 “to end hunger and reduce food waste on Long Island.” It is an affiliate member of America’s Second Harvest, the country’s largest hunger relief organization. Island Harvest has identified some five hundred commercial food donors, among them country clubs, caterers, restaurants, hotels, and supermarkets, and delivers the food it “rescues” to over four hundred non-profit agencies in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, including child care centers and Head Start programs. Aside from its obvious benefits, Island Harvest’s intervention allows agencies to allocate food money to other essential services. Since 1992 Island Harvest has “rescued” approximately eighteen million pounds of nutritious food worth approximately $36 million. Among the many annual events that support Island Harvest’s efforts are a Golf Classic, first held in 1997, and the Taste of the Harvest Celebration, which started in 1994. The latter is a dinner-dance accompanied by a silent auction, and is “hosted” by chefs from Long Island clubs. The funds raised are used to feed Long Island’s hungry.

From left to right: Marion Mossman, Community Relations, with Juergen H. Schumann, CEO Marian Mullett, and Pat Federico, 1987.

Madonna Heights Fred Goldmann was instrumental in fundraising for Madonna Heights in western Suffolk County, which offers residential, community, mental health, and outreach service to adolescent girls and women in need. Madonna Heights provides a residential treatment center, a day school, a halfway house for substance abuse rehabilitation, a residential setting for homeless mothers with children, and a family setting for adolescent girls.

Charitable Endeavors

The invitation and dinner menu for the Seventy-fifth Anniversary Jubilee Dinner-Dance.

A Heritage of Service

Ch a p t e r 4

The Seventy-fifth A n n i v e r s a r y Ye a r In the second year of his presidency, 1997, Gaspar Klamar established a Jubilee Committee to oversee the association’s Seventy-fifth Anniversary celebration in 1998. Jim Glover, who chaired that committee, John Bladt, (MCMA president 1998–1999), and Scott Burne all played central roles organizing the year’s activities. In addition to providing a year of celebration at several memorable events, the MCMA hoped the festivities during its seventy-fifth year would help establish closer bonds between the veteran general managers and newcomers to the profession. The MCMA also had plans to honor those general managers who had made notable contributions to the association and industry through the years. Perhaps the highlights of the year were the Seventy-fifth Anniversary Dinner-Dance at Pine Hollow, the Twenty-fifth Anniversary Douglas Louis Golf Tournament at Old Westbury, and the Hall of Fame induction at the Harmonie Club. The year’s events started on April 7 with the fourth annual Vendor Exposition at the Westchester Country Club. Five hundred members and guests attended, and over one hundred exhibitors were on hand to display their products and services. The Seventy-fifth Anniversary Dinner-Dance on Tuesday, June 2, attracted 165 General Managers, spouses, and guests. Host Manager Gaspar Klamar put on a sparkling affair, greeting the attendees with a red carpet and a soldier standing at the entrance. Twenty different foods were displayed at the cocktail reception, and the fifteen-piece Mark Stevens Starlight Orchestra played until midnight.

T h e S e v e n t y - f i f t h A n n i v e r s a r y Ye a r

The living past presidents of MCMA cut the cake.

A Heritage of Service

The “God Squad” (Fr. Hartman and Rabbi Gelman) spoke, as did MCMA President John Bladt and Jubilee Chairman James Glover. The ceremonial cake was cut by nine past MCMA presidents. Fireworks, hidden in the large, beautiful centerpieces, went off at every table by remote control. The Twenty-fifth Anniversary Douglas G. Louis Golf Tournament was held on August 31, and raised over $160,000 for AABR. During its first twenty-five years, the event raised over $2 million, helping AABR expand its services from seventy-three children in 1974 to more than 700 children, adults, and families in 1998. Four homes and one school were purchased and renovated as a result of MCMA’s contributions and ongoing support. The MCMA members were treated to several other outstanding golf outings that year, the lineup including such outstanding courses as Quaker Ridge, Century, and Maidstone, as well as the Metropolitan Club Foundation’s fund raiser at Atlantic. The Spring Invitational Golf Tournament at Quaker Ridge attracted thirty-two foursomes, plus another seven that played at Blind Brook. All were part of our Diamond Jubilee celebration. The Hall of Fame Induction, held on Sunday, November 9, was attended by CMAA Executive Vice President James B. Singerling, past national presidents

Seen at the Jubilee Children’s Christmas Party at Siwanoy were James Glover, Santa Claus (John Daskos), and Jack Vallis.

Peter D’Angelo and Whitney Travis, current Directors Burton Ward and Peter J. Tunley and former director Ara Daglian, and 200 MCMA members and guests. Other notable events during the anniversary year included the “Get Acquainted Ladies Luncheon” held at Rockville Links on July 21. The wives of MCMA members were treated to a mad hatter fashion show and luncheon starring Jim Glover and John Vallis. It was a big success. The New York Athletic Club hosted a family picnic and beach party at its beach facility in the Pelhams.

Charles and Sheryl Torrance at the Diamond Jubilee Christmas Party at Siwanoy Country Club, with their children, Chelsea, Kyle, and Ryan. Right: Hall of Fame inductees Thomas Heaney and Frederic Goldmann

while the Jubilee Winter Wonderland Dinner-Dance was held at Winged Foot on Sunday, December 13, a spectacular event hosted by General Manager Colin Burns. The yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s festivities ended with a wonderful childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Christmas Party at Siwanoy Country Club, hosted by Robert Kasara. Approximately 110 friends, families, and children attended.

T h e S e v e n t y - f i f t h A n n i v e r s a r y Ye a r

A gathering of Manager of the Year winners. Front row, from left to right: Whitney Travis, Lou Krump, Arthur Russell, Juergen Schumann, James Glover, Ara Daglian, Sr. Back row, from left to right: Roger Ross, Wolfgang Bulka, Carl Bauer, Francis Ford, P. Eric Caspers, George C. Jehlen, and Somerset Importers Dennis Murphy.

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Ch a p t e r 5

Club Manager of T h e Ye a r In 1968 the five chapters (Metropolitan, New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut, and New England) of Region I instituted the Tanqueray Club Manager of the Year Award to honor outstanding contributions to the industry on the part of General Managers. Somerset Importers, Park Avenue Merchants, and Charmer Industries – suppliers of Tanqueray – provided a green jacket for each recipient. Contributing factors in the selection of the year’s award winner are years of membership in the CMAA and the local chapter, service on local and national committees, service as a chapter officer, contributions to the profession, and accomplishments as a General Manager. The annual festivities include a reception to present the “Club Manager of the Year” award, in which the winner is selected by a vote of past recipients, and a golf outing, which were held on the same day between 1968 and 1972. The two events were separated permanently in 1973. In 2002 Somerset dropped Tanqueray and picked up Absolut, which became the new title sponsor for the Club Manager of the Year Award. Absolut and Future Brands LLC provided new navy blue jackets for all living and future recipients.

C l u b M a n a g e r o f t h e Ye a r

Award Winners from Metropolitan Chapter 1968 1969 1971 1973 1974 1975 1976 1980 1981 1982 1985 1986 1987

Peter Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Angelo Alton H. Owen Whitney Travis James L. Noletti John W. Cremers Douglas G. Louis James F. McKeon Roger S. Ross Ara Daglian Wolfgang Bulka Arthur M. Russell George C. Jehlen James J. Glover

Hampshire Country Club Pinnacle Club (New York City) The Yale Club (New York City) Winged Foot Golf Club Empire State Club (New York City) Muttontown Club Knickerbocker Club(New York City) Piping Rock Club Century Association (New York City) Mill River Club North Hills Country Club Links Club (New York City) Blind Brook Club

1988 1989 1991 1992 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2004

Frank E. Saris John C. Bladt Juergen H. Schumann P. Eric Caspers Peter J. Tunley Robert C. James Burton Ward Peter Homberg John Daskos Frederic A. Goldmann Charles D. Dorn Donald F. Mollitor

Harmonie Club (New York City) Rolling Hills Country Club Old Westbury Golf & Country Club Beach Point Club Stanwich Club Westchester Country Club Century Country Club The Penn Club (New York City) Rockville Links Country Club Deepdale Golf Club Union Club (New York City) Woodmere Club

Pictured (from left to right) are Elihu Davis, vice-president for Hotels and Clubs, Eastern Division of Somerset Importers and chairman of the 1982 Tanqueray annual golf tournament at Rolling Hill Country Club; General Manager John Bladt and ex-chef Harry Ferris; and Mort Humphrey, manager for Hotels and Clubs, Eastern Division of Somerset Importers. Mort passed away later that year.

A Heritage of Service

Dennis Murphy of Somerset Importers (right) presenting the award to Burt Ward.

C l u b M a n a g e r o f t h e Ye a r e

The original Foundation Board: Seated from left to right: Robert C. James, CCM; John Bladt, CCM; and Gaspar Klamar, JD. Standing: Juergen Schumann, CCM; Eric Caspers; Andrew Campbell, CCM; Dr. Peter Reinsford, PhD.; Thomas Donnelly; and Murray Berkowitz.

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Ch a p t e r 6

The Metropolitan Club Foundation In response to an ongoing debate about funding the MCMA Scholarship Program, a group of eight MCMA executives met on September 10, 1995, at the Blind Brook Club. In attendance were John Bladt, Scott Burne, P. Eric Caspers, Jim Glover, Robert James, Gaspar Klamar, Kevin Murphy, and Drew Campbell, as well as MCMA accountant Tom Donnelly (from the firm of Condon, O’Meara, McGinty, and Donnelly). The scope of their discussion broadened, and the net result was the birth of the Metropolitan Club Foundation. In addition to coordinating the Association’s scholarship efforts, the Foundation was created to elevate the MCMA’s educational workshop to a level needed for present and future General Managers, and to assure funding for catastrophic and tragic events affecting General Managers. The US Department of the Treasury granted tax-exempt status to the Foundation on February 6, 1996. Tom Donnelly did an enormous amount of work pro bono processing the many documents to the state and federal agencies. The initial work by Foundation members included designing a brochure listing all Foundation goals; providing design support for an academic program at Cornell; organizing individual and club support through various functions for club presidents and officers; and developing an investment plan, with a goal of reaching $500,000 by year 2000. This goal was reached, and a new goal of $1 million was set. Jay Mottola, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Golf Association, lent his expertise gained from the organization of the MGA Foundation. The Foundation has grown to host an annual fundraising Challenge Cup Golf Tournament, a great Vendor Show, high-level computer workshops, and annual President’s Symposium featuring

The Metropolitan Club Foundation

speakers of national prominence. The computer workshops, held the first three years at IBM Palisades, are now held in seminar format at a variety of sites. The President’s Symposium, held in memory of Eric Caspers, featured a gourmet dinner for the first time in 2002 at Fenway, recalling Caspers’ interest in wines and fine dining, and his extensive work with the Culinary Institute. In memory of Eric, a Fund was established by members of the Beach Point Club and MCMA members. The Fund was established to promote education in the culinary arts. This event, tied into the MCMA Symposium and the Challenge Cup Golf Tournament, will be held annually in Eric Caspers’ name. In 2002 the Frederic Goldmann Fund was started by family and friends, with assistance from the MCMA’s Foundation, to establish a scholarship honoring Fred’s memory. Fred Goldmann, a chapter member for more than twenty-five years, considered education the primary responsibility and benefit of the Association. The Scholarship is designed to provide an opportunity for Assistant Managers to further their education and development in the club management field. This was accomplished by establishing scholarships to the Assistant Managers Conference, the World Conference, and the Business Management Institute (BMI). The program received an initial funding of $5,000 from the Foundation, and receives donations from Wheatley Hills, Deepdale, as well as private donors. After collecting substantial seed money for future years, the Frederic Goldmann Fund asked the Foundation to manage its money. Terms similar to those for the Eric Caspers Fund were agreed upon. Toni DeMay and Donald Mollitor, along with Fred’s family, were instrumental in establishing and organizing the Goldmann Fund. In addition to extensive support of the scholarly efforts of students in hospitality programs, as well as the educational needs of member General Managers and

A Heritage of Service

deserving community agencies, the MCMA has recently embarked on a program to support scholarly research in the field of club management.

Michael Robinson, Ph.D., MCM, was the first club manager to receive an MCMA grant for scholarly research. His research for his dissertation studied club manager job tenure. Michael is a former president of the Connecticut Chapter and is one of 13 Master Club Managers worldwide. His degree is in organization and management with a specialization in leadership. Michael is an executive recruiter and executive coach, serving clubs and club managers nationwide. On Memorial Day weekend in 2004, MCMA lost a dear friend and colleague, Michael D. Loper, CCM, General Manager of Willow Ridge Country Club. As a result of Michael’s sudden and tragic death, the Metropolitan Club Foundation acted immediately by starting a fund-raising campaign asking those persons whose lives Michael had touched to make contributions to MCF in lieu of flowers. Thanks to the overwhelming support of the private club community, MCF raised over $120,000 with matching funds of $100,000. This is a tremendous, albeit unfortunate example of one of the many functions of the Metropolitan Club Foundation, offering assistance to Club Management professionals and their families during catastrophic times. Michael’s closest friends and fellow club managers also held the “Celebration of Life” Golf Tournament in Michael’s honor; the outpouring of support was tremendous with over 350 golfers playing on three courses, followed by an elaborate cocktail party / auction attended by well over 400 persons, resulting in additional funds raised of approximately $225,000. This financial success is a true tribute to Michael Loper and the lives he touched!

Michael Robinson, Ph.D., MCM. 2002 MCMA research grant recipient.

Pablo Reyes Alvaro “Pablo” Reyes came to the Pelham Country Club as a bus boy in 1988, and was promoted to waiter in 1990. He performed that job with great enthusiasm and dedication, and consequently he was promoted to dining room captain in 1995, then to assistant manager in 1996, much to the delight of the membership and staff. Pablo performed the duties of his new position with unwavering dedication and attention to detail. His duties encompassed all aspects of club operations with emphasis on the food and beverage department. Pablo’s goal is to become a General Manager, and towards that end he has already completed the first two phases of BMI. He was among the assistant managers to receive the Frederic Goldmann Scholarship in 2002.

Charity Begins At Home The Metropolitan Section has always been involved in charitable endeavors, as the accompanying photographs suggest. Recently, Foundation Board members Juergen Schumann and John Bladt visited Barry Grundy at his home in Glen Cove. Barry, a former General Manager, was terminally ill, and the two chapter representatives brought him an “open” check to fly him to Dallas to visit his daughter one last time. Sadly, Barry died before he could make the trip.

Foundation Chairman John Bladt presenting Barry Grundy with tickets to visit his daughter in Texas, a gift from the Metropolitan Club Foundation.

Shown at the Metropolitan Club in 1986 are Brian Spalding, General Manager of the Sky Club, with Frank Saris, Carl Bauer, and Ara Daglian. Spalding died shortly thereafter, and the MCMA created a fund for his children’s education.

The Metropolitan Club Foundation

A happy vendor, Barry Slavin (front) of Slavin and Sons seafood, and Roberto Gonzales.

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Ch a p t e r 7

T h e Ve n d o r S h o w For many years, the relationship between vendors and General Managers was shrouded in controversy. General Manager loyalty to vendors who provided quality products and service to clubs was weighed against what some viewed as unethical relationships between General Managers and vendors. Each year at the annual CMAA Conference, an exposition was held at which several hundred national vendor exhibitors attended. However, the cost of participating was prohibitive for many local vendors. And so in 1994 the MCMA decided to sponsor, for the first time, an exhibit at which local vendors might meet with local General Managers and their staffs to present their products and forge relationships. Each year, educational programs supplement the show during the day. A magnificent luncheon is served to all participants, compliments of the MCMA, followed by the Vendor Show itself from noon to 5:00 in the afternoon. In the evening, an elegant cocktail and hors d’oeuvres buffet provides a setting at which vendors, general managers, and club executives may further discuss ideas and enhance relationships. The Club Chefs of Westchester punctuates the occasion with a marvelous display of foods and desserts. The MCMA Vendor Show took place at the Westchester Country Club, inside the clubhouse in 1994 and outside under tents in subsequent years through 2003, all made possible by the Board of Governors of the Westchester Country Club, and Robert James, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the club. In 2004 the Vendor Show outgrew its home site, and moved to the Glen Island in New Rochelle, but will always be grateful for its roots. The Vendor Show is now sponsored by the Metropolitan Club Foundation. Proceeds from the show go to the Foundation’s Endowment Fund, which, among other things, supports the MCMA’s educational programs and scholarships for students in the club industry.

T h e Ve n d o r S h o w

1995 Co-chairmen Mike Loper (left) and Scott Burne, with the Westchester Culinary Team. Right: Scott Burne, Vendor Show chairman for three years, Randall J. Ruder, P. Eric Caspers, and John Roberts.

A Heritage of Service

Left: The dynamics of the Vendor Show; left to right are Scott Burne, James Glover, P. Eric Caspers, and Michael Loper.

Above: The 1996 Vendor Show Executive Committee. Back row, left to right: Troy Albert, Randall Ruder, Scott Garvin, Jeffrey Martocci, George Arnold, Jack Ruddick, Timothy Szemplinski. Front row: Thomas Bartek, Mike Lopez, Sokratis Vlantis, Tracy Noroian, Heidi Weaver, Michael Loper, Edgar Gamboa, and Todd Zorn.

The 1995 Vendor Show wine tasting. Jay Mottola (right), executive director of the Metropolitan Golf Association, and Tom Donnelly (center) of Condon, Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Meara, McGinty, and Donnelly, LLP. Left: Rae A Clark, Sr. (center), president of the New York State Club Association, with Managers P. Eric Caspers (left) and Tom Walsh.

T h e Ve n d o r S h o w

Speaking at an Education Seminar is Dan Condon of Condon, Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Meara, McGinty and Donnelly, LLP.

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Ch a p t e r 8

Metropolitan Club Foundation Educational Programs The MCMA has a long history of supporting hospitality programs at New York State colleges and universities. As early as 1963, the MCMA began contributing to scholarship programs at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. Richard Edington, president of the MCMA in 1971–1972, was a Cornell graduate, as was Roger Ross, MCMA president in 1979–1980. They, along with future MCMA presidents Doug Louis, Juergen Schumann, and others, were instrumental in raising funds for scholarships at Cornell. Robert James, executive director at Westchester Country Club and a Cornell graduate in 1971, was one of the earliest students at Cornell to benefit by an MCMA scholarship. A grateful alumnus, James today teaches two courses a year in Cornell’s club management program. In 1974 a commitment of $10,000 was made by the MCMA to Cornell University to endow a permanent scholarship for Hotel School students who showed financial need. Preference was given to students with an interest in club management as evidenced either by their employment at a club or by their course of study. Scholarship winners were required to reside or work in the MCMA area of Westchester County, metropolitan New York, and Long Island.

Metropolitan Club Foundation Educational Programs

By 1976 the gift had become $12,000. In 1977 Roger Ross, then secretary of the MCMA, was informed that it was time to make the first award. Since then, twenty-seven awards have been given, and Ross was notified each year of the amount paid and the names of the recipients. As of 2004 the book value of the scholarship fund is $14,500. The market value has grown to $54,500. Approximately $3,000 is given to a student each year. The Keith Roth Scholarship Fund (named for the former General Manager at the Engineers Club, who passed away on May 8, 1980) is now part of the Metropolitan Club Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Endowment Fund. The annual awards now average over $15,000. MCMA is also the sponsoring chapter for the CMAA Student chapter at Cornell. Annually one or more representatives of the MCMA attend the Cornell Career Day in

Robert James teaching a class in club management at Cornell. Right: Scholarship Committee members Roger Ross, Juergen Schumann, and Eric Caspers presenting 1986 award to Donald Emery (second from left), recipient of the Keith Roth Scholarship.

A Heritage of Service

Ithaca, and MCMA and the Metropolitan Club Foundation help fund student attendance at CMAAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual conference. MCMA has also supported other local colleges and universities by contributing to scholarship programs, employing students at MCMA clubs, sponsoring club tours, and developing club related programs. MCMA has had a long association with the hospitality program at New York Technical College, and has run special programs at Nassau Community and Westchester Community colleges. Student groups from the CMAA student chapters at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), University of New Haven, Cornell, and Widener University regularly tour such diverse clubs in the Metropolitan chapter as Westchester Country Club, Old Westbury Golf and Country Club, Beach Point Club, and Piping Rock Club.

MCMA Presidents Hugh Dolan 1923–1925

Harry C. Simone 1949

Alexander H. Levchuck 1968–1969

Hans H. Juenemann 1989

James Hilton 1926–1927

Henry J. Stacey 1950–1951

James L. Nolletti 1970

Frederic G. Goldmann 1990

Adolph Koenig 1928–1929

William R. Reich 1952–1953

Richard H. Edginton 1971–1972

Robert C. James 1991

William Norcross 1930–1932

F. Patrick Chambers 1954–1955

Douglas G. Louis 1973–1974

Steven Arias 1992–1993

J. Prendergast 1933–1935

Leslie L. White 1956–1957

Wolfgang E. Bulka 1975–1976

Andrew T. Campbell 1994–1995

Henry Hinton 1936–1937

Frederick H. Hollister 1958–1959

John Daskos 1977–1978

Gaspar M. Klamar 1996–1997

Hans J. Semler 1938–1939

William F. Birner 1960–1961

Roger S. Ross 1979–1980

John C. Bladt 1998–1999

Jacques DeJong 1940–1941

Peter A. D’Angelo 1962–1963

Arthur M. Russell 1981–1982

Patricia T. Barbino 2000

Eric G. Koch 1942–1944

John A. McCabe 1964

James J. Glover 1983–1984

Donald F. Mollitor 2001–2002

Harry C. Simone 1945–1946

Steven F. Yurasits 1965–1966

P. Eric Caspers 1985–1986

Kevin Murphy 2003

Ernest Oberhammer 1947–1948

Egon Jorgensen 1967

Juergen H. Schumann 1987–1988

Barry Chandler 2004–2005

Metropolitan Club Foundation Educational Programs

The 1998 Hall of Fame Indoctrination Ceremony, with James J. Glover at the podium and John Bladt the inductee.

A Heritage of Service

Ch a p t e r 9

The Hall of Fame During the MCMA’s Seventy-fifth Anniversar y Celebration, the Hall of Fame Committee was formed, consisting initially of Jim Glover, John Bladt, and Scott Burne. That committee decided that it was time to honor the older, outstanding, and tireless members who had been standard bearers of the organization for many years, and to do so while those honorees were still alive. And so the MCMA Hall of Fame was established in 1998, the criteria for election being twenty-five years of MCMA membership. Any person who has twenty-five consecutive years of service at any one club in any capacity whatsoever is also eligible, provided that person is now a General Manager. The first inductees were honored at a special Diamond Jubilee Hall of Fame Award Reception at the Harmonie Club in Manhattan on November 8, 1998. Each inductee’s name is inscribed on a plaque (residing at the Metropolitan Golf Association) under the quotation: Never in all the proud years of MCMA’s future will this name be lost from memory. This accomplishment recognizes your continuous dedication to Club Management and to our Association. The list of inductees in 1998 included thirty-three names, most notably fifty-year members Peter D’Angelo and Kurt Brod. An invitation to the first indoctrination, September 8, 1998.

The Hall of Fame

Left to right are: Juergen H. Schumann; Frederic G. Goldmann; Alexander H. Levchuck; Thomas B. Heaney; Robert Schroko; Nicholas Benvin; Wolfgang Bulka; and Ara Daglian. Right: A notice of induction.

A Heritage of Service

At the Diamond Jubilee Reception in 1998 are John C. Bladt, MCMA president, and James B. Singerling, CEO and executive vice-president of CMAA.

As of the induction ceremony in 2004, the Hall of Fame roster included thirty-six names, with Jerry Aarts, Randall Herring, and Dennis Meermans the most recent inductees. The list includes six (John Bladt, Andrew Campbell, John Daskos, Alexander Levchuck, Dennis Meermans, and Frank Saris) who were still working. Also in 1998 the MCMAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hall of Fame Committee established three new awards, the Distinguished Service Award, the Humanitarian Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award. Qualifications for the Distinguished Service Award include continued support of the chapter, service on numerous committees, and

Carl Bauer with wife Bertha. Carl was the first winner of the DSA award.

perhaps a term as chapter president. Chairmen of the AABR Charity Tournament, and those engaged in considerable charity work and contributions to charity scholarships are eligible for the Humanitarian Award. Finally, in 2002 Nick Benvin received the (new) Lifetime Achievement Award for serving as the General Manager at one club (Rockaway Hunting Club) for forty-nine years. That same award was presented to Egon Jorgensen in 2003 for his many years of service to the private club industry while at the Old Westbury Golf and Country Club and Belleaire Country Club (in Florida), and then as interim General Manager at several clubs since his retirement.

The Hall of Fame

The MCMA Hall of Fame Award Winners Distinguished Service Award

Humanitarian Award

Lifetime Achievement Award

Special Recognition Award 2004 Michael Galluzzo and Robert Kasara For the Michael D. Loper Celebration of Life Golf Tournament

2000 Carl H. Bauer

2000 Juergen H. Schumann

2002 Nicholas Benvin

2001 Alexander H. Levchuck

2002 James J. Glover

2003 Alexander H. Levchuck

2003 Egon C. Jorgensen

2004 John C. Bladt

A Heritage of Service

J e r r y W. A a r t s , C C M

erry Aarts graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1952 with a bachelor’s degree in hotel administration. He then entered the US Navy, and attained the rank of lieutenant. Jerry served aboard a destroyer in the Atlantic, then managed an officers club at the Naval Air Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the pre-Castro era. He was discharged from the Navy in 1956. Jerry broke ground with his first professional position in 1957, working as assistant manager under Peter D’Angelo at Hampshire Country Club. At that time, he was the only assistant manager at a Westchester or Long Island club. The experience at Hampshire served him well, and in 1960 Jerry became the General Manager of the Elmwood Country Club, and held that position for ten years. At that time, Jerry accepted a similar position at Vernon Hills (later Lake isle) Country Club in 1970, and remained there for seven years, until the club was sold to the town of Eastchester. At this point in his life (1978), Jerry moved to Utah, becoming General Manager at the Willow Creek Country Club. He stayed in Utah for three years. Jerry returned to the New York area in 1983 as the food service director for Amerada Hess Corporation in Woodbridge, New Jersey, catering corporate headquarters in New York, the executive dining room as well as the employees’ cafeteria. He retired from Amerada Hess in 1991. Jerry Aarts culminated his career as island General Manager of Cat Cay Yacht Club on Cat Cay in the Bahamas for a period of three years from 1995 to 1998.

A wedding photo. Daughter Nicole (left) dancing with Jerry Aarts, with wife Jackie dancing in the background.

While with the Metropolitan Chapter, he served on many committees, most notably the Scholarship and Educational Committees. He also served the Association as sergeant of arms, secretary, and vice president.

The Hall of Fame

Albert M. and Theresa A. Barone

lbert and Theresa gained their experience in the hospitality field working in hotels and restaurants in every capacity to better learn their trade. After marrying in 1950, they opened and operated their own (successful) restaurant. Eighteen years later, upon orders from Al’s doctor, they sold the business. When this became known to the Board of Directors at the Wiltwyck Golf Club in Kingston, New York, the Barones were asked to help for an interim period of one year. Their goal was to make Wiltwyck a true country club. The Barones welcomed the challenge. As stockholding members at Wiltwyck, the Barones were well aware of ongoing problems with management, cash flow, and the lack of adequate facilities at the club. The Barones’ approach to solving these problems impressed the Board, and they asked the Barones to stay on. Twenty-seven years later, at the conclusion of the Barone’s tenure, Wiltwyck had become a membership corporation, the clubhouse had been refurbished and expanded to more than double its original size, the Robert Trent Jones golf course had blossomed into one of the best in the Hudson Valley, and a membership waiting list was left in place.

Theresa and Albert Barone

A Heritage of Service

Nicholas Benvin Lifetime Achievement Award, 2002

icholas Benvin was born in 1930 on the island of Cherso, Italy. He was the oldest boy among ten children, and grew up working on the farm to help his parents provide for the family. During World War II, the island was taken over by the Yugoslavian Communist regime. The country fell on very hard times and there was no opportunity for work. In 1946 Nicholas left home in search of a better life. He went to Italy and spent four years working odd jobs for room and board. In 1950 an uncle in New York applied for permission for Nick, then twenty, to come to the United States. After a long wait in a refugee camp in Naples, the permit was finally approved, and in 1951 Nicholas Benvin traveled to New York on the Liberty Ship. He worked in the ship’s kitchen to pay for his trip. Nick arrived in New York in 1951, and was put to work by his uncle as a busboy and dishwasher at the Rockaway Hunting Club. His boss and mentor was then General Manager Frank Brusini. For the next three years, Nick learned to speak English and worked his way up to assistant manager. In 1954 Brusini retired and recommended Nick to the Board of Governors as his successor. The nomination was unanimously accepted. Nick’s managerial skills and devotion had been evident to all. Through the years, Nick was a good MCMA member and supporter. In all, Nick devoted fifty-two years to the Rockaway Hunting Club, the last forty-nine as General Manager, and was a CMAA member for forty-seven years. In 2002, he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the MCMA.

Nick Benvin dancing with his daughter at Rockaway Hunting Club’s 125th anniversary celebration in 2003.

The Hall of Fame

John C. Bladt, CCM Distinguished Ser vice Award, 2004

John Bladt with wife Mie (Marie) at Montauk, 1975.

A Heritage of Service

ohn Bladt was born in Denmark in 1936. He did his apprenticeship in the hospitality management business at the Restaurant Wivex in Copenhagen while attending the Hotel and Restaurant School in that city. He furthered his “education” with short terms at the Plaza Athenée Hotel in Paris and Claridge Hotel in London before coming to the United States in 1961. His first position in this country was at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. In 1962 John began the first of two positions at Montauk Point on Long Island, serving as food and beverage manager at the Montauk Manor Hotel and Yacht Club from 1962 to 1964. He returned to Montauk in 1970 to serve six years as General Manager at the Montauk Golf and Racket Club. John became a member of CMAA in 1972. In the interim, he had moved to Florida to become the food and beverage manager at the Colonnades Beach Hotel in Palm Beach Shores. The owner of the hotel, John D. McArthur, built and organized the PGA National Golf Club, in Palm Beach Gardens, and quickly asked John to set up the food and beverage operations there. PGA National opened late in 1964, after which John returned to his duties at the hotel. In 1975 John became the General Manager at the Rolling Hills Country Club in Wilton, Connecticut. During his tenure in Connecticut, which lasted through 1990, John was the initiator (in 1986) of the Connecticut Club Managers’ Charity Foundation. In its

first four years, the Foundation raised more than $60,000 for the Newington Children’s Hospital. While at Rolling Hills, John was membership chairman, vice president, and eventually president (1986–1987) of the Connecticut Chapter. John received his CCM designation in 1988, and was recipient of the Region I Club Manager of the Year award in 1989. John also served as president of the Region I-II-III Alliance 1989–1990 and was a past Board member of the New York State Club Association. John Bladt was named General Manager of The Blind Brook Club in January of 1991, and became a member of the CMAA Honor Society that same year. He has in recent years served on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Chapter, and ultimately as its president 1998–1999. During his tenure on the Board, he initiated efforts to organize the Metropolitan Club Foundation, with the original goal of establishing an endowment fund of one-half million dollars. This goal was reached in the year 2000. He served as its first chairman during 1996–1997, and was instrumental in starting the annual MCMA Vendor Show, the profits from which are a major factor contributing to the Foundation. John and his wife Marie have lived in Bethel, Connecticut, since 1975. Along with son Lars, they enjoy winter sports and sailing. John has run the New York City Marathon each year since 1996.

John Howard Blank, CCM

ohn Howard Blank was born and grew up in Queens, NY. At seventeen, he started parking cars at the Sans Souci Restaurant in Sea Cliff. After a short time, he was promoted to waiter, and a career in the restaurant business was born. He was a manager at the Brass Rail at the Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fair, and went on to become the youngest manager for Sky Chef at Kennedy Airport. Jack opened his own restaurant, the Glenwood, where he met his wife Pam. From there, Jack spent ten years at Plandome Country Club, followed by eleven years at the Garden City Country Club. He ended his career at the Sands Point Country Club. Jack enjoyed all the relationships that he formed over his twenty-five years in the club business. He valued the contributions of every employee who worked for him and was a champion for those in the service industry. He had an engaging personality, quick wit and a fabulous sense of humor. Jack was a family man first and was so proud of his three children, Laura, Jack and Kristen, his son-in-law, Anthony, and his grandchildren, A.J. and Julia. He leaves a legacy as a song and dance man, raconteur par excellence, loving husband and adoring father. He would have been honored to be elected to the MCMA Hall of Fame. John Howard Blank

The Clubs

Kurt Allen Brod, CCM

Kurt Brod

A Heritage of Service

urt Allen Brod was born and raised in Vienna, Austria. The original intent of his college education at the Academy of Commerce (and subsequent master’s degree) was to prepare him to take over the management of his father’s manufacturing business (where cocoa beans were roasted, shelled, and milled into fine chocolate and candies). Kurt came to the United States in 1938 to “find his fortune,” and set out to use his knowledge in management and building construction in the hotel and hospitality industry. He took his first position with the Hotel St. Moritz in New York, and later worked in the Banquet Department at the Waldorf Astoria, and in an auditing position with Sheraton Hotels. He took his first position as General Manager at the Brevort Hotel on Fifth Avenue in New York City in 1946. He moved across the harbor to Staten Island in 1948 when he became general manager at the Richmond County Country Club, where he remained until 1968. He became an MCMA member while at Richmond County, and has been a member for fifty-three years. For a great number of years (1964–1983) until his retirement, Kurt was the Executive Manager at the Woodcrest Country Club on Long Island. He now lives in Boca Raton, Florida, and has been on the Board of Directors as well as serving as chairman of the Building Committee of the Homeowners Association. He was president of the Senior Association of Club Executives (SACE) from 1999 to 2001. Kurt Brod remains a member of the Metropolitan Chapter, Club Managers of the City of New York, the Seminole Region of the Florida Chapter, and also the National CMAA.

Wo l f g a n g E . B u l k a , C C M

olfgang Bulka was trained in Hamburg, Germany, in the field of hotel management. He entered the United States in 1950, and worked as a chef in clubs, hotels and restaurants until 1957 when he assumed his first management position at a private club. He maintains his membership in the International Chefs Association, the Academy of Chefs, and the American Culinary Federation, as well as in the MCMA and CMAA. Indeed, he is an honorary member of the MCMA, ICA, and ACF. Bulka’s first club managerial position was at the Wheatley Hills Golf Club in East Willaston, Long Island, from 1957 to 1960. He remained on Long Island for most of the rest of his career, managing such clubs as the Huntington Country Club (1960–1968), the Pine Hollow Country Club (1968–1977), the Mill River Club (1977–1987), and the Woodcrest Club (1987–1990). After a brief stint at the Hofstra University Club (1990–1991), Bulka returned to a country club position at the Engineers Country Club from 1991 to 1993, then became part owner of the Duck Pond Inn in Bayshore (Long Island) between 1993 and 1996. More recently, Bulka has served as interim General Manager at the Pelican Club (1997) in Naples, Florida, and the Brookville Country Club (1998). Wolfgang Bulka is a past president of the Metropolitan Club Managers Association, a member of the CMAA Honor Society, and a past Board member of the New York State Club Association. He has for many years been actively involved in fund raising for the Culinary Institute. Wolfgang was named Tanqueray Club Manager of the Year in 1982.

Wolfgang and Regina Bulka

The Hall of Fame

William H. Burke, CCM

illiam H. Burke started a career in the restaurant business in 1960. In 1973 he became manager of the Garrison Golf Club in Garrison, New York, which is located high on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River and West Point. Burke became a member of MCMA and CMAA in 1978, sponsored by Whitney Travis and Carl Hibner. He became a Certified Club Manager in 1984, and was recertified three times, in 1987, 1989, and 1991. William Burke became the manager of the Bedford Golf and Tennis Club in 1991, a position he held until his retirement in 2002. After his retirement, Burke and his wife moved to Manchester Center, Vermont, where he spends his time golfing and volunteering.

William H. Burke

A Heritage of Service

George Caeners

eorge Caeners was trained for the hospitality business in Germany and Switzerland, then came to the United States in 1956, taking a job at the Fountainblue Hotel in Miami. He came north to work at the Concord Resort in the Catskills, then took a position with the Carriage Club in Manhattan. Caenersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; entry into the world of country club management came in 1968 when he became General Manager at the Fairview Country Club when that club moved to its present site in Greenwich (he had previously been executive chef at the old Fairview in Elmsford). He remained at Fairview in that capacity for fifteen years before moving on to a nine-year stint at the Fresh Meadow Country Club. At this point in his life, George joined his wife Helga and son Robert in a family-owned and operated restaurant, a venture that lasted three years. He then returned to the club business, taking the General Manager position at Huntington Crescent Club for four years, then a similar position at Willow Ridge, also for four years. George and Helga are now enjoying retirement in the Hamptons.

George Caeners (left) with his chef, ice sculpture, and suckling pig at Huntington Crescent Club.

The Hall of Fame

A n d r e w T. C a m p b e l l , C C M

ndrew “Drew” Campbell started his career in the club business at age thirteen on the golf course, as a caddie at the Fairview Country Club, then in Elmsford, and later worked in the men’s locker room. At age eighteen, he began training for a career as a steward. Campbell was appointed assistant manager at Fairview in 1969, and served in that capacity until 1975, when he became the club’s General Manager. Campbell retired in 2004 after his forty-seventh year at Fairview. Drew became a member of the MCMA in 1984, and in the ensuing two decades has served on the Board, including a term as president. He was a founding member of the Foundation, and served as Metropolitan Club Foundation chairman for one year.

Andrew Campbell

A Heritage of Service

P. E r i c C a s p e r s

ric Caspers was a senior professional in the club industry who has brought his depth of experience and perspective to the unique challenge facing boards of directors and General Managers of clubs today. He was a former president and Board member of the Metropolitan Club Managers Association and served as Chairman and co-founder of the Metropolitan Club Managers Foundation. He also was a member of the Board of the New York State Club Association, and a member of the Advisory Board of Westchester Community College. Eric’s career began in Europe. He came to the United States in 1962, taking his first position as assistant manager at the Gaslight Club in New York City and Washington, DC, between May 1962 and October 1963. Then followed nearly four years (November 1963 to April 1967) as restaurant manager for Mr. Richard, Inc., in New York City. Caspers then moved to Florida for a little more than a year, serving as director of food and beverages at the Hilton Hotel in Clearwater from April 1967 through October 1968. Eric’s exceptional knowledge of operations led to major consulting assignments for a number of outstanding hotels and clubs in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Working for Robert H. Kaiser Associates in Ossining, New York, as an operations specialist from October 1968 through August 1974 he worked on feasibility studies, pre-planning for new hotels and restaurants, and systems analysis.

For twenty-four years (July 1974 until December 1998), Eric served with distinction at the prestigious Beach Point Club in Mamaroneck, New York, where he has guided the club’s growth in quality of service, profitability, and membership. Caspers was recognized in 1992 as the Tangueray Club Manager of the Year.

Eric and wife Alethea

The Hall of Fame

Ara Daglian, CCM

ra Daglian was educated at Columbia University, receiving his A.B. degree in 1947, one year after completing his first term on active duty with the Naval Reserve. Following a second term, he began preparing for his professional career, earning a B.S. degree from Cornell Hotel School in 1957. Ara began his career as a trainee with the Hilton Hotels, and then accepted a position as chief steward with the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. After one year, he became General Manager at the National Arts Club, and after another year, began a sixteen-year stint as General Manager at the Cornell Club of New York. In 1977 he accepted a similar position with the Century Association, and served there for a decade. Ara has served on, and chaired, a number of MCMA committees over the years (Sick and Welfare, Arrangements, and Educational), ultimately serving as president from 1978 to 1980. On the national scene, he served as CMAA National director between 1980 and 1985, and chaired the CMI, By Laws, Chapter Relations, and House Committees. In his â&#x20AC;&#x153;free time,â&#x20AC;? he has been a wine consultant (1987â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1995), a Board member for the New York Cornell Hotel Society, a volunteer fireman (since 1977, ultimately fire chief ), and a Presbyterian Deacon. He is also a past president of the Davis Park Medical Association, and a past vice president of the Homeowners Association.

Ara Daglian

A Heritage of Service

Peter A. D’Angelo, CCM

eter D’Angelo was born in New Rochelle in 1914, and began caddying at Wykagyl at age eight. In 1926 he moved his shingle to the now-defunct Broadmoor Golf Club in Scarsdale where, over a period of ten years, he rose from the caddie ranks to assistant manager, working at times as a doorman, car valet, and office clerk. Military service in the Pacific Theater intervened, and shortly after Peter returned from Japan in December of 1945, he was named the first General Manager of the Hampshire Country Club, a position he held for thirty years, retiring in 1975. Peter joined the MCMA in 1947, and served on its Board for seventeen years (1948–1964), including a term as president (1962–1963). Peter was elected to the CMAA Board in 1967, and served one-year terms as secretary- treasurer, vice-president, and ultimately as president in 1974. He remained on the Board for nine years thereafter as past president. Peter was honored by the CMAA, having a brick bearing his name on the Walk of Champions in front of the Golf World Village Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida.

Peter and Loretta D’Angelo

The Hall of Fame

John Daskos

ohn Daskos has been in the country club business since he was twelve years of age, when he started working as a caddie at Sunningdale Country Club. A native of Hartsdale, he soon worked in all departments of the club, and was appointed assistant manager at the young age of seventeen. After college, John was an executive trainee at the Waldorf-Astoria, then an assistant manager at the Harmonie Club. At just twenty-three years of age in 1964, he took on his first General Manager position, at Quaker Ridge Golf Club, where he remained for twenty-five years, leaving after the 1988 season. From Quaker Ridge, he moved his shingle to Elmwood Country Club for four years, then to the Rockville Links Country Club for six years, and then to his present position at the Towers Country Club in 2000. He was named Tanqueray Club Manager of the Year in 1999, one year after being inducted into the MCMA’s Hall of Fame. When John assumed the presidency of the MCMA in 1977, he became the Association’s youngest-ever president. He has been a CMAA member since 1967, and is a member of the CMAA’s Twenty-five Year Club and the MCMA’s Quarter-Century Club, as well as a distinguished member of the Waldorf-Astoria Alumni Association. He is also an active member of his community and church, and does volunteer work with senior citizens. He is an avid reader, particularly fond of autobiographies.

John Daskos

A Heritage of Service

Pat Federico

at Federico was born in Colorado. When he was four years old, his parents moved to Mamaroneck, New York, where Pat graduated from high school. He eventually went into the hospitality field and operated the Post Lodge, a well-known catering hall in Mamaroneck, for eighteen years. After he sold his business, he worked at Century Country Club for one year and then became the general manager of the Bedford Golf and Tennis Club, where he stayed for fourteen years. Pat eventually moved from Mamaroneck to Port Chester, where he met his wife, Florence, and raised a family. They recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. He became a prominent resident of Port Chester, serving one term as Village Clerk and three terms as a member of the Westchester Parks Commission. He also was president of the School Board in Port Chester and was awarded the Outstanding Citizen Award. Pat joined MCMA in 1979, and has served on many committees during his twenty-five years as a member.

Pat Federico who,has always sung the National Anthem at special events.

A Heritage of Service

J a m e s J . G l o v e r, C C M Distinguished Ser vice Award, 2002

ames J. Glover started his career in the private club business in 1939 as assistant food and beverage manager at the Monmouth Country Club in New Jersey. When the Army took over the club in 1941, Jim moved to the Galen Hall Hotel and Country Club in Pennsylvania. In 1948 Jim went to the Boca Raton Hotel and Country Club as assistant food and beverage manger, a position he held for one year before becoming the General Manager of a Palm Beach supper club, Leon and Eddies, for two years. Jim came back to New York to be the General Manager of Montes on the Park in 1948. He also managed the Hotel Navarro (now the Ritz Carlton) on Central Park South until 1957. From 1957 to 1960 he was the General Manager of the Mamaroneck Yacht Club.

James Glover Right: Jim as a young man.

A Heritage of Service

Glover left New York in 1960 to manage the 1,200room Mount Washington Hotel and Country Club in Brenton Woods, New Hampshire. Between 1961 and 1964, Glover was the owner of the V.I.P. Restaurant and Club on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. He then leased and operated (for four years) the Rye Golf Club from the City of Rye, New York. Jim then spent almost a quarter of a century in the capacity of General Manager at major Westchester County private clubs, starting with the Pelham Country Club (1967–1970), then the Beach Point Club in Mamaroneck (1971–1972), followed by the Century Country Club in Purchase (1972–1985), and finally, the Blind Brook Club (1985–1990), also in Purchase. During these years, he operated, and later sold, restaurants in New Rochelle and Hartsdale. During the years 1991 to 1993, Glover helped put together the new Atlantic Golf Club in Bridgehampton, serving as Executive Director. Jim joined the MCMA in 1968, and has served with distinction, in every office and on every committee, culminating with a two-year stint as association president in 1983–1984. He chaired the Diamond Jubilee Committee in 1998, and currently chairs the Hall of Fame Committee. Jim served on the CMAA Board in 1987, and was elected to the Honor Society of the CMAA in 1989. He was also an acclaimed author, his 1978 article in the Club Managers Magazine recognized as the best article of the year in the category “Food and Beverage” (and second best overall). Jim was awarded the Distinguished Service Award at the MCMA Annual Meeting in 2002.

Frederic George Goldmann

red Goldmann was a native Long Islander, born in Flushing, who spent his entire professional career on Long Island. He started in the restaurant business at the age of fifteen, working part-time in the kitchen of a family-run business on the North Shore of Long Island. He worked his way through Hicksville High School and Nassau Community College as a waiter and captain. In 1964 Fred was drafted into the US Army for two years, and served one year in Vietnam. After receiving an honorable discharge in 1966, he embarked on a career as a real estate agent, but always continued to work in the restaurant business. In the fall of 1967,Wheatley Hills Golf Club hired Fred as a captain. For the next thirty-one years, he worked there, as maĂŽtre dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, assistant manager, and in 1977 became General Manager. Through his hard work and commitment, Fred was directly responsible for many of the improvements at Wheatley Hills over the past thirty-one years. In March of 1999 he made a career change, and became the General Manager of Deepdale Golf Club.

Fred joined the Metropolitan Club Managers Association in 1977, and served on the Board of Directors from 1980 to 1991. In his eleven years of devoted service, he chaired most of the committees in the organization and served as treasurer, secretary, and vice president. He was elected president in 1989, and was named Tanqueray Club Manager of the Year in 1998. Fred attended seventeen CMAA conferences and sixteen CMAA workshops. He also served for two years on the CMAA Club Manager Magazine Committee. Fred was active in and dedicated to many charities including Madonna Heights Services and the AABR. His commitment and his hard work contributed to successful fundraising of millions of dollars for these organizations. Fred had a profound love for the game of golf, and an unforgettable sense of humor. He passed away in December, 2001.

Fred Goldmann

The Hall of Fame

Thomas B. Heaney

homas Heaney is one of the few members of the Hall of Fame born and raised in the New York Metropolitan area. He was born in White Plains in 1939, and graduated from Iona College. He worked weekends at Glen Head Country Club to pay for his college tuition. After college Heaney worked as an accountant, then as an insurance investigator, before turning full-time to the club industry in 1971. His first position was as assistant manager at Glen Head Country Club under Bill Ellis, then he assumed the General Manager position upon Ellisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; retirement in 1983. In 1988 Heaney was offered the general manager position at Deepdale, and that marked the beginning of a sixteen-year tenure at that prestigious club. Sadly, Tom Heaney passed away in 1999. He is remembered for his great sense of humor and his love of life.

Tom Heaney with dogs Bailey and Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Malley. Mary and Thomas Heaney

A Heritage of Service

Randall Herring

andall Herring has spent his entire career at the National Golf Links of America in Southampton, Long Island. Indeed, his father, Ernest Herring, served National as General Manager from 1946 through his retirement in 1967. The Herrings, father and son, ran the National Golf Links for fifty-four years. Randall started at National in February of 1948 as a desk clerk, and in 1950 became a bookkeeper. He was drafted that December, and ultimately put in a tenmonth tour of duty in Korea. After his discharge in September of 1952, he returned to the National. For the next decade, he supplemented his duties as bookkeeper with fill-in roles at almost all categories of Club House employment except chef. After fifteen years Herring was promoted to assistant manager, and then to manager five years later upon his fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s retirement, and he served the club with distinction. After thirty-two years as General Manager and fifty-two years of employment at National, Herring retired in the Spring of 2000.

Randall Herring

The Hall of Fame

Dominick Ierulli

ominick Ierulli was born in 1920 in a very small town of about 900 inhabitants in southern Italy. He came to the United States in 1933, and the following year sought employment at the Huntington Crescent Club. The caddie master sent him home, refusing to believe Dominic was already fourteen years of age. Ultimately, Dominic progressed from caddie to shoeshine boy, then worked as assistant locker room attendant after high school, and eventually as locker room attendant. In 1970 Dominic moved up to assistant manager for two years, then to general manger. While managing Huntington Crescent Club, Dominic attended a number of seminars sponsored by MCMA. Dominic retired from the Huntington Crescent Club in 1980, and moved to Florida where he now resides, spending his time golfing, gardening, and volunteering for the Deborah Hospital Foundation.

Dominick Ierulli with wife Connie and family at their fiftieth wedding anniversary.

A Heritage of Service

Egon C. Jorgensen, CCM Lifetime Achievement Award, 2003

gon C. Jorgensen is a native of Denmark, where he graduated from the Copenhagen Institute of Technology. After coming to the United States, he attended the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, studying such topics as personnel management, financial management, property and maintenance management, outdoor recreation administration, marketing management, and food and beverage management. His first experience in club management took place during 1957 to 1960 at the once fabled Timber Point Country Club in Great River, New York. He then began a seventeen-year affiliation with the Old Westbury Golf and Country Club, after which he moved to Florida to take the controls at the Belleair Country Club (1978–1992), after which he retired, although serving in interim positions at fifteen different clubs, including Long Island’s North Shore Country Club and Brookville Country Club. Egon is a past president of the Metropolitan Club Managers Association and the Sunshine State Club Managers Association, chairman of MCMA “50th” Jubilee Committee, and a past chairman of National Club Association Advisory Board. He is a member of the CMAA Honor Society and the Ye Host Square Club.

Egon Jorgensen with wife Marilyn.

The Hall of Fame

Alexander H. Levchuck, CCM Humanitarian Award, 2003

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Distinguished Ser vice Award, 2001

lexander Levchuck, in his own words, has “spent his entire life in the food industry” – starting at age thirteen, when he worked in a bakery. While a student at Glen Cove High School, he worked during free periods in the school cafeteria and, on weekends, in a local delicatessen.

Alex Levchuck

A Heritage of Service

His first “professional” position was that of managing the James Norton Council Knights of Columbus Hall. Being a member of the Council, his pay was “zero.” But the experience gained – managing an establishment and producing a profit at year’s end – far outweighed the “salary.” After serving with the Army in Korea, Alex entered the private club industry in 1954 as the assistant manager of the Nassau Country Club. In June of 1960, he became the General Manager of Garden City Country Club, and remained in that position for twenty-four years. During the next five years, he served as General Manager at the North Hempstead Country Club, Nassau Country Club, and Wykagl Country Club. In the fall of 1990 he accepted his present position, director of beverages with the Pine Hollow Country Club. A member of the Club Managers Association of America since 1961, Alexander served the organization in many posts – the highlight was serving as vice chairman of registration for the London Conference in 1971. He has also served the Metropolitan Chapter in many phases, culminating with a term as president during 1968 and 1969. Alexander remains active with the association, chairing the Necrology Committee, and as Finance Committee chairman for the AABR Charity Committee. In 1969 Alexander Levchuck earned Certified Club Manager status, became a member of the CMAA Honor Society in 1983, and in 1998 was inducted into the Metropolitan Club Managers Association Hall of Fame. In 2001 the Hall of Fame Committee presented Alex his the Distinguished Service Award.

William H. Lewis

ill Lewis was born in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1928. While attending Rogers High School there, he worked summers at the Sprouting Rock Club at Baileys Beach. There he met Robert Schumacher, former locker room manager at The Creek in Locust Valley, Long Island. When Schumacher returned to The Creek in May of 1946 as General Manager, he brought Bill Lewis with him, “just for a summer job.” He became The Creek’s General Manager in 1962 upon Schumacher’s death, and has been with The Creek in various capacities ever since. Before retiring in February of 1999, Bill served as General Manager of The Creek’s clubhouse, starting in 1977. Over the years, he served the club in other capacities, such as managing the Dormie House and the Beach Club. During winters, Bill has been affiliated with the Bath and Tennis Club and the Everglades Club, both in Palm Beach, Florida. Bill met his wife Anne, who was a receptionist at The Creek’s Beach Club, in 1948, and they were married in 1951, just before Bill’s eighteen-month military service in Germany.

Bill Lewis

The Hall of Fame

John H. McGuire

ohn McGuire prepared for his twenty years of service at the Westchester Country Club, the penultimate mix of hotel and country club, with a career in which he managed hotels and resort hotels. John began his career in the hospitality field working at the Belleair Hotel in Florida, the Garden City Hotel on Long Island, and the Greenbrier in West Virginia, After military service in Europe during World War II, he returned to management positions at the Biltmore Hotel, Park Lane Hotel, and Gotham Hotel, all in New York City. John came to the Westchester Country Club in 1957, and eventually became the General Manager in 1963 and Executive Director in 1966. He retired on September 1, 1977, and moved to Florida, where he and wife Patti still reside.

Westchester Country Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s former General Manager John McGuire

A Heritage of Service

C a p t a i n J . D o u g l a s M i l l e r, C C M

aptain J. Douglas Miller was born in Michigan, and earned his AB degree from the University of Michigan in 1940. His graduate studies at Michigan were interrupted in 1941 by service with the US Naval Reserve, which sponsored his studies in the Supply Corps School in the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. Miller served with the Navy during World War II as a Supply Officer in the Pacific Theater, and after the war with the Navy Department (Bureau of Supplies and Accounts) in Washington, DC. He remained active with the Naval Reserve until retiring as captain in 1978. Captain Miller began his professional career managing restaurants in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Richmond, Virginia, and then took a position with General Foods in Tarrytown, New York. During 1953 to 1958, Miller worked as Port Steward for the Overseas Tanhship Corporation in New York, and this led to a position as superintendent, Food Services, for that companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s affiliate, Caltex Pacific Oil Company, in Sumatra, Indonesia, during 1958 to 1961. The latter position offered Miller his first opportunity to work with clubs. In 1961 Miller began an eight-year stint as School Lunch Director for the Katonah-Lewisboro Schools in Westchester County. In 1962, he began his twenty-two year tenure as General Manager of the Waccabuc Country Club, from which he retired in 1983. Miller served the MCMA as a Board member and treasurer. Miller and his wife Nancy have three sons (all of whom worked through high school and college at Waccabuc), and seven grandchildren.

Captain Doug Miller

The Hall of Fame

James L. Nolletti, CCM

ames L. “Jim” Nolletti, Jr., is a lifelong resident of Mamaroneck. While a student at Mamaroneck High School, Jim would walk by the grounds of Winged Foot Golf Club, never imagining that later in life he would serve the legendary club as General Manager for fifteen years. Jim graduated from the Lewis School of Hotel Management in Washington, DC in 1949, then became the assistant manager of the Larchmont Yacht Club. He later became the General Manager of the Davenport Club in New Rochelle, New York. His talent was quickly recognized, and in 1966 Jim became the General Manager of the Wykagyl Country Club, also in New Rochelle. In 1972 Jim Nolletti was offered the general manager position at Winged Foot Golf Club. The job came with immediate challenge because Winged Foot was scheduled to host the 1972 US Women’s Open and the 1974 US Open. Dealing with the myriad of issues needed to put on a USGA Open became a trademark of Jim Nolletti’s career. He later prepared Winged Foot for the

James Nolletti

A Heritage of Service

US Senior Open in 1980 and the US Open in 1984. The success of these tournaments set the standard by which today’s tournaments are measured. Throughout his tenure at Winged Foot, the membership and their guests were treated to delicious fare and exemplary service, both hallmarks of Jim’s management style. In 1987 Jim was offered the opportunity to take on a different position and new challenges. He became the General Manager of the prestigious Metropolitan Club in Manhattan, for which he provided a sound financial plan and excellent service to the members and guests. Jim was recognized by the Club’s Board of Governors, who voted him a life membership. Jim is a past president of the Metropolitan Club Managers Association, and served the chapter and the national organization on several committees. Jim has also been a leader in his community, in the political arena as well as charity work. He served as an advisor to the state legislature regarding the effect of liquor laws on private clubs.

Jeffery M. Plain, CCM

effrey M. Plain is a graduate of Paul Smith’s College and Florida State University with degrees in Hotel and Restaurant Management. He also is a graduate of OCS Newport, and is a former naval officer who served in Vietnam. He was on the staff of the Commander of the Seventh Fleet, and received seven decorations for his naval service. Jeffrey has served as manager at the Woodbridge Country Club in Woodbridge, Connecticut, the Old Westbury Golf and Country Club, the Dellwood Country Club (for eleven years), the Crestmont Country Club in West Orange, New Jersey, and the Inwood Country Club for nine years. Plain is a Certified Club Manager, and is a member of the CMAA’s “Thirty Years Club.” Jeffrey Plain is married and has two daughters, both students at the University of Maryland. He has been living in New City, New York, for twenty years, and enjoys fishing in his spare time. General Manager Jeffrey Plain

The Hall of Fame

Alfred Richter

At the Hall of Fame Presentation in New York: Joyce and Fred Richter.

A Heritage of Service

lfred “Fred” Richter was born in 1932, and had completed one year in the hotel administration program at Cornell University before the Korean War intervened. In Korea, the “big man” (6’2” – 240 lbs.) proved a hero, winning the Silver Star, Bronze Medal with Two Gold Clusters, and the Purple Heart three times. During the years 1953 to 1957, Fred freelanced in the hotel field, working in Chicago, then oversaw the opening of hotels for the Atlantic City Corporation in Philadelphia and Delaware. Richter took his first position in the club business in 1957 at the Elmwood Country Club in White Plains, as maître d’/clubhouse manager. He was also involved in Elmwood’s food and beverage operation, which included a 64-room “hotel” adjoining the clubhouse. In 1960 Fred began a twelve-year stint at the Town Club of the City of New York as General Manager. The club was sold at auction in 1968, then reorganized with new owners and new members. Fred oversaw all phases of financial preparation for the new club, set-up a board

of directors, by-laws, and rules and regulations. He also wrote the charges to the various committees, and created an employee’s manual. In 1971 Fred began his final assignment in the Metropolitan area, a nine-year tenure as General Manager and Director of all club operations at the Ridgeway Country Club in White Plains. Fred moved to California in 1979 to become General Manager/Director of all club operations at the Los Altos Golf and Country Club. In 1984 he became President, Executive Director, and General Manager of the new Desert Horizons Country Club in Indian Wells, California, overseeing the preparations for the club’s opening, as he had done for the Town Club. His responsibilities included food and beverage menu planning and merchandising for the Golf and Tennis Pro Shops. In 1986 Fred became General Manager at the El Niguel Country Club in Laguna, California, then returned East in 1989 for his final position, executive director and General Manager of the Ashbourne Country Club in Chestenham, Pennsylvania. He retired in October, 1994. Fred has served on the MCMA Board as secretary and treasurer, and as committee chairman. He was a cofounder of the AABR Golf Tournament in 1974, a role he duplicated several times with other charities while in California. The Chris Pelekoudas National League Umpire) Invitational Golf Tournament and the Mike Connors Child Help USA Golf Tournament are notable examples.

Hans H. Richter

ans Richter was born in Germany, and apprenticed in the culinary aspect of the hotel business at the Hotel Hans Schucht in Krefeld, Germany. He then worked as an assistant chef at the Kur Hotel Eden in Bad Wiesssee, Germany. Hans immigrated to the United States in 1963, his first position being as chef garde manger at the Bath and Tennis Club in Palm Beach, Florida. He continued his training through work experience in various positions in clubs, hotels, and cruise ships. In 1968 Hans became dining room manager at the Dellwood Country Club, then assistant manager at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club. He took his first position as General Manager at the Mount Kisco Country Club in 1972, and subsequently served four other clubs in that capacity: the Denver Country Club, the Golf Club of Avon, Connecticut, the Union League Club in New York City, and finally the Bath and Tennis Club. Hans served the Metropolitan Charter as golf chairman, tennis chairman, entertainment chairman, and was a member of the Charity Committee. He also served a term as president of the Mile High Chapter in Colorado, and was a member of the CMAA Membership and Executive Career Services Committees.

Hans Richter and wife Ingrid

The Hall of Fame

Roger S. Ross, CCM

Roger and Ann Ross

A Heritage of Service

oger Sherman Ross was a tall man of 6 feet, 5 inches, not only big in stature but also big in heart. As a young man, he served as a pilot in World War II, and received the highest award for bravery, the Distinguished Flying Cross. Roger graduated from Cornell University, then began his career at the Hotel Carlyle and the Hotel Pierre in New York. He was General Manager of the Morristown Country Club in New Jersey, and then served twenty-five years as General Manager at the Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley, New York. Roger also was the General Manager of the Cornell University Club in New York City, and supervised its reopening. Roger Ross was very active with the CMAA, and served as a national director. He received many national awards, and also was recognized locally as Tanqueray Club Manager of the Year in 1980. An avid sportsman, Roger was involved in several sports, even well into his later years. He also bought and restored the Roger Sherman Inn in New Canaan, Connecticut. Roger was married to his wife, Anne, for fifty-seven years, and was a devoted father of four children, and a proud grandfather. He is remembered as a true gentleman, a man of honor and integrity, sincerity, and humor.

Arthur M. Russell, CCM

rthur Russell started his career in show business in the years just after World War II (1948 to 1950), traveling all over the world with the USO. He staged shows in every state in the union and in many countries overseas such as Guam, the Philippines, Johnston Island (where the plane carrying his band crash landed), Japan, North Korea, and South Korea. The Artie Russell Orchestra toured the hospitals, camps, and ships of the armed services, and Artie did the vocals and played saxophone. In 1951 he began a twenty-year stint at the San Su San Supper Club on Long Island, where he showcased stars from the entertainment world, including the likes of Jerry Vale, Vic Damone, Connie Francis, Liza Minnelli, Tony Bennett, Mickey Rooney, Steve Lawrence, and Edie Gorme. Arthur Russell came to North Hills Country Club in July of 1971. He came to work with Steve Yurasits, who replaced the retiring Eric Koch in 1969. Steve left North Hills in 1971, and Arthur stepped into the General Manager’s role. While at North Hills, Russell served the MCMA as president (1981–1982), and was involved with the AARB-MCMA Charity Golf Tournament since its inception, chairing it for several years. He has also been involved with many other charities, to which the plaques on his office wall attested. Arthur joined the Club Manager’s Association of America in 1971, and achieved certification on his first try. He was inducted into the 500 Honor Society of the CMAA in 1984, and continued accumulating education points every year.

During his years at North Hills, Arthur has implemented millions of dollars of improvements without having to ask for any assessments and while maintaining the lowest dues structure in the Metropolitan area. He passed away in 1999.

Artie and Bettey Russell

A Heritage of Service

Frank E. Saris, CCM

rank Saris graduated from the Athens Law School in Greece, then worked in the hotel industry after graduation. He later became ex-officio chairman of the Board of the Hotel Tourist School in Cohoes,

Frank Saris

A Heritage of Service

Greece. He later joined the Diplomatic Corps as secretary to the premier of Greece. Saris worked in the hotel industry when he arrived in the United States. In 1970 he became General Manager of one of the most prestigious city clubs in Manhattan, the Harmonie Club on Sixtieth Street, a position he holds to this day. He joined both the city and national club managers associations in 1970, and became a member of the MCMA in 1979. Frank has served on and chaired a number of CCMA committees over the years, becoming treasurer, secretary, vice-president, and ultimately president from 1984 to 1986. During his tenure at Harmonie, he has been certified and recertified a CCM a total of seven times since 1983. For the past quarter-century, he has been a member of the Hotel Executives Club, and for the last twelve years of the American Management Association. He has attended fourteen CMAA conferences. Among the honors bestowed on Frank Saris over the years have been membership in the MCMA Hall of Fame (1998), and the CMAA Honor Society (1991).He has served nationally as chairman of the CMAAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Audit Committee and as a member of the Budget and Finance Committee. He also served as president of the Region I, II, III Alliance. He has been a long-standing member of the Regional Council of the National Club Association since 1993. Frank was senior management trustee of the pension plan of Union No. 6, New York City. He was a recipient in 1988 of the Tanqueray Club Manager of the Year award.

Juergen H. Schumann, CCM Humanitarian Award, 2000

uergen Schumann was born in Germany in 1944, making him the youngest member of the MCMA Hall of Fame. He graduated in the top 5 percent of his class at the Hotel Fachschule in Aachen, before joining his family in the United States in 1962. As a draftee, he served in the Army’s Adjutant General Corps, and became the first draftee to be promoted to the rank of staff sergeant within CONARC. Juergen started his club career at The Creek and Huntington Country Club. After service with the US Army, he took a position as assistant manager at the Muttontown Club under Doug Louis, and this prepared him for the General Manager position at Inwood, which he held from 1971 to 1979. In 1979 he moved to a similar position at the Old Westbury Golf and Country Club, where he remained until his retirement in 2001. In addition to serving on seven CMAA committees, Juergen received his certification, and has been six times recertified, is a member of the CMAA Honor Society, and was Tanqueray Club Manager of the Year in 1991. He served six years as director of the New York State Club Association. Juergen was very active with the local chapter. He served on the Board for nineteen years, including two terms as president, and was a member of the original MCMA Foundation Board. In addition to serving as chairman of the Membership, Bylaws, and Scholarship Committees,

where he and Roger Ross were cofounders of the Keith Ross Scholarship Fund, Juergen also served on the Education Committee for four years, twice winning the best Chapter Education Program Award. Juergen was one of the original members when the Charity Committee was formed, and is the last of the original committee still serving. He has served as chairman and host more than any other Chapter member, and “raised the bar” to almost $90,000 in the first year he was asked to chair by Arthur Russell. He was named AABR “Man of the Year” in 2000. Juergen and wife Jean were honored by AABR in 1986 and again in 2000, when the Wellington Hall School had its second floor dedicated in their honor. Juergen was inducted into the Metropolitan Chapter Hall of Fame, and honored with the Humanitarian Award in 2000. Juergen Schumann was recognized with a Congressional Certificate of Merit for his community service, and received a similar honor from the Town of Hempstead, and also was honored by the American Heart Association for saving eighteen lives with CPR and the heart defibrillator. Juergen now lives on his farm in the Catskills. He enjoys many different activities as a naturalist and hunter, and still attends many meetings and participates on the Charity Committee. Juergen Schumann

The Hall of Fame

Philip H. Stone, CCM

hilip Stone earned his bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University in 1940, then served as a B-24 pilot with the US Air Force during World War II. He rose to the rank of captain before being shot down over Italy. He became a charter member of the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC. After the war Stone worked for seven years as an accountant, preparing himself for his lifelong position as General Manager/secretary at the Whitehall Club in Manhattan, a position he held for forty years, from 1952 to 1992. While at Whitehall, Philip served as secretary, vicepresident, and ultimately as president of the Club Manager’s of the City of New York, and as regional director for the Club Manager’s Association of America.

Philip Stone

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C o l o n e l F r a n k J . Te r c y

rank Tercy served all over Europe with the Diplomatic Corps of the US Army. Following his retirement, Colonel Tercy entered the club management profession, and managed two clubs over a twentyfive year career. Colonel Tercy was appointed General Manager of the Gipsy Trail Club in Carmel, New York, on February 1, 1962, and remained in that position for eight years. On April 1, 1970, Colonel Tercy was appointed General Manager of the Maidstone Club in East Hampton, New York, where he spent the final seventeen years of his professional career. He retired from Maidstone on April 1, 1987. Colonel Tercy joined the Metropolitan Club Managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Association in 1963, and earned his CCM designation 1972. He became a member of CMAAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Honor Society in 1985.

Frank and Christina Tercy

The Hall of Fame

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G i n o To r c e l l i n i , C C M

ino Torcellini was born and raised in Ridgefield, Connecticut. After high school, he served two years in the US Air Force pilot training program in San Antonio, where he met his future wife, Velma. He prepared for the hospitality field while completing his schooling. Gino was appointed General Manager of the Silver Spring Country Club in Ridgefield in 1959, and became General Manager in 1961. His duties have included handling the restaurant, tending to the pool, paying bills, controlling the budget, and handling investments. “Torch,” as he is known, kept the club in the black and within its budgets for many years, operating the club on a conservative, business-like basis. Gino was active politically in Ridgefield, serving as the town treasurer for twenty years (1959–1979), as a member of the Republican Town Committee, and the Board of Tax Review. Torch is a past president and former finance committee chairman of the Ridgefield Lions Club. Gino belonged to the Connecticut, Metropolitan, and American Club Manager’s Associations, and continues to serve the Connecticut Chapter as a consultant. On June 1, 1999, Gino became General Manager emeritus, but retains his association as advisor to the club president. He and Velma have a villa in Stuart, Florida, and spend some time there each winter.

Gino “Torch” Torcellini at his retirement party at Silver Spring Country Club.

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W h i t n e y Tr a v i s , C C M

hitney Travis is a product of upstate New York, raised and educated in Peekskill, with a B.S. degree in 1942 from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. During World War II, he served as medical administrative officer with the US Army. After service, Travis spent ten years working as an auditor for Horwath and Horwath, after which he became the Comptroller and assistant manager for the Bear Mountain Inn (1957–1960) and The Yale Club of New York City (1960–1962). His career as a club General Manager began in 1962 at The Yale Club, where he held away until 1974, then at the Stock Exchange Luncheon Club (1974–1985) and at the Saratoga Reading Rooms (1985–1990). Whitney Travis joined the CMAA in 1964, and served the New York City Chapter diligently, serving on the Board from 1964 to 1971, including terms as treasurer, secretary, vice president, and finally as president from 1969 to 1970. He also chaired the Chapter’s Educational, By Laws, and Nominating Committees. He also served on numerous CMAA committees, chairing its Internal Relations, Building and House, Budget and Finance, Magazine, Research Trust, and Allied Associations Committees, and served the Association as vice-president and president (1979–1980). Travis has been honored as Tanqueray Club Manager of the Year in 1971 and with the CMAA Distinguished Service Award (for his work during 1975–1981). He has been made an honorary member of the CMAA and MCMA, and his biography has appeared in Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, Who’s Who in the World, and Men of Achievement.

Whitney Travis

The Hall of Fame

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T h o m a s N . Tu t h i l l , C C M

homas N. Tuthill is a 1967 graduate of Cornell Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s School of Hotel Administration. Upon graduation, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, where he served as an officer in the Marine Air Traffic Control Unit. After a tour of duty in Vietnam, he left the Marines with the rank of Captain Tomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first position in the hospitality business was as an assistant manager at the Nashua Country Club in Nashua, New Hampshire. He followed that with a short stint running a country inn in Arlington, Vermont. He then moved to Westchester County, where he became the general manager at the Westchester Hills Country Club. While there, he was taken under the wing of the venerable James J. Glover, from whom he learned all there is to know about the club management business. He moved on to become general manager of the Sleepy Hollow Country Club, then the Tamarack Country Club. Tom is currently the general managerat the new Manhattan Woods Golf Club in West Nyack, New York. He lives on the east shore of Greenwood Lake, New York, with Diane, his wonderful (and patient) wife of thirty-six years, and his cats.

Thomas Tuthiill

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J o h n Va l l i s

fter serving in the Pacific with the US Navy during World War II, John Vallis came to New York to work, first as assistant manager at the Fifth Avenue Restaurant, then as Food and Beverage manager at the Hotel Croyden. In 1951 John began a forty-six-year career as General Manager in Westchester County. First, he spent sixteen years at the Vernon Hills Country Club in Eastchester. When that club was converted to the municipally-operated Lake Isle Country Club, John followed several of his former Vernon Hills members to their new venture, Brae Burn Country Club. There, he oversaw the startup of a new club, and remained thirty years. He retired from Brae Burn in 1996. John served the MCMA well, chairing both the Membership and Social Function Committees. Perhaps his greatest contribution was helping organize the AABR charity tournaments for a number of years, for which he was honored in 1984. John also was honored by the CMAA for his work with the CMAA magazine.

John Vallis with wife Sultana.

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Siegfried Wiedemann, CCM

Siegfried Wiedemann with Lord’s Valley president Gerard Brisman.

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iegfried Wiedemann started his apprenticeship in the culinary field in the early 1950s at the age of fourteen. After four years, he received his Diploma “Chef and Patissier,” left his hometown, and took his first job as a chef in Hamburg Germany. In 1955 he had the good fortune of getting a job on an Ocean Liner and made his first trip to the United States. For five years, he worked on ships, learning more about culinary art and seeing other parts of the world. In 1960, he immigrated to the United States, working as a chef in Long Island’s “Carl Hoppel’s Restaurant.” In 1961 Siegfried was drafted into the United States Army and spent the next two years in Fort Dix, New Jersey, working as a chef. In 1963 Wiedemann received an offer from the United States Line to take the job as Executive Sous Chef on the SS United States, the fastest Ocean Liner afloat, working as part of a kitchen staff of 165 people. Wiedemann entered the private club industry in 1969, working through 1973 as executive chef at the Glen Oaks Country Club on Long Island. From 1973 to 1977 he worked in a similar capacity under his good friend and mentor, Frank Saris, at the Harmonie Club. In 1977 Siegfried left the Harmonie Club to become the general manager of the Lords Valley Country Club in Pennsylvania. A position he held until his retirement after twenty-four years in 2001.

Distinguished Ser vice Award, 2000

Carl H. Bauer

arl Bauer was born in Chicago in 1931 of German parents, his father being a master baker and pastry chef. The family returned to Germany in 1935 to vote in the Saar plebiscite, and lived within a mile of the French border. They were evacuated to the center of Germany at the start of hostilities. Carl returned to the United States late in 1950, and met his future wife Bertha in 1952. They married in 1958, and moved to Stratford, Connecticut, in 1962, where they (and two sons) have lived ever since. Carl worked in hospitality industry-associated positions from 1951 through 1961, in both New York and Miami. He took his first position in the club business as assistant manager at the Tuxedo Club in 1961 and became General Manager a year later. He has since served in the General Manager capacity at several clubs, including Mill River Country Club (in Stratford), Stamford Yacht Club, The Lunch Club on Wall Street, Century Association on Forty-third Street, the Drug and Chemical Club of New York, and presently at the Moryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Association in New Haven. Carl has been a member of the CMAA since 1962, and was elected to the CMAA Honor Society in 1982. He has been a member of the Metropolitan, New York State, Connecticut, and New York City Associations, serving the latter as president in from 1980 to 1982. He has been active with the National Club Foundation since its inception, and is a life member of the Chefs de Cuisine Association of America. Carl was named Tanqueray Club Manager of the Year in 1983, and was presented with the Lifetime

Achievement Award by the University of New Haven, where he served as instructor between 1993 and 1997. He has also been active with the Boy Scouts and both PAL and PONY baseball in Stratford.

Carl Bauer

The Hall of Fame

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The Lido Club on Long Islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s south shore at Long Beach, one of the greatest clubs in the Metropolitan district prior to World War II.

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Ch a p t e r 1 0

The Clubs

and General Managers Of the Metropolitan Club Managers Association For 81 years MCMA, through its founders and all the managers who came before, has elevated the title of General Manager to a level of respect and achievement. MCMA is an investment in our careers through the use of the many workshops, educational meetings, seminars, and conferences that are available to us. Now it is up to out current general managers to obtain the greatest return on this investment for the future and to build upon the foundation laid by those who served long and well before them.

A Heritage of Service

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Albany Countr y Club

T Former General Manager Bruce B. Becker

Served With Distinction William R. Aperance* Bruce B. Becker John J. Roberts Jack Ruddick Robert Haskett

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he Albany Country Club traces its roots to the Albany Hunt and Country Club, which was founded in 1890. The club’s primary activities were fox hunting for the men and teas for the ladies. The clubhouse was a leased tavern on the old Schenectady Post Road. The present name was adopted in 1895, at which time the club purchased (for $12,000) the 86-acre Knowles Farm (formerly Wellhurst, the William Cooper homestead), just south of the present site in the old sand plains. There the club built tennis courts, and used a pond for ice skating and hockey. The Cathedral Woods were on the property. In 1896 the members introduced a different kind of tees when a nine-hole golf course was opened. The main farmhouse on the property was converted into a clubhouse, with a major wing including the dining room added. The club’s caddies were elegantly garbed, their uniforms consisting of blue French blouses and red capes! The course was expanded to eighteen holes by Devereux Emmet in 1904 when the club purchased

the adjacent Hendrickson property and part of the Seely farm. In 1954 the club completed a five-year plan that involved modernizing and renovating the clubhouse. During that time the golf course was partially redesigned by Willie Ogg, the club’s golf professional/greenskeeper. It was a wasted effort, however. In 1961 New York State took over the property as the future site for the State University at Albany, burning the clubhouse and leveling the golf course in the process. The club received over $3.6 million from the State (after refusing several lesser offers). The club purchased the present site in Voorheesville in 1962, and engaged a relatively young Robert Trent Jones to design a new eighteen-hole golf course. Jones had nine holes ready for play in 1963. The full course opened for play the following year, as did the new W. Parker Dodge designed clubhouse. While the members awaited the opening of their new facilities, they were extended playing and dining privileges at the neighboring Colonie Country Club. A major clubhouse renovation was completed in 1995.

Anglebrook Golf Club

he Anglebrook Golf Club, located in the historic township of Somers, was conceptualized in late 1987 by Mitsui Fudosan and Kajima, which formed the Anglebrook Limited Partnership for the purpose of creating an exclusive, private golf club for international businessmen to network and build relationships. After a lengthy search for the site, Anglebrook LLP purchased 240 acres of undeveloped farmland in Lincolndale in bucolic upper Westchester County from Lincoln Hall, a non-profit organization that operated the live-in school and campus directly across the street from what is now Anglebrook. The property itself has a storied past. It has been subdivided and farmed by tenant farmers as far back as the American Revolution. In recent years, students at Lincoln Hall had participated in classes conducted on the Anglebrook grounds which included aspects of agriculture and farming. Having acquired the land, the syndicate contracted with legendary architect Robert Trent Jones, Sr., in 1989. Jones, along with his top design associate Roger Rulewich, would make Anglebrook the final course in his illustrious international portfolio. It would not come quickly, however. Since the Anglebrook property included fifty acres of wetlands that were part of the New York City watershed, environmental permits became a major concern. The primary issue that had to be overcome was whether a tributary (Angle Brook itself ) to the Croton reservoir would be harmed by the construction and maintenance of the golf course. The Department of Environmental

Protection wanted to limit golf course construction to five acres at a time. The permitting process was a lengthy one, and it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t until October of 1994 that ground was broken. The golf course opened on June 7, 1997. The 24,000-square-foot clubhouse, designed in the post-modern style by Robert A. M. Stern of New York City, opened in 1998, providing the members with an atmosphere of casual elegance. The dining room offers a international menu ranging from classical French cuisine to Japanese specialties. Witherspoon Properties (a subsidiary of Kajima International) is the general partner of Anglebrook, which attracts primarily corporate memberships. The current roster includes both American and international corporations from a variety of industries. Anglebrook offers privileges targeted to the corporate member, such as guests on weekends and unescorted guests on weekdays. Anglebrook is strictly a golf club; there are no tennis or paddle tennis courts, nor is there a swimming pool.

David Fowler on the grounds.

Served With Distinction David Fowler* Victor Boyd Shigehito Suzuki

The Anglebrook clubhouse

The Clubs

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The Apawamis Club

Bill Lopez, current Clubhouse Manager, has served Apawamis for 35 years.

Served With Distinction Robert Schlingmann* Sam Nerses Timothy McCormick John O’Brien William Smith Charles Walton

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y 1890 Rye was a small community with population about 1000. The countryside was used for farming, as it had been a century before when food supplies from Rye fed both armies during the Revolutionary War. The Apawamis Club was formed at the Union Chapel on July 22, 1890, to “further the intercourse of its members, and promote the welfare of the neighborhood.” The club’s name is a contraction of the Mohegan “Appoqua Mis,” meaning “the covering tree,” part of the local lexicon dating back to the seventeenth century. When Apawamis was incorporated on January 1, 1891, it became the first men’s social club to be chartered by the state of New York. The club had fifty-five members at the time, and its first “clubhouse” consisted of two parlor rooms leased from a local boarding house. Through its early years, Apawamis members took a strong interest in the civic and cultural development of Rye. The social aspect of the club consisted of family activities during the day and an occasional “literary meeting” in the evening. Ultimately, even the social activities took a back seat to golf. On February 2, 1891, Apawamis found its first more-or-less permanent home, a four-acre estate known as “Kirklawn” on the Boston Post Road, now the site of the Church of the Resurrection. In 1896 Apawamis leased the nearby Anderson farm, a few blocks from the clubhouse and not far from the Sound, and hired a man from Slazingers for $10 to “stake out” a nine-hole golf course. This primitive course with dirt greens was all the club could afford at the time. In March of 1897 the club was on the move again, this time leasing the Jib farm east of the Boston Post

Road, just south of the railroad crossing. The property consisted of 30 acres and included a dwelling which became the second Apawamis clubhouse. With the addition of an adjacent 15-acre farm, there was room for a nine-hole course, which featured such unusual hazards as a swamp, apple orchards, trolley tracks, railroad tracks, and a railroad signal tower. Another move was inevitable, however. With a steadily increasing membership, a larger plot of land, one capable of housing a full eighteen-hole golf course, was becoming a necessity. In 1898 Apawamis was permitted to select 120 acres from the estate of Charles Park, a tract deemed most suitable for the construction of a golf course. The purchase price was $50,000. Formerly farmland and woodland, just two miles from the club’s original site, the property contained thousands of yards of ledge rock and stone fence, the removal of which proved to be an ongoing problem for several years. The new eighteen-hole golf course was designed by club Green Chairman Maturin Ballou, assisted by the noted Scottish professional/architect Willie Dunn, and was ready for play by June of 1899. Much of Apawamis’ original clubhouse was destroyed by a fire which occurred during a blizzard on February 4, 1907. Only the forward portion of the house was saved. The new clubhouse was finished by August of 1908, and that clubhouse, unpretentious but comfortable, has served the club ever since. It underwent major renovation and enlargement during 1928,when the ballroom was added, and the locker rooms, nineteenth hole, kitchen, and living quarters were revamped. Tennis also proved popular at Apawamis, and six

courts were in place by 1910. Another regulation court, four squash and three paddle tennis courts have been added since. The Depression did not treat Apawamis kindly. The membership count dwindled – there were 70 vacancies rather than the long waiting list of the previous decade. In 1934 the club made a bold move, acquiring the property for its Beach Club, which formally opened on August 7, 1934. It was a brilliant stroke, one that made the club more attractive, and helped rebuild the membership. By April of 1935 Apawamis had a long waiting list once again. No other club in the Met area recovered as quickly. Apawamis’ swimming pool was built during the 1950s, coinciding with the sale of the club’s facilities at the beach. This move immediately transformed Apawamis from a golf club to a country club. In fact, a terrace and dance floor soon replaced the former first tee in front of the clubhouse, taking 30 yards off the starting hole. Apawamis has hosted a number of national and regional golf championships over the years, including the 1978 Curtis Cup and the 1911 US Amateur. The event that eventually grew up to become the Westchester Classic had its genesis at Apawamis in the 1950s as a one-day pro-amateur conducted for the benefit of United Hospital in Port Chester. The driving force was William Jennings, former president of the New York Rangers. The inspiration came from Mrs. Jennings, her mother, and her grandmother, the latter founder of United Hospital. But no tournament is more closely woven into the fabric that is Apawamis than the United States Seniors. The idea for the competition came to Apawamis member Horace Hotchkiss early in 1904 during an informal discussion at the club’s nineteenth hole. Hotchkiss, acting as a “committee of one,” invited a group of friends and acquaintances, all aged at least fifty-five years, to Apawamis for a one-day, thirty-six-hole competition. A

field of approximately 50 players gathered on October 12, 1905 for the world’s first-ever “seniors” tournament. As the number of men participating grew, the tournament was expanded to two days, then to four days in 1915. All the while, Apawamis provided the prizes and absorbed all expenses. By 1916 the seniors came to realize that it was time to organize formally, and at the same time relieve Apawamis of some of the burden of conducting their tournament. A general organizational meeting was held on January 29, 1917, attended by some 200 seniors, and the United States Seniors Golf Association was formed, with membership attained by invitation only. By way of thanks, the USSGA in 1935 donated the money used to install the original watering system at Apawamis.

General Manager Rob Schlingmann introducing Santa Claus at the children’s Christmas party.

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Ardsley Countr y Club

Former General Manager Theodore P. Hennes

Served With Distinction John Brisson* Theodore P. Hennes Steven Arias Michael Phillippo

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t the turn of the last century, it was something very special. It was called the “Millionaires’ Club,” the summer playground for the fabulously wealthy. It quickly became one of the most noted social centers in the United States. It was the Ardsley Casino, high on a bluff overlooking the Hudson River. The Ardsley Casino was organized in 1895. Announcements of the club’s existence, and its grandiose plans, began appearing in the local press in July of 1895. The scheduled opening date of Christmas 1895 was missed by some five months, with the formal opening finally taking place on May 29–30, 1896. Ardsley was founded by a group of millionaires, some from nearby Dobbs Ferry, others from Manhattan. Among them were Cornelius and Alfred G. Vanderbilt, William and John D. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, and Edwin Gould. Quite likely the leader of the group was Philip Schuyler, a nephew of Alexander Hamilton, who served as the club’s first president until his death in 1906. It was on Nevis, the Hamilton homestead used by the Schuylers as a summer home, that the clubhouse was built. The club also purchased some land from Manhattan College, and 65 acres from General Samuel Thomas, for a total of 175 acres, and later on acquired the 107-acre Cyrus Field estate as well. The objective was to create a parklike setting, complete with an eighteen-hole golf course. The club spared no expense in attaining its goal – the total cost for the land, buildings, and golf course came to approximately one million dollars, a tidy sum in those days! The clubhouse – the Ardsley Casino – was located on a craggy bluff overlooking the Hudson River, 21

miles north of New York City. At its feet were the club’s yacht basin and a private depot on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. The three-story building featured wide piazzas, private swimming pools, a billiard room, and approximately sixty bedrooms for members or their guests not spending the evening on their yachts. Ardsley’s original golf course was the work of Willie Dunn, who considered it his crowning achievement in this country. Dunn employed 200 men and 50 teams of horses, and had to clear virgin forest to make room for the course, which was laid out over very hilly terrain crossed by numerous ravines. The first nine holes, all on the west side of Broadway, were ready by the spring of 1896. The second nine followed the next spring, to the east of the highway in the hills. Not one hole from that course remains in play today, however. The first four holes on Dunn’s course played south from the clubhouse – the first tee was on the clubhouse lawn – along the cliffs overlooking the Hudson, which were cut away by ravines at irregular intervals. The fourth, known as the Chasm hole, required a 150-yard carry over a 100-foot-deep ravine which the players crossed by means of a rustic bridge. The New York Aqueduct, which carried the city’s water supply from Croton, crossed the course. Ardsley’s twelve grass courts were considered the finest in the United States at the turn of the century. The club also fostered squash, which it housed in its own building. Sometime during the first decade of this century, Ardsley dropped the “Casino” from its name, calling itself simply “The Ardsley Club.” And the links under-

went change, the end result being a course with just five holes on the river side of Broadway. Fire destroyed the Casino in 1926, and the grand old clubhouse was not rebuilt. Instead, the stables and bachelor quarters on the hillside, west of Broadway, were converted into Ardsley’s second clubhouse, which opened in 1927. Today the Hudson House, an exclusive apartment building, occupies the Casino site. Ardsley’s stables once housed as many as 100 horses, including those that pulled the Ardsley Tallyho, which commuted each weekday between the club and the Hotel Brunswick on lower Fifth Avenue in New York City. In conjunction with the move to the “new” clubhouse, the club purchased some 40 acres behind the thirteenth hole and the golf course was remodeled once again, this time leaving only the first and last holes on the river side of Broadway, with the original opening holes along the river eliminated. The revised course was ready in 1928, and actually had nineteen holes, including a “warm-up” hole preceding the true first. Much of the club’s land on the riverside was sold to Herbert Allen, who later sold it to Mercy College. The revised golf course is believed to have been the work of Alister MacKenzie, creator of Augusta National and Cypress Point, and it appears to have retained very little from its predecessors (although bearing a close resemblance to the present course). The club managed to survive some difficult times during the Depression. It was the tennis members who saved the club at that time, financing its existence during a period when the bank actually ran the golf course on a daily fee basis for one or two years. The club’s name was changed to Ardsley Country Club in 1937. The MacKenzie course remained intact until 1966, when the club moved to its present home, the former mansion of Frank Gould, situated high in the hills, overlooking the river. From the clubhouse terrace members enjoy a panoramic view of the Hudson River and the New Jersey Palisades.

The 1966 revisions were done by Robert Trent Jones, who eliminated the two holes across Broadway, The sale of the land west of Broadway provided sufficient funds with which to purchase the new clubhouse. And the move eliminated the need for golfers to cross Broadway twice during the course of a round. The golf course is complemented by nine tennis and three paddle tennis courts, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and three of the best curling rinks in the United States.

The Ardsley Casino circa 1898.

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Atlantic Golf Club

General Manager James Matthers standing under a portrait of Lowell Schulman.

The Atlantic clubhouse at sunset.

Served With Distinction W. James Matthers* James Glover

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tlantic Golf Club commenced its inaugural season in the spring of 1992. Shortly thereafter it was recognized by Golf Digest as the “Best New Private Course” opened in 1992. Within a few years, Atlantic was voted by Golf Digest to its list of the 100 best golf courses in the United States, and has remained in this elite grouping in subsequent years, and is also included on Golf Magazine’s top 100 list. Dedicated to the premise that a private club has the obligation to “give something back to society and to the game,” Atlantic immediately established a procedure to “loan” the course each year to a number of the local philanthropic organizations, who have used the course and the club to further their respective programs and activities. In addition, the club has hosted a variety of competitions and championships including the Met Open, US Senior Amateur, Lesley Cup, and the FrenchAmerican Golf Challenge. The club originated when Lowell Schulman, a developer of corporate office parks in Westchester County, was enjoying a pleasant weekend visit to the Hamptons in August of 1988. Inspired by the gorgeous countryside, Schulman fantasized about creating a golf course there, a golf course that would be special, a tribute to the game he loved. That whim was the first of a long series of events that included wonderful timing, opportune situations, and lucky breaks. Schulman semi-seriously states that it was all destiny, since the project and the ensuing activities were all out of character for him and his usual routine. True, he was a builder, and also true, he had developed a golf course in Purchase, New York, many years

earlier, but that activity took place in his home county, where he was a known figure and established in his craft. Within a single day, he had located the 203-acre Equinox Farm on Scuttlehole Road in Bridgehampton that “coincidentally” was in the process of being sold for the development of residential housing. The farm was rolling and undulating, pocked by glacial kettle holes and ponds. It would not have been a successful agrarian pursuit because of the topographical changes, but as a golf course, it was literally crying out, “play me!” The land was acquired, and Atlantic was born when three close friends joined as the founding members. The glacial movement had left a unique sculptured surface on this slim finger of land in the midst of the surrounding flat farmland. Rees Jones designed the links-like course, and his totally owned subsidiary, CalGolf, carefully graded every tee and green and shaped each of the course’s 135 bunkers. Jones burnished his impeccable reputation with the acclaim and recognition received for his work at Atlantic. Atlantic Golf Club is a venue totally focused on the pursuit of golf. Abundant use is made of the quality practice facility accommodating both the long and the short game, and this is supplemented by a golf teaching room that employs state-of-the-art video replay equipment. The membership is diverse and capped at 180. The clubhouse, a Robert Lamb Hart design in the traditional Long Island shingled style with deep porches and dormers, opened in 1992. James J. Glover, as the club’s first General Manager, guided the project through its early years.

Ausable Club

he Ausable Club is a historic family club located on 7,000 acres of private land 25 miles from Lake Placid. More specifically, it resides in St. Huberts, in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. The club’s 400 member families enjoy a number of outdoor activities between Memorial Day and Columbus Day. Among them are biking on trails that offer some of the finest views in the Adirondacks; fishing on two private lakes, Upper and Lower Ausable lake, and in the headwaters of the Ausable River; camping in rustic log cabins or lean-tos on Upper Ausable Lake; golfing on a nine hole mountain course; and tennis on one of seven Har-Tru courts. The clubhouse is more than 100 years old, and includes twenty-seven rentable rooms. There are two fireplaces in the lobby, each with a large caribou mounted above it. Ausable is one of the few remaining “Adirondack Great Hotels” of the 1800s. It was predated on the site by the Beebe House (at Keene Heights), a bustling mountain hotel for summer vacationers. In 1886 the serenity of the Keene Valley was threatened by the prospective purchase of the woodlands around the Ausable Lakes for lumbering purposes. In October of 1887 William G. Neilson organized a group of twentynine stockholders who formed a corporation called the Adirondack Mountain Reserve (AMR), and purchased 25,000 acres of unspoiled forest, including the Beebe House, which then served as a gathering place for AMR stockholders. In 1889 the Keene family agreed to sell the hotel to AMR, which planned to continue operations as a hotel. On March 3, 1890, however, the hotel mysteriously

burned to the ground. AMR bought the property nonetheless, and built a new hotel of slightly larger proportions on the same site. Opened on July 15, 1890, it was called the St. Huberts Inn. It operated for perhaps a dozen years, during which time gas and kerosene lighting was introduced, seven cottages and a casino were built, as was a second wooden tennis court. Financial difficulties forced the Inn to close in 1903, and it was purchased in 1906 by AMR, which formed the Ausable Club (the AMR and the club have been integrated over the years). As time passed, AMR has conveyed pieces of the property to the state, always subject to the “forever wild” ethic. What remains today is the 7,000 acres of the club, extending southwest from the club campus on the Lower Lake to an elevation of 25,000 feet including the river above the club and the two lakes. A 1978 easement granted the public the right to foot travel over designated trails on AMR property. There have been just a few changes to the quality of club life since its inception. These include the replacement of the horse-drawn carriage by a motorbus in the 1930s; electricity in 1924; the nine-hole, Seymour Dunn-designed golf course, opened in 1920; and a bowling green, swimming pool, and several modern tennis courts. Over its first 100-plus years, five General Managers and nine presidents have guided the club through fire and flood, marauding bears, lost hikers, leaking dams, and the like. The club’s first General Manager, in 1908, was Augustus Coughlan; the present General Manager (since 2001) is Angus Bright, a native of Lake George and Glens Falls.

Former General Manager Christian J. DeWailly

Served With Distinction Christian J. DeWailly Angus Bright Augustus Coughlan

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Beach Point Club

F Eric and Alethea Caspers on the club lawn – a “love story that never ended.”

Aerial view of club.

General Manager Randall J. Ruder

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or centuries Orient Point, a peninsula jutting out into Long Island Sound, served as hunting and fishing grounds for the local Mohican Indians. Until the arrival of the white man, that is. In 1661 an English trader by the name of John Richbell “purchased” Orienta Point and two other necks of land from the natives for a relatively modest collection of goods. Orienta Point remained relatively undeveloped until the 1890s, when wealthy industrialists began building mansions on large plots of land on the Point. One such mansion, built for industrialist Albert Bostwick, contained twenty-two master bedrooms, each with its own bath. Following Bostwick’s death, his mansion became a girls’ school, and remained such until 1925, when it and the adjoining 28 acres was purchased for $550,000 by five members of the Quaker Ridge Golf Club, who were attracted by the beauty of the property and wanted to form a club on the water. They called their club Beach Point. Curiously, there was no beach on the property, and so one was “created.” This entailed blasting rock, hauling in truckloads of sand, as well as building a sea wall and two breakwaters. A swimming and diving pier was built on the easternmost breakwater. At the same time, the mansion was converted into a clubhouse, and a beach house with locker rooms was built. Another building contained a gymnasium and swimming pool. The club opened in 1926 with 280 charter members financing the club’s building projects. In addition to the expected water-related sports, tennis was proposed as a club activity. After some early resistance, ultimately five courts were built. Tennis became popular after the Second World War, a period

during which Russ Philips was tennis pro for eighteen years (1954–1972). The building containing the gymnasium and pool burned to the ground in 1937, and was replaced by the present Winter House. Subsequent renovations at the club produced a state of the art kitchen resulting in gourmet dining, a dining room and terrace with spectacular water views, outdoor dining on the beachfront, and superior party facilities. The World War II years were difficult at Beach Point, as membership dropped precipitously. Many members were in the service, and a good number of those left behind were unable to get to club because of gas rationing. The club defaulted on its mortgage and was in arrears on tax payments, but was saved by some clever financial transactions at war’s end. Beach Point Club currently has 600-plus members, 120 of whom also belong to the Beach Point Yacht Club, which is an affiliate of the parent club. Activities include swimming, tennis, paddle tennis, and boating. The children and grandchildren of members learn to sail at a summer day camp.

Served With Distinction Randall J. Ruder* P. Eric Caspers James J. Glover Rudwell Barrett Leslie White John L. Keenaghan

B e d f o r d G o l f a n d Te n n i s C l u b

ocated thirty-eight miles north of New York City, the Bedford Golf and Tennis Club traces its origins to late 1890 when a group of young residents of Bedford met at St. Matthew’s Rectory and decided to form a tennis club. The grand opening of the Bedford Lawn Tennis Club – three courts (dirt, not grass), croquet grounds, and the clubhouse, at a total cost of $200 – took place in June of 1891. There were fifty charter members, and one of them, A. W. Partridge, the club’s first president, leased the land needed for club purposes, across Cantitoe Street (Route 22), opposite the present third green. At the time Bedford was truly a tennis club, with several members capable of playing in national championships. Golf came to Bedford in 1896, and with it came a change in the club’s name to its present form. Charter member Thomas Kirby purchased the 27-acre Worden farm across the street with the explicit purpose of leasing it to the club, and that land together with additional land to the south donated by charter member Richard P. Lounsbery, gave the club sufficient room for nine holes. The course “architects” were Partridge and Colonel Thatcher T. P. Luquer, a civil engineer whose mother was a descendant of Thomas Paine. Luquer was the club’s first golf champion. Change was in the air at Bedford in 1911, when the club purchased considerable additional acreage adjoining its property. A new clubhouse was opened in 1914 – actually it was the Worden farmhouse, which had been expanded.

The original clubhouse eventually was moved to its present site alongside the tenth hole, overlooking the pond. It is one of golfdom’s relics – a dilapidated old building that quite possibly is the oldest extant former clubhouse in American golf. The expansion of the golf course was delayed, however, until 1927. At that time, Devereux Emmet built an entirely new eighteen-hole course. He was capably assisted by member Beatrice Lounsbery Renwick (one of the leading women amateurs in the Metropolitan area in the years following World War I), who in 1925 obtained for the club the land that now houses holes No. 4 through No. 9. By 1950 there were five red clay tennis courts at Bedford, and these eventually were supplemented by four en tout cas courts. Paddle tennis was introduced at the club in the late 1930s, when two wooden courts were built. The present setup of three courts came about in 1975, and the old skeet house was converted to a warming hut. For more than half a century, the club did not have a swimming pool; there were a sufficient number of pools on the estates of the members nearby to satisfy that need. Social changes following World War II, however, mandated a pool at the club, and so a swimming pool and snack bar were opened in June of 1953. Through the years Bedford has maintained its role as a family sports club, and nothing more. Bedford is not a country club, nor is it the social center of the village – it was never intended to be such.

General Manager Philip DuBon at the clubhouse entrance.

Served With Distinction Philip J. DuBon* William H. Burke John Assumma Pat Federico Jack Dawson

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Blind Brook Club

uring the summer of 1915, William Hamlin Childs, a New York-based restaurateur, visited the Old Elm Club near Chicago. Old Elm was an exclusive, all-male retreat where restfulness and tranquillity were the rule of the day, with seldom a wait at the first tee. The concept appealed to Childs. The possibility of recreating it in Westchester County captured his imagination. Upon returning to New York, Childs enlisted the aid of Edmund C. Converse and Frederick A. Wheeler. Within two weeks, the trio had put together a group of 150 men, each willing to contribute $3,000 to cover the acquisition of land and construction costs for a club-

Served With Distinction John C. Bladt* James J. Glover Ernest Thrift Frederick I. Preller Maurice Tonnissi Michael L. De Zutter

house and golf course. By late fall of 1915 the Blind Brook Club was born. Childs served as the club’s first president until his death in 1928. He paid off the club’s first (and only) mortgage with a gift to the club. In fitting tribute, Child’s portrait hangs over the fireplace in the men’s grill. The 200-acre site in Purchase was chosen in part because of its gentle contours, which promised to eliminate the need for excessive hill climbing. The name chosen for the club was borrowed from a stream – with origins near Bedford – that flows through Westchester County before emptying into Long Island Sound near Milton Point. Blind Brook acts as a western border of the club’s property. To design their golf course, Blind Brook’s founders turned to Charles Blair Macdonald, and presented him with an unusual request. They were not interested in a championship course of staggering length. Rather, they wanted a course they could enjoy, a challenging layout of moderate length and tempered hazards, an easy-walking course for older men. After presenting his ideas as to the routing of the

course, Macdonald turned the project over to his righthand man, Seth Raynor. What resulted was a design bearing some of the trademarks of a Macdonald-Raynor course – European copies, large, and undulating, multitiered greens – although not as rugged as most. In 1999 the old driving range was rebuilt by golf architect Kenneth Dye to change the angle and create a state-of-the-art practice facility. A short game practice green was also added, A new maintenance facility will be completed in 2005. The Golf Committee then secured the services of William Rusack from Scotland’s St. Andrews course. Rusack was married to Agnes Hunter, granddaughter of Old Tom Morris, one of the most revered names in the links world. A cottage was available on the property for the Rusacks, and Mr. Rusack purchased a pony to ride the course from hole to hole supervising the construction, insuring that the Macdonald-Raynor vision was properly carried out. In short, Raynor did the surveying and engineering work, and Rusack gave the course its golfing touch.

The clubhouse behind the eighteenth green.

The Eisenhower Lounge with its majestic fireplace and leaded glass doors and windows.

President George H. W. Bush with John Bladt at Blind Brook in 1998, the former president standing under the portrait of Dwight Eisenhower.

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Rusack became the club’s first professional and greenskeeper when it opened officially in 1916. Many of the holes were designed from Raynor’s blueprints of famous golf holes throughout the world. When the course opened in 1917, the only bunkers were at greenside. The remaining bunkers were added the following year, placed strategically based on the judgment of Baltusrol professional George Low. Blind Brook’s clubhouse was designed by Frank Ashburton Moore. It was built in the Italian style, of terra cotta blocks stuccoed in gray, with broad verandahs overlooking the golf course. There are no tennis courts, and no swimming pool – Blind Brook is strictly a golf club. Former president Dwight D. Eisenhower was a dues-paying member at Blind Brook, before becoming an honorary, and is said to have considered Augusta National and Blind Brook his favorite courses. The president’s portrait hangs in the sitting room. A Life magazine article from May 23, 1953, said, “As an enthusiastic amateur golfer, Dwight D. Eisenhower always has had a deep admiration for Bobby Jones. As an enthusiastic amateur painter he worked, on and off, for six weeks to express that admiration on canvas. Last month on the terrace of the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, President Eisenhower, wearing his green jacket

of club membership, presented the oil portrait to his old friend. “Modeled after a photograph taken in 1930, when Jones achieved immortality by winning the U.S. and British amateur and open championships, the painting shows Jones finishing a drive. The President grinned the embarrassed grin of a creative artist and said, “Big, isn’t it?” Then he explained it was the first time he ever had tried to paint hands. Jones, partially disabled from a spinal injury and heart attack, replied with compliments. “I didn’t believe you could do it,” he said. “I’m glad you didn’t take up golf seriously before I quit trying to win.” Blind Brook has not been a frequent host to outside competitions, the members preferring to keep their club quiet and out of the limelight. Those outside events that have taken place all reflect the club’s close ties with the United States Seniors Golf Association. The most prominent is the USSGA Championship for “Super Seniors,” aged seventy years or more, which has been played at Blind Brook since 1973. The record for the Club is 63, scored by Billy Burke when he was the club’s professional, and equaled by Bobby Jones on a visit in 1941. Blind Brook has been called, and rightfully so, “a center for distinguished gentlemen who have mellowed in golf.”

The wine cellar, which has thirty-two private member bins – and accommodates six to ten people for dinner.

A Christmas 1994 staff picture in front of an original painting of golf legend Old Tom Morris. Some have served more than forty years at the club.

The Staff Through the years, Blind Brook has had a number of unusually dedicated staff members who have provided individual special services to the giants of American and world corporations. Their roles at the club offer keen insight into the essence of Blind Brook. Richard Bishop and his wife Josie came to Blind Brook in 1972. Richard ran the kitchen, and had just one helper for many years. Only lunch was served, plus one buffet each month for four months. Josie did the housekeeping and laundry, and Richard also baked – good old-fashioned desserts and cookies! Tony Rupp spent sixty years at Blind Brook, starting as caddie, then working as shoeshine boy and locker room attendant. In the absence of a golf professional, Tony became the club’s official greeter and golf coordinator. Dressed impeccably in a jacket and a tie, he greeted members and their guests at the door and led them to their lockers. John Bozak came to the club in 1930 as locker room attendant and golf shop “proprietor.” Blind Brook’s golf shop has always been run on the honor system – take what you want and sign your name on a coupon. For twenty-five years (1975–2000), Joseph Carbo was an institution at Blind Brook. He knew every member, and most of their guests, by name, and greeted them with a handshake and friendly greeting before parking their cars. He also directed chauffeured limousines to where they could wait – in the old days, the club provided meals for the drivers while they waited. Also important members of the Blind Brook staff community are Edmund “The Viking” Petri, a caddie/night watchman who also took care of cart maintenance and the driving range, and Will Bulloch, a Scot who was a waiter/captain, ran the golf shop, and handled the club’s cash transactions, among many other duties. He retired after twenty-five years of service and was rewarded by a generous membership retirement fund.

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Bonnie Briar Country Club

Former General Manager Todd Zorn

The Bonnie Briar clubhouse

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he Larchmont property that is now Bonnie Briar was owned years ago by Colonel Edward Lyman Bill, and was abutted on the west by the property of a Colonel Sackett. The colonels had served together with Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, and became friends and neighbors. Bonnie Briar’s role in American golf history may actually run back to the days of the Revolution. It is known that British troops under Sir Henry Clinton marched from Wykagyl up Quaker Ridge Road to Weaver Street en route to the Battle of White Plains. They are believed to have encamped on the Bonnie Briar site. Indeed, the “bunker” fifty yards from the ninth tee, on the northwestern side of the ridge protected from the prevailing wind, may have been dug by these soldiers. Since the British soldiers are thought to have golfed while stationed in New York, they possibly may have been the first Bonnie Briar golfers! Putting legend aside, the Bonnie Briar Country Club formally dates back only to 1921. At that time, Edward Lyman Bill, Jr., the twenty-three-year-old son of Colonel Bill, already a World War I veteran and later in life a publisher, organized the club and obtained some 140 acres. His father had passed away a few years earlier, leaving a partially built mansion on the property. Constructed from rock and timber taken from the grounds – there was a quarry to the south of the tenth hole – the building was completed as a golf clubhouse. The graystone and stucco structure featured a large porch on the south side (since closed in as a dining room) offering a beautiful view of the countryside and Long Island Sound. The new club attracted the best families of New Rochelle as members, including Norman Rockwell, the

world-famous illustrator. It quickly became the center of the social life of the community, with activities for the entire family. Delmonico’s of Fifth Avenue was in charge of the kitchen, and the club offered its members facilities for tennis, billiards, and ice skating, as well as an eighteen-hole golf course which surrounded a 20-acre woodland park. Golf architect Devereux Emmet was engaged to lay out a championship eighteen-hole golf course. He had nine holes ready for play in 1922, the full course by Decoration Day 1923 when the club formally opened. For many years the club leased the property from individuals who wished to use that land for residential development. A recent change in the zoning laws prevented that, and the club was able to acquire the land. The membership today is growing, and enjoys the use of six tennis courts and an Olympic-sized pool and wading pool, and a complete dining facility, in addition to its fully owned golf course. Bonnie Briar has entered the new century by installing a state-of-the art irrigation system, conducting a complete bunker and partial green renovation, and will soon commence a renovation of the clubhouse and pool facility.

Served With Distinction Kevin Burke* Todd Zorn Neil Rubin Robert Meyer Ernest LaRocca

Brae Burn Country Club

n 1960 Lowell Schulman, an avid golfer and prominent Westchester builder of industrial parks in Westchester County, owned an attractive 600-acre piece of land in Purchase, and was approached by the members of the Fairview Country Club, who offered to exchange their property, a prime site for industrial growth, for Schulman’s land in Purchase. Schulman declined their offer. Schulman then spoke with his friend Frank Dickstein, a member of the Harrison Country Club. He pointed out that he owned 150 acres in Purchase which seemed ideal for a golf course, and wondered if Frank might be able to put together a group of golfers from the Harrison club, purchase the property, and build a private golf club there. Frank invited Seymour Sobel and a few other close friends to a meeting at his home in 1964 to discuss the prospect, which met with great enthusiasm. Each man present put up $1,000 to get the club started. And so was born the Brae Burn Country Club, the first new membership-owned club in Westchester County since the late 1920s. The original name, Purchase Hills, was abandoned because of its similarity to that of another club in the region; the name Brae Burn was chosen by means of a contest among the members. The founders began discussing the concept with others, particularly at Harrison, but also from Vernon Hills, Ryewood, and Briar Hall Country Clubs. All four clubs, including Harrison, were privately owned, nonequity clubs. The response was very positive, and soon the founding fathers decided to purchase the land, 150 acres of “wilderness,” from Schulman. The price was four times what Schulman had paid for the property, allowing him to proceed with the residential communi-

ty he was building on the remainder of the land. To finance the club, each member was asked to purchase a $6,000 certificate. Membership grew slowly at first, but after the land had been cleared and course construction started, the head count rose rapidly, and soon Brae Burn had more than 200 members. Although a member at Old Oaks, Lowell Schulman joined Brae Burn and graciously provided guidance. To build their golf course, Brae Burn contacted Frank Duane, longtime assistant to Robert Trent Jones, who was looking to begin his own course design business after establishing his reputation at Dorado Beach and Spyglass Hill. The golf course opened in June 1965 but it took the members a couple of months to realize that the nines should be played in the opposite order – having a par-3 as the second hole was thought to have slowed play. An official groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of construction of the clubhouse took place in August 1964, and the clubhouse was ready by the following season. The kitchen came later; meanwhile, the members made good use of a hot dog stand at the tenth tee. In addition to their challenging, picturesque golf course, Brae Burn members also have available eleven tennis courts, two platform tennis courts, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

General Manager Michael Galluzzo at club entrance.

Served With Distinction Michael Galluzzo* Jack Vallis Lee Wills

Long-time General Manager Jack Vallis with four-term club president Seymour Sobel.

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Bronxville Field Club

ate in 1924 a group of five members of the Bronxville Athletic Association decided to improve their lot. The Association had been founded in 1904, and its members played on tennis courts located on Garden Avenue (which are still in existence and owned by the Village of Bronxville). But that group of five wanted a formal club, and more than just a few tennis courts. And so they purchased six acres of the “Sunny Brae” tract at 40 Locust Lane from the Burke Foundation. And then on April 15, 1925, Joseph Brown, James Garreston, Harvey McClintock, Marshall McLean, and Willis Putnam incorporated the Bronxville Field Club. The first meeting of the club took place on April 23, 1925, and the upper bank of seven tennis courts was ready by May 15. A clubhouse was built, and formally opened on March 7, 1926. The club had 216 members at the time. The club’s first paddle courts were built in 1932. A group of members within the club financed the construction of the squash house and courts in the 1940s. The swimming pool was built in 1939, financed by a special assessment. Initially the club had no real dining facilities, and only offered food to the members at the annual general meeting and for three nights of carol singing at

General Manager Lori Sahagian

Served With Distinction Lori Sahagian* Dominick Accocella

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Christmas time when steaks were cooked in the fireplace. This is a tradition the club keeps to this day. Gradually through the years, a regular kitchen and dining service evolved. The kitchen was almost totally obsolete and in dangerously bad repair. Dominick Accocella, General Manager of some thirty-five years, passed away during the early 1990s, and the reins were passed along to Lori Prevosto Sahagian. This coincided with the beginning of extensive changes, both in membership demographics and renovation of facilities and services. Starting in 1994 all of the club’s facilities were renovated to accommodate a growing membership. A brand new kitchen and an outside snack bar were built that year. In 1997 the squash house was demolished and a new one constructed, containing two international scale courts, and a new warming hut was built to accompany the three new state-of-the-art paddle tennis courts. A grillroom was added to the dining facilities. Also the summer season was enhanced with a new 25-meter, eight-lane swimming and diving pool, a baby pool, and cabanas. The club has fourteen Har-Tru and one hard tennis courts, maintained to the highest standards as befits one of the premier racquet clubs in Westchester. There is also a family nature to the club, stimulated by outstanding racquet and swimming programs for the young children of the members. Today’s 600 member families also enjoy twelvemonth dining facilities, with an executive chef of long standing who is a culinary graduate from England. A tennis bubble is in the planning stages, and possibly a new dining facility at the ground floor level.

Brooklawn Country Club

he Brooklawn Country Club in Connecticut was organized on May 1, 1895, by a group of prominent industrial, business, and social leaders in Bridgeport. The club’s mission was to “promote outdoor and indoor sports in the city of Bridgeport.” The club’s birth was hastened along with the promise that a trolley line would be extended from the railroad station fifteen minutes away to the proposed site for the club, a sixtyacre farm leased from Clapp Spooner. The Spooner farmhouse, located by the brook near the present sixteenth tee, became Brooklawn’s first clubhouse, and featured a restaurant that came to be famous for its marvelous cuisine. One barn on the property was converted into a locker room (and eventually joined to the clubhouse), another into a casino, with dancing, a game room, and bowling alleys. The club’s facilities were located alongside Pudding Hill Road, which cut across the property, joining Brooklawn Avenue and Cornell Road. The club’s sporting facilities at the start included three tennis courts, a trap shooting field, baseball diamond, croquet field, and a nine-hole golf course for which a maintenance budget of $100 was allocated. That course, which was famous for its knee-deep rough, was lengthened in 1905 when the club purchased the Spooner Farm and some adjacent land. In 1910 Brooklawn decided to expand its golf facilities, and so purchased the Cornell Farm to the north of Cornell Road across from the Spooner Farm, bringing the club’s holdings to 145 acres. There an additional nine holes were built, and the original nine revised, presumably by the members. The new course opened in June of 1911.

The Brooklawn clubhouse, with the eighteenth green in the foreground.

In 1915 ground was broken for a new clubhouse, which opened in June of the following year. It remains to this day, and was remodeled extensively in 1964–1965. Today’s facilities include six tennis and two platform tennis courts, eight bowling alleys, and an Olympic-size swimming pool. In 1929 Brooklawn decided to expand its golf course once again, and instead of moving to a nearby 300-acre site that now includes the Fairchild-Wheeler public course, engaged A. W. Tillinghast as architect to rebuild the existing course. Tillinghast created three new holes, revised a few others, and built eighteen Tillinghast-style greens, defended by side bunkers reminiscent of those at Winged Foot. That course has since hosted three USGA championships, the 1974 Junior Boys, the Women’s Open of 1979, and the 1987 Senior Open. Some notable figures have called Brooklawn home over the years, including George Sparling, professional

for thirty-nine years, long-time members Archie and Willie Wheeler, and an aspiring young golfer named Gene Sarazen. When Sarazen came to Brooklawn looking for a position as assistant golf professional, he was at first rejected by Sparling, whose judgment was overruled by the Wheelers. Heirs to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, the Wheelers were excellent golfers – and philanthropists. Archie Wheeler came to be known as the penultimate benefactor of the poor. – including Gene Sarazen, a golf Hall Of Fame member, who got his start at Brooklawn.

Served With Distinction Brian Dwyer* Michael K. Sussman John W. Clyne

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Brookville Country Club

n 1919 E. H. Crawford came to Glen Cove to manage the vast Pratt estate. Within two years, he had interested a number of successful artisans from the surrounding north shore communities in forming an inexpensive, informal golf and country club. They shared with Crawford one common experience – they lacked the social status to gain membership at the region’s established clubs. The club was formed at a meeting held in Glen Cove in November of 1921. Early in 1922 the Brookville Development Company was formed and the 114-acre estate of H. L. Pratt in Brookville was purchased for just over $90,000. The property, partly open meadows and partly woodlands, was bordered by the great estates of H. P. Whitney, E. D. Morgan, Clarence Mackay, and General G. R. Dyer, and was situated across the road from the Piping Rock Club.

Served With Distinction

Former General Manager Troy Albert at the club’s front door.

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Christopher Bell* Troy D. Albert Michael Hoskam Don Emery Sam Nerses Theodore Van Cott Bill Coradetti Fred Hahn Larry Doyle Joseph Carraher

The homestead on the property was converted to a golf clubhouse, and an adjacent barn to a locker house. That clubhouse, which was located at the northeast end of the present parking lot, lasted well into the 1960s. At that time it was replaced by the present clubhouse which opened in 1967. Early club facilities included a pair of tennis courts, trap shooting, target practice, and hockey and ice skating, in addition to the golf course. The latter was designed by Seth Raynor, with work beginning in the spring of 1922. Raynor had nine holes – those built on the less-wooded part of the property – ready for play by July 15. The second nine holes, cut from the woods, opened in 1924. There has been very little structural change since, the most notable exception coming when additional land was purchased, allowing the eighteenth hole to be lengthened into one of the Island’s stronger finishing holes. The trees that now line the fairways on what once was barren terrain were planted in the late 1960s. Brookville Country Club experienced difficult times during the Depression and World War II, eventually defaulting on tax payments and losing the property at public auction. Within a year and a half, however, a small syndicate of members was able to buy back their club, and they, in turn, eventually sold it back to the membership in the late 1950s. Heading the postwar membership roster was a number of musicians from the Big Band era, and they often displayed their talents at club parties. Brookville is strictly a golf club. The golf course recently underwent a stunning renovation of the bunkering at the hands of architect Gil Hanse.

B u r n i n g Tr e e C o u n t r y C l u b

he Burning Tree Country Club was conceived in 1962, when a small group of relatively young corporate types decided to form a country club that would be ethnically and religiously in tune with the community, and provide a wide range of family activities, including golf. The fledgling club quickly found a site for its golf course. It was the former Frye estate, which extended between North Street and Stanwich Road, east of the Merritt Parkway. Part of it had already been developed into a residential community called Burning Tree. The developers needed money to continue, and were already considering selling part of the property, hopefully to be developed as a country club. It was a perfect marriage. In what became the largest real estate transaction in Greenwich history, the developers sold 196 acres to the newly-formed Burning Tree Country Club in the early 1960s. In keeping with their “family club” image, the members’ first step was to build an Olympic-size swimming pool together with a pool house/snack bar, the back of which became the club’s first dining room. Tennis courts also were built early on, but the golf course and clubhouse were another matter. Architect Hal Purdy was engaged to design a championship eighteen-hole golf course, and he decided to begin work with the low-lying ground between the proposed clubhouse site and the parkway. He met with difficulties, so much so that the entire construction budget was spent on building just half the golf course. A stream was redirected and widened to form several ponds, and the fill obtained from digging the ponds was

used to build up the fairways, including two which were built like rafts over fallen trees. The birth of the first nine holes in 1964 had a telling effect on the first few years of the club’s life. To keep the club afloat, small parcels of land were sold off occasionally – the club now owns 154 acres. Work on the back nine began in the fall of 1965, and during construction an obstruction up in the woods, which blocked the flow of the stream, was blasted open, thereby alleviating some of the drainage problems which had plagued the front nine. The back nine opened in 1966. The club did not have access to the Frye mansion, and so the members had to live in temporary quarters until a clubhouse could be built. During the construction phase, a tent was used for lunch and dances. The original clubhouse, which opened in 1966, was designed by a college architectural class, and was relatively small. Perhaps its most notable feature was a beautiful horseshoe-shaped bar that no longer exists. The clubhouse underwent considerable expansion and renovation in 1985, when the health club and spa were added and the golf and tennis shops built. Burning Tree has entered the twenty-first century with a flourish. In 2000 the old pool facility was demolished and a completely new Olympicsize pool with eight swimming lanes and a 25-meter diving board was unveiled. Three new paddle tennis courts were built that same year. On the horizon is a brand new clubhouse, scheduled to open in 2005.

Former General Manager Roger Loose

Served With Distinction John W. Schoellner* Roger S. Loose John Toomey

An artist’s rendition of the new clubhouse, which opened in 2004.

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General Manager Burton Ward (left) with Clubhouse Manager James Loper.

Century Country Club

From left to right: Jim Fulwider, greens superintendent; Michael Kondrat, former general manager; Ron McDougal, assistant golf professional; and James J. Loper, clubhouse manager.

Served With Distinction Burton Ward* James J. Glover Michael Kondrat Frank Ridout Charles Warren

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entury came into existence in 1898 as the summer playground for a group of German-Jewish Wall Street bankers immortalized in Stephen Birmingham’s book “Our Crowd,” thereby becoming the first Jewish golf club in the Metropolitan area. The name probably came from the fact that the club was established near the turn of the century. Century’s founding fathers leased a 60-acre site fronting Long Island Sound in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx, just to the north of the bridge. There Century built a nine-hole golf course that played alongside the water. Tennis also was popular, Century having been established to foster both sports. Even then, as today, the clubhouse was operated on a “sumptuous scale,” serving as a weekend home for many of the members. The members grew restless at their leased home, however, preferring to own their own property and expand their course to a more fashionable eighteen holes. In 1904 Century purchased a 100-acre site along Landers Road in Greenburgh, where they built an eighteen-hole course, several tennis courts, a toboggan slide, and riding stables. The golf course was designed by Herbert Strong. After World War I, however, many members became dissatisfied with the course, complaining that the layout was too hilly. A committee was appointed to study the relative costs of upgrading the course versus relocating at another site. The latter proved the more feasible option, and in 1922 the club purchased 175 acres of the Fairchild property on Anderson Hill Road in Purchase for $262,500. The Greenburgh site was sold to the Metropolis Country Club for $300,000. The new

course was designed by the international firm Colt and Alison, and was ready in 1924. It cost $53,000 to build. The present clubhouse, high atop a knoll 500 yards from the highway, was designed by members Joseph Friedlander and Harry Allen Jacobs, and was completed early in 1924. It featured a central courtyard (which was roofed in during the late 1960s following a blizzard), upstairs bedrooms for the members, and a two-tiered men’s locker room, one of the few of its kind in American golfdom. Century managed to survive the Depression and World War II, although gas rationing during the war years and a drop in membership to 103 left the club in a tenuous position. After the war, Century was lucky to dodge two bullets from the State Highways Department. In 1953 the Cross Westchester Thruway was routed a few miles south of the club. One plan had called for the roadway to cross directly through club property. And then in 1961 plans for Federal Highway 684 were shifted slightly so that the road now skirts the eastern border of the club. Ben Hogan joined the Century family as an assistant pro in 1938, and served three years. His “letter of recommendation,” penned by a Century member, stated simply that “he made a nice appearance,” certainly one of the great understatements in golf history. J. C. Snead was an assistant pro in 1968. Herbert Lehman was a Century member at the time of his election to the governorship of New York. Members today enjoy fourteen tennis courts, two paddle tennis courts, and a pool with dining terrace and locker rooms. A new building containing the pro shop, halfway house, and bag room was completed in 1999.

C h e r r y Va l l e y C l u b

olf first came to Garden City in 1897 in the form of the Island Golf Links, a course open to village residents and guests of the Garden City Hotel. When the Garden City Company, which operated the facility, decided to convert it to a private club – the Garden City Golf Club – in 1899 they allowed a “successor group” of residents called the Midland Golf Club to use, at no charge, a plot of land south of the railroad. When the Garden City Company took that land back in 1907 for residential development, it fostered another public course a few blocks to the west, and commissioned Walter Travis to develop an eighteen-hole golf course, which was named the Salisbury Links after a road that crossed the property. It opened for play in 1907 as a public facility available to all approved players, male and female. Midland members paid fixed dues; all others played on a per-diem basis. The course was advertised as “playable the year round.” Located within a ten-minute walk of the railroad station and hotel, the new organization proved very popular, with strong social overtones. So popular that by 1915 the course had become heavily congested. In May of 1916 the Garden City Company decided to reorganize it as a private club, which it named Cherry Valley after the road, lined with wild cherry trees, that ran diagonally through the property, just west of the clubhouse. In 1927 the US Women’s Amateur was contested at Cherry Valley. By then the course was somewhat different from the original Salisbury Links. The first change in the layout likely took place with the closing of Cherry

Valley Avenue through the golf course, which probably coincided with the organization of the Cherry Valley Club in 1916. Most likely, the architect for the revision was Devereux Emmet. The changes he made were extensive – the original course appears to have extended into the Adelphi University property (the college came to Garden City in 1929), and the land now housing the first two holes was not utilized, partly because it was crossed by Cherry Valley Avenue. The clubhouse was improved at that time, and ten tennis and two squash courts were built. That course remained basically intact until 1959, when the membership purchased the property from the Garden City Company. To help finance the deal, the club sold off some land south of First Street. Prior to the sale, indeed from the inception of the club, there had been golf holes on that property – two in 1959. Architect Frank Duane was engaged in 1959 to replace the two holes lost because of the land sale, and did so by building three new holes and combining two others into one. Cherry Valley’s membership today is drawn 85 percent from Garden City. In addition to golf, the club conducts a strong tennis program, with six clay and three paddle courts available. During the first six months of 1996, the clubhouse was completely gutted and almost every room was rebuilt as part of a $4 million renovation that included a new porte cochere, and a vaulted dining room ceiling. Many of the club’s amenities were upgraded, and the membership was rejuvenated.

An early twentieth-century ad for the old Salisbury Links.

Served With Distinction Mark Zaino* Thomas Baird Horace Heider Charles Johnson Emmanuel Cirello Charles Morris Leslie Demeter

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Cold Spring Country Club

I Left: General Manager Gregory Smith Below: The Otto Kahn Castle

Served With Distinction Gregory J. Smith* Steve Yurasits

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n 1947 a group of ten men, many former members of the defunct Willow Brook Country Club in Lynbrook, banded together as the Cold Spring Country Club and purchased the 168-acre Oheka Country Club for $300,000. They also were offered Oheka itself, but declined the mansion because of the high costs of maintenance. Instead, they converted the stables on the property into a golf clubhouse. Attaining a membership of 200, which the founders felt necessary to pay the bills, was a difficult task. Indeed, it took more than two years to reach that goal, and in the meantime, the original ten carried the club, although eventually selling it to the membership for exactly the price they had paid. Oheka was the estate of Otto Kahn, a man of enormous wealth, charm, and generosity. The German-born banker, financier, railroad baron, philanthropist, and patron of the arts came to be known as “The King of New York.” He sponsored many struggling actors and theatrical groups, and his $2 million helped create and establish the Metropolitan Opera. He brought Caruso and Toscanini to the New York stage. During World War I, Kahn visited American soldiers on the front lines, at great personal risk. His parties were legendary. In 1914 Kahn paid more than $1 million to purchase a 443-acre tract of land in Cold Spring Harbor. The result was “Oheka” (a name derived from the first letters of his name), the second largest private residence in the United States (only Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina, was larger), built on the highest point on Long Island, a man-made mountain that took two years to “grow” and provide a beautiful vista of Long Island Sound. The 127-room mansion, encompassing 109,000

square feet, featured a ballroom with a 60-foot ceiling and a grand dining hall that could seat up to 250 guests. Designed by the noted architect William Adams Delano, Oheka was completed in 1919, adorned by a sunken formal garden. It was featured in Orson Wells’ movie, “Citizen Kane.” Kahn, his wife, and five children moved into Oheka in 1919, just in time for the Roarin’ Twenties. The Long Island Railroad built its Cold Spring Harbor station nearby to accommodate Kahn’s numerous guests. His parties at Oheka were frequent and elegant. After he was denied membership at a prominent local club, Kahn decided to build a private course on his estate. To this end, he engaged Seth Raynor to build a championship course complete with replicas of famous British holes, in the Macdonald-Raynor tradition. Thus was born the Oheka Country Club, a first-class golf course encircling the mansion that Kahn used primarily for the enjoyment of his many guests. Otto Kahn died of a massive heart attack in 1934 at age sixty-seven. Oheka has since experienced a troubled and uncertain existence, used in turn as a retreat for New York City Sanitation Department employees, a training center for merchant marine radio operators, and as a military academy. Eventually, the grounds were sold for real estate development, while the mansion in recent years has been sold, and is undergoing restoration to its “Gatsby Era” grandeur. The Cold Spring membership has supplemented its golf course with seven Har-Tru tennis courts and two swimming pools. The clubhouse features a ballroom seating as many as 400.

The Creek Club

n 1922 Harvey D. Gibson, president of Manufacturer’s Trust, was approached by one of his Locust Valley neighbors with the idea of forming a club and building a private golf course on a nearby piece of property, 138 acres that were formerly the estate of Paul Cravath, a prominent New York lawyer, which extended from Long Island Sound to Lattingtown Road. After consulting with Frank L. Crocker, who had experience organizing golf clubs, Gibson asked the preeminent golf architect Charles Blair Macdonald to evaluate the site’s potential as a golf course. With Macdonald’s enthusiastic response that the terrain offered possibilities for one of the outstanding links in America, a combination inland and seaside course, Gibson brought the idea to Henry P. Davison, who owned the land, but was terminally ill at the time. With Davison’s blessing, Gibson and Crocker formed an organizing committee of eleven very distinguished Long Island sportsmen: Vincent Astor, George F. Baker, Jr., Marshall Field, Clarence H. Mackay, J. P. Morgan, Herbert L. Pratt, Harry Payne Whitney, John R. Ryan, as well as Gibson, Crocker, and Macdonald. Together they formed a new golf club, which they named after Frost Creek, an inlet of Long Island Sound that was to play a significant role in the character of the first five holes on the back nine. The club’s brick colonial clubhouse was designed by Walker and Gillette, and was unveiled in 1927. It featured a dining room on a closed-in porch overlooking the water. What once had been a stable on the Cravath estate was converted into the club’s Dormie House, a

male retreat overlooking the first tee that included a locker room, lounge, and the pro shop. It opened in the fall of 1923. The Creek was one of the few clubs in the United States to have bathing and yachting facilities on its property. The facility, which included a 1,200-foot beach, swimming pool, and casino for dining and dancing, and sixty-eight cabanas opened in 1929. Members were able to land their yachts at the Beach Club, and commence their round of golf at the tenth tee. In 1941 The Creek merged with the Women’s National Golf and Tennis Club, the latter being an allwomen club in Glen Head whose membership roster included wives and relatives of many Creek members. The move was made for economical reasons, and both golf courses were operated that year. But with World War II came more financial problems, which made it difficult to keep even one course open. Consequently, the facilities at the Women’s National were rented, and eventually sold off in the late 1940s to the Glen Head Country Club. With the merger, The Creek changed its name to the Cedar Creek Club. The original name was adopted once again in 1948. In addition to their outstanding golf course, The Creek’s membership also enjoys nine tennis, two paddle, and two croquet courts, four bowling lanes, skeet shooting, and an Olympic-size pool at the beach. The club has an indoor tennis and squash building near the clubhouse including two tennis and three squash courts and a fitness center.

General Manager Robert Stein at the Beach Club.

The Creek clubhouse

Served With Distinction Robert E. Stein* Stephen H. Dickey William H. Lewis Robert Schumacher

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Deepdale Golf Club

Robert Heaney with the club’s dogs, O’Mally, Bailey, and friend.

Served With Distinction Robert Heaney* Frederic G. Goldmann Thomas Heaney Laszlo Nagy

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illiam K. Vanderbilt II’s legacy to the Long Island sporting scene was enormous. Most prominent was the Vanderbilt Cup motor races shortly after the turn of the century, which utilized such thoroughfares as Hempstead and Jericho Turnpikes as part of the course until public protest forced the construction of the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, which became Long Island’s first pedestrianfree pleasure-ride roadway – and raceway. Vanderbilt’s legacy to Long Island golf is the Deepdale Golf Club. In 1925 Vanderbilt decided to convert some of the rolling acreage around his former summer estate in Lake Success into a very private golf course – for himself, and a few of his friends. Vanderbilt wanted the very best, and so engaged Charles Blair Macdonald, who was late in his career as a golf architect. Vanderbilt asked Macdonald to turn the 200 acres on the northern shores of sparkling Lake Success into the latest word in golf courses. Vanderbilt’s plan was hardly impulsive. For two years the acreage had been under “scientific treatment” to guarantee good turf. The course opened in the spring of 1926 and was spectacular. The Redan and Alps holes (staples on all Macdonald courses) were said to be better than the originals at The National.

Vanderbilt’s friends soon approached him with the idea of organizing a golf club, with a small, select membership. It would be a place for weekday play, when there was no time for the two-hour train ride to the National. And so the Deepdale Golf Club was incorporated, on October 26, 1926. Because Vanderbilt had sold his former mansion to the fledgling Glen Oaks Country Club (on the south side of the lake) in 1924, a clubhouse was needed. The Spanish-style stucco building, with outside staircases and a piazza overlooking the lake, opened late in 1926. In 1954 the Long Island Expressway was routed through the northern part of the golf course, and so the club engaged noted architect Dick Wilson to design a new eighteen-hole course on the same site. When this proved inadvisable, the club purchased the W. R. Grace estate, 175 acres of densely wooded rolling terrain just to the east and on the northern side of the new highway in Manhasset. The original property was sold to the new Lake Success Country Club, a private club restricted to residents of the community. Two holes from the original course remain at Lake Success, as does a wall mural in the clubhouse depicting the original layout. Wilson’s new course opened in 1956, along with the Grace mansion-turned-clubhouse. Today, Deepdale offers its members an idyllic setting – and one of the sternest tests of golf in the Metropolitan Area. The Deepdale clubhouse rests in a tranquil setting in a grove of trees at the highest point on the property, looking out through a veil of leaves upon the golf course, with the Long Island Expressway, quite incongruously, off in the distance at the southern edge of the property.

Dellwood Country Club

dolf Zukor was at the cutting edge in the motion picture business. As the Hungarian immigrant climbed the ladder to his ultimate position as head of Paramount Studios, he played a key role in the advent of the “talkies,” and was a strong booster of what some believed to be the latest fad in the industry. As he amassed his fortune, Zukor began looking for a retreat from Manhattan, and in 1918 purchased 300 acres in New City, three or four miles from the Hudson River in the foothills of the Ramapos. The previous owner, Lawrence Abraham, was heir to the department store fortune. Abraham had built an impressive home on the land, as well as a swimming pool and a nine-hole golf course. In 1920 Zukor bought an adjacent 500-acre tract, and built a “night house,” guesthouse, locker houses, greenhouses, staff quarters, garages, and a movie theater, and called the complex Mountain View Farm. Legend tells of the lavish parties held at Zukor’s estate, and of the frequent visits from film stars like Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, George Burns and Gracie Allen, and others. Zukor is said to have invited his neighbors over for movie previews, with the movie’s stars joining them in the audience. The Birth of a Nation was screened for the first time at Dellwood, and parts of the Tarzan movies were filmed there. Zukor built tennis courts on the property, which was roamed by herds of pure-bred cattle. He also engaged A. W. Tillinghast, who was well-known on Broadway for his financial support of incipient (albeit in many cases ill-fated) productions, to build an entirely new eighteen-hole golf course. Zukor lived on the estate with his “extended family” of relatives and in-laws, and

traveled to Manhattan by power boat during the summer months. The Depression hit the movie industry particularly hard, and by 1933 Paramount was in bankruptcy and Zukor nothing more than an advisor. He eventually sold his estate to a New York attorney named Bernard G. Nemeroff and two others. Nemeroff, counsel for several garment manufacturers, took over what he named the Dellwood Country Club shortly after World War II, and found the garment district to be the primary source for recruiting members for his new club. At the same time, he sold off the land that would become Dellwood Park and The Dells, real estate developments that border the golf course. Dellwood continued to operate smoothly as a privately owned club, with Bernard Nemeroff as its benevolent dictator, until 1962 when financial woes forced Nemeroff to offer the membership two options: to purchase their club outright, or to take a hundred-year lease on the property. The membership chose the latter option, which they renegotiated to a forty-year lease in 1969. Bernard Nemeroff died, and the club’s lease is now with his heirs. The members, now mostly local residents, enjoy twelve tennis courts and the original Olympic-size swimming pool, which is overlooked by the original stadium court and flanked by a formal garden complete with a fountain. The club survived a fire in 1978 that demolished the old clubhouse. While a new building was being built along the same lines as the old one, the club operated out of tents in the parking lot.

The ninth hole with clubhouse in trees behind.

Served With Distinction Tomas Natola* Peter Petrina Jeffrey Plain John Straub Robert T. Wilson

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D e v o n Ya c h t C l u b

A postcard view of the club as seen from the beach.

Served With Distinction Patricia Hollmann*

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or years, the Devon Yacht Club, located in Amagansett on Gardiners Bay, has been the pleasure-boating center of East Hampton. Its members enjoy sailing races, still-water swimming, outdoor dining, and dances on Thursday and Saturday nights. The club traces its roots to the Devon Colony, a group of summer visitors from Cincinnati, who came to the East End of Long Island for the first time in 1908. They built large cement homes on the highlands east of Amagansett, overlooking the ocean and the bay. Their principle interests were boating and tennis. They built a yacht club, originally called the Gardiners Bay Boat Club. Their “mammoth casino” overlooking the bay opened its doors in 1911. There was a bathhouse on the beach, and a boathouse near the pier that was used for small boats (while the larger yachts anchored in the bay). The tennis courts were located on the hillside behind the houses, and there was a tennis bungalow, with a porch, locker room, and storage area. The Gardiners Bay Boat Club was renamed the Devon Yacht Club on July 4, 1917. The Gardiners Bay Company leased 5 acres, including the two houses, to the club for ten years at $1 per year. The new club proved to be very stylish and very fashionable. Its members engaged in star class racing every weekend and holiday, at times in competition with nearby clubs. In July of 1924 the Devon Yacht Club bought its property from the Gardiners Bay Company.

During the 1920s there were many notable parties at the Devon Yacht Club, including clambakes and costume dances. The club’s activities are supplemented with the Junior Yacht Program for the children, which was founded in 1934, and now utilizes its own clubhouse. The youngsters enjoy fishing and crabbing, swimming and sailing, camping trips, sailing races, cruises, tennis and swim meets, and learning good sportsmanship. Today the Devon Yacht Club, situated on 4 acres on Gardiners Bay, serves many of the legacies of past generations. The clubhouse has been virtually unchanged except for minor updates and improvements. A fortythree-slip marina was added in the early 1960s, and a total of eight Har-Tru tennis courts now grace the property. The beach on the bay is supplemented by numerous bathhouses. As in the past, the youngsters of the Junior Devon Yacht Club enjoy many of the same activities their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents participated in. On many a Saturday and Sunday afternoon, the bay in front of Devon is filled with sailboats as Devon hosts both large and small sailboat races. At the end of each summer, the names of the winners of these races are engraved on plaques and trophies dating back to the early 1900s.

Dutchess Golf and Country Club

n April 10, 1897, a group of eighteen men gathered at the offices of Silas Wodell to establish a golf club, which they named the “Dutchess County Golf Club of Poughkeepsie.” They leased 57 acres of the Sloan Farm, extending east from the “South Road” (today’s Route 9), 2½ miles from the Poughkeepsie railroad station. Members arriving by train could then reach the club via an electric trolley that ran along the South Road. The trolley fare during the golfing season was just five cents. Dutchess’ original nine-hole golf course was designed by Mungo Park II, brother of Willie Park, Jr., for $25 plus expenses. The eighth hole, which closely resembles today’s seventeenth, possessed a beautiful view across the Hudson River, and was called “Perfection.” The course was rather primitive at first – the rough was cut just once a year, by a local farmer who accepted the “hay” as payment. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was an excellent golfer, joined the club in 1919, but switched to a house membership in 1924 when his physical condition began to deteriorate. Talk of expanding to eighteen holes began in 1919, and during the years 1921 to 1924, the club purchased additional land, after which an eighteen-hole course was designed by the club’s Construction Committee, chaired by Horatio Nelson. By an oversight, their layout had only seventeen holes, and so it became necessary to squeeze in one more. That is how the present thirteenth hole, the shortest par-3 on a regulation-size golf course in the Metropolitan Area, came into existence. The revised course opened on July 4, 1925. The course as built in 1925 did not prove satisfac-

tory. It was not until one additional parcel of land was purchased in 1927 that the present eleventh and twelfth holes could be built, thereby bringing the course into its present alignment. The original Dutchess clubhouse was a building on the Sloan farm that was leased, repaired, and used for perhaps five years. The second building stood on land purchased in 1902, and was augmented numerous times in the intervening years. By 1930 all of the other original sports at Dutchess – tennis, baseball, croquet, archery, ice skating, and hockey – had vanished from the scene. The tennis courts had been resurfaced in clay in 1923, but interest in the sport had waned by 1925, and the tennis equipment was sold to a nearby school. Dutchess suffered during the Depression and war years. In 1943, when gas rationing put a clamp on luxury travel, the Dutchess parking lot was empty – the members preferred to park instead at the barn, to conceal the evidence, as it were. Greenskeeper Jim Small and his wife did double duty, running the clubhouse as well as the golf course. After World War II proposals to install a swimming pool, tennis courts, paddle courts, and a fitness facility all were defeated, the membership thereby defining Dutchess as strictly a golf club. For the past half-century, the Dutchess pro shop has been home to the Lux family starting with Fred Lux, Sr. (1954–1979) and followed by his son Fred Lux, Jr. (1980–present). Superintendent Steve Humphries is one of the longest serving in the Met area. In 2003 the original clubhouse was demolished and a new modern one constructed on the same site, along with a new pro shop.

The seventeenth hole, illustrating the parkland nature of the course.

Served With Distinction Thomas Behnke* J. Anders Thueson L. Scott Little

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Edison Club

Former General Manager William Aperance

Served With Distinction

he Edison Club was organized by employees of the General Electric Corporation in March of 1904 as a social club for its employees, a place where they might gather to read, study, play organized games, and otherwise develop friendships. The club was incorporated in 1908, at which time its first constitution stated its purpose as follows: “The particular objects for which the corporation is to be formed are to encourage the playing of athletic games and sports; to encourage canoeing, rowing, sculling, water boating, sailing, and aquatic games and sports.” The first “clubhouse” consisted of rented rooms on the third floor of a building at the corner of State and Lafayette Streets. The club moved later in the year to a two-story building on Lafayette Street, which was suitable for the winter months. The next spring, however, the club leased the former site of the Mohawk Golf Club (and its nine-hole golf course), where the members played tennis, baseball, football, and other sports.

Eric Ennis* William R. Aperance Daniel J. Farrell Cappie Capuano

The Edison clubhouse

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In 1907, reacting to increasing membership, the club purchased land adjacent to the Western Gateway Bridge, which had a frontage on the Mohawk River and a boathouse that could house as many as a hundred canoes. Facilities also included a large brick building for dancing, bowling, and a gymnasium, and an old frame building containing a library and the main lounge. The Edison Club moved in 1925 to its present site in Rexford, property that was located on a high bluff overlooking the Mohawk Valley. Veteran architect Devereux Emmet was engaged to design a new eighteen-hole golf course, which was expanded to twentyseven holes in 1930. A farmhouse on the grounds was converted to a clubhouse, called the Annex, and was supplemented by a combination locker house/recreational facility. The members also enjoyed four tennis courts. The clubhouse was expanded in 1948 when a new wing was added, providing the members with a new dining room and a ballroom that could seat 300 for a banquet and accommodate 150 couples on the dance floor. The swimming pool and accompanying facilities were completed in 1957. The Edison Club reached a milestone on March 27, 1968, when the members purchased the club from General Electric. One former member rates mention. That was Karsten Solheim, who worked for General Electric before creating Ping golf clubs. Through the years, the Edison Club has grown from a young men’s social club into a family-oriented country club located on 300 picturesque acres, fully equipped to serve the members on a year-round basis.

Elmwood Country Club

ith a showcase women’s locker room, a bubble over its winter tennis facilities, and combination ball/club washers on each and every golf cart, Elmwood’s members have a lot to look forward to each day. And that’s not to mention a charming Tillinghast golf course that for scenic beauty and golfing challenge rates among the best in a very tough league. The Elmwood story starts in June of 1922, when the Pelhamhurst Golf Club was conceived. The new club purchased the Currie estate in Ardsley, and by May of 1923 Pelhamhurst had a clubhouse and a nine-hole golf course. Pelhamhurst, as such, was short-lived. In the spring of 1925 the property was taken over by a syndicate and a new club, called the Elmsford Country Club, was organized by a group of New York City businessmen, predominantly from the garment district and residents of the upper West Side. The club’s eighteen-hole golf course was a total remake of the original nine. Credit for the course, or a subsequent revision, is given to A. W. Tillinghast. For a number of years, Elmsford’s leader, and “king,” was Henry Bermant, a corporate lawyer who retired in 1933 to devote his time to real estate investments. Bermant’s every wish, spoken or implied, was the rule of the day at the club. Present members recall that when Bermant entered the locker room, the radio would be switched to the Yankees game – regardless of the number of Giants or Dodgers fans on hand. Yankees great Lou Gehrig was a frequent guest at Elmwood.

The club suffered through the Depression, eventually going bankrupt. To survive, the club was forced to reorganize and change its name to Elmwood in 1943. Henry Bermant’s financial generosity helped keep the club afloat during this difficult period, and the war years that followed. Elmwood’s present clubhouse, which has been expanded and renovated several times over the years, was dedicated in 1930. One feature of the layout was the “hotel,” a 43-room facility attached to the main building above the men’s locker room, which is now used to house both members and staff. It was so popular in the club’s early years that raffles were held to determine who would occupy the rooms for a given week or weekend. The “hotel” traces its origins to Pelhamhurst, which maintained seventy-five guestrooms for its members, a feature the original Elmsford club continued. As the Elmwood membership grew older, the hilly front nine grew more difficult to walk, and the members tended to congregate on the back side. In 1954 some additional land was purchased and architect Alfred Tull was engaged to “soften the hills.” The revised course opened in 1958 – and by the next year golf carts began to appear on Met Area courses! In 1971 Elmwood made a major commitment to its racquet sports, taking out a hefty mortgage to finance a project that has given the club’s 250 members two paddle tennis courts, six Har-Tru tennis courts, and two additional tennis courts under the first “bubble” in Westchester County, as well as a modern tennis house. Members also enjoy an Olympic-size swimming pool.

Former General Manager Ronald Passaggio

The club’s front entrance

Served With Distinction Ronald Passaggio Lee Koons John Daskos James Landalfo Jerry Aarts Sam Grayson

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Engineers Country Club General Manager Tucker Burns

Former General Manager David Shaw

Served With Distinction Tucker Burns* David A. Shaw Emerson “Chuck” Lehner Keith Roth Wolfgang E. Bulka George Vignaux Fred Sharpenburg

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he Engineers Country Club was established in 1917 by members of the Engineers Club of Manhattan, a swank social group comprised of wealthy, blue-blooded engineers. The group had been interested in forming a golf club for some time, one that would be national in scope, accessible from the city by rail, road, and water, and had grandiose plans for their undertaking. The engineers purchased the 210-acre W. R. Willett Manor House and estate in Roslyn Harbor in March of 1917. The property included several small ponds, and featured a boathouse and jetty on Hempstead Bay. The club’s original intent was to build two eighteenhole golf courses, but that plan was soon amended. In the end, 150 acres were dedicated to their eighteen-hole golf course, and the other 60 acres to homes for members. The rambling brick and frame Manor House, on an eminence overlooking the water, was converted into a clubhouse, but was destroyed by fire just after the inaugural ball in 1918. Rather than rebuild, the extensive stable facility on the grounds was converted at very little expense into an unusual, though thoroughly modern, clubhouse for what at the time was a men-only club. Seven additions have been made over the years. The engineers engaged British golf professional/ architect Herbert Strong in both capacities. He had the Engineers’ golf course ready for the 1918 season, and served as the club’s golf professional for two years. Spurred on by the publicity resulting from two national championships (the 1919 P.G.A. and 1920 US Amateur), Engineers quickly took its place among the leading American clubs, its facilities considered among the most luxurious in the country. The course was recognized as one of the sportiest and toughest in the country.

But the glory days ended with the Depression. By 1932 only a small group of the original members remained to carry the club, and it folded. The facility was run by financial institutions for several years, operating under such names as Roslyn Harbor Country Club and Rolling Hills Country Club, as well as Engineers. The course withstood an enormous amount of play as a public facility. In late June of 1951 a group of 149 members of the Oceanside Golf and Country Club were looking for a new home, having failed to negotiate a new lease on their site. They joined with other individuals from the north shore in 1952 to purchase Engineers. Later they won a legal skirmish allowing them use of the club’s original name. The new members at Engineers made extensive renovations, and the “new” club opened for the 1952 season. But disaster struck the club on January 20, 1954, when a fire leveled all but the eastern wing of the clubhouse. The latter portion housed the men’s locker room, which was renovated several years later. After a difficult year in makeshift facilities, the club unveiled its ultra-modern new clubhouse in 1955. Today Engineers’ members enjoy six tennis courts, swimming pools, a modern health club recently renovated, massage rooms, barber shop, and a children’s facility. The club’s ongoing renovations include the cocktail lounge, and will soon modernize the pool area and one of the restaurants. The golf course, too, has been the subject of renovation, particularly the greens and bunker complexes. Several of the greens already have been “modernized,” preserving their undulations, but being more receptive to today’s play. Engineers is one of the favorite venues for Met PGA events, providing one of the most challenging tests on its hilly terrain. Engineers remains one of the hidden gems of the North Shore.

Fairview Country Club

he Fairview Country Club traces its roots to 1904, when two men – Albert Heyman and Fred Herz – with tongue in cheek, composed a letter of invitation to membership that started as follows: “The undersigned having concluded that honeymoons and golf clubs are conducive to a larger sphere of enjoyment than the ordinary business pursuits, have determined to exploit this idea by the organization of a small and exclusive golf club, the matrimonial feature having already had attention at our hands. We intend conducting this golf organization on a little larger scale than the matrimonial feature – in fact, propose having about forty fellows and twenty girls.”

The founders leased the Fairview Links in Bronxville. The nine-hole course had been built in the late 1890s by the Rose brothers, Augustus and Middleton, and was used for a couple of years by Siwanoy’s founders. A tiny frame bungalow served as a clubhouse. The lease at Fairview was canceled after the 1907 season, and the club moved to the Decker farm in Elmsford, 95 acres of gently rolling land replete with springs and running streams, and very few trees. There the club built an eighteen-hole golf course and converted a large, old-fashioned farmhouse into a clubhouse. Unfortunately, within a few years that land was needed by New York City for an aqueduct, and so the club moved to the Shrady estate, across the road 500 yards away. The Shrady mansion, a huge English Tudor with a great view across the Saw Mill River Valley,

became the clubhouse. The new eighteen-hole golf course, designed by Donald Ross, opened in August of 1912. That course served the club until 1968 when the move to Greenwich took place. The handwriting had been on the wall for several years before the actual move. Commercialization of the Elmsford area started in 1956, and the coming of Route 287 in 1960 shattered the tranquillity of the club’s old setting forever. The members agreed to buy the Greenwich land, and sell the old Elmsford property, on July 3, 1965. The new site was comprised of 200 wooded acres belonging to St. Luke’s Convalescent Hospital, including the hospital building itself, which became the clubhouse. The club engaged Robert Trent Jones to develop a twenty-seven-hole golf facility, but after environmentalists succeeded in protecting fifty acres for public use, Jones had room to build just eighteen holes. The course was ready for play in June of 1968. While in Elmsford, longevity of service became Fairview’s hallmark. John Inglis came to Fairview in 1907 as golf professional/caddiemaster, and remained on the scene for fifty-seven years before retiring in 1964. All seven of the Turnesa brothers caddied at Fairview as boys, learning the game from Inglis. Their father, Vitale Turnesa, served Fairview for fifty-four years, the last thirty-five as greenskeeper. And more recently, Andrew Campbell has served Fairview for the past forty-seven years, the last twenty-nine as General Manager. Today, Fairview’s members enjoy twelve tennis and two paddle tennis courts and a swimming pool in addition to their golf course.

Former General Manager Drew Campbell

The Fairview clubhouse

Served With Distinction Timothy Clinton* Andrew T. Campbell George Caeners Reginald Kindiline Dewitt Kirsch Adolph Koenig Tom Breen

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Fenway Golf Club

General Manager Steven Arias at the club’s front door.

Served With Distinction Steven Arias* Robert Giachino Donald Mollitor Harry Kartsonis David Scott Kurt Brod

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n the autumn of 1920, real estate developer Max Marx purchased the forty-acre Scarsdale estate of importer Eugene Reynal. The Reynal mansion had been built prior to 1890, and is thought to have been a wedding gift from Reynal to his bride. Among other amenities, it included an indoor swimming pool. The estate was called “The Orchards” in recognition of the numerous apple trees on the grounds. To accommodate a full 18-hole course, Marx purchased two adjacent parcels by the following March, bringing his total acreage to 140. In April of 1921 Marx and some friends organized their golf club, and named it Fenimore after novelist James Fenimore Cooper. Cooper was a native son who lived on a farm in Scarsdale when he penned the first American novel, The Spy. The present name, Fenway, was adopted during the 1930s, chosen supposedly because of its similarity to the old name, Fenimore. The club engaged Devereux Emmet to design its golf course. Emmet responded with a championship eighteen-hole course, plus a nine-hole “bijou” course (five par 3’s, four par 4’s) for women. Together with Marx, who actually built them, Emmet had both courses ready for play by May 30, 1922. Two years later, on July 4, 1924, a revised course bearing the imprint of A. W. Tillinghast was opened for play. How much Tillinghast changed Emmet’s design is uncertain. The greens, without question, are Tillinghast’s, pear-shaped and sloping severely from back to front, with deep bunkers protecting their narrow entrances, quite similar to those at nearby Winged Foot and other Tillinghast courses of that era. The Reynal mansion, a fieldstone stucco building of English Country Manor design, became the clubhouse,

one of the most complete in the region. Two piazzas have since been enclosed, one to build the club’s bar room, the other to enlarge the dining room. Twenty guest rooms are available for members not living in the immediate Westchester area. The nine-hole course lived on into the mid-1950s, when it was displaced by additional parking space, tennis courts, a driving range, and a turf and tree nursery. During its lifetime, it served to introduce many a junior member to the sport. Today, Fenway members enjoy eight tennis and two platform tennis courts in addition to an Olympic-size swimming pool. Fenway history has been enriched by the quality of its professionals. Fenway was the first club to hire Tour stars as playing professionals. All-time greats Leo Diegel and “Wild Bill” Mehlhorn represented the club on tour during the 1930s and 1930s, until a young player from nearby Port Chester named Herman Barron settled into the head pro position. Over the next four decades, Herman became a golfing legend. He captured the Western Open, Philadelphia Inquirer, Goodall Round Robin, World Championship, and Senior PGA Championship, and scores of other national and local events. He was a member of the 1947 Ryder Cup team. Jimmy Wright succeeded Barron, and became the preeminent player in the section during the 1970s and 1980s. An eight-time Met PGA Player of the Year, Jimmy earned entry into the Met PGA’s Hall of Fame. He still holds the Westchester Classic scoring record with a remarkable 62. In 1999 Fenway welcomed Heath Wassem as its head golf professional, and he went on to win Westchester PGA Player of the Year honors that same year.

Fort Orange Club

he Fort Orange Club was founded on January 31, 1880, in Albany, and named after the original Dutch colony near the state capital. It was an agonizing birth, filled with doubt that a club would actually prove a successful venture in Albany. The first club organized there, the Albany Club, had been a failure, and had folded by 1880. Did Albany really need a club? Those interested in forming a club invited a large number of Albany’s leading citizens to a meeting on January 31, at which the idea was discussed. Nearly all of those attending, 182 of them to be precise, signed the proposed constitution to become charter members! The members voted to purchase the Bender property which they then bought for $30,000. It was located across the street from the governor’s house and two doors from the mayor’s home. Aaron Burr was a boarder there while arguing an important case in Albany. Bender was the last of several owners. The clubhouse opened on July 1 with a formal reception attended by state officials, judges, and the local clergy. In January 1881 there was a reception for former president Ulysses Grant. The club quickly became very popular, and the original membership cap of 200 was raised to 275. The club served the community well, primarily as a place to hold meetings. During its first twenty to twenty-five years, a special telegraph wire brought election results into the club. The club’s arms, which are displayed over the fireplace in the main entrance hall, was created by charter member Erastus Dow Palmer, a noted sculptor, and presented to the club in 1886. The sculpture depicts a Dutch settler and an Indian standing in front of the Fort Orange stockade, the white man with arms outstretched

in a gesture of welcome. Beneath it is inscribed the Dutch word “Gastvryheid,” meaning “hospitality.” And so the club has fulfilled the vision of its charter members, who were “gentlemen who represented that which was best in Albany, the man of distinction, of culture, of good manners, of high character, of attainment, and of social quality.” The club has provided “a place where leading citizens may exercise their hospitable impulses,” to quote charter member George Sard. During the twentieth century, the club changed as Albany flourished. Many leaders in state government, business, and education came to the capital, and many of them were women. This worked against the club’s male-only clause. Members couldn’t bring female business associates to the club, and many meetings were taken to other venues where women were accommodated. And so in 1988 the club moved to establish female memberships. The clubhouse was restored to its original design of 1812 during Merle Worman’s tenure as General Manager (1983–1994). Worman is a past president (three terms) of the Eastern New York Chapter, and also one of the original members and past president of the Regions I-II-III Alliance that consists of thirteen northeastern chapters. Working from his Albany base, he has been instrumental in appeals hearings (concerning women’s issues and discrimination) on behalf of the New York State Club Association. The club’s facilities include dining, overnight accommodations (all with computer hookups), three squash courts, an indoor pool, sauna, steam room, and whirlpool spa, weight room, and cardio-vascular room with stationary bikes, treadmills, rowing machines, and step machines.

Above: General Manager Jim Flaherty Left: Merle M. Worman, Jr., former General Manger

Served With Distinction James M. Flaherty* Merle M. “Bud” Worman, Jr. Robert M. Butler Thomas J. Fitzpatrick

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Fresh Meadow Country Club Former General Manager James W. Cope. Cope was with the club for fourteen years.

Meeting All Demands Jimmy Cope recalls the occasion when Yogi Berra was at Fresh Meadow for a charity outing, but forgot to bring his medicine – a necessity he told Jimmy about when it was 45 minutes before tee time. Using all resources at hand, Jimmy had a local doctor phone the prescription to a nearby pharmacist, who sent a delivery boy hustling to the club with the medicine. Fortunately, all were Yankees fans, although the delivery boy did take a circuitous route so as to purchase an American League baseball for Yogi to sign. He did arrive with a minute to spare, and Yogi got to play Fresh Meadow’s outstanding course.

Served With Distinction Brett A. Morris* Barry L. Chandler James W. Cope George Caeners

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resh Meadow came into existence in 1921 when representatives of the Golf Course Construction Company approached the members of the Unity Club, a social organization serving Brooklyn’s Jewish community. They proposed that the club purchase 106 acres of farmland in Queens, south of what is now the Long Island Expressway, near 183rd Street, which would be transformed into an eighteen-hole golf course. The idea appealed to the club even though the vast majority of its members knew little about the sport, and the round-trip between Flushing and Brooklyn was an all-day affair in those days. From the beginning the club members wanted their course to be one of the great examinations of golf in the country, and host to major competitions. To this end, they engaged Albert W. Tillinghast to design their course, and he had nine holes ready for play by Decoration Day 1922. The full eighteen holes were ready one year later. While the clubhouse was being constructed, the members used a small farmhouse as a temporary facility. The new clubhouse was dedicated on September 8, 1923. It burned to the ground nine days later. It was rebuilt on an even grander scale, and reopened late in 1924. Fresh Meadow first gained national prominence as the site for the 1930 PGA Championship, followed by the US Open in 1932. By 1945, however, Fresh Meadow faced the threat of advancing civilization and escalating real estate taxes. The club’s leaders had to address the question of

whether the club was still viable in its Queens location. Rather, they found that a move would be in the club’s best interests, and on February 25, 1946, the club voted to sell its property to New York Life, while at the same time purchasing the financially troubled Lakeville Club in Lake Success. In 1923 Nathan Jonas, a prominent member of the Unity Club and one of Fresh Meadow’s founders, purchased 171 acres of rolling, heavily-wooded land in Lake Success, planning to build his estate there. Instead, he used the land to form the Lakeville Golf and Country Club for the enjoyment of his friends in the theatrical and motion picture world. The firm of Colt, MacKenzie and Allison of London, England, was engaged to build the golf course that brought Lakeville prominence as “one of the most beautiful and exclusive clubs in America.” The course opened in 1925. The stucco clubhouse featured artistic colonial lines of unusually large dimensions. The interior was designed and furnished by W. and J. Sloane of New York. Outside were flowering gardens, a marble swimming pool framed in cool evergreens, and a toboggan slide. Lakeville fell victim to the Depression, then was leased to Glen Oaks during the war before being sold to Fresh Meadow. At its Flushing site, Fresh Meadow had been primarily a golf club. With the move to Lake Success came a change to a more family-oriented country club with tennis and swimming facilities.

Garden City Country Club

he original design of the village of Garden City encompassed the Central Section of town, but when it came time to expand, the direction was westward, into what was called Garden City Estates. In 1908 a clubhouse was built there, on North Avenue just east of the railroad station at Nassau Blvd. All residents of the Estates section were members, and tennis was the focal point of the club’s sporting activities. The Estates’ golfers, however, faced crowded conditions at the old Salisbury Links. When the decision was made in 1916 to convert that facility into a private club (Cherry Valley), many were excluded. And so, led by Gage Tarbell, head of Garden City Estates (and builder of the Westchester-Biltmore, today’s Westchester Country Club), they organized the Garden City Country Club in 1916. The new club leased the estate of Lyman F. Gordon, west of the Nassau Boulevard railroad station and divided by the railroad tracks, and engaged Walter Travis to design a championship eighteen-hole golf course. A converted residence on the property, just two blocks to the north of the new clubhouse, was the former site of the Nassau Blvd Air Field where, in 1911, the first airmail flight in American history took off and flew all the way to Mineola! The golf course opened on June 1, 1917. Trees were planted on the relatively barren terrain during the early 1930s. Otherwise, the modern course resembles the original quite closely, all the more so after a recent rejuvenation by architect Brian Silva. The Depression years were eventful ones in the club’s history. The club was near bankruptcy, as was nearby Cherry Valley, and there was talk of a merger.

That never happened because neither club was willing to abandon its own premises and move to the other’s. There also was talk that a 600-unit housing development would replace the golf course. An offer to buy the club’s property was made in 1938. This too never happened, because former club president Maurice A. Gilmartin (1935–1936) bought the club in 1938 and effected a complete reorganization that saved the club financially. In 1936 the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the first airmail flight was celebrated – and reenacted. A plane landed on the fourteenth fairway, a substitute for the Nassau Boulevard Air Field that no longer existed, and took off, with the mail, for Roosevelt Field. Play was delayed while pictures were taken. The drainage areas in front of the third and fifth tees, and alongside the third, fourth, and sixth fairways, were the result of a Nassau County “water reclamation” project, dug during 1941 to contain street runoff from Edgemere Road. The earth removed was used to build up the unique twelfth green and create the ridge that separates the sixth and seventh holes. Two holes (the third and seventeenth) were altered when the Edgemere Road approach to the railroad underpass was straightened in the mid-1950s. In addition to its golf course, Garden City Country has four tennis courts and three paddle courts. Currently, much of the original clubhouse has been demolished and the new building will contain a new ballroom seating as many as 300, a new dining room, new men’s and women’s grills, a mixed grill overlooking the eighteenth green, and terraces on the first and second floors.

General Manager Sam Nerses standing in front of the original clubhouse.

Served With Distinction Sam Nerses* Alex Levchuck John Howard Blank

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Garden City Golf Club

Two Scottish bagpipers stand at the club entrance.

Served With Distinction James Gilchrist* Arthur Parrish

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lexander Stewart founded the “model planned community” he named Garden City in 1869. After his death, the Garden City Company was created to oversee the development of the village. Progress came slowly, however, and the directors felt that an outstanding golf course would be a catalyst, enticing substantial people to take up residence there while attracting others as guests of its fine hotel. And so was born the Island Golf Links, a nine-hole course for residents of Garden City and their guests, and visitors staying at the Garden City Hotel. The course was laid out on “rolling prairie country” northwest of the hotel. The architect was Devereux Emmet, a player familiar with the best courses at home and abroad. He was capably assisted in his work by George L. Hubbell, General Manager of the company and the driving force behind the golf course. The Island Golf Links opened for play on May 29, 1897, and proved very popular, receiving high praise from the golf experts who played there. The course was expanded to a full eighteen holes by the fall of the following year. At this time there was a move underway to convert the facility into a private club, which was formed early in 1899. A strong nucleus of players from the Island Golf Links were joined by a group from Shinnecock Hills as charter members of Garden City Golf. The latter especially were pleased to have a quality course closer to the city to play during the non-summer months. As the reputation of the course grew, many of the leading players of the day joined the club. Garden City became the hub of golf in the Metropolitan area at that time.

Golfers using the old Island Golf Links suited up for play in a locker room provided at the Garden City Hotel. Later, they would use an old farmhouse located near the eighteenth tee, but this proved too small and poorly situated. Construction of a clubhouse designed by Richard Howland Hunt was started in the fall of 1898. The low rambling buff-brick structure with overhanging roof and open porches differs very little today from its original design. One room in the clubhouse is named for member Walter Travis, winner of the US Amateur on three occasions, and the British Amateur in 1904. Among the memorabilia found there, in addition to several likenesses and numerous photographs of Travis, is a replica of Travis’ original Schenectady putter. Travis revised the Garden City layout during the first decade of the century, adding length to the course to keep pace with the new rubber-cored balls, and making the hazards, particularly the bunkers, far more severe than originally laid out. The word that best describes the Garden City course is “natural.” The holes are basically the same today as those first laid out in 1898 on what was then called the Hempstead Plain, a gently rolling treeless stretch of land featuring sandy soil and wild grasses, offering little protection from the winds sweeping in from the “nearby” ocean. When the accomplished amateur Findlay Douglas, a Scot from St. Andrews, first saw the course before the turn of the century, he described it as the “nearest thing to St. Andrews” he had ever seen.

Gardiners Bay Country Club

uring the final quarter of the nineteenth century, a concerted effort was made to convert Shelter Island into a summer resort comparable to Newport. Situated between Long Island’s north and south forks, 95 miles from Manhattan, Shelter Island is just 7 miles long and 4 miles wide, accessible by ferry from either Greenport or Sag Harbor. The Manhanset Manor House was built there in 1873, on the shores of Greenport Channel, and by the early 1890s included 300 guestrooms and featured tennis courts, stables, a baseball diamond, and a fine restaurant. Steamboats arrived each day from New York and New London, the latter usually carrying guests from the Boston area. The New York Yacht Club, riding the crest of yachting’s growing popularity, established a facility on Shelter Island near the hotel. The Shelter Island Club was organized by the hotel in 1895 to supplement the hotel’s offerings, and a ninehole golf course was built. The first clubhouse was the Derring homestead, a quaint Colonial farmhouse on Cobbett’s Lane. It was built during 1776 to 1782, and has been refurbished in recent years. From its broad verandahs, the Derrings watched the British men-of-war that wintered in Gardiners Bay during the Revolution. Shelter Island’s idyllic existence suffered a temporary setback in 1896 when the hotel burned to the ground. It was quickly rebuilt for the following season, and the island continued to prosper. In 1904 the golf course was expanded to eighteen holes, coinciding with a name change to the Manhanset Manor Country Club. The facilities sprawled over 250 acres, extending from Greenport Harbor to Gardiner’s Bay, and golfers enjoyed a long walk through the woods from the hotel to the clubhouse and first tee.

In 1910 the Manhanset Manor House was struck by lightning and once again burned to the ground. This fire proved fatal – the hotel was not rebuilt. In its place the Mediterranean-style Derring Harbor Casino was built nearby, inheriting facilities for golf and yachting. The club was reorganized in 1915 as the Manhanset Country Club. The golf course was revised considerably at this time. Eight new holes, heading to and from the Casino, which served as the clubhouse, were built. The Manhanset Country Club quickly experienced financial troubles, and in 1918 was leased to W. T. Barr, who changed the club’s name to the Derring Harbor Golf Club. In 1926 Barr built the present clubhouse and completely revised the golf course, creating the present configuration of holes. But the Depression, three damaging hurricanes, and the United States’ entry into World War II all conspired against the club, forcing it to close its doors in 1942. The golf course became a bean farm, and might still be one today had not the Shelter Island Lions Club interceded in 1950. Consequently, the Gardiner’s Bay Country Club was incorporated and leased the land. The golf course was restored, and stability came to Shelter Island. The present club offers its members an outstanding summer program for the children.

The Manhanset Manor House prior to 1900.

Served With Distinction Charles Marcus* David Huschle Mel Lumbra Roger Godoff

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G i p s y Tr a i l C l u b

General Manager Richard Flandreau

Served With Distinction Richard Flandreau* Thomas P. Bartek Peter D’Angelo Col. Frank Tercy

146

A Heritage of Service

he Gipsy Trail Club has always been rather unique among Metropolitan area clubs. It has always attracted members who enjoy the outdoor activities associated with the woods and ponds. Fishing, camping, hiking, and boating were early activities that still play a major role in club life. Gipsy Trail is located in rustic Putnam County, in a valley carved by glaciers which left behind two large ponds, Pine Pond and Indian Brook Pond. The land originally was the home of the Wappingers, a Mohican tribe, who sold the land to the first white men they encountered, a pair of Dutchmen, in 1691. When the English superseded the Dutch, the region became part of the Phillipse Manor, and was owned by loyalists during the Revolution Curiously, the last remaining Wappingers in the region were “mysterious woods dwellers,” and were not recognized as Indians, but were thought to be gypsies. Hence the name that has been adopted by the region – and the club. In 1910 a group of older men from Putnam County acquired the land surrounding Pine Pond and used it as their private fishing club. They built a log cabin on the northeast corner of the Pond at the cove, which later became the Gipsy Trail bathhouse. By 1923, however, a number of them had died, and those remaining sold the land. The buyer was Carl Anderson, on behalf of the Gipsy Trail Holding Company, which he had formed and served as General Manager. The Gipsy Trail Camp and Country Club was formed on July 24, 1924, and

was an immediate success, attracting primarily New Yorkers willing to make the 60-mile, 2½-hour journey over back roads. The idyllic, sylvan setting can now be reached by train and cab. The first clubhouse and the Lower Lodge were built during the following winter, constructed of hemlock logs cut down on the east side of Pine Pond and dragged by teams of horses across the frozen water. The original housing facilities included his and hers cabins and a large tent colony. The Upper Lodge, boathouse, stables, and garages all were built between 1925 and 1931. By 1939 there also were seventy-five cabins for the members; nine more have been built over the last sixty years. The clubhouse kitchen has always faced a challenge from “dinner at home” in a nearby cabin. Gipsy Trail became a stock club in 1927, each share costing $350. The move was made to get control away from Anderson. The price of self-governance was costly – it drove out the “interesting people of modest means” (artists and writers) the club wanted as members. In its first years, the club built a dam to control the level of the pond. The first well to provide running water was drilled in 1927 (the second in 1948). The club had a toboggan slide, a ski slope, and an archery range in the early years. The club survived the Depression, World War II and the accompanying gas rationing, and the oil embargo of 1973, although membership dropped dangerously low on all three occasions. The first clubhouse burned to the ground on January 1, 1957, after the New Year’s Eve party.

Gipsy Trail now owns 1,100 acres, including 700 that were set aside for forestry in 1979. Today’s 125 members also enjoy swimming and sailboat racing. The swimmers originally used the cove at the northeast corner of the Pond, but the beach was built in 1948, with truckloads of sand imported to create the setting, which includes a long dock. There were four tennis courts as early as 1928, and two more have since been added (late 1970s and late 1980s). The paddle court was built in 1975. During the winter months, some members take part in trapshooting at a nearby farm. Others enjoy ice skating on the pond when it freezes over. But perhaps the most significant of all club attractions are the many trails, used for hiking, biking, crosscountry skiing, and horseback riding. The Children’s Day Camp was started in 1932 to introduce the members’ children to the “outdoor basics,” which at the time included dancing, dramatics, and social adjustments. Parties have always been a major part of club life. The Gipsy Party (a costume party) started in 1928 as the Pow Wow. The Vanities is the annual member-produced musical extravaganza. In addition, the club currently has an outstanding jazz band.

The Gipsy Trail clubhouse

Former General Manager Thomas Bartek

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Glen Head Country Club

Manager Edward Closs in the Dining Room.

Served With Distinction Edward Closs* Gregg Felle Kevin Murphy William Ellis Thomas Heaney Michael Sautkulis

148

A Heritage of Service

len Head’s founding fathers were, for the most part, Great Neck residents who took up golf in 1945 at the Sound View Country Club there. When their course was sold for real estate development (Great Neck Estates) in 1947, a group of about seven men got together and attempted to purchase the Engineers Country Club, which was being operated as a public course at the time. After that deal failed to materialize, the original group was joined by another, consisting of golfers from Brooklyn and Queens who had been playing at Bethpage. Together they negotiated the purchase, in June of 1947, of the former Women’s National Golf and Tennis Club. Play began the following April. The golf course, which had not been used for several years, was rejuvenated, and some eighty bunkers were eliminated to make it more enjoyable for the average club player. The course was ready by April of 1948. The club’s membership roster was bolstered in 1950 with an influx of golfers from Pomonok, a club in Flushing which had hosted the 1939 PGA Championship, but had closed its doors following the 1949 season, like Sound View a victim of suburban sprawl. The Women’s National Golf and Tennis Club was conceived exclusively for women, and opened in 1924, fulfilling the dream of Marion Hollins, who was quite possibly the most influential woman in golf ’s first halfcentury in America. After winning the US Women’s Amateur in 1921, she channeled her energies towards making Women’s National a reality. A 160-acre site in Glen Head was acquired early in 1922, and work began soon thereafter.

Devereux Emmet was contracted to design and build a golf course that wouldn’t defeat the better women players with excessive length, yet continually challenge them with the clever placement of its hazards. An old-fashioned Colonial farmhouse on the property was moved to a high knoll overlooking the golf course in all directions, and expanded into a clubhouse. Two wings were added to accommodate locker space and a dining room. In addition, club facilities featured twenty-two tennis courts, including eleven of the finest grass courts in the world, a pond for skating, curling, and hockey, and stables to accommodate those members active with the local hunt set. The original clubhouse was destroyed by fire in June of 1954, after which the present facility was built. That structure recently underwent a major renovation and enlargement, completed in 1990. Women’s National’s membership count grew as high as 450, including a number of the country’s leading players, before the Depression hit. In 1941 the club merged with The Creek to economize operations of both facilities. Both golf courses remained in play, but for only one year, before operations ceased at Women’s National. The clubhouse soon thereafter became known as the Penguin Club, a private dining club catering to the elite of the North Shore. And then the golfers returned. By the time the new club opened in 1948, all but two of the tennis courts had been eliminated in favor of additional parking space and a practice putting green. An additional 32 acres were purchased in 1955, allowing the club to lengthen the first hole and add the adjacent practice area.

Glen Oaks Club

he Glen Oaks Club was formed in 1924 by a group of twenty-five men who purchased 165 acres from the estate of William K. Vanderbilt on the NassauQueens border. The property was south of Lake Success, with the old Motor Parkway forming its southeastern border. Included was the Vanderbilt Mansion, high on a hilltop, which became their clubhouse. The club’s original golf course was designed by Wilfred H. “Pipe” Follett, an English-born graduate of Oxford who apprenticed under Devereux Emmet. His course was a scenic beauty, carved through virgin forest over terrain that in part was quite hilly. When the Northern State Parkway was constructed in 1927, the right-of-way cut through club property. Some 40 acres were condemned, and another 18 acres north of the road, including the clubhouse site, were isolated from the remainder of club grounds. This necessitated a restructuring of the golf course and a new clubhouse. A two-story Georgian building with a gabled portico was built at the western end of the property, on the highest point in Queens, overlooking the new parkway. The main building included twelve guestrooms on the second floor, and there were an additional eighteen bachelor rooms above the men’s locker room. The clubhouse was unveiled in 1927 with a gala dinner-dance, with Jimmy Walker, the mayor of New York, the featured speaker. When the United States entered the Second World War, the Glen Oaks Club property was taken over by the government. The surviving 130 members leased the

financially-troubled Lakeville Club, and played there for the remainder of the war. After the war the Glen Oaks Club enjoyed a period of relative stability back at its original site. The 3,800family Glen Oaks Village complex was built beyond the western border in 1949, and in 1955 the club welcomed a new neighbor to its south, Long Island Jewish Hospital. But by the late 1960s the need for more extensive facilities was apparent, and there was no room to expand at the Queens location. And so in 1968 the club sold the property (the North Shore Towers complex was built on the site), and purchased a 250-acre tract in Old Westbury, part of the Winthrop estate, and engaged Joe Finger, who built “The Monster” at the Concord Hotel, to build twenty-seven holes. Work started in 1970, and the new course was playable by Labor Day of 1971, when the club was forced to vacate its old quarters. Construction of the new clubhouse started in 1971, but was not close to completion by Labor Day. For the remainder of that season, the club used two rental trailers as makeshift locker and dining facilities. The new clubhouse was ready by May of 1972. Although there are twenty-six guestrooms upstairs, the ultra-modern building consists basically of just one floor, spread over 110,000 square feet. Club facilities also include seven tennis courts, indoor and outdoor driving ranges, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and a 10,000-square-foot patio accommodating over 900 people and overlooking the picturesque finishing holes on two of the three courses.

Former General Manager Douglas Domino

Served With Distinction Jeffrey Riegler* Douglas Domino Donald Mollitor William J. Wild Roberto Milanesi

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Glens Falls Country Club

Richard Hackenburg with the lake and bridge to first tee in the background.

Served With Distinction Richard R. Hackenburg* Merle M. “Bud” Worman, Jr.

150

A Heritage of Service

t the turn of the twentieth century, Glens Falls was considered the complete American city – it had everything . . . except a golf club. That oversight was addressed during 1911, and on January 17, 1912, the Glens Falls Country Club was organized. The “club in the country” was to provide golf, tennis, swimming, and winter sports to its members. After discussing several possible sites, the 97-acre tract of land at Round Pond was chosen on the advice of golf architect Donald Ross, who exclaimed that he “had never witnessed a more ideal site for a golf course.” It took two years to complete the clubhouse and the golf course, although the four tennis courts were ready for the summer of 1913. The shingled clubhouse, designed by Addison Leboutillier, featured a 12-foot-wide piazza across the front of the building. The men’s locker room was in the basement, the lady’s on the second floor. The club had two “grand openings,” one on December 8, 1913, then a reception and dinner-dance the following June 2, the latter considered the social highlight of the year in the north country. An English gentleman named Leonard Nacy was hired as steward, and his wife was the cook. The golf course opened in April, 1914. The grass seed used was imported from Scotland, but the course was destroyed by grasshoppers that first summer. Donald Ross returned in June 1921 to design a second nine, and the full course was ready for the 1922 season. The tennis courts were replaced by a practice green and bunker at this time. Club facilities also included men’s and women’s bathouses on the shores of the pond, and boardwalks from both to the beach, as well as a toboggan slide that finished on the icy pond.

The clubhouse was destroyed by fire on April 14, opening day of the 1923 season. The top floor was burned off, and the first floor gutted. Construction had just started on an adjacent locker building for the men, which was shared with the ladies while the club built a more commodious U-shaped house. In the interim, a roof was placed over the remnants of the kitchen and dining room, and members wishing to dine at the club had to call in their order earlier in the day so that steward Nacy could drive into town to purchase the necessary food. Work on the new building started late in 1923, and the new clubhouse was fully operational by mid-June of 1924. Two wooden paddle courts were added to the club’s offerings during the 1970s, and eventually were converted to aluminum and joined by a third court in 1989. Club tennis was reborn for the 1978 season, when four Har-Tru courts were financed by interested members. A croquet lawn was added in 1988. The clubhouse was updated in 1956 with a new mahogany bar, an enlarged dining room, and a touch of luxury – a hi-fi system built into the ceilings. The kitchen was modernized in 1952, when the building was expanded to include a new cocktail lounge opening into an outside terrace overlooking the pond. The facilities were modernized once again in 1989. Glens Falls Country Club hosted the Glens Falls Open, a stop on the PGA Tour during 1929 through 1939, attracting the likes of Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, and Byron Nelson. The setting – first tee on an island in the pond – is one of the most dramatic in the region.

Greenwich Country Club

he seed that flowered as the Greenwich Country Club was planted in 1892 when Julian W. Curtis visited London representing Spalding Brothers, and returned with $400 worth of golf equipment. Curtis quickly took up golf himself, and later in 1892 he, his brother, Edmund, and neighbor Frank Freeman, laid out a five-hole course on their adjacent properties in Greenwich. Eventually they were joined by others, and by the spring of 1895 a group of twelve men formally organized the Fairfield County Golf Club. The club changed its name to the Greenwich Country Club in 1909 when it was decided to include a full range of country club activities in the club’s offerings, including tennis and squash. The club’s grounds are located on Electric Hill, overlooking Greenwich and Long Island Sound. The 83 acres and the clubhouse were leased from member Warren Smith. When Smith’s home burned to the ground the following year, he built new facilities for the club at the northern end of the grounds. That building burned down in December of 1909, at which time the club decided to build a large Colonial clubhouse at the highest point on the property. That building was destroyed by fire in 1927, and was replaced with an even more impressive building, which itself became the victim of the most spectacular fire in Greenwich history on Labor Day 1960. Lost were many irreplaceable portraits, trophies, and items of great historical import to the members. After some debate following the 1960 fire as to whether the club should sell its old property for resi-

dential development, and relocate at a new site farther from the town, it was decided rather emphatically to rebuild on the original site. The new $2,300,000 clubhouse, unveiled in 1962, was one of the largest in the country. Club facilities also include twelve tennis and four paddle tennis courts, six bowling alleys, three squash courts in a separate squash building that miraculously survived the 1960 fire, and an Olympic-size pool. The club’s first golf course was a nine-holer. In 1906 the club acquired additional property to the north, and engaged Lawrence Van Etten to lay out a full eighteenhole course that opened on Labor Day of 1908. That course was redesigned by Donald Ross in 1946, when the layout was brought into basically its present configuration. The Greenwich Country Club has been at the same location since 1892, second in longevity only to Shinnecock Hills in the New York area. That penchant for longevity has other manifestations as well. Early in 1897 an Englishman named E. Vivian Bond visited Greenwich, and during his stay was a member of the club’s “B team.” Upon returning to England, he sent the club a trophy, which he asked be played for on a date as close as possible to Queen Victoria’s birthday (May 24). Since 1897 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Victoria’s coronation, the trophy was called the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Cup. It is believed to be the oldest club trophy in continuous play in the United States. The original trophy was lost in the fire of 1960, but was quickly replaced.

General Manager James Cirillo on front lawn of clubhouse.

Served With Distinction James M. Cirillo* Daniel M. Denehy Robert Wilson John Morelani Forrest Davis Rudy Sidler

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Hampshire Country Club

Former General Manager Wayne Russell

Served With Distinction Tracy Fraus* Wayne J. Russell Charles Torrance Arthur Bragg Peter D’Angelo

152

A Heritage of Service

n 1926 a coterie of seventy-five wealthy men bonded together and purchased a tract of swampy land near Long Island Sound. Calling themselves Hommocks Country Club after the numerous natural mounds on the property, they built dikes, and engaged the team of Devereux Emmet and Alfred Tull to design an eighteenhole golf course. Hommocks was two years in the making as the land dried out, the course finally opening on July 1, 1928. The clubhouse resembled an English Tudor mansion, featuring high ceilings, rafters supported by sculpted monks, two walk-in fireplaces with a knight’s shield over each, one with crossed swords, the other crossed golf clubs, which became the club’s logo. There also was a gymnasium (now the ladies’ locker room) and an indoor salt water swimming pool (now connected to the men’s locker room), even a dining room for the members’ chauffeurs. The club’s china and silverware was imported from England, bearing the lettering “HCC” that would in later years dictate the club’s subsequent name changes. Formal gardens encircled half of the building. A grove of trees adjacent to the indoor pool, dominated by a stately Colorado blue spruce, was used for sunbathing, reading, playing cards, and just simply relaxing. The club also had two clay tennis courts. Each member was expected to purchase property adjacent to the club to create a buffer zone around the property – in effect, sealing the golf course off from the nearby Post Road. Hommocks had a rather short existence, however. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 spelling financial ruin for many of the members. Hommocks was succeeded in 1934 by the Harbor Country Club, a family club most

of whose members hailed from the garment district in Manhattan. The new club appeared to be positioned to flourish during a post-Depression boom when the Hurricane of 1938 inundated the golf course and thereby destroyed the club. The Town of Mamaroneck took over as landlord in 1940, eventually selling the property to non-golfer Miles Breger on January 1, 1944. Breger immediately went to work selling memberships among his acquaintances in the garment district, and the new Hampshire Country Club, taking its name from British origins, was ready for play in the summer of 1944. The new club received an influx of members from the defunct Broadmoor Country Club in Larchmont, which had been abandoned at the end of 1942. The club enjoyed its heyday during the years 1950 to 1965. The members literally spent the day at the club, from breakfast to midnight snack. Each Saturday evening during the summer was “theme night,” and there was big-name (before they became famous) entertainment imported from the Catskills every Wednesday night. By the mid-1960s, however, many of the original members had relocated to Florida. And life at Hampshire took on a different hue. In addition to their golf course, today’s members enjoy six Har-Tru and two red clay tennis courts, and a recently heated swimming pool. In recent times, the club has renovated the dining rooms, bar area, lobby, and locker rooms, and has added an exercise room. A multi-million dollar golf course bunker renovation project also included a double-row irrigation system, new forward tees, and a reconfiguration of several holes.

The Harmonie Club

he Harmonie Club was founded in 1852 as a home-away-from-home for men of German-Jewish ancestry fleeing the revolution of 1848 in Europe. The German word “harmonie” translates as “get together,” and the new club offered its members the chance to gather for songfests, literary readings, and general conviviality. From 1852 through 1866, the club had several homes. The first was a meeting room and a reading room with a piano at 426 Broome Street. The club moved four times in 1853 alone. In 1860 the club started its circulating library. At the beginning club dues were 50 cents per month. Among the facilities were a fine restaurant, a card room, and a billiards room. The club sponsored an annual ball, and picnics were very popular in the 1860s. German was the club language, and remained so until 1893. The club was incorporated in 1865 as the “Harmonie Social Club of the City of New York” and in January 1867 moved to a new home at 45 West Fortysecond Street. That building, four stories tall with a palatial ballroom, was constructed for the club at a cost of $205,000, and would be the club’s home for forty years. There, the members enjoyed vocal and instrumental concerts as well as theatrical performances. The club moved again on December 30, 1905, to the present building at 4 East Sixtieth Street. The house was designed by preeminent architect Stanford White and cost $875,000. Dancing had fallen from popularity, and consequently there was no ballroom at the new

house. Today the building has a magnificent ballroom that is very popular for weddings and similar affairs. By the 1920s dancing had become very popular again, and the gymnasium was used for dances. In 1923, seeking to attract younger members, an additional floor was added to the clubhouse for a new gymnasium. Few of the members had any interest in billiards at the time, and so the billiards room was made much smaller, the extra space used for a second cards room. In 1926 the club set a realistic membership cap at 850, which was maintained for many years. However, a membership of 852 in 1929 dropped to 442 in 1934 before rebounding. Three squash courts were added in the mid-1930s, another move designed to attract younger members. Today the club’s squash courts are considered among the finest in the city. The modern Harmonie is the second oldest social club in continuous existence in New York City. It is a home away from home for over 1,000 members, with offerings that include formal and informal dining. Women have full membership privileges, and children are regular visitors. Special events include theater parties, museum visits, tours, book readings, bridge tournaments, and dinners with speakers of national and international renown. The original Stanford White clubhouse has been enlarged, and now includes a fitness center and a health spa complete with swimming pool, sauna, and steam room. Athletic activities also include aerobics and basketball.

Former long-serving General Manager Frank Saris Below: The dining room

Served With Distinction Christopher Carey* Frank E. Saris Nick Gara Eric Meyer

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Head of the Bay Club

General Manager Kerri Lober

Served With Distinction Kerri Lober* Eddie Meyer

154

A Heritage of Service

hen Brooklyn’s Crescent Athletic and Hamilton Clubs joined in 1930 to form the Crescent Athletic-Hamilton Country Club, the membership had grandiose plans. They purchased the Huntington estate of Roy Rainey, 300 acres of rolling woodland, formal gardens, a swimming pool, and a frontage on Huntington Bay. There they planned an impressive array of athletic facilities that were to include a yachting anchorage, and cabanas at the beach. The Depression intervened, however, and the plans did not fully materialize. In particular, the beach club and yacht anchorage were not built. In June of 1939, reorganized as the Huntington Crescent Club, they acquired the property of the Huntington Bay Club as a center for bathing and yachting. The Bay Club had been organized in 1920 with a very prestigious membership including Otto Kahn and George Cortelyou, cabinet member under three presidents. Its facilities included an eighteen-hole golf course that straddled Huntington Bay Road. An old hotel, originally the Clark House, was converted into a clubhouse. That course had turned to weeds by 1939, when the bank foreclosed on the Huntington Bay Club. The Bay Club’s property did echo reminders of Huntington’s grandest era. When purchased in 1876 by William and Sarah Clark, it was a 120-acre farm including a Victorian mansion. The railroad had reached Huntington four years earlier, and the Clarks joined the hotel-building trend, constructing the elegant fortyfour-room Clark House on their grounds. It featured a boating house and horseback riding.

After two ownership changes, the property was sold in 1906 to the colorful Bustanoby brothers, three Frenchmen who built “Beaux Arts,” a $1 million gambling casino there. Designed by Sanford White along the lines of the casino at Monte Carlo, it sat atop an underground series of tunnels built to help the clientele (many of whom arrived by steamer from Manhattan or Stamford) escape the police. The Bustanobys also renovated the hotel and renamed it “The Chateau.” It was a total resort, supplemented with luxurious villas. Unfortunately, the brothers suffered a series of financial reversals, and were forced to sell “Beaux Arts” in 1913. Huntington Crescent planned to restore the Casino to its former beauty, with a new pier, cabanas, and yacht basin. At the same time, the old hotel/clubhouse was razed. By 1956. however, the club decided that the “joint operation” was not working, and so a separate beach club, the Head of the Bay Club, was formed. Head of the Bay immediately razed the old casino and filled the tunnels. A new clubhouse was constructed, opening in 1958. The wooden bathhouse burned down in 1963, and was replaced by the present concrete structure. Facilities included two tennis courts and a swimming pool, which opened in 1965. In the last twenty years, Head of the Bay has built a new sea wall and two new docks. The club has installed additional tennis courts (for a total of five), and built two paddle courts, two children’s playgrounds, fortyseven cabanas, two new decks overlooking the pool for outdoor dining and dancing, and a new snack bar. Head of the Bay operates Camp Bay Club for the members’ children during the summer.

Hempstead Golf and Country Club

n July 9, 1920, several of the surviving members of Garden City’s Midland Club, led by W. G. McCulloch, joined with a group of Hempstead businessmen, headed by bank president Jesse Richards, to form an “all-inclusive social club” to be known as the Hempstead Golf Club. Many of the Hempstead group were members of the Morton Masonic Lodge, which dated back to 1797 and included among its members over the years signers of the Declaration of Independence and two governors of the State of New York. The new club’s first act was to lease the Parsons Farm, which was subsequently purchased in 1922 for approximately $135,000. The 122-acre tract consisted of farmland and woods, and to develop a championship eighteen-hole golf course, the club engaged the noted English greenskeeper Peter Lees, who had been brought to this country by Charles Blair Macdonald specifically to construct and maintain the monumental Lido course. Lees first molded the farmland, and had eight holes (plus one temporary) ready for play on September 17, 1921, when an official opening-day match was played, unfortunately, in a downpour. By the start of the 1923 season, eighteen holes were ready. Following Lees’ death, the layout was altered significantly by A. W. Tillinghast for the 1927 season. Tillinghast carved seven new holes from the woods, thereby making the course longer and more difficult. The club has recently completed a five-year plan under the guidance of architect Stephen Kay. Many of the tees were enlarged, and the bunkers were resculptured in the Tillinghast style. Overall, the course

remains faithful to the original Tillinghast design, although the holes have been resequenced. The Hempstead clubhouse is the former Parsons farmhouse, expanded several times over the years. The front-center of the building actually dates back to 1756, and was a Tory gathering place during the Revolution. The clubhouse also is historic in the sense that it was within its walls that Hofstra University was conceived in 1935, the university’s founders all being club members. Members in the public eye have included Richie Guerin, the former Knicks great, and Hall of Fame jockeys Eddie Arcaro and Ted Atkinson. Also, Judge Tom Farley of the Supreme Court of New York, who was among the Board members whose generosity helped the club survive the difficult years of the Depression and World War II. The 1935 Board, to cite one example, advance-paid five years of dues to help the club meet its bills. Hempstead members today have a swimming pool complex with snack bar, four Har-Tru tennis courts, and four AMF bowling alleys. The clubhouse has recently undergone major renovation work that has resulted in an expanded Dining Room that now seats 200 for club functions or special events, the creation of two new casual dining areas, the Terrace and the North Bar, and the creation of a nineteenth hole Patio overlooking the eighteenth green. The clubhouse is presently undergoing a major renovation that will result in a new kitchen, enlarged men’s and women’s locker rooms with new lockers and bathroom’s, an upgraded pro shop, and a new nineteenth hole mixed grill and café (and bar).

Former General Manager Jean Claude Calvez

Served With Distinction Jean Claude Calvez Michael C. Manniello Michael Thorne Timothy Lynch Harry Quinn Lester Murray Fred Sharpenberg Steven Yurasits

The Clubs

155

Hudson National Golf Club

Former General Manager (and COO) David Tyson

They Served Long and Well Brent Merrill* David R. Tyson Ernest Little Peter Stanley

156

A Heritage of Service

t has been almost four centuries since Henry Hudson first sailed up the river that now bears his name (1609), and more than two centuries since the American colonists and their Hessian allies used the 260-acre site in Croton-On-Hudson, 450 feet above the river, as a strategic lookout for British warships during the Revolutionary War. Indeed, it has been almost a century since the Hessian Hills Country Club was founded on the same site during the 1920s, with a nine-hole golf course in a spectacular setting. Hessian Hills suffered an unfortunate fire that destroyed its clubhouse in 1932, at the depths of the Depression when there was no funding available to rebuild. And so the club was disbanded, and the golf course allowed to revert back to nature. (The ruins of that clubhouse were incorporated into the support system for the present fifth tee.) The Hudson National Golf Club was organized in January 1994 by the developers, National Fairways, on the old Hessian Hills site. Tom Fazio was engaged to lay out a course, and construction started that October. Fazio is said to have bulldozed or blasted 100,000 cubic yards of rock to make way for his

fairways, tees, and greens. The course was turfed by the fall of 1995, and scattered play began early in 1996. Hudson National celebrated its grand opening on June 1, 1996. The clubhouse, a four-story stone manor house, was ready for the 1997 season. Few clubs are blessed with such a spectacular setting, high on the cliffs overlooking the Hudson River. And few clubs are blessed with such an inspired architect as Tom Fazio, who can turn an ordinary setting into a spectacular one. He says that â&#x20AC;&#x153;the land built the courseâ&#x20AC;? at Hudson National, the result being one of the finest courses he ever built, eighteen holes that highlight the natural beauty of the site. The clubhouse

Indian Hills Country Club

he Indian Hills Country Club in Fort Salonga, Long island, was founded in 1965, concluding a process that commenced in 1959 when three brothers, Fred, Herman, and Charles Jurgens, purchased (at a foreclosure sale) the land to the north of Breeze Hill Road that is now the golf course. The land was part of the Geissler estate, which previously had been the Dugan estate, and extended to the bluffs overlooking Long Island Sound. One year later, in 1960, the Jurgens brothers purchased 15 acres south of Breeze Hill Road from a Ms. Swayne, who lived on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The building that is now the Indian Hills clubhouse was formerly the Swayne family home which the Swaynes had purchased during the Depression years. The golf course was designed by Steve Christoff, then the superintendent of the Pelham Country Club in Westchester, who also designed Tam Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Shanter, Middle Island, and Heatherwood on Long Island. The course was built by the Jurgens brothers themselves, with help from another Long Islander, Charles K. Martin. The course encompassed just 100 acres, and the seventeenth and eighteenth holes were located on the clubhouse side of the road. The eleventh hole in the original design was a par-4, but had to be shortened due to erosion of the coastline. Eventually it was decided to build a stronger pair of finishing holes, and so the 26 acres to the west of the tenth hole were purchased from the Geissler estate. At the same time, another two holes were sketched out on that property, in anticipation of their replacing the twelfth and thirteenth holes, but happily that change

The sensational new twelfth hole hugging the high cliffs above Long Island Sound.

never took place. A new twelfth and thirteenth holes opened in 2003, designed by Stephen Kay. The twelfth is now a sensational short par-4 stretching high above the Sound from tee to green. The original Indian Hills membership was put together by Edgar Senne, then a local home owner who later would be instrumental in the founding of the Nissequogue Golf Club.

He Served With Distinction Joseph Caputo* Keith Miller Lennie Wikowski Tom Swanson

The Clubs

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Inwood Country Club

General Manager Meg O’Connor

Served With Distinction Meg O’Connor* Daniel Enthol Jeffrey M. Plain Tom Jordan Juergen Schumann

158

A Heritage of Service

he Inwood Country Club started life as an engagement gift from Jacob Wertheim to Emma Stern. Emma enjoyed golf, but had no place to play. So Jacob leased a potato farm in Inwood in January of 1901, and engaged Dr. William Exton and Arthur Thatcher to build a nine-hole course for his bride-to-be. Wertheim, Exton, and Thatcher were among a group of twelve that met on May 11, 1901 to form the Inwood Country Club. The fact that their original course, which cost all of $610, resembled a potato farm did not bother the membership, which grew to eighty that first year. Most of them knew little to nothing about golf. In fact, fifty of them resigned after the first year, as did the club’s professional, who left to pursue a more lucrative career as a hack driver. The next spring, the club contacted the Spalding Company for assistance in finding a new pro. Spalding was the major supplier of golf equipment at the time, and also acted as a clearinghouse for professional athletes. Spalding sent a sore-armed former baseball player by the name of Edward Eriksen, who knew absolutely nothing about golf. With little choice, Inwood hired Eriksen, and things worked out far better than anyone had a right to imagine. Eriksen remained at Inwood for nine years, and developed into a highly-respected golf instructor. He also designed a more respectable nine-hole course than the one already in play; seven of its holes remain with modifications as part of the present course. Eriksen added a second nine later on, when membership rose to a level that a nine-hole course could no longer support. A farm building on the grounds was converted into a locker room in 1902, and served as Inwood’s club-

house. Construction of a new clubhouse began in 1916, and the white-columned Georgian structure was completed in 1917. It was damaged by fire in 1923 on the eve of the US Open, restored, then underwent a major renovation in 1961, when the dining room was modernized and the men’s grill and terrace room added. The clubhouse offers a nice view of the golf course and nearby Kennedy Airport, with the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop. Subsequent Inwood professionals Herbert Strong and Jack Mackie remodeled the course into nearly its present form. Mackie, who remained at Inwood for thirty-four years, was one of the founding fathers of the PGA. He eliminated the original ninth and tenth holes, which then were located across Donahue Road, while at the same time creating what now play as the thirteenth and fifteenth holes from marshland near the bay. This was the course that hosted the 1921 PGA and the 1923 US Open. In the late 1990s, Tom Doak recently revised the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth holes, taking out numerous trees and dramatically enhancing the bunkering. While managing Inwood, Juergen Schumann convinced a local councilman to change the name of the club’s entrance road from Spruce Road to Peppe Drive, honoring Al Peppe, Inwood’s caddie master for fiftyfour years. In addition to golf, Inwood members have enjoyed other sports over the years. Tennis has grown steadily in popularity at the club since the early 1950s. The affiliated Inwood Beach Club at Atlantic Beach was constructed during the late 1930s.

Knollwood Country Club

n 1890 Augustus T. Gillender purchased 175 acres in Westchester County near White Plains with the vision of creating “another Tuxedo Park,” complete with country club facilities. He built his own home high on a knoll above today’s eighth green. He also built roads and houses, plus an imposing Georgian clubhouse which remains to this day as the northern wing of the Knollwood clubhouse. The Knollwood Country Club was organized in 1892 by some of the wealthiest residents of Westchester County. Club facilities included tennis courts and bowling alleys. Because of the financial panic of 1893, the formal opening was put off until September 28, 1894. Gillender sold the property to the club in 1897. It was John D. Archbold, John D. Rockefeller’s “field general” at Standard Oil Company, who converted the social club into a golf club. Knollwood’s first golf course, a short eighteen-hole affair, was designed by charter member Lawrence Van Etten. That course, Van Etten’s first, gave testimony to the fact that the “lay of the land” was every bit as important as length when it came to building character into a golf course. The course proved immensely popular, and for years Knollwood resisted changing it, even lengthening it to keep pace with advances in golf equipment. The opportunity to expand came in the mid-1920s with the death of member Henry Evans, whose estate bordered club property on the north. Seeking to keep the property in “friendly hands,” member Henry Kelly purchased it in his own name, and soon thereafter, sold 38 acres to the club for $40,000. A. W. Tillinghast sub-

mitted a plan for several new holes, and work began. However, his plan was discarded, at least in part, and later that year Seth Raynor was retained as architect. Raynor could do little more than lay out the new course before his untimely death in January of 1926. With minor modifications, Charlie Banks built the course according to Raynor’s plans. It opened for play on May 28, and included seven entirely new holes. Knollwood’s other facilities also underwent some change over the years. The southern wing of the clubhouse was added around 1923. The club’s swimming pool was built in the early 1930s, replacing the grass tennis courts that had witnessed matches featuring the greats of the 1920s. Today the club maintains one tennis court. Knollwood is synonymous with the name Turnesa. Mike, a veteran of the PGA Tour, was club pro for many years, and Willie, winner of the United States Amateur twice and British Amateur once, brought glory to the club. Locally, Turnesa served as president of the MGA (1955), and helped create the Westchester Caddie Scholarship Fund in 1956. In 1976 he was honored by the MGA as recipient of its Distinguished Service Award. Knollwood enjoyed the national spotlight in 1985–’86 as co-host to the LPGA Tour’s Master Card International Pro-Am. The club also is famed for having perhaps the strongest finishing hole in the Met Area, and for its unique par-3 nineteenth hole, a legitimate golf hole across a pond, bringing the players back to the clubhouse.

The clubhouse

Former General Manager Armand Ausserlechner

Served With Distinction Luis Javier* Armand Ausserlechner Christopher Kaminskas Robert Barrett

The Clubs

159

Lake George Club

General Manager William Finnen

Served With Distinction

he Lake George Club was formally organized and incorporated on November 16, 1908, by which time the club’s founding fathers were thoroughly prepared to proceed. Within a nine-month period of time, a clubhouse had been constructed, a nine-hole golf course laid out, and docks and tennis courts built. The club opened its doors on August 14, 1909, in the capable hands of Superintendent Emil Strand, who would serve the club in that capacity for fifty-four years (1909–1963). It was Strand who started a club tradition, the white petunias that decorate the clubhouse each spring. The original purpose of the club was to provide residents and visitors with a place to meet and enjoy dramatic and musical entertainments as well as motor boat regattas and other aquatic sports, and to provide a golf course, tennis courts, and facilities for other games. The golf course was laid out on club property and additional land to the north leased from the Marion House (a nearby hotel) straddling Bolton Road. When the Marion House was torn down in 1939, and its property subdivided, the golfers continued to play, but only through 1942.

For the first seventy-five years of the club’s existence, the members played on three clay tennis courts. After ten years of deliberation, the Board decided that a change was in order, and during 1983–’84, three new Har-Tru courts were added and the existing courts were resurfaced. Sailing was introduced at Lake George in 1935, replacing the motorboat races. Boats from around the lake were invited to join club members, and the club’s eight boats, in sailing competitions. Racing in the various boat classes began in the late 1930s. The club was closed in 1943 due to the war and gas rationing, but was kept alive by Presidents C. Everett Bacon and Hubert Brown, who rallied support and solicited contributions to keep the facilities operating. Sailing was suspended for the duration (1943–’45), but resumed after the war, when new classes were introduced. The club’s focus changed somewhat in 1955, when tennis, sailing, and swimming instructors were hired, and junior sailing and tennis programs were started.

The clubhouse on the lake.

The lake

William J. Finnen* Bruce De’Brule

160

A Heritage of Service

L a r c h m o n t Ya c h t C l u b

he Larchmont Yacht Club had rather humble beginnings – five young sailors, soaking wet after a cold and stormy day of racing, gathered on the beach and decided that they had the manpower to form a yacht club. They elected five officers, and each subscribed $10 to support their venture. The date was May 30, 1880; the setting, Horseshoe Harbor, in Larchmont Manor. The club postdated the village by less than a decade. Larchmont Manor was created in 1872, operated by the Larchmont Manor Company, which owned the land, as an upper-class residential development. Prior to 1849, when the railroad was built connecting New York and Boston, the region was an uninhabited mixture of barren land, dense forest, and swampland. Larchmont was named for the trees (larches) that were plentiful in the area. For a number of years, Larchmont was a summer retreat for New York’s wealthy, becoming an incorporated village in 1891. The club’s first meeting place was a little church that had been built out over the water. The church allowed use of their building six days a week upon the recommendation of the Manor Company, which felt the club would help in the growth of the new community. The club rented the building for $1 per year for three years. Since there was a great need for a yacht club on the north coast of the Sound, membership grew rather quickly. There was an organizational meeting on June 26, attended by twelve, with the proxies of seven others. By-laws and a constitution were approved at a June 30 meeting, and the first regatta was held on July 5. From the beginning. Larchmont was a club for amateur yachtsmen.

By 1881, there were seventy-four members and thirty-three yachts at the club. Seawanhaka-Corinthian and Atlantic Yacht Clubs were invited to the 1881 regatta on July 4, a date that has been a club tradition for 120 years. By the end of that year, the need for a larger clubhouse was evident. And so the club leased the waterfront residence of Charles Shepard at $1,500 per year, with half the rent paid by the Larchmont Manor Company. The building was renovated, and a new dock and float were built. By 1883 there were 283 members, and the club was growing rapidly. The members also enjoyed two grass tennis courts. Nonetheless, the club moved again on May 1, 1884, to a four-acre tract just inside Umbrella Point, leasing this time for $5,000 per year. The club held its first ball there on Labor Day weekend, and a clambake to end the season in October. The club decided at the end of 1886 that it was time to own its own land. This mandated, first of all, that the club be incorporated, which was accomplished on December 29. The club then approached its neighbor, railroad magnate Benjamin Carver, with the offer to purchase his 8-acre estate at the foot of Walnut Avenue, which had been built in 1880. The club met Carver’s asking price of $100,000, and the Carver residence became the central portion of today’s clubhouse. The house was expanded and renovated, with heating added, over the winter, and the club took a thirty-year mortgage to finance the purchase. Electric lights were added in 1894. For many years, the club has housed a large collection of valuable, leather-bound books in the second floor of the clubhouse. Continued on next page

General Manager Arthur L. Maguire

Served With Distinction Arthur L. Maguire* John Schuler Gerald Giarla Michael Condrat

The Clubs

161

The Larchmont Yacht Club

162

A Heritage of Service

Pigeon shooting was popular at the club for about fifteen years, from 1889 to 1904. Indeed, 7,533 birds were killed in 1892 alone. The club’s trapshooters began using clay pigeons in 1905. Larchmont yacht members have often been involved with the biannual America’s Cup races. Members William K. Vanderbilt and C. Oliver Iselin were deeply involved during the years 1893 to 1901 when American yachts won five consecutive times. Larchmont Yacht was one of seventeen charter members of the Yacht Racing Union (later Association), which was founded in 1895 to oversee yacht racing on the Sound, one of its primary responsibilities being the amicable setting of regatta dates. The west wing of the clubhouse was built during

the winter of 1895–1896, opening for the 1896 season. The billiards table was moved there from the Carver Carriage House, which still was home to Larchmont’s junior yacht club. Larchmont Race Week was started that summer, replacing the club’s annual cruise. At the turn of century, Larchmont became the favorite summer resort of the theatrical set, resulting in the construction of a large pavilion (called the Pandemonium) for club entertainments, which was built in 1902. Shakespeare was performed in the Pandemonium as late as the mid-1920s, but that era in club life ended with the Depression. The original was more elaborate than the present pavilion. A squash court was annexed to the west corner of the pavilion in 1903. The club had a nine-hole golf course (1895–1909) on land leased from the village between club grounds and the Post Road. The lease ended when the land was designated for residential development. In the early 1900s the dining room was extended eastward, and a breakfast room was added on the first floor, a “poker room” on the second floor. Talk of adding a swimming pool began in the mid1920s, and construction was completed by the winter of 1927–1928 when it was used for ice skating. January of 1932 marked the start of a new winter sport at the club – frostbiting, winter racing on Sunday afternoons. Paddle tennis completed the club’s winter offerings in 1968, when the first two of four courts were built. The members’ children compete on the club’s aquatic team (swimming and diving). The team dominated the Westchester County Championships for five years from 1978 to 1982. The members themselves also participate in interclub “matches” with clubs as far away as Newport Harbor, California.

Leewood Golf Club

s the 1920s dawned, Woodson Oglesby owned a hilly, rocky 100-acre tract in Eastchester, just a stone’s throw east of the Bronx River Parkway. In 1921 his friends persuaded him to develop the land as a public golf course which he named Leewood after one of his daughters. New Road adjacent to the course was renamed Leewood Drive at the same time. The original concept changed slightly when it was decided on October 23, 1922, to organize a private club instead. Leewood’s golf course was designed by the prolific architect Devereux Emmet, who worked in conjunction with the club’s first golf professional, Carl Fox, who oversaw the difficult construction of the course. The property sat atop a mass of boulders, doubtless an extension of the famous Tuckahoe quarry nearby. Marble from Tuckahoe was used in the construction of numerous famous buildings, including the Washington Monument. The substructure created a distinct challenge in building a golf course, but the members responded with enthusiasm, giving up many weekends to clear rocks from the land or dig holes in which boulders were buried, an unselfish gesture that resulted in today’s smooth conditions. The course opened in September of 1923. The original site chosen for the clubhouse was in the vicinity of today’s eighth green and halfway house. Architect Henry Bacon, designer of the Lincoln Memorial, preferred the present lower site, where he built the present stone clubhouse. Construction continued while the golfers played, and the building was formally opened in May 1924. Shortly thereafter, Oslesby sold the property, golf course and building, to the mem-

bership, and the name Leewood Golf Club was adopted. Perhaps the most notable of Leewood’s members over the years was an honorary member named Babe Ruth. Golf trophies Ruth won at Leewood are on display at baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. His exploits on Leewood’s golf course – such as driving the fourteenth green – are a prominent part of club lore. The tunnel under the railroad connecting the club to the parkway is said to have been built after Ruth won a golfing bet with the railroad’s owner – thereby shortening the Bambino’s trip to Yankee Stadium. Leewood’s golf course gained some notoriety in the 1930s and 1940s when the picturesque ninth hole was used as the setting the New York World Telegram’s annual hole-in-one contest. In 1943 a syndicate of members purchased the financially troubled club, and leased it back to the membership. Eventually, the members repurchased the club in 1948. Improvements followed quickly, when a swimming pool and four bowling alleys were added to the club’s offerings in 1950. Tennis and platform tennis courts were built in 1977 to promote the family aspect of club life. The children enjoy a number of Junior programs as well as Camp Leewood for the younger ones. In 1983 the dining room was extended and the Terrace Room was built on what had been an open terrace. A gymnasium replaced an old card room in 1994, and in 1997 outdoor dining was offered on an expanded terrace. A three-year golf course renovation project was completed in 2000, and Leewood’s golfers also make good use of a Cayman driving range.

General Manager Mario DiPreta

Served With Distinction Mario DiPreta* Steven Arias

The Clubs

163

The Maidstone Club

General Manager Michael Gyure

T Former Manager Robert Gallagher with wife Joann, a former General Manager at Shinnecock Hills.

Served With Distinction Michael L. Gyure* Robert Gallagher Hartnut Hofacker Col. Frank J. Tercy Gorgon Taylor Harmon Hagenbuckle Kennell Schenck Charles W. Stewart Kenneth E. Davis Edward Salisbury

164

A Heritage of Service

he Maidstone Club was founded in 1891, taking for its name the original seventeenth century postmark for East Hampton. The popular sport of the day was tennis, not golf. The East Hampton Lawn Tennis Club had been organized in 1879, and Maidstone was founded by the same group of people as a successor – a tennis and bathing club for the wealthy summer residents of East Hampton. Maidstone’s first clubhouse was built in 1892 on the site of the present Tennis House. The 18-acre site, overlooking Hook Pond, the dunes, and the ocean, featured twelve tennis courts, a baseball field and bowling alleys. The clubhouse included a theater and a ballroom. Golf came to Maidstone in 1894 in the form of a three-hole course in the meadows. The club expanded to a nine-hole course in August 1896, and then to a full eighteen holes in 1899. In 1945 nine new greens were built, including two on the dunes above the beach, which were believed to be the first seaside greens in the United States. Starting in 1919 Maidstone members began discussing the possibility of building a new clubhouse on the dunes overlooking the ocean. The issue was brought to a head on July 30, 1922, when fire leveled the origi-

nal clubhouse. When the opportunity came to purchase a large plot of dunesland between Hook Pond and the ocean, and expand to a pair of eighteen-hole courses, the club also decided to build a new clubhouse at the present site. An English-style stucco building, designed by Roger Bullard, opened in 1924, overlooking the ocean and the club’s beachside cabanas, heated Olympic-size pool, and oceanfront beach. Facilities at the Tennis House, constructed in 1944, now include nineteen grass, two clay, two all-weather, and two paddle tennis courts. Willie Park, Jr., was called in the fall of 1922 to design Maidstone’s thirty-six-hole layout. He responded with twelve original holes on the newly acquired dunesland, which he combined with the first three and final three holes on his existing course to define the West Course basically as it exists to this day. Park’s plans for a second eighteen, which included nine new holes, were completed in 1930 (well after his death). Park’s dunes holes were critically acclaimed. Bernard Darwin, the famed British writer, called them the finest stretch he had ever seen in America. Like most clubs, Maidstone had its difficulties during the Depression. To compound the problem, the violent hurricane of 1938, whose eye passed over the eastern end of Long Island, caused extensive damage to club property, closing the course for the 1939 season. After World War II, Maidstone cut back to twentyseven holes by selling off some property to the east of the clubhouse along the beach (which housed some of the club’s original ocean-front holes). The change left Maidstone with its championship eighteen-hole West Course and the sporty nine-hole East Course, which has provided great pleasure for the women, children, and old-timers of the club.

M a n h a s s e t B a y Ya c h t C l u b

he Manhasset Bay Yacht Club was born in the “Gilded Age,” following the industrial revolution, when wealth and leisure time became a reality, even for the emerging middle class. This led to an increased interest in yachting. Yachting became popular during the years 1877 to 1888 when American yachts won the Americas Cup five times. A rules change allowing smaller boats to compete opened the sport to the masses. And western Long Island Sound was the ideal place to race and cruise. During the winter of 1888–1889, William G. Newman and George A. Corry founded an informal club of sailing neophytes on the eastern shore of Little Neck Bay. At a dinner meeting in New York City, they raised the $1,600 needed to build a small clubhouse. Their Douglaston Yacht Club was formally organized in 1891. The clubhouse was designed by a member, James L’Hommedieu, who also designed the early homes and cathedral in Garden City. Originally, the clubhouse was on a barge in the water, half a mile from the shore, and its location changed from year to year. The club held its first regatta in 1891, when the membership was approximately forty. From the start the club was primarily interested in small boat racing. In 1895 the club introduced a new class of boats, the “sailing dinghies.” In 1896, the silting problem on Little Neck Bay caused the club to start looking elsewhere for a permanent home. This was complicated during the SpanishAmerican War, when there was widespread fear the Spanish fleet would sail into New York Harbor. Since Fort Totten was considered a “last line of defense, the

area surrounding it, including Little Neck Bay, was mined,” making for poor yachting conditions. Simply, the members wanted a deeper and safer anchorage, and when the Long Island Railroad was extended east to Port Washington in 1898, opening up residential development there, the stage was set. At a November 1898 meeting, a motion to move to Port Washington carried, and all those opposed resigned from the club, leaving thirty to forty members to carry on. In January 1899 they leased the Murray and Reid property on the east shore of Manhasset Bay in Port Washington, which included a large residence set back from the beach. The club took an option to buy adjacent land to the north, on which the present clubhouse ultimately would be built. The present name was adopted in April 1899. With their new premises, the club quickly added fifty new members. The Manhasset Bay Challenge Cup, first put in competition in 1903, is the oldest annual yachting prize in this country. At a July 1928 meeting, the members voted to tear down the old clubhouse and build a new one, which opened in July, 1929. The present dining room seats 250 people. The club also acquired land under water and built a six-foot tall bulkhead and swimming pool over what had been a sandy beach. A junior clubhouse was added in 1983. The famous composer John Philip Sousa was a Manhasset Bay member for sixteen years. Today’s membership enjoys a junior Olympic-sized pool, five HarTru tennis courts, two platform tennis courts, as well as mooring and docking facilities for 120 boats.

Manager John Toscano

The clubhouse

Served With Distinction John A. Toscano* Chappy Miller

The Clubs

165

M a n h a t t a n Wo o d s G o l f C l u b

General Manager Thomas Tuthill Below left: The clubhouse, which opened in 1999. Below right: The view of Manhattan from the club.

Served With Distinction Thomas N. Tuthill* Philip Hughes

166

A Heritage of Service

en K. Lee, owner of Manhattan Woods Golf Club, was born and educated in Korea, graduating from the Seoul National University with a degree in economics. His business background is in the manufacturing of Samsonite luggage, operating plants in Korea, Sri Lanka, Ireland, and the Dominican Republic. Lee had been a golfer since 1976, and joined the Willow Ridge Country Club after coming to the United States in 1986. He wanted to mix business with his hobbies – golf, nature, and animals – and so owning a golf course became his first golf business venture. Lee first saw the Manhattan Woods site, 200 acres just off the Palisades Parkway in West Nyack, thirty minutes from Manhattan, in 1991. He attempted to purchase it in 1992, but failed. He continued pursuing his dream, and was in the process of purchasing a site near Seattle, Washington, when the Rockland County site became available in 1996. Lee quickly obtained the building permits, and closed the deal in October of 1996. Construction began in November. The previous owner of the property had been building a Tom Watson-designed golf course on the property

that Lee thought would be too difficult for the average golfer. As owner, Lee kept the land in its natural form rather than developing it for homesites. His goal was to preserve property as a tranquil setting, and to create an environment for people to relax and enjoy. Lee’s philosophy matched that of his chosen architect Gary Player, who sought to protect the existing environment, and preserve the natural features of the landscape. Manhattan Wood’s Gary Player-designed course was unveiled at a media day on May 17, 1998, prior to its grand opening on September 22. It was Player’s first course in New York State, carved out of an idyllic woodland setting, with views of the Manhattan skyline from several holes. The 31,000-square-foot clubhouse opened in May of 1999, and included meeting space for corporate executives and a business center. Lee also included a special room honoring Gary Player and his accomplishments. Membership at Manhattan Woods, which is strictly a golf club, was capped at 325 resident golf members, plus fifty non-resident and seventy-five social members.

The Meadow Club

he Southampton summer colony started in 1877 when the first of the wealthy summer visitors arrived. By 1908 the colony encompassed 150 summer cottages. The Meadow Club traces its roots to shortly after 1877, and an informal gathering of ladies who met for tea on Saturday mornings in a meadow between a couple of the early cottages. Later on the “club” moved to a different site, and the ladies were joined by their husbands for the weekly gathering. In 1887 the present site was purchased, tennis courts were built, and the club was formally organized and incorporated as a social and athletic club. The club maintained a clubhouse, athletic grounds, courts, and fields. Among the first trustees were Duncan Cryder and Edward S. Mead, both four years later among the founders of the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club nearby. In 1894 the club added croquet and archery to its offerings. The clubhouse was expanded to its present size in 1896, one year after the development of the village of Southampton started. The local businessmen catered to the needs of the residents of the summer cottages. By 1908 club facilities included thirty lawn tennis courts and two squash courts. The club added a polo field and a bowling alley a few years later. The clubhouse was open through the winter months, and was heated by steam, a feature none of the member’s cottages shared. The house included a dining room, rooms for private parties, a porch overlooking the tennis courts, and bedrooms for weekend or seasonal stay. The cellar of the clubhouse was fitted up for the storage of wine that was

imported from Europe. The club’s “pastry department” was moved to a separate building specially arranged for the purpose. Through the years, tennis has been the club’s staple sport. The Meadow Club Invitation was a major amateur tennis event for some fifty years, one whose popularity waned as did that of the sport in this country. Eventually, it was held for the last time in 1973, after a few stops and restarts following World War II. The club also suffered through hard times during the 1950s and 1960s, coinciding with tennis’ fall from popularity in this country. Part of the reason for the decline was the deteriorating condition of the grass courts. This trend was turned around when the club hired a greenskeeper trained in the modern advances in agronomy. Social events such as the annual Fourth of July dance and the Friday night buffets also helped turn the club around, and the membership tally tripled from its postwar low. The polo field, which had been sold, was repurchased and converted into two croquet courts, eight new lawn tennis courts, and a playing (soccer) field for the younger members and their children. Also in the 1970s the club added the overhead irrigation system for the grass courts, plus two paddle courts and four hard surface tennis courts. In more recent years, the family nature of the club has been greatly expanded; children’s activities at the club are highly organized. Facilities today include thirty-six lawn tennis courts – no other club in the world has more.

General Manager Robert J. Lessard

Served With Distinction Robert J.Lessard* Harry Cocowitch

The Clubs

167

Meadow Brook Club

General Manager Dennis Harrington

Served With Distinction Dennis J. Harrington*

168

A Heritage of Service

he Meadow Brook Hunt Club was incorporated in May of 1881 “to support and hunt a pack of fox hounds in the proper season, and to promote other outdoor sports.” The club leased land that sprawled from Merrick Avenue to Mitchell Field, and from Old Country Road to Hempstead Turnpike, from the Garden City Company. For fourteen years the club’s members used the Garden City Hotel as their second clubhouse, holding hunt breakfasts and dinner parties there. In 1894 Meadow Brook purchased its land, and the club then was able to enlarge its clubhouse and stables, build a second polo field, and add a golf course, which occupied the southeastern corner of the property. One authority called it the “best nine-hole course in the East.” It hosted the first “unofficial” US Women’s Amateur in 1895, a tournament sponsored by the club. The original course was abandoned after a few years. The golfers in the club played at Piping Rock and Nassau. By 1916 however, crowded conditions at those clubs brought golf back into the picture at Meadow Brook, which leased the J. Clinton Smith estate across the road from its main clubhouse. A golf clubhouse was built there, and Devereux Emmet was chosen to design Meadow Brook’s new eighteen-hole course. He fully utilized Meadow Brook, “a beautiful little stream that winds through the links,” placing ten greens beside the brook. It was neither fox hunting nor golf, though, that brought Meadow Brook its greatest fame. Rather, it was polo. The club’s roots actually trace back to 1879, when several of its founding fathers played polo together on a

field inside the race track at the old Queens County fairgrounds in Mineola. Meadow Brook’s first polo field was built in 1884. Eventually, the club would have eight fields, with the magnificent International Field, its grandstands painted in the club’s robin’s-egg blue colors, reserved for only the most important matches, such as the US Open, the Westchester Cup, and the Cup of the Americas. The Meadow Brook team of Harry Payne Whitney, Devereux Milburn, Monty and Larry Waterbury, known as the “Big Four,” dominated the American sport. Milburn was regarded by many as the greatest polo player ever produced in this country. In the early 1950s Parks Commissioner Robert Moses condemned the club’s property so that the Meadowbrook Parkway could be built, connecting midNassau with the South Shore beaches. In 1953 the club purchased the Jericho estate of Mrs. Middleton Burrill, where the club had held hunt meets early in the century. The Georgian home became the clubhouse, and architect L. S. “Dick” Wilson was engaged to build a new course of championship proportions. Ready for play in 1955, the new course immediately drew rave reviews. In 1967 the club sold off considerable acreage near Jericho Turnpike, land which included the club’s polo fields and two golf holes. At this point in time, Meadow Brook polo ceased, although a new club bearing the Meadow Brook name was organized and played its matches at nearby Bethpage Park. And the new golf course underwent a major facelift; six new holes were built by Dick Wilson. And Meadow Brook became strictly a golf club.

Metropolis Country Club

ike a number of clubs in the Metropolitan area, Metropolis Country Club is an offshoot of a city club. In Metropolis’ case, it was a dining and social club on West Fifty-seventh Street called the Metropolis City Club, which had been organized in 1879. The club’s purpose was to “promote social intercourse among its members, and to encourage musical, literary, dramatic, and other recreative exercises, and to establish a library.” Sporting activities at the club included swimming, billiards, bowling, gymnastics, and (especially) card playing. The club also was known for its fine restaurant and men’s grill. As golf grew in popularity after World War I, the members decided that it would be nice to have a retreat in the country, golf included. So in 1922 the Metropolis Country Club was incorporated, and shortly thereafter purchased for $100,000 the former site of the Century Country Club, including a clubhouse and an eighteenhole golf course, off Dobbs Ferry Road in Greenburgh. The original clubhouse, with its white columns and marble terrace, had at one time been a farmhouse. From its broad verandahs the members enjoyed serene views of miles of Westchester countryside, and danced the night away on the two-level patio. The entrance road to the clubhouse was then located well east of the present entrance. At the start, Metropolis was primarily a golf club, even though there were two tennis courts and a swimming pool on the grounds. Metropolis also was a family club, and for many years membership was restricted

to the families of the original members, all of whom were also members of the City Club. The latter policy has been discontinued due to attrition. In addition to the swimming pool, the club now has eight tennis and two racquetball courts. The original membership at Metropolis was very conservative and solid financially. The club escaped most of the problems typical of the Depression period, due in large part to Edmund Waterman, a strict disciplinarian who ran a tight ship as long-time club president. To cite one example of his legacy, topless men’s bathing suits were not allowed at the club until well into the 1950s. The golf course that Metropolis inherited from Century was revised by A. W. Tillinghast in the late 1920s, incorporating new club land that now houses the seventh and twelfth through fourteenth holes. In the early 1970s architect Joe Finger added the par-3 fifteenth hole (since rebuilt for 1999), discarding a hole, thereby allowing the club to expand its parking capacity and add to its tennis facilities. During the winter of 1968–1969, the gracious sixty-year-old clubhouse was undergoing major renovations. But on February 9, 1969, a fire, apparently electrical in origin, broke out in the walls. Only the outdoor patio and the newly-renovated men’s locker room below it were saved. Metropolis approved plans for a new building in 1970. It was not until the spring of 1972 that the ultra-modern structure, designed by Ralph Leff, was completed on the same site as the original.

Long-serving General Manager Max N. Sanz

Served With Distinction Jeffrey Martocci* Mitch Marron Max Sanz Nick Mourikis George Valentias

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Middle Bay Country Club

Former General Manager Nicholas Batos

Served With Distinction Wayne Russell* Meg O’Connor Nicholas Batos Robert Kennedy Steve Yurasits Leslie Demeter Joseph Donoghue

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he first golf club in the Baldwin-Oceanside area was the Milburn Country Club, which was organized in 1919 with an eighteen-hole golf course. Milburn was reorganized in 1941 as the Willow Brook Country Club. The Oceanside Golf and Country Club was formed in 1931 with eighteen holes straddling Waukeena Avenue just south of Atlantic Avenue. The property was owned by Joseph Weinstein, proprietor of the Mays Department Store chain. Weinstein ran Oceanside on a semi-private basis, offering one-year memberships. Unlike its neighbor, Oceanside came through the Depression in one piece, and survived World War II as well. Trouble came in 1951, however, when the county condemned club property west of Waukeena Avenue so that Oceanside High School might be built. A group of 149 members left the club at that time and purchased the Engineers Country Club in Roslyn Harbor. The few members who stayed behind continued to play over what became a public nine-hole golf course. The old clubhouse remained, west of Waukeena, separated from the golf course by the road. It still stands to this day, although unused over the last few years following some twenty years of service as a catering facility. The catalyst that led to the founding of the Middle Bay Country Club was the Southern State Parkway, which was routed through the old Willow Brook course. A group of Willow Brook members contacted Weinstein, offering him the nucleus of a new club if he would build a second nine holes adjacent to the old

Oceanside course. And so golf architect Alfred Tull was contracted to build the new holes on landfill, and revise the old course as well, which he did by 1955. The new club, which was named Middle Bay due to its proximity to the body of water of the same name, was incorporated in 1953, and also attracted a group of members from the Great River Country Club (formerly Timber Point). Middle Bay made do with its old clubhouse until 1970, when the present one-story building opened at a completely different location. The old routing of the golf course was maintained, although the holes were renumbered. Aside from the club championships, the most significant competition at Middle Bay is the annual oneday tournament for the United Jewish Appeal. The tournament, which started in 1974, annually nets $150,000 for charities at home and in Israel. The members donate the prizes for the winners. Middle Bay’s golf course underwent a major facelift in 1988 at the hands of David Postelwait, one that changed the course’s aesthetics and character dramatically. Postelwait was asked to give the course a more modern look, and at the same time to protect the sand in the bunkers, which was being scattered unmercifully by the persistent wind. To accomplish his objective, Postelwait built the numerous mounds that surround and frame all eighteen greens – and shelter the bunkers as well. The net result is a sparkling new look for the golf course.

Mill River Club

hen William S. Roach conceived the Mill River Club on Long Island, he set out with the explicit purpose of being different, or diverse. Mill River was conceived as a “truly balanced, non-sectarian club.” It succeeded because it had the sound financial underpinning to maintain its 50-50 Christian-Jewish balance from the start. At Mill River, prospective members must agree to support the club’s policy of maintaining its ethnic balance. Bill Roach was a man for all seasons. A Nebraskaborn Irishman, Phi-Beta-Kappa at Columbia, Roach started his career in Hollywood as a reporter for Variety, later as a camera guru for Walt Disney. A B-29 pilot during World War II, Roach later earned his law degree from Columbia and became an expert patent lawyer. He was a patron of the arts, and was an avid golfer. He also believed that all men were created equal. Roach set his plans in motion in 1964 after purchasing Appledore, the former “Gold Coast” estate of Henry and Eleanor Davison located one mile north of Northern Boulevard in Oyster Bay, with Planting Fields Arboretum immediately to the north and the campus of SUNY Old Westbury to the west. Davison, a financier and partner in Morgan Guarantee Trust, died in 1961 and his widow, faced with the prospect of selling her 126-acre home to real estate developers, happily accepted Roach’s concept and offer. Mrs. Davison felt that she could live with the fact that her grounds would be maintained as a beautiful golf course and particularly that her Normandy Tudor

mansion would be preserved as a clubhouse. She was so pleased with the prospect that she held the mortgage on the property and gave the club a two-year grace period before the first payment was due. That allowed Roach and his associates to move deliberately in developing the membership. Two wings were added to the original mansion to accommodate a large dining room, locker rooms, and grill. The pro shop and men’s grill were built from what once been a four-car garage. Roach was personally on hand daily to direct all of the conversion work. For his golf course, Roach turned to a relative unknown named Gerald Roby, who had spent his career in golf course architecture working with William Mitchell. Roby did the Mill River job for his old friend, then retired. The new club and golf course were ready for their grand opening on May 29, 1965. Within a few years, Mill River was cited by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. The club’s policy also was noted in the Congressional Record. To help establish Mill River’s golf program, Roach hired 1954 PGA champion Jim Turnesa, of the famous Westchester clan, who served as golf professional for about five years. The entrance road to the club is named Jim Turnesa Drive in his honor. Mill River Road, incidentally, was once a river, leading to a mill in Oyster Bay, hence the club’s name. Mill River’s members enjoy five Har-Tru tennis courts plus an indoor tennis facility, and a beautiful swimming pool screened by gardens and yews, giving the club a “resort plus” feeling.

Robert and Alice Stanley. Bob was at the Mill River Club for nine years from its inception.

Served With Distinction Dave McLaughlin* Gary Jorgensen Wayne Russell Steven Savidis Barry Grundy Wolfgang E. Bulka Robert Stanley Patrick Chambers

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Montauk Downs

I Golf pro John Eliff celebrating eightieth birthday with a hundred-year-old bottle of whiskey from General Manager Frank M. Tuna, president of the Montauk Beach Company.

Montauk Golf and Racquets Club circa 1970.

Served With Distinction John Bladt Frank M. Tuma John Kelly Larry Borsten

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f the vision of one man had not run headlong into the Depression, the character of the East End of Long Island may have been changed forever. That man was Carl Graham Fisher, the batteries tycoon who had built Miami Beach from a tangle of mangrove swamps. Fisher liked what he saw when he first visited Montauk, and soon thereafter, the “Miami Beach of the North” was on the planning board. Fisher and four associates organized as the Montauk Beach Development Company, and purchased 9,000 acres of land at Montauk for $2.5 million. Plans were drawn up for a golf course, marina and yacht club, polo fields, tennis courts, and a luxurious 200-room hotel called the Montauk Manor. Fisher envisioned Montauk becoming a point of departure for Long Islanders traveling to Europe, replacing the trip to Manhattan with a railroad ride to the end of the Island. To make his dream a reality, Fisher employed 800 men daily; miles of new roads were built and water pipes laid. Tudor-style homes were built on the hillsides, and a channel was cut through Lake Montauk to give larger boats access to the yacht club. But when the stock market crashed in 1929, the effect on Carl Fisher and his dreams was devastating. Although a great many of his projects were left unfinished, enough were completed to make Montauk a meeting place for presidents, foreign dignitaries, and the world’s elite. The Montauk Downs Golf Club opened for light play in 1927 with an eighteen-hole golf course. Carl Fisher served as the club’s first president. The course was a natural links designed by a top British golfer named Captain H. C. Tippett, likely with an assist from Charles Blair Macdonald. Tippett was a member and

club champion at Lido, whose links Macdonald had created from the sea a decade earlier. Tippett’s course at Montauk rolled through a “cluster of rounded hills and valleys, with here and there a gash of a ravine cutting across the landscape,” to quote from an article appearing in Metropolitan Golfer. The terrain was barren linksland, where trees abound today. Montauk Downs was said to be “as close an approach to the famous seaside links of the British Isles as may be had anywhere.” Despite the Depression, the damaging Hurricane of 1938, and World War II, when Montauk temporarily became a military base, the golf club and hotel survived. Finally, an investment group took over in 1966. The hotel, which had closed its doors in 1965, was converted to condominiums in 1974. By 1969 Montauk Downs possessed a new Robert Trent Jones golf course. The original clubhouse, where only lunch had been served, was burned down (there was a party for the occasion). The second clubhouse opened in 1970 as part of the Montauk Golf and Racquet Club, with John Kelly and his wife, Elsie working together managing the club until John Bladt took over as General Manager of the still-private club. Frank Tuma, an avid golfer and fisherman and president of the Montauk Improvement Company, was the driving force behind the new private club and golf course. During that period, twenty-four luxury villas, built in two circular buildings, were added to the property. They were sold to a separate developer when the State of New York took over the golf club. The investors did not fare well, however. The new clubhouse burned down in 1975, and then the state

took over the operation in 1978. Today the state-operated facility at Montauk Downs handles over 45,000 rounds of golf per year. For five years from 1971 to 1975 Bladt hosted a large group of MCMA members for three days of golf and beach, a lobster cookout and a formal dinner. The 1975 outing took place immediately after the second fire.

The Montauk Manor

The clubhouse lounge as it looked during the clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s early years.

The original clubhouseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s last day.

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Mount Kisco Country Club

Manager Hussein Ali

Served With Distinction Hussein Ali* James Coope Roger Loose Hans Richter

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he village of Mount Kisco, located at the eastern base of Kisco Mountain, traces its recorded history back to the seventeenth century when Algonquin tribes headed by chiefs Katonah and Wampus (Chief Kisco apparently was nothing more than a fictional figure) inhabited the area and harvested the beaver colony that thrived in the wet lowlands of the Harlem Valley. The Indian name for the region was “cisqua,” which translates to “muddy place,” and was later anglicized to “kisco.” In 1702 a group from Bedford purchased several thousand acres in the valley from the natives, and they were soon joined by settlers from Long Island. Together, they lived in virtual isolation, with very little contact with the outside world. In 1847 the New York and Harlem Railroad extended its line north, and the community that flourished at the line’s northern terminus was named Mount Kisco in 1848. It eventually was transformed from a farming community to a highly-desirable locale for a summer home. Mount Kisco grew with the years, and in July of 1917 welcomed its first golf course when the Mount Kisco Golf Club opened its doors on property adjacent to the present course. Mt. Kisco took a step into the future in the late 1920s when the noted real estate developer William Van Zuzer Lawrence conceived Lawrence Farms, a 185-acre residential community with the Lawrence Farms Country Club as its focal point. The new club was to feature golf, tennis, horseback riding, with a lake for swimming and skating. It opened in 1930.

The Lawrence Farms site previously was Annandale Farm, the estate of the late Moses Taylor, a New York banker/industrialist, chairman of the board for Lackawanna Steel, who died in 1928. Lawrence supplemented this land with additional acreage from the adjacent Daly estate. For their clubhouse, the members converted an old barn into a two-story, white-brick building flanked by one-story wings to the north and south, each built of stucco. Left untouched for a number of years were the tombstones of Taylor’s prize bulls, which were located in a “graveyard” in what is now the circle in front of the clubhouse. For the golf course, Lawrence turned to Tom Winton, who had come to this country in 1916 as greenskeeper at Siwanoy’s new eighteen-hole course, which he prepared for the inaugural PGA Championship that year. Winton molded 115 rolling acres, set in a natural depression between low, wooded hills, into a course that had no blind shots to its small, well-bunkered greens, and a persistent stream in play on thirteen holes. The course has changed little over the years, the major change placing the seventeenth green behind the brook. The old Mount Kisco Golf Club was forced to close its doors during World War II, at which time its remaining members joined Lawrence Farms Country Club en masse, and had the power base to change the younger club’s name to Mount Kisco Country Club.

The Muttontown Club

he Muttontown Country Club was formed in 1960 after two of the club’s founding fathers, Robert Leibowitz, the son of a state supreme court justice, and Louis Goldberg purchased the former Brokaw estate in Muttontown, and leased it to the members of the newly formed club. Alfred Tull was chosen to design their golf course, which opened in May of 1962. At the time, the club had a small membership of just eighty. The clubhouse was previously called “The Chimneys,” and was the forty-four-room Georgian mansion of Howard C. Brokaw, a prominent member of the international set who made his fortune manufacturing US Army uniforms during World War I. Designed in 1918 by the prominent architect Horace Trumbauer, the red-brick building with slate roof and Indiana limestone trimmings possessed thirteen chimneys, servicing twenty-six fireplaces, many made of marble. Several of the rooms were paneled in oak, with intricate, ornate plastering on the ceilings. The estate overlooked 125 acres of rolling hills, and there were formal gardens adjacent to the mansion. The Chimneys took five years to build, starting in 1919, but just a few months to find a second owner following Brokaw’s death in 1960 – while fulfilling the former owner’s lifelong wish that his property eventually become a country club. Brokaw’s wife, who also died in 1960, was a twin. Her sister lived across Northern Boulevard in an almost identical mansion, which later became the home of the Charter Oaks (later Fox Run, before the club’s demise) Country Club. The Muttontown membership purchased the club in 1965 for $2.7 million, and have since added a new dining room wing (replacing the formal gardens) seating

250, together with a new kitchen, six tennis courts, an Olympic size pool, and have converted a brick garage into an attractive pool house, and Brokaw’s study into the nineteenth hole. Club life suffered a sobering setback on Sunday afternoon, March 17, 1996, when a $5 million fire broke out on the third floor of the newly decorated clubhouse, and spread to the roof. The entire center part of the building was gutted, primarily from water damage. Fortunately, the dining room and Oak Room were spared. The membership decided to restore the building to its original Georgian concept, right down to the moldings. Of the few changes, the most notable were the new formal reception area and the reconfiguration of the bar. During the reconstruction phase, the members used the pool house for lunch. The restored clubhouse opened in May of 1997. Since, the club has constructed a modern pool house, and has implemented a foreign student internship program.

Former General Managers Doug Louis and Hans Juenemann.

General Manager Troy Albert

Served With Distinction Troy Albert* John G. Crean Hans Juenemann Douglas G. Louis Former General Manager John G. Crean

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Nassau Country Club

General Manager Francis Keefe on the job.

Served With Distinction Francis X. Keefe* Lester Murray Hans Juenemann David Scott Alexander Levchuck Ronald Sieveri Lee Wills

176

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he club known today as Nassau Country Club was originally the Queens County Golf Club. The name was changed on January 1, 1899, coinciding with the formation of Nassau County out of what previously had been the eastern part of Queens County, in conjunction with the creation of “Greater New York City.” The Queens County Golf Club was the first of its species to take root in the “Gold Coast of the north shore,” its membership primarily “Gold Coast” families. The club originally was located on a promontory between Red Spring Beach and Crescent Beach on the western side of the Glen Cove peninsula. The club’s patriarch was oil baron Charles Pratt, founder of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Pratt died in 1891, but not before acquiring in excess of 800 acres in Glen Cove, on which he, his six sons, and one of his two daughters built estates. Queens County was organized on October 24, 1895, and play began that fall on a six-hole course designed by Tom Bendelow on the Pratt estate. The course was Bendelow’s first, and he was retained to teach the Pratts and their friends. By Memorial Day of the following year, the club was formally opened with a gala celebration and a full nine-hole course. The original location, two miles from the present site, was considered inconvenient in the pre-automotive era, so in 1898 the club purchased 107 acres adjacent to

the Glen Cove railroad station. The members were then able to commute to the club by train, a one-hour ride from Manhattan, and they were brought to the clubhouse by carriage along a trail still in evidence today. The new eighteen-hole golf course, designed by a committee of members, opened on July 4, 1899. The first clubhouse at the new site was designed by Stanford White, and was situated between the ninth green and tenth tee, but burned to the ground in 1909. The present clubhouse, a massive Georgian structure, was completed in 1913 and has undergone very little structural change since. Nassau’s golf course has been revised several times over the years, most notably in 1915 when several new holes were built, then again in 1925 when the present alignment appears to have come into existence. Architects such as Devereux Emmet, Seth Raynor, Herbert Strong, and A. W. Tillinghast are thought to have worked on the course, and their signatures can be seen on various holes. The course then was said to have had the flavor of an English seaside links, with few hills and trees, but many rolling dunes. The club’s halfway house at the tenth tee is appropriately called the “Calamity Jane House,” On display inside is a copy of the putter Bobby Jones used to dominate American golf during the 1920s. The club was given to Jones by Nassau professional Jim Maiden in 1923, just prior to Jones’ victory in the US Open.

National Golfs Links of America

he National Golf Links of America was conceived just after the turn of the century by Charles Blair Macdonald to elevate the status of American golf course design to a level comparable to that of the great British courses. Macdonald looked upon himself as the man chosen to supervise and govern the growth of the game in the United States. He was devoted to St. Andrews, where he spent his collegiate years, and to everything the Royal and Ancient represented in golf. In 1901 Macdonald was inspired by a series of articles in London Golf Illustrated discussing the best golf holes in Great Britain. Macdonald then conceived the idea of building a course in this country incorporating the principles of the great British holes. After traveling abroad in 1902, then again in 1904, soliciting suggestions from leading figures in the game, Macdonald returned with a plan in mind. An agreement was drawn up in 1908 incorporating the National Golf Links Of America. Seventy subscribers from many sections of the country contributed $1,000 apiece for a share in the club. Macdonald traveled the East Coast from Cape Cod to Cape May searching for the ideal terrain. In the spring of 1907 he found his land, a 205-acre site in Southampton on Sebonac Neck, including a quartermile frontage on Peconic Bay, and a full mile along Bull’s Head Bay, on the south fork of Long Island. The land was of great scenic beauty and Scottish flavor. Under the direction of engineer Seth Raynor, the ground was cleared and a great deal of soil was moved –

at least 10,000 loads of topsoil were hauled in – to create the settings Macdonald wished for his holes. Macdonald and Raynor had the course ready for tentative play in June of 1909, although the official opening was delayed until September of 1911. The National’s three-story gray stucco clubhouse was not formally opened until 1912. The original intent had been to use the old Shinnecock Inn, located in the vicinity of the ninth green, as a clubhouse, but that structure burned to the ground in 1909. It was then decided to build a clubhouse on the high ground overlooking Peconic Bay, and the nines were reversed in 1911 to accommodate this change. Perhaps the most memorable feature of the clubhouse, aside from the world-famous luncheon menu, is the library, which contains a life-size statue of Macdonald. Macdonald’s creation was an immediate sensation on both sides of the Atlantic, drawing high praise from the likes of Bernard Darwin, among many others, a number of whom considered the course among the very best in the world. Charlie Macdonald died in 1939, and was buried in Southampton. He spent most of his last thirty years at the National – his home was on the hillside across Bull’s Head Bay – tinkering with the course, trying to make it perfect. Were he to come back today, Macdonald would find little had changed. Indeed, in recent years, many of the trees that had grown on the property have been removed, restoring the Scottish flavor to the course.

General Manager Gerard Gagliardo at the front desk.

Served With Distinction Gerald Gagliardo* Randall Herring, Jr. Randall Herring, Sr.

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Nissequogue Golf Club

An aerial view of the clubhouse and grounds.

Served With Distinction Joseph M. Carraher* Robert Lehning

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A Heritage of Service

n 1966 a group of businessmen from the Smithtown area got together to form the Nissequogue Golf Club, and, as they dreamed, to “create the perfect golf course.” The ravined, tree-studded seashore and rolling countryside on a peninsula extending into Long Island Sound gave them every chance to realize their dream. The group was headed by Edgar P. Senne, vice-president of Electrolux Corporation, who provided the lion’s share of the financing and direction the new club needed to get its feet planted firmly on the sloping ground. He was capably assisted by engineer Frederick M. Supper, the club’s first president. The new organization purchased the former estate of William J. Ryan, publisher of the Literary Digest during the 1930s and 1940s, and well known for his political commentary at that time. The 125-acre Ryan estate was located three miles northeast of Smithtown on a secluded, idyllic peninsula jutting into Smithtown Bay, bordered by St. James Bay and Stony Brook Harbor to the east and the Nissequogue River on the west. The Ryan mansion, a white-brick, slate-roof country manor, featured chandeliered halls and a winding staircase to the second floor which offered beautiful views of St. James Bay and, ultimately, the Nissequogue golf course. Tennis courts were built below the east porch, overlooking the bay, by the same company that had rebuilt the Forest Hill courts in the mid-1960s. For their golf course, the members turned to local builder C. K. Martin, who had built the new Meadow Brook (1955) and Mill River (1965) courses on Long Island and added the beautiful and challenging seventeenth and eighteenth holes at nearby Indian Hills. Martin designed a course that fully utilized the ravines

General Manager Joseph M. Carraher, Jr.

and existing stands of trees, many of them more than a century old. For dramatic effect, he placed three tees and three greens on the bay. The course was ready for play in the Summer of 1967. The most significant change over the years allowed the signature par-3 second hole to play along the bay, rather than towards the bay. A fire in July of 1988 destroyed the roof of the clubhouse and a couple of rooms on the second floor, and also caused extensive smoke and water damage throughout the building. Repairs were completed by the end of the year. The members today enjoy four tennis courts in addition to their challenging golf course.

North Fork Country Club

he idea of forming a country club in Cutchogue came to Stuart Moore and Charles Hudson in 1909, but their idea did not become a reality until 1911. At that time, the newly-organized club leased 80 acres consisting of the Calvin Moore farm adjacent to King’s Highway (Route 25), and part of the Fort Neck Farm, also owned by Moore. The property was surrounded by potato fields, and extended south from the highway, offering distant views of the Great Peconic Bay. The original membership of the club came from Manhattan and Brooklyn, city folks who desired a summer country club that was truly out in the country. Weekly Saturday night dances were the staple of the club’s social life, but barn dances and the harvest festival also were very popular. The membership was small, fifty-eight at the beginning, mostly families, with both men and women active in club affairs. The club’s grand opening took place on July 4, 1912, at which time the clubhouse and three tennis courts were ready. A croquet court was added the following season. The clubhouse was the former Calvin Moore farmhouse, enlarged and remodeled to suit the club’s needs. There also was a separate locker house, which included the pro shop. The clubhouse featured a large dining room, which was also used as an assembly hall. A nine-hole golf course (consisting of today’s first seven and final two holes) opened a month later on August 5, 1912. It was a Donald Ross design, and was maintained with equipment borrowed from the local farmers. The course was expanded to a full eighteen holes within the club’s first decade, after the club leased the Case property further in from the highway, bringing

water and wetlands – Downs and West Creeks – into play on the new holes. Prominent among North Fork’s members over the years was James Hand, later to become president of the USGA. The original clubhouse burned down on Labor Day weekend 1925; Cutchogue had no fire department at the time. The locker house survived the fire, and was used as temporary headquarters while a new building was being erected. A ladies’ locker room was added, and the locker house bar was very active during those prohibition years. The new clubhouse opened on July 2, 1927. A new dining room with curved windows was added in 1965. Both the locker house and the second clubhouse, excepting one wing, were destroyed by fire in 1985. The present clubhouse, which opened in 1987, retains the rambling colonial style of the previous building. It has a gracious lobby, beyond which is a long bar and a grill room featuring a raised hearth fireplace. Facing the first tee is an awned patio and the formal dining room; the function room overlooks the eighteenth fairway, Club facilities include two Har-Tru tennis courts and an elaborate golf practice facility.

General Manager Whitney Roberts

Served With Distinction N. Whitney Roberts* George Pfaff

The new clubhouse.

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North Hempstead Country Club

P The North Hempstead clubhouse

Served With Distinction Peter Fischl* Gerard Conway Anthony Indence Alexander Levchuck Joseph Ferrara Joseph Carraher

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A Heritage of Service

ort Washington was named to commemorate George Washington’s visit to Roslyn as a sign of gratitude for the area’s support during the Revolution. Indeed, it was the north shore farmers who first declared their independence from Great Britain in 1775, separating themselves from the loyalist, landowning gentry of Hempstead, a schism that eventually led to the creation of the Town of North Hempstead in 1784. And so it is appropriate that when a new golf club was organized early in 1916, it should select “North Hempstead” as its name. The club purchased the former estate of John Washington Burtis – 100 acres of farmland, orchards, and woods. The Burtis farm was once part of the sprawling Willets Estate along Middle Neck Road (now Port Washington Boulevard). It was conveniently located on a trolley line that connected the Port Washington and Roslyn railroad stations, giving the members easy access to the club. A small colonial farmhouse on the grounds, believed to have dated back to Revolutionary times, was remodeled and became the first North Hempstead clubhouse, and a carriage house nearby became the locker house. The entrance was an old country road cut through rows of ancient elms. The land was shared with wildlife – quail, foxes, and ducks often were seen on the course. North Hempstead’s first golf professional, Ben Nicholls, and his brother Gil designed the golf course, which lay in a cow pasture with greens flat on the ground. Five holes were ready for play by June 10, 1916, when the club formally opened. The rest of the course was opened later that year.

A later professional, Ed Eriksen, completely revised the course, reportedly acting on the advice of A. W. Tillinghast. The revised course opened for play on Decoration Day 1922. The signature par-3 second hole came into existence in 1930, created by Charles Banks, coinciding with the construction of a new clubhouse designed by noted architect Clifford C. Wendehack. Built in the “spirit” of the old house, and attached to the old locker house, it opened at the end of 1929. Robert Trent Jones was next to work on the golf course, building four new holes on the back nine in 1957-1958. A revision became necessary when the club’s lease on 7½ acres expired. North Hempstead’s expansive period during the 1920s ended with the Depression. The golf course maintenance budget was severely limited at the time, and so the course began to resemble the cow pasture it once had been. Because of gas rationing during World War II, many members arrived at the club on a Tally Ho (two horses and a wagon) from the Plandome railroad station. Others came with the milk man and left on a hay wagon. Perhaps North Hempstead’s best-known members were sportswriters Grantland Rice and Ring Lardner, Toonerville Trolley cartoonist Fontaine Fox, and Clarence Buddington Kelland, who later in life helped write the 1952 Republican Party platform. All were members of an organized “club” of artists and writers who commenced playing an annual tournament in 1925.

North Hills Country Club

orth Hills traces its roots to Queens, and to a club of a different name – Belleclaire. The Belleclaire Country Club of Bayside was established in 1919. Its eighteen-hole golf course was bordered on the south by Horace Harding Boulevard, to the east by Bell Boulevard, and to the north by Rocky Hill Road. The golf course actually dated to 1916. Belleclaire was sold for real estate development in 1927, and a nucleus of 126 members, headed by Robert D. Blackman, a well-known New York hotel man, moved on to found the North Hills Golf Club in Douglaston later that same year. The new club also attracted members from Oakland, Hillcrest, and Bayside. Located south of Horace Harding Boulevard, North Hills’ course was laid out over 135 acres of extremely rolling and scenic terrain by the father-son architectural team of William Tucker, Sr. and Jr., and followed the often dramatic flow of the land quite naturally. It opened on Labor Day, 1927. The club’s palatial Spanish Mission-style clubhouse, nearly cathedral in size, was regarded by some as the crowning achievement of architect Clifford C. Wendehack’s career. Among the (honorary) members of the club were Governor Al Smith and New York City mayor Jimmy Walker. North Hills failed financially during the Depression, but was taken over by a bank, which eventually sold it back to the membership after the war. During the gas rationing days of World War II, members arrived at the club by horse and wagon from Union Turnpike (where they had secretly parked their cars).

The club prospered after the war, but by 1960 increasing New York City taxes had taken their toll. The property was sold, partly to Cathedral College, but mostly to the city. Although three holes were lost to the Cathedral College development, architect Frank Duane was able to rebuild the golf links, and the city began operating it as the municipal Douglaston golf course in 1964. In the meantime, a group of ten North Hills members purchased a 188-acre site in Manhasset, three separate tracts of rolling farmland and woods. Although the group held back forty acres for their own real estate speculation, the other 148 acres were sold to a group of sixty members from the old North Hills club who had reorganized as the North Hills Country Club. The rest of the members from the old club took their profit from the real estate sale and scattered to other established clubs in Nassau County. The new club engaged architect Robert Trent Jones late in 1960 to design a new eighteen-hole golf course. Jones had the course ready for play in November of 1962, although the formal opening of course and clubhouse, a contemporary-style structure designed by Henry Johnson, was delayed until the spring of 1963. The move was done under the supervision of General Manager Eric Koch. An ultra-modern wing was later added to the clubhouse, but the golf course remains relatively faithful to the Jones design.

General Manager Michael Bomengo

Served With Distinction Michael Bomengo* Gaspar Klamar Lawrence King Aage Nielsen Arthur Russell Steven Yurasits Eric Koch

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North Shore Country Club

An early 1900s picture of the clubhouse.

Served With Distinction Juergen Schumann* Christopher Bell Andy Williams Ed Burk Larry Doyle Arthur Parish Richard MacBain Wayne Russell

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he North Shore Country Club was organized as a country annex by members of New York City’s Harmonie Club during the winter of 1913–1914. Among the signers of the incorporation papers was Herbert Lehman, later governor of New York. Harmonie was organized in 1852 as a home-awayfrom-home for recent immigrants of German-Jewish ancestry fleeing the revolution of 1848 in Europe. The German word “harmonie” translates as “get together,” and the new club offered its members the chance to gather for “songfests, literary readings, and general conviviality.” The club purchased 166 acres of the Judge Townsend Scudder estate overlooking Hempstead Harbor, which was occupied in part at the time by the Glenwood Country Club and its eighteen-hole golf course, which opened in 1912. The Scudder estate, built in the 1860s and named “Glenwood,” lay partly in Sea Cliff, but mostly in Glenwood Landing. Sea Cliff dates back to 1668, and was once the “East Hampton of its time.” People came by horse and carriage from other points on Long Island, by steamboat from New York City, and by ferry from Connecticut, to enjoy the swimming, boating, and fishing, and stayed in one of Sea Cliff ’s twenty-six hotels. It was “Glenwood” that became the North Shore clubhouse, remodeled and modernized over the years to meet the club’s growing needs. In the beginning, the club had its own private beach (now called Tappan

Beach), complete with a boathouse, pier, and wooden catwalk back up to the clubhouse. Members were known to arrive at the club by private yacht (there were fifteen yacht clubs within a ten-mile radius). The opening of the club’s swimming pool in 1927 spelled “finis” to the beach, which was given to the Town of Oyster Bay in 1940. The original golf course proved inadequate for the North Shore membership. And so A. W. Tillinghast was engaged in September of 1915 to revise the layout. It is said that 1,000 trees were felled just to give the new sixteenth hole its dogleg. The course opened in May of 1916, and has undergone relatively little change over the years. Although his name does not appear on the club championship board – he was runner-up in 1944, losing a four-hole lead with four to play when struck down by hayfever – George Sands certainly was North Shore’s most prominent (and enduring) member – which he had been since 1920. Sand’s life was one of service to golf. He was president of the Long Island and Metropolitan Golf Associations, and was among the founders of the Long Island Caddie Scholarship Fund (1962) and the Long Island Seniors Golf Association. In 1985 the MGA honored him with its Distinguished Service Award, as did the Metropolitan Golf Writers in 1987. In 1991 the Long Island Golf Association instituted the George E. Sands Distinguished Service Award, and honored its namesake as its first recipient.

Noyac Golf Club

he Noyac Golf Club was founded in 1963 with two purposes in mind. One was to create an affordable golf club for local blue collar workers – everyone who lived twelve months a year on the East End. Also, to provide a club for the region’s Jewish golfers, who were waiting to gain membership in the prestigious East End clubs. The club was the vision of Harry Diner, who owned the land. Diner had the support of a wealthy local resident named Frank Barry. They started selling shares in the Noyac Golf Club for $1,000 to $1,500, which was a considerable amount of money to many of the locals in those days, The share did provide each member with a no-frills, top-rate golf club that was close to home. The original membership was diverse in religion, race, and profession, including wealthy New York professionals and a group of black dentists, a true cross section of American culture – and it worked. Noted golf architect William Mitchell designed the eighteen-hole golf course, which opened in 1964 and has always carried the reputation as a difficult test of golf. The Norman Jaffe designed clubhouse opened in 1974, and was renovated in 1995.

The clubhouse

General Manager Matt Tucker

Served With Distinction Matt Tucker* Gregg J. Deger J. Corrigan

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Old Oaks Country Club

General Manager Rene Balin in front of the clubhouse.

Served With Distinction Rene Alexander Balin* Scott Burne Nick Mourikis George Kertay Pat Chambers

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n 1924 the membership of the Progress City Club decided to become golfers. Located in Manhattan at Central Park West and Eighty-seventh Street, Progress was a light-exercise group with facilities for card playing, billiards, and swimming. Led by Gus Adler, one of the few golfers in the club, they bought 205 acres in the town of Purchase, adjacent to the Century Country Club. The land was part of the estate of William A. Reed, a founder of Dillon, Reed and Company. The British manor house, built in 1890 for silk merchant Trainor Park and purchased by Reed in 1905, featured nineteenth-century woodworking, elaborate staircases, long hallways, massive rooms, and formal gardens. The Progress Country Club was organized in 1925. In the club’s early years a large portion of the membership hailed from the theatrical and motion picture world. Needless to say, lively entertainment was the rule of the day – and night! Ethel Merman made her first public appearance at the club in 1928, as did Leslie Uggams many years later. The Read mansion became the Progress clubhouse, with the addition of the men’s locker room and a bar room and outdoor dance floor above it. The swimming pool was added in 1930, replacing a beautiful rolling eighteen-hole putting green. The pool was used in 1976 for scenes in the movie “Goodbye Columbus.” C. H. Alison built the Progress course, faithfully following plans laid out by A. W. Tillinghast. Indeed, Tillinghast designed twenty-seven holes, the “main course” and the “West nine,” and even suggested a tunnel under Purchase Street, which at the time would have cost $3,000.

The nine-hole course was built in a horseshoe around the clubhouse. All but two holes on the main course were on the opposite side of Purchase Street. The two courses were operated as separate entities, with the nine-holler favored by the women and used by all during the colder and wetter months whenever the main course became unplayable. The Depression brought with it very difficult times for the Progress club, indeed closing the city club forever. The club went through several name changes, to “Purchase,” then to “Pine Ridge,” and finally back to “Progress” in 1934. Late in 1935 it was agreed that the only way to save the club and its facilities was to merge with the Oak Ridge Golf Club, a nearby club also experiencing difficulties. The Purchase site became the home of the merged Old Oaks Country Club. The new name is said to have been chosen “in deference to Oak Ridge’s chinaware!” Even with the merger, Old Oaks struggled to survive the second world war. Gas rationing, in particular, hurt the club, which was one of the farthest from the city at that time. After the war, many new facilities were added, the dining room expanded, the locker rooms renovated, and the gardens spruced up. Tennis grew in popularity, especially after the children were allowed to play. In 1963 the State of New York condemned 13 acres of club property so that Highway 684 could be built, thereby destroying the West nine. During the last two years, the membership has spent upwards of $7 million to renovate the clubhouse and golf course.

O l d We s t b u r y G o l f a n d C o u n t r y C l u b

he story of the Old Westbury Golf and Country Club starts prior to the turn of the century when William C. Whitney, then secretary of the Navy, purchased a large piece of property bordered on the north by Northern Boulevard, and built his estate which was completed in 1887. Whitney, who had acquired his wealth in railroads and New York City real estate, also built the stables that over the years would house many great thoroughbreds. When the senior Whitney died in 1904, the estate passed on to his son Harry Payne Whitney, and “The Manse” became a favorite gathering place for the elite of turfdom and society. One of the leading polo players of his day, Whitney housed his own string of polo ponies on the grounds, and maintained living quarters for his polo-playing guests in an adjacent building. At the same time, the Whitney racing stable enjoyed its halcyon era, producing eleven champions. H. P. Whitney died in 1930, and after his widow passed away in 1942, the estate was inherited by their son Cornelius Vanderbilt “Sonny” Whitney. Sonny immediately demolished the old mansion, the remains of which are now buried beneath the lake fronting the ninth green of the All Woods course. That same year (1942), he built the mansion which has become the Old Westbury clubhouse. The Dutch Colonial structure included thirty rooms, a wine cellar, and a swimming pool. Later, Whitney “imported” some additional rooms from a soon-to-be-demolished mansion in Roslyn, and attached them as the west wing on his main house. The upstairs bedrooms nowadays serve as the ladies’ locker rooms.

Whitney and his wife lived on the family estate until 1958, when they divorced. When he put the estate on the market in 1960, Whitney quickly found a buyer in Norman Blankman, who purchased the 530-acre estate. Blankman quickly turned around and sold 200 acres, including the mansion house, the tennis house, the polo buildings, the stables, and the tower, to the newly formed Old Westbury Golf and Country Club. Much of the remaining acreage became the New York Institute of Technology. The Old Westbury club came into existence shortly after an enabling ordinance, permitting the construction of a golf course in Old Westbury, was passed on August 7, 1961. According to its bylaws, “the purpose of the club is to operate and maintain a non-profit, nonsectarian country club . . . ,” a noble attempt to overcome racial and religious prejudice that was noted in the Congressional Record, featured in a story in Newsweek, and cited by the National Conference of Christians and Jews. For their golf course, the club turned to William Mitchell. Course construction started late in 1961. The course was seeded in April of 1962, and opened for play on July 4 of that year. A great deal of credit for the club’s success is due to its energetic first president, Arthur Weber, who also has served the Long Island and Metropolitan Golf Associations as president. Weber used his extensive knowledge of the field of chemical engineering to help bring the golf course into the superb condition it now enjoys. Also to Egon Jorgensen, the club’s first general manager. During his sixteen-year tenure, Jorgensen was instrumental in establishing the club’s sound financial structure and premium quality service.

At the club’s Twenty-fifth Anniversary Party: (right to left) Doug and Georgette Louis, Egon and Marilyn Jorgensen, Arthur and Bettey Russell, Wolfgang and Jean Bulka, Alex and Janet Levchuck, and Jack and Pat McCarthy.

General Manager Martel Meyer

Egon Jorgensen, the first manager

Served With Distinction Martel Meyer* Juergen Schumann Jeffrey Plain Egon Jorgensen

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Orienta Beach Club

General Manager Paul Andrew Smith, III with club in background.

he name Orient Point was coined by a resident who thought the rising sun at the Point was oriental in its beauty. Orient Point is located in Mamaroneck, former home of the Siwanoy Indians, a tribe in the Mohican nation. In the Mohican language, the term “Mamaroneck” means “the place where the fresh water falls into the salt water.” Consequently, it is no surprise that Mamaroneck has become home to two fine beach clubs. The Siwanoy sold the land on Orient Point to John Richbell in 1661 for a handful of sundry goods. The Point assumed some historical significance during the Revolutionary War when the Battle of Heathcote Hill was fought on October 21, 1776, on the hill at the Old Post Road leaving Orient Point. The Orienta Beach Club was organized during the winter of 1923–1924 after several meetings held at the Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle. The organizing group, all Westchester residents, wanted a private bathing beach with the facilities of an exclusive club.

Served With Distinction Paul Andrew Smith III* Eugene Sullivan David A. Schutzenhofer James H. Reyelt John Munger

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The club was able to purchase what at the time was a girls finishing school called Oaksmere, but had been built in 1900 to be the mansion (called Marleton House) of Alfred E. Marshall, an attorney. It is said that Marshall never lived in the house; he died after falling from the scaffolding while working on the skylights in what the club now calls the “Winter House,” a winter clubhouse also used as a recreation center and crafts workshop for the members’ children. Orienta Beach Club was severely damaged by the Hurricane of 1938, which was accompanied by a tidal wave, with ten-foot high waves breaking over the clubhouse. The club also survived the damage caused by the great ice storm of the 1940s. Duplicate bridge was very popular at the club during the 1940s, as was shuffleboard, and three courts were built for advocates of the latter sport. The Oak Room bar was built during the 1950s. In that same decade, the first “Orient Drawing” took place, a county fair that attracted 2,500 to club property. During the 1970s the Teen Center was built, and an informal dining room was added at the rear of the main dining room, and the clubhouse was completely airconditioned. Orienta Beach Club gained some theatrical notoriety when the club’s living room area used for a scene in the Woody Allen movie “The Purple Rose of Cairo.” The two small lamps marking the setting of the scene were part of the set, and were a gift to the club from the producers.

Osiris Country Club

he Osiris Country Club was established in Walden, New York, in 1927 as a member-owned club. The original members were, for the most part, public course golfers who wanted to belong to a private club, but were unable to join existing clubs. The club was named after Lake Osiris, which borders the club’s property. The lake itself was named for the Egyptian god who represented the male reproductive force in nature. He came to be identified with the setting sun and was believed to accompany each deceased mortal into eternity. Many of the original members first came to the region as part of a summer community that surrounded the lake (and eventually became a year-round community). The original nine-hole golf course was built on a relatively small tract of basically flat, sparsely treed farmland. At the time, the course was short, flat, and wide open, but the young trees of 1927 have since matured, and others have been planted, giving the nine a parkland flavor. The second nine was built in 1964–1965, after the club obtained additional acreage, also, for the most part, former farmland, bringing the club’s total holdings to approximately 125 acres. Designed by architect Frank Duane, former chief assistant to Robert Trent Jones, the second nine is much longer, with many dramatic elevation changes. The club has had three clubhouses over the years. The first, a converted country inn. was destroyed by fire in the 1950s, and its replacement lasted until 1991. A that time, Osiris unveiled a new $1 million clubhouse, which quickly became one of the region’s favorite ban-

quet facilities. One feature of the new clubhouse is a porch that looks out over Lake Osiris. In recent years, the club has been in the midst of a course renovation program. The initial focus was on greens and bunkers, several of which were completely redone. A program to expand the tees was completed in 2001, made necessary because, although the membership has remained about the same in size, the number of players (especially women and children) has increased. Also included in this project were a new driving range, complete with a new practice putting green, practice greenside bunker, and practice fairway bunker. A new fairway irrigation system will be added in the near future. Osiris remains a member-owned club, with a membership that ranges from doctors, lawyers, and other local professionals to school teachers and the owners of nearby business establishments. Osiris is strictly a golfing club, although the members once enjoyed the beach on the lake. The beach is lightly used today, although clambakes at lakeside are popular.

The Osiris clubhouse

Served With Distinction Kevin Demas* William H. Hughes Anders Thueson

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187

Pelham Country Club

Former Genral Manager Richard Mercer

Served With Distinction Kevin Harrington* Richard Mercer Scott Burne Ian Fetigan James J. Glover

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he Pelham Country Club was founded in 1908 as a tennis club. Initially, the club used the Iden property on Wolf ’s Lane, west of the present site, just south of Colonial Avenue, and overlooking the Hutchinson River Parkway. The Iden residence became their clubhouse. A number of the early members were “left behind” when an earlier Pelham Country Club moved to New Rochelle in 1904, and renamed itself Wykagyl. The first Pelham was founded in 1898 just across the Boston Post Road from the present site. Many of the original members did not fancy what in those days was a long trip up to New Rochelle, and so did not “move” with the club. In 1912 the club decided to expand, and so moved to the present site where baseball and squash were added to the offerings. The Tudor clubhouse was designed by George Chappel, a prominent architect who also wrote humorous fictional pieces – two of his books actually reached the best sellers’ list. A modern wing, featuring a grill room and expanded men’s locker facilities, was added in 1960. By 1919 a large number of members wanted to make Pelham a golf club as well, and so the club was reorganized at that time. Options were taken on four pieces of property in the surrounding neighborhood, and noted architect Devereux Emmet was commissioned to build an eighteen-hole golf course. Construction started in April of 1920, and the course was ready for play by July 1921. The stone removed from the ground was used in the construction of many of the impressive stone homes in Pelham Manor. Large trees lined most of the fairways even then, giving the course the look of an English park. Indeed, many of the

holes were said to have been cut through dense forests. The official opening of the course took place on July 11–12, 1921, shortly before the club hired “Long Jim” Barnes as golf professional, and he immediately responded by winning the US Open. President Warren Harding was on hand to present the winning cup, the only known instance of an American president doing the honors. Pelham also hosted a memorable edition of the PGA Championship in 1923, with Gene Sarazen winning a dramatic playoff against Walter Hagen on the second hole, which now lies under the New England Thruway. The club’s net profit from the tournament was $7,000. In the early 1950s the roadway for the New England Thruway was routed through club grounds. To replace essentially one hole, major renovations were needed, and the club hired architect Alfred Tull to redesign the course. Tull built five completely new holes on land across Mount Tom Road that the club owned. He also eliminated or revamped several other holes in the process, producing a new course that included just six of Emmet’s original holes. Today, in addition to their golf course, Pelham’s members enjoy eleven tennis (nine Har-Tru and two lighted Omni courts) and three paddle tennis courts, four bowling alleys, and a swimming pool, baby pool, and adjacent playground for the children. The club completed a major renovation in 2001 that not only added a state-of-the-art fitness center, but also enlarged the dining areas and locker rooms, and enhanced the entire clubhouse.

P e n n C l u b o f N e w Yo r k

he Penn Club of New York is a little more than ten years of age, yet has roots that trace back to the nineteenth century. It serves primarily the 30,000 alumni and friends of the University of Pennsylvania who live in the New York area. Indeed, the club’s heritage traces to Ben Franklin, who founded the university. The story starts in 1896 when the New York Alumni Society was founded at Delmonico’s Restaurant in lower Manhattan. In the ensuing years, the idea of a club for alumni, students, professors, and officers of the University was conceived. In October of 1900, the University of Pennsylvania Club of New York opened its doors. The “clubhouse” consisted of four ground-floor rooms in the Royalton Hotel on West Forty-fourth Street. The club was chartered in 1901. The club moved to the Hotel Stanley on West Forty-seventh Street in 1905, and remained there until 1910. At this time the alumni gave up on the club rooms, and focused instead on the annual banquets. In 1915 there was a call for a national clubhouse in New York, with all the accommodations of a first-class hotel. The search for such a facility began after World War I. A three-year search followed, and in 1922 the alumni approved a twenty-year lease on two adjacent townhouses located on East Fiftieth Street. The club opened on September 15, 1922, after a $20,000 renovation. One feature was a direct telegraph wire that reported the details of the university’s football games. The new club proved very popular during the 1920s, but was hit hard by the Depression. When the townhouses were sold in mid-1935, the remaining 350 members (down from nearly 1,000 in 1929) moved – four times in five years, the last of these in 1939 to the Gamma and Delta Club on West Fifty-sixth Street,

where they remained until the building was sold in 1961. In 1964 the club found space in the Biltmore Hotel, at Madison Avenue and Forty-fifth Street, where it closed out its final two years. From 1966 until 1977, the alumni had nothing but an associate membership in the Princeton Club. In 1986 a compelling letter from a recent graduate led ultimately to the creation of the Penn Club of New York and the acquisition of the present building at 30 West Forty-fourth Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, in the heart of Manhattan’s Clubhouse Row. The club had more than 7,000 members by June 15, 1994, when the club formally opened. Ironically, the clubhouse was designed in 1901, just 200 feet east of the Royalton Hotel, home to the original “Penn Club.” The New York Times described it as “The first uncompromisingly high-rise clubhouse, towering over the neighboring stables and club buildings.” The facilities in the fifteen-story beautifully restored Beaux Art building include two dining halls, a two-story banquet hall with giant arched window, a modern health club, a subterranean grill room, computer networks, gracious libraries, state of the art meeting rooms, and thirty-nine guestrooms. Members and their guests enjoy fine cuisine – and occasional lectures by University of Pennsylvania professors and alumni. Peter Homberg, general manager since 1997, is the son of Victor Homberg, who served thirty-seven years as general manager at the Drug and Chemical Club. Victor’s Belgium-born father, Mathias Homberg, apprenticed in the hospitality business in Europe and worked on ocean liners before coming to this country and serving as a general manager. Thus, the Hombergs represent three generations of general managers.

Three generations of general managers: (left) present Penn Club General Manager Peter Homberg, a CMAA National director, his father, Victor Homberg (below left), and his grandfather, Mathias Homberg (below right).

Served With Distinction Peter M. Homberg* Anthony Nuttel Allan Dutton

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Pine Hollow Country Club

General Manager Mark Del Priore (left) with David Burk, long-time MCMA member and Board member.

Served With Distinction Mark J. Del Priore* Gaspar Klamar Wolfgang E. Bulka Leslie Demeter Steven Yurasits William Chadwick

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he Depression and World War II had a debilitating effect on the club industry on Long Island. There was not one new private golf club opened on Long Island between 1930 and 1955, the year the Pine Hollow Country Club opened its gates in East Norwich. The Pine Hollow concept must be credited to Jerry Wolk, a Queens lawyer, and Irving Fagenson, a New Jersey businessman, who headed a small syndicate that invested more than $1 million to purchase the 133-acre estate of Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan and convert it into a golfing utopia, a luxurious private club that they hoped to sell eventually to the membership for a substantial profit. The forty-two-room, French-Norman-style Vanderbilt mansion was built in 1934 by Dorothy Schiff, daughter of financier Mortimer Schiff, and sold to Consuelo Vanderbilt, a great-granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, in 1939. It was one of the first of the great estates to be fully air-conditioned, and also featured a swimming pool, tennis courts, formal gardens, marble fireplaces, sculptured gold bronze dolphins for sink faucets, and a direct phone line to Europe. The estate cost $750,000 to build, and welcomed such guests as Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, and the Duke of Windsor. When converted to a clubhouse, it included nineteen private guestrooms that could be rented for the season. The syndicate built a new two-story wing to house locker rooms, a dining room, grill room, and cocktail lounge. They also engaged New Englander William Mitchell to build a championship golf course, the first

of several he would design on Long Island. More than 1,000 trees and shrubs were transplanted to help frame the individual holes. The club opened in April of 1955, and had a waiting list within a year. The original Pine Hollow membership included groups from Great Neck and Baldwin, former members at the defunct Sound View and Milburn clubs, respectively. The membership was 275 strong in 1960 when it was decided to purchase the club, fulfilling the syndicate’s raison d’être. The club’s first General Manager was Bill Chadwick, aka “The Big Whistle,” formerly one of the premier referees in the National Hockey League. According to plan, the syndicate moved quickly to put the club’s name in the headlines. In late June of 1958 Pine Hollow hosted the Pepsi-Boys Club Open, the first PGA Tour event ever held on Long Island. It was won by Arnold Palmer. For the past thirty years, Pine Hollow has hosted an annual Charity Pro-Am for the benefit of the United Jewish Appeal and an array of other charities. The tournament has raised as much as $80,000 in one season Pine Hollow has been undergoing a facelift in recent years. The main dining room, bar, and Terrace Room were renovated during 1994–1995, and the building underwent further renovation during 1998–1999 when the men’s and women’s locker rooms and pro shop area were extended and rebuilt. Gil Hanse, a local product from Southward Ho, recently completed a stunning renovation of the course’s bunkering. Pine Hollow’s facilities also include eight Har-Tru tennis courts and a swimming pool.

Piping Rock Club

he Piping Rock Club was organized on June 1, 1909, to “supplement existing clubs” in the area, Meadow Brook in particular. Meadow Brook was primarily a gentleman’s polo and hunt club; Piping Rock was more of a family-oriented country club offering a wide array of social and sporting activities. Their membership rosters overlapped considerably, and both clubs were quite prominent in the social life of the “Roarin’ Twenties.” This is not to suggest any lack of interest in polo at Piping Rock. The club’s polo complex consisted of two playing fields to the north of the clubhouse and a practice field in the valley to the south. These were built under the supervision of the great international player, Harry Payne Whitney, one of the club’s founders. Since the 1960s, however, Piping Rock’s polo fields have been used as a golf practice facility. It was Paul Cravath (whose estate later became The Creek) who took the leading role in purchasing the various tracts of land that would form the 800-acre Piping Rock Estate, about one mile south of the Locust Valley Railroad station. The name has long been associated with an entire section of Locust Valley. The ancient “piping rock” is located on a hill on the north side of Piping Rock Road, although no longer visible from the road. The rock was used by the native Matinecock Indians as a resting place, and as a place to smoke the peace pipe. The founding fathers purchased 325 acres from the estate, in the village of Matinecock, including several miles of roads and bridle paths, and in addition to the polo fields, planned to build a one-mile turf course for flat and steeplechase racing (which encircled the polo fields), a two-mile hunt course, tennis courts, and a

swimming pool at the club’s beach facility. Interest in golf came a couple of years later. The focal point for the club’s activities would be a “simple clubhouse.” The latter and the grounds were designed by Guy Gowell of Boston, and were opened in 1911. Piping Rock opened formally in 1912, the year the golf course was being built. Charles Blair Macdonald was the architect chosen to design the golf course, and it would not be his favorite project. His fierce dedication and loyalty to golf clashed with the club’s primary role as a polo club. Horses often thundered across his fairways and, according to Macdonald, his front nine was “sacrificed to the polo fields” in the sense that the holes had to be routed around the fields, inhibiting his use of the terrain. The course opened for play in 1913. The Piping Rock Beach Club, situated on seven acres on Long Island Sound in the village of Lattingtown, is possibly the focal point of club life during the summer months. An indoor tennis building was built in the 1930s, and replaced with a modern building after World War II. The members utilize two squash courts, two paddle courts, and two croquet fields. Above all else, Piping Rock remains a true family club, with lessons and clinics for children of all ages.

The clubhouse built in 1911.

Served With Distinction David Cugini* Robert Gallagher Gerald Boyd Roger Ross

The Clubs

191

Plandome Country Club

General Manager Lee Koons

Served With Distinction Leeland Koons* Christopher Bell Colin Burns John Blank Manuel Carillo Mel Lumbra

192

A Heritage of Service

he Plandome Golf Club was an afterthought, a fallback position. When the club’s founding fathers purchased the middle part of the Leeds estate in 1928, their concept was a prestigious residential development. The property extended along Stoneytown Road, from Plandome Road to Port Washington Boulevard. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 intervened, however, and the land was used for a golf club instead. Fortunately so, for aside from its challenge, Plandome is perhaps the most picturesque golf course in Nassau County. Its first hole may well be the toughest opening hole in the entire Met Area. The Plandome Golf Club commissioned a relatively-unknown architect named Orrin Smith, from New Britain, Connecticut, to lay out its golf course. Smith formalized plans for the course by July of 1930, and the course was formally opened on Decoration Day, May 31, 1931. Smith successfully met the challenge of retaining many of the trees and plantings that had made the site so attractive to the original buyers, yet fit eighteen holes into the 107-acre site. In its early years, Plandome was considered an English-style golf club, and shared a reciprocal arrangement with the Garden City Country Club. Country club facilities were added later on. The original Leeds farmhouse, a three-story, twenty-room white clapboard and white pillared structure, was enhanced and served as the clubhouse, with the second floor the exclusive domain of the ladies. On December 23, 1958, during a major snowstorm, the recently-renovated building was destroyed by a fire that caused $350,000 in damage and took the life of the club’s night watchman. It was

replaced by the present brick building, with its circular entrance drive. The club was reorganized in 1955, at which time the new Plandome Country Club purchased the golf course and buildings from the Plandome Golf Club, therefore averting the possibility the property would be sold for real estate development. Recent improvements at Plandome include the installation of mahogany lockers for the men, and the addition of a nineteenth hole, a legitimate par-3 hole between the original seventeenth green and eighteenth tee. When Plandome’s first golf professional, David Hunter, returned to this country from his native Prestwick, Scotland, during the winter of 1930–1931 to interview for the head position, he felt right at home. When he reached the ridge behind the first green, overlooking much of the golf course, he was reminded of Scotland and commented that Plandome was the only course he had ever liked in winter. Plandome club championship board lists as the 1962 winner one R. L. Riggs, better known as Bobby Riggs, one of the great sports hustlers of all time. Riggs no doubt could have won several club titles at Plandome, although that would not have been conducive to winning very many bets. Needless to say, the hills of Plandome are alive with Bobby Riggs stories, and there are a number of spots out on the golf course where he diligently practiced shots that later would serve him well. On one occasion, he is said to have hit his tee shot on No. 18 into the swimming pool to win a bet.

P o r t W a s h i n g t o n Ya c h t C l u b

he Port Washington Yacht Club was founded as the Port Washington Club during the spring of 1905 by a group of people whose goal was to “encourage social and athletic activities for residents of the Port Washington peninsula.” Many of the founding fathers were involved in boat design, and hence the club’s initial activities were yachting and other water sports. The word “yacht” was officially inserted in the club’s name in 1910. To this day, the club maintains a large fleet, and the members engage in racing on the bay, cruising, and junior sailing with their children. The club’s land company leased an area on the east side of Manhasset Bay, on what would come to be known as Yacht Club Drive. The club had a large dock and floats that provided access to deep water anchorage. There once was a crow’s nest perched at the end of the dock. The first clubhouse was a rented old shack on the waterfront that is now the northern end of the Bayview Colony. Opening day took place on May 27, 1905, at which time the club’s members enjoyed tennis, swimming, skeet shooting, and water sports including yacht racing. Shortly after World War II, the club began negotiating to purchase the property, fully aware that the land could be sold for housing development. The club finally purchased the property after the 1951 season, and quickly built a swimming pool and men’s and boys’

lockerhouses. The present clubhouse was built in 1954 after fire destroyed the original structure in January. The new clubhouse has a large, elegant dining room, a multipurpose gathering place, a paneled grill room, a bar, and an attractive “Commodore’s Lounge,” all overlooking the bay and the “best sunsets north of the Keys.” Outside, there is a covered patio for outdoor dining, lunch, barbecues, and clambakes. The club’s facilities also include four Har-Tru tennis courts (and nearby dressing rooms) and three platform tennis courts, as well as an Olympic sized pool, all overlooking Manhasset Bay. Trap shooting has been a longstanding winter sport at the club. The club’s tennis program includes interclub matches, guest days, and junior programs. Swimming activities include lessons, clinics, water aerobics, scuba, a swim team, and family fun days. The club’s yachting facilities are among the best on Long Island Sound.

Served With Distinction

General Manager Jorge Giribaldo on the dock.

Jorge R. Giribaldo* Manuel Carillo George Widmann

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193

The Powelton Club

The Powelton clubhouse Photo by Howie Munck

Served With Distinction Jose M. Freyre* Rex James Theodore Hennes

194

A Heritage of Service

he Powelton House was built as a residence by Robert Powell just after 1800. In 1846 it was converted into a summer resort hotel that attracted, among others, many wealthy Southern planters. It stood on land that was to become the first fairway of the Powelton Club’s golf course. All the while, Powell was assembling a tract of land that became known as Powelton Farms, most of which is now the Powelton golf course. The hotel was destroyed by fire in 1870. On March 29, 1882, the Powelton Lawn Tennis Club of Newburgh was organized, and that same year became one of thirty-three charter members of the United States Lawn Tennis Association. Tennis and its accompanying social life flourished at the club during the 1880s; it was a time of elegance and manners, of grand parties and proper attire. As the membership grew, the club’s interests expanded and in 1892 a clubhouse was built, baseball, croquet, bowling, and ballroom dancing were added to the club’s offerings, and the name changed to “The Powelton Club of Newburgh.” The club held a Grand Opening Ball on October 20, 1892. Dances were to become a regular monthly event in club life. Powelton’s first golf committee was appointed in 1895, although club lore asserts that the game was first played there in 1892 on a five-hole course designed by Maud Ramsdell. Early golf at Powelton reflected the origins of the property – each member was allowed five

days a week to golf, but on the sixth day, had to tend the cattle, keeping them off the course and cleaning up after them, so that others might be able to play! In the spring of 1897 a completely new nine-hole course was built. But even though golf continued to grow in popularity, tennis reigned supreme at Powelton for many years. After years of debating the issue, Powelton finally decided to expand to eighteen holes in 1923, at which time the club purchased the rest of Powelton Farms. Devereux Emmet was retained to lay out the new nine holes southwest of the clubhouse, and revise the original nine as well. Emmet’s course opened in 1926, but needed minor revision the following year when Route 9W was built. More changes were mandated by the expansion of Interstate I-84, specifically a new seventeenth hole, built by Geoffrey Cornish in 1985, thereby eliminating the club’s once famous “dual tee” that served both the sixteenth and seventeenth holes. The old clubhouse was destroyed by fire in 1929. The present clubhouse, designed by Francis Abreu, opened the following year. Gas rationing during the war actually helped the club, preventing many members from traveling too far from the Newburgh area. Much of the fabric that is the Powelton Club today was woven by the Andersons – Willie, George, and Joe – three members of the same golfing family whose reign as Powelton golf professional spanned the years from 1927 to 1973. Club facilities also include five tennis courts and an Olympic-size pool.

Quaker Ridge Golf

he Quaker Ridge Golf Club took its name from the neighborhood, which was called Quaker Ridge after the Quakers who settled there and established a meeting house nearby that was the first religious house of worship in Scarsdale. Early in 1914 the Metropolitan Golf Links purchased 112 acres of farmland, dotted with apple orchards, then leased the land for ten years to the Quaker Ridge Field and Country Club. A three-hole course was laid out that season, and expanded to nine holes in 1915 by John Duncan Dunn, a grandson of “Old” Willie Dunn. The club used a rambling white clapboard house on the grounds as its clubhouse, and built a locker house, which eventually served as a temporary clubhouse and remains today as the staff quarters. The original club was beset with financial problems, however, having underestimated the costs of operating a golf club. Consequently, a small successor group of twenty-eight former members, including William Rice Hochster, formed the Quaker Ridge Golf Club on January 5, 1916. Encouraged by a positive recommendation from architect A. W. Tillinghast, they purchased the land they were leasing. Tillinghast then proceeded to build eleven new golf holes, while at the same time radically revising seven of the old holes. The new eighteenhole course opened for play on June 1, 1918. That same year the club decided to tear down the original clubhouse which, while serving the needs of the original club’s predominantly (85 percent) bachelor membership, was inadequate for the ever-growing

female presence at the club. It was not until August 21, 1922, however, that a contract was awarded to the architectural firm of Buchman and Kahn, and construction started. The Tudor-style clubhouse was formally opened on August 18, 1923, the festivities including a testimonial dinner for Hochster, who served as the club’s first president (1916–1928) and perennial green chairman, from 1916 until his death on the golf course in 1933. Hochster was a stern ruler who ran the club with an iron hand and cared for the golf course with a green thumb. He lived in a house just to the right of the first green. When the time came in 1924 for a major revision of the course, Hochster was there to carry out Tillinghast’s plans. That change came after the club purchased an additional 28 acres. The changes that Tillinghast recommended, and Hochster implemented in 1924, brought the course into basically its present configuration. The original membership at Quaker Ridge was a very conservative group, and the club was run by Hochster with very low overhead. Consequently, Quaker Ridge had relatively little difficulty during the Depression. In fact, the club’s swimming pool opened on July 4, 1935. The club’s new tennis facility, located opposite the first green and second tee, opened in 1977. It includes nine tennis and two paddle tennis courts and a tennis house. Quaker Ridge member Udo Reinach, together with his close friend, the great amateur champion Willie Turnesa, founded the Westchester Caddie Scholarship Fund in 1956.

Club

General Manager John Clyne standing in front of clubhouse.

Former General Manager William Kotiadis

Former General Manager John Daskos greeting golf immortal Gary Player at the club in 1979.

Served With Distinction John W. Clyne* William Kotiadis John Daskos Bob Carney Ernest Obermeyer

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195

Richmond County Country Club

The front entrance to the Richmond County clubhouse.

196

A Heritage of Service

y the turn of the twentieth century, the Richmond County Country Club already had a distinguished history associated with three popular sports of those times. Along with Meadow Brook and Rockaway Hunting, Richmond County was in the forefront of Metropolitan-area clubs affiliated with the local hunt set. The sister of two of Richmond County’s founders had introduced lawn tennis to this country. And two of the club’s early golfers had participated in the “unofficial” amateur championship of 1894 at St. Andrew’s that led directly to the formation of the USGA. The Richmond County Country Club was organized on April 18, 1888, “to promote social recreation and intercourse among its members, and to encourage and stimulate an interest in riding and driving.” At the time, horses were the focal point of club activities. The letter “R” in the club’s insignia was designed from a riding crop; the three “C” ’s were horseshoes. All but one of the club’s founders had been founders of the Richmond County Hunt, which had been organized on Thanksgiving Day 1887, thereby formalizing an organization that had been active on Staten Island for nearly a decade. Eugene Outerbridge was appointed the club’s first master of the fox hounds. The club’s inaugu-

ral Hunt and Hunt Ball was one of the great social events in Staten Island history. The Hunt and Country Clubs were closely related, each in essence a part of the other. Indeed, all of the activities of the Hunt Club were brought to the Country Club, including the Hunt Breakfasts. But as housing developments began to dot the island’s landscape, fox hunting became less practical, and had stopped by 1915. The Richmond County Country Club’s original headquarters were in a large, old-fashioned house on Little Clove Road. The clubhouse featured a sleeping room, which members were allowed to use, although not for more than two successive nights. Golf came to the Richmond County Country Club in October of 1894, its proponents being George T. Hunter, George E. Armstrong, and James Park, all of English descent, who began playing over the Fox Hills in the fall of 1893. Hunter and Armstrong also were members at St. Andrew’s, as were a number of early Richmond County golfers, and participated there in the “unofficial” national amateur championship of 1894. Actually, Staten Island was considered a summer retreat at the time, and for many, Richmond County was a summer club. The pioneer golfers felt their purpose was to broaden the activities at the Country Club for those members not active with the Hunt Club. Together, they laid out a nine-hole course in the valley adjoining the clubhouse. Later they supplemented it with a short course for the women. George Hunter, one of twenty men known as the “Apple Tree Gang” at St. Andrew’s, won that club’s

championship in 1893, then donated the medal, probably the first of its kind in this country, to be awarded to the medalist in the qualifying round of the Richmond County championship. The “Hunter Medal” is one of the oldest medals in continuous competition in US golf. The original site of the Richmond County Country Club actually was quite close to the 1899 site of the Fox Hills Country Club – the two were located on opposite sides of what is now the Staten Island Expressway. Although there was a considerable overlap in membership between the two clubs in their earlier years, they never coexisted side-by-side. Richmond County moved in 1897 to its present site on the Dongan Hills in deference to the club’s golfers, who had grown in number. A nine-hole course was constructed immediately, and a second nine followed the next season. The present Richmond County clubhouse was purchased in 1897 from the Alexander estate. Called “Effingham,” it was one of the few houses then standing on the Dongan Hills. Built in the 1840s, it was part of a lavish estate that included a large brick stable. The former owner was a shipping magnate, and used to watch for the arrival of his ships from the clubhouse porch, which offered a spectacular view of the ocean. Lawn tennis came to the Richmond County Country Club in 1899 when several grass courts were laid out. A quarter-century earlier, the sport had been imported to this country from Bermuda by Mary Ewing Outerbridge, the sister of two of the club’s founders, Eugene and Adolphus Outerbridge. Eugene, then representing the Staten Island Cricket Club, took the lead in forming a national organization governing the sport,

helping found the United States Lawn Tennis Association in 1881. In 1901 the Richmond County Country Club transplanted four additional courts from the foreclosed Staten Island Cricket Club. Richmond County’s outstanding grass courts survived until 1966, when they were destroyed by a drought. Today, the club’s facilities include twelve tennis courts as well as two swimming pools. And the Outerbridge name has been preserved by the bridge connecting Staten Island to Perth Amboy, New Jersey. In 1956 logistical and financial considerations led to the sale of two holes, the first and eighteenth, both par-3s and the only two holes situated on the clubhouse side of Todt Hill Road, which was becoming an increasingly busy thoroughfare at the time. The club purchased the land on which the present eleventh and twelfth holes were built. A pro shop-caddie house was built near the new first tee, and later expanded to a golf clubhouse. The sale led to the separation of the clubhouse from the golf course, a minor inconvenience the membership has endured to this day. In addition to the golf course, Richmond County offers its members ten tennis courts and two swimming pools. The clubhouse features a Grand ballroom seating 350.

Served With Distinction Larry Rogers* Jean Claude Calvez Kevin F. Murphy Hans Richter Nicholas Batos Fred Nowicki Kurt A. Brod

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197

Ridgeway Country Club

Manager Joseph Ceci at the club entrance.

Served With Distinction Joseph J. Ceci, Jr.* Edward Norian Danny Vasquez Fred Richter

198

A Heritage of Service

or a little more than a decade, the Gedney Farm Hotel attracted the “jet set” of New York society. It occupied 300 acres in White Plains, extending from Mamaroneck Avenue to North Street. Facilities included 300 rooms, a beach club, tennis courts, squash courts, a polo field, swimming pool, bowling alleys, billiards, trapshooting, tobogganing, sleighing, ice skating, riding horses, and the famous “Liberty Coach” for sightseeing. The hotel derived its name from John Gedney, who purchased the property in 1740. It was transformed into a very successful farm during the latter half of the nineteenth century by Bartholomew Gedney II – so successful that the Czar of Russia sent his commissioner of agriculture to New York to study its operation. After Gedney’s death in 1897, millionaire horseman Howard Willets bought the Gedney farmland. There he raised prize-winning cattle and thoroughbred steeplechasers, and built a showplace mansion. After Willets’ death in 1912, the huge barn west of Ridgeway Avenue was converted into a luxury hotel, with the barn’s silos used to create a French Chateau look. Two former stables were converted into one-story wings, with guestrooms similar in appearance to ship’s cabins – cozy, compact, with low ceilings. The dining room’s furnishings had a nautical theme; the ballroom glistened with immense crystal chandeliers; and the convention hall stage was used by famous entertainers to put on plays and concerts. Guests of the hotel initially enjoyed an eighteenhole golf course across the street, which opened piecemeal between 1913 and 1915. That golf course, howev-

er, was primarily used by a cadre of golfers operating under the name Gedney Farm Country Club. When the owner offered the land for sale in 1921, the club purchased it and reorganized under the name Westchester Hills in 1922. At the same time, a new golf club, also called Gedney Farm, was organized on the hotel side of Ridgeway Avenue. Its golf course was completed by September, 1923. The new Gedney clubhouse was the former home of the trainer of Howard Willets’ horses. Next to it was a stable, which was used as a garage to store as many as fifty cars of hotel guests. The new course was available to guests of the hotel – but not for long. On September 20, 1924, a fire completely destroyed the hotel. The new club fell upon hard times during the Depression and World War II, and folded, the remaining membership crossing the street to Westchester Hills. The golf course was then operated on a semi-private basis, open to the public. This situation lasted until 1952, when the property was sold to a group of fourteen local businessmen who had formed the Ridgeway Country Club, named for the street which for many years has divided the two golf courses. Ridgeway has undergone very little change over the years. The stable area next to the clubhouse was converted into the lockerhouse. The golf course underwent its only major change in 1976, when the former par-3 twelfth hole alongside Ridgeway Avenue was abandoned in favor of additional tennis courts. The club now has eight tennis courts, and a swimming pool.

Rockaway Hunting Club

he Rockaway Hunt Club traces its roots to 1877, when a group of seven young men from Far Rockaway took part in a “chase.” Soon thereafter, hounds were acquired and, in the spring of 1878, the club was organized with sixty members. Their land was soon developed for residences, and the club was forced to move in 1884 to its present location on Ocean Avenue in Cedarhurst. There the members built a clubhouse considered the largest, most luxurious on Long Island, two miles from the ocean, overlooking a polo field and a four-mile steeplechase course, Reynolds Channel and Long Beach Island. That building burned to the ground in 1893, and soon thereafter, the club built a new, less-pretentious clubhouse. During its 120-plus years existence, the Rockaway Hunting Club has played a leading role in several sports. Despite the implications of its name, however, Rockaway hasn’t been a hunt club since 1898. Altough the members did participate in hunting meets with Meadow Brook Hunt, Richmond County Hunt, Queens County Hunt, and Essex County Hunt. At the turn of the century the “country club sports” of tennis and golf became the magnets that attracted a large number of new members to the club. The club’s first golf course consisted of a few primitive holes laid out in 1891. By 1895 the club had a nine-hole course, which was expanded to a regulation eighteen-hole course in 1898. That course proved a financial burden, however, and was cut back to nine holes in 1905. When the sport regained its popularity, Devereux

Emmet was engaged to build a new eighteen-hole course, that crossed Woodmere Channel and extended out to Reynolds Channel. It opened in 1919. A. W. Tillinghast revised the course in 1925, creating the highly acclaimed ninth hole at this time. In 1939 the four holes in front of the clubhouse were built. The sport that brought Rockaway its greatest laurels was polo. The polo field at Cedarhurst was in front of the clubhouse, and in 1885 the often bitter rivalry with Meadow Brook started. By 1888 the two clubs were so far superior to all others that a handicap system was created. The Rockaway team, headed by Foxhall Keene (who was considered the best all-around player in America), won national championships in 1901 and 1902. Rockaway Hunting also has played a prominent role in squash racquets in this country, primarily because of the club’s Gold Racquets Tournament, which was inaugurated in 1928 and annually attracted the country’s best players. Tennis has been the most popular sport at Rockaway for years. Members have the use of nineteen grass and six clay courts, and also enjoy paddle tennis, and skeet and trap shooting. Five long-serving member’s of the club’s staff – retired fifty-year General Manager Nick Benvin, retired forty-five-year headwaiter/comptroller Joe Muskardin, Joe’s brother Dario, Nick’s brother-in-law, retired cook John Zorovic, and bartender Nino Kucic, all escaped from Tito’s Communist regime in Yugoslavia after World War II.

The Rockaway Hunt Club clubhouse

Served With Distinction Thomas M. Sperandeo* Nick Benvin

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199

Rockland Country Club

Rockland General Manager Edward Norian

he Rockland Country Club was establish in the fall of 1906. A group of eleven men, most of them New York City residents, gathered at the Palisades residence of Dr. Henry M. Smith to discuss the concept of a club in the country where they might spend weekends hunting, fishing, and golfing. At the time, Route 9W was just a dirt road, and the only means of crossing the Hudson River above the city was by ferry, By November they had purchased the Blauvelt Farm in Sparkill from the two Blauvelt sisters, and engaged Henry Stark, greenskeeper at Englewood (the premier private golf club in the region at the time) to build a nine-hole golf course on the property, which extended from the Hudson River to the land now occupied by the front nine. The golf course and four tennis courts were ready by July of 1907. Rockland members of that era traveled to and from their club via the Erie Railroad from Jersey City to Sparkhill, or by means of the New York Central to Tarrytown, then the Tarrytown-Nyack ferry across the river. The members’ wives played a key role, too, organizing the club’s social life while their husbands pursued their interests.

Served With Distinction

The Rockland clubhouse

200

A Heritage of Service

Edward Norian* Mary Ellen Rudon Robert P. Peters

The club began to prepare for future expansion in 1910 when it purchased the Cheeseborough place, 42 acres south of the clubhouse. It was almost two decades, however, before the club decided to develop that land and expand the course to eighteen holes. The motivation at that time was the club’s desire to host a championship tournament. And so the club engaged Robert White, the foremost golf entrepreneur in the region, to lay out what proved to be an entirely new golf course. White had his course ready for play in 1930. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Depression did not postpone the work, for the needed funding had been in place since 1928. Despite its remote location, and the fact that the membership dropped to a low of thirty-nine during World War II, the club managed to survive, and then prosper during the postwar era, aided to a great extent by the building of the Tappan Zee Bridge. The one major change to the golf course took place in 1963, eliminating two crossings of the increasingly busy highway. The club sold all but its present practice area east of the road, land which included the eighth and ninth holes, to the Palisades Parkway Commission, which developed parts of that land into Tallman State Park. At the same time, the club purchased acreage to the south on which two new holes were built by golf architect Alfred Tull. Rockland’s membership roster over the years has been punctuated by a group of theatrical folks who lived in nearby Sneden’s Landing, which was accessible from Manhattan by private boat. Included among them were Catherine Cornell, Vivian Leigh, Ginger Rogers, and the Russian actor/ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Rockville Links Country Club

he Rockville Centre Country Club (within a decade renamed the Rockville Country Club) was conceived in December of 1922 at the First National Bank of Rockville Centre. At this seminal meeting were several representatives of the Rockville Centre Golfers Association, a group of local real estate executives, and the president of the bank. Heading the group was David Longenecker, who became the new club’s first president. The new club’s first order of business was to put together a parcel of 113 acres, purchased from four separate estates, much of which had comprised the Smith Farm seventy-five years previously. The cost of the land was approximately $1,000 per acre. For its golf course, the club turned to Devereux Emmet, designer of several outstanding courses in the immediate vicinity. With the help of Harry Dalgleish, the club’s first golf professional, the heavy underbrush and blueberry bushes were cleared away, and nine holes were ready for play by July 1, 1924. These holes were basically the present front nine. Both Emmet and Dalgleish quit after the first season, and it was the club’s second professional/greenskeeper, Harry O’Brien, who completed the back nine for the 1926 season. Actually, fourteen holes were in play for July 4, 1925. O’Brien was capably assisted by Ollie Osterwald, Rockville’s greens chairman. It has been said that more than 1,000 trees were felled to build the course, the land having been 90 percent wooded at the time of purchase. The original Rockville clubhouse was the Smith homestead, which at the time faced DeMott Avenue. It was moved to its present location in 1924 and converted to a clubhouse, with a porch surrounding much of the exterior and lockers upstairs. Today, it is the lobby –

the dining room, ballroom, and grillroom were opened on December 17, 1927. Locker rooms upstairs remain a club hallmark. The Depression brought with it financial problems. Some of these were lessened by the sale of a plot of land behind the fourteenth tee, reaping funds which helped keep the club afloat. The Rockville Links Corporation was formed on March 14, 1961, as an operating company, with the Rockville Country Club remaining as owner of the land and buildings. The Humm name has been part of the fabric that is the Rockville Links for more than half a century. John Humm, Sr., preceded his son as a club officer. Indeed, his efforts as perennial club treasurer were instrumental in keeping the club afloat during the difficult years of the Depression and World War II. John Humm, Jr., once shared a national record for his twenty-five championships at one club.

The Rockville Links clubhouse, Photo by James Krajicek

Served With Distinction Eugene Sullivan* John Daskos Thomas Severin Emmanuel Corello

The Clubs

201

Rolling Hills Country Club

The club’s Twenty-fifth Anniversary cake celebration, attended by eight former club presidents.

Served With Distinction Brent Merrill* John O’Brien Ian Smith Arthur Crouch John Bladt Leonard Nedswick Next right: The employees’ Christmas party Far right: Several New York General Managers at a gala dinner hosted by then Manager John Bladt at Rolling Hills. Seated, from left to right Mr. And Mrs. Leon Kowalski, General Manager at Country Club of Fairfield for over thirty years, Ann Ross, Margaret Travis; standing, Marette and James Glover, National director Roger Ross, and Whitney Travis.

202

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n the late 1950s a group of men, all good friends for many years and avid golfers, made the decision to explore opportunities to build their own country club. They decided that one particular location in Wilton, Connecticut, would be ideal for their purposes. It was a 162-acre tract, part of the Ambler Farm on Hurlbutt Street. Negotiations were started with the Ambler family to purchase the property, but Mrs. Ambler would only consider a long-term (thirty-five years) lease arrangement. The founding fathers agreed to those terms, and thus was born the Rolling Hills Country Club. David B. Stillman was named the club’s first president. He was joined by a number of dedicated people in the enormous task of planning the many details of the new club. Prominent among them were Irving Weitz, George Lepofsky, Sidney and George Kaufman, Irving Smolka, Norman and Murray Meyers. After two years of construction, the clubhouse and nine holes of the golf course officially opened on July 1, 1962. The second nine was ready by spring 1963. The golf course, designed by architect Alfred Tull, plays over

lightly rolling wooded terrain. The club’s first spring dinner/dance for members and friends who might be interested in membership was held in Westport on May 5, at which time membership had passed 200 towards a targeted 250 golf members. Just as important as the physical amenities at Rolling Hills is the emphasis the club has made in attracting a dedicated staff. The club’s first General Manager, Leonard Nedswick, did just that, as did his successor, John Bladt. Notable among them were Phyllis Pagano, who for twenty-four years functioned in several capacities in the club’s front office, primarily as secretary, and handled the annual Second Cedar Dinner; Joseph Bostic, a twenty-five-year veteran as golf professional; Hazel Malcolm and her three daughters; George and Germaine Olmstead, he a locker room attendant then head bartender, she a waitress then locker room attendant; and Travis Gant, Jennie Johnson, and Jean Truppe, the backbone of the dining room staff from 1969 until their retirement.

Round Hill Club

he Round Hill Club traces its origins to 1922, a time when there were two sporting clubs in Greenwich – the Field Club, which offered its members tennis and squash facilities, and the Greenwich Country Club, which was not family-oriented at the time and whose golf course was very congested. Clearly there was a need for a new social center in Greenwich, one that catered to a broad range of athletic activities, including golf. And so the Round Hill Club was organized in July 1922, as a year-round facility for the entire family, children included – the club’s later close ties to the United States Seniors Golf Association notwithstanding. In August of 1922 the new club purchased 217 acres located on the Willson Meadows in the “Round Hill” section of Greenwich’s “back country,” so-called because of the roundish hill between club property and the Merritt Parkway to the north. The site was chosen after consultation with Walter Travis, who designed the golf course. It featured exciting topographical properties, to this day the most memorable feature of the course. Construction was watched over by Emilio “Mollie” Strazza, the club’s grounds superintendent from 1922 until 1964. At one time a sculptor, Strazza contributed his artistic flair, particularly his deployment of trees and mounds, to make each hole a pleasant vista. Round Hill opened officially on July 19, 1924. The course today resembles the original very closely. The one major change came in 1965 when Robert

Trent Jones built the present eleventh hole and the pond at the eleventh and twelfth. Interestingly, Jones’ hole followed Travis’ original blueprint. An early candidate for the club’s name was “Monarch Oak,” after the majestic oak that once stood between the fifth and eighth fairways. The tree on the club’s logo is the elm that once watched over the left side of the eighteenth fairway. It died in 1978, approximately 140 years old at the time. Prominent among the club’s members was Senator Prescott Bush. Son-in-law of George Walker, donor of the Walker Cup, “Pres” was the father and grandfather of two US presidents. Round Hill’s English-style stone clubhouse was designed by William Delano of New York. Situated on a high knoll overlooking the golf course, it was enlarged in 1959–1960, the main focus of the project being the dining room, bar, and men’s locker room. In addition to the golf course, the members also enjoy nine outdoor tennis and four paddle tennis courts, an indoor racquets facility with two tennis courts, three singles squash courts, one doubles squash court, skeet and trap shooting in the winter, and a swimming pool and adjacent play equipment for children. The clubhouse is in the midst of a renovation program that already has encompassed the men’s locker room and library, and will soon include the kitchen, main dining room, and bar. One byproduct of the renovation will be the club’s first grill room.

General Manager Dennis Meermans with golf course in background.

Served With Distinction Dennis R. Meermans* Walter Young Karl Brandon Tommy Flanagan

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Salem Golf Club

n 1891 a real estate magnate named William Van Zuzer Lawrence established a real estate development company that bore his name. That company was destined for a long-term involvement with golf course communities. Lawrence’s first such venture was in Bronxville, and included the first course of the Siwanoy Country Club. Next came the development of the Lawrence Farms Country Club and adjoining residential community in Mount Kisco, which opened in 1930 (the name eventually was changed to the Mount Kisco Country Club). The company and its subsidiaries continued after Lawrence’s death, and early in 1965 purchased a 165acre dairy farm in North Salem. It was the Nichols farm, and included the old family mansion which had been built in 1902. They established the Salem Golf Club as a membership corporation which leased the property from the Lawrence group.

Former General Manager Mauro Piccininni

Served With Distinction Todd Zorn* Mauro Piccininni Robert Caeners Armand Ausserlechner

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Development of club property began during the summer of 1965. Local architect Edward Ryder of North Salem was engaged to design and build an eighteen-hole golf course. In his brief career as a golf architect Ryder had designed the dramatic back nine at the Morefar Golf Club and the nationally-ranked publinx at Richter Park. Ryder preserved the natural beauty of the property, which overlooked Peach Lake, and fully utilized the rolling landscape, presenting the golfers with beautiful vistas from several tees. The course has undergone only subtle changes over the years, and a state-of-the-art irrigation system was installed in 1998, serviced by a series of ponds on the golf course. The old Nichols mansion was completely refurbished and converted into a golf clubhouse, which still exists today. A new men’s locker room was built in 1986. Many of the club’s functions are held on a beautiful, large terrace, which was built in 1994 overlooking the eighteenth green and the surrounding hills of North Salem. The Salem Golf Club opened on May 19, 1967, with a membership of 300 and a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere, all of which are features of the present club as well, which has remained strictly a golf club. The property was sold to a private ownership group in 1984, one that has retained ownership to this day.

Sands Point Golf Club

ands Point owes its growth to the extension of the Long Island Railroad to Port Washington in 1898. Soon prominent New Yorkers began visiting Sands Point for summer vacations. During the 1910s Sands Point competed with Newport as America’s summer social capital. Eventually, the summer guests remained year round, building the “Gold Coast” mansions immortalized in “The Great Gatsby.” Sands Point was not unfamiliar with wealth. It is rumored that part of Captain Kidd’s treasure is buried there. Sand and gravel from Sands Point was used to build the streets and skyscrapers of Manhattan. Not bad for a peninsula once known as Cow Neck because it was fenced in to keep the cattle from roaming! In 1918 George Reynolds of the tobacco family purchased a farm in Sands Point, built nine golf holes over the terrain now occupied by the back nine, and operated the Harbor Hills Country Club until late 1921. At that time, the property was acquired by financier Julius Fleischmann, whose passion was polo. Fleischmann built the polo field now used as a practice area. Fleischmann died in 1925, and in the autumn of 1926 brothers Charles and Morton Schwartz purchased the estate. Together with Averill Harriman, Tommy Hitchcock, J. Cheever Cowdin, and Ralph Bloomer, they organized the Sands Point Club on March 16, 1927, inviting twenty prominent businessmen to join their polo-oriented club as charter members. Among them were Vincent Astor, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Bernard Baruch, Irving Berlin, Walter Chrysler, Harry Guggenheim, Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, E. F.

Hutton, William Paley, John Hay Whitney, and Marshall Field. A committee of five, including Harriman, underwrote the club in the amount of $250,000. A. W. Tillinghast was engaged in 1927 to build a second nine and revamp the original nine, without touching the polo field. The course opened on July 21, 1928. In recent years, the club has restored the original Tillinghast design, particularly the bunkering. Acting as Harriman’s “right-hand man” during its first fifteen years was Captain Ernest Carter, the club’s secretary and General Manager who literally devoted his life to the club. Carter was an outstanding golfer, a champion in his native Ireland, club champion at Sands Point in 1940, and long-time holder of the course record for members with a 65. During the Depression, the club operated despite continual deficits, which usually were met by Harriman, who was truly the club’s guardian angel. Despite its financial problems, however, the club employed a receptioness/hostess and a doorman. But in January of 1938 the mortgage was foreclosed and the club found itself without funds. Although allowed continued use of the property by Fleischmann’s sister, the original club was dissolved late in 1940 and reorganized as the Sands Point Golf Club, which purchased the property for $175,000. The club suffered a major setback in 1970 when a fire destroyed the clubhouse. After taking up temporary residence in the barn, the club unveiled its new clubhouse.

General Manager Gary Jorgensen

Served With Distinction Gary Jorgensen* John Howard Blank Stephan Fischl Peter Stanley Theodore Van Cott Captain Ernest Carter

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Saratoga Golf and Polo Club

General Manager Dan Farrell in front of clubhouse.

Served With Distinction Daniel J. Farrell*

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he Saratoga Golf and Polo club was organized in 1896 as the Saratoga Golf Club, with tennis also a popular attraction. The club leased 75 acres from James M. Andrews, and converted the Andrews’ farmhouse into a clubhouse. The building was situated on the highest point of the property, with the ground sloping away in every direction. Leslie Manigalt began a sixty-year tenure at the club in 1898. The club engaged J. S. Mott, a civil engineer, to design a nine-hole golf course. Mott also built four short (100–250 yards) practice holes, an elaborate setup in those days. Tennis was very popular in Saratoga at the turn of the century, and the Saratoga Golf Club had six courts, including four grass courts that remain in play today. Polo came to Saratoga in 1876 on the grounds of William C. Whitney, just north of the club’s property. There was a Saratoga Polo Club during the years from 1900 to 1910, after which interest in the sport waned temporarily. The sport was revived during the 1920s, spearheaded by Whitney, the Hitchcocks, and Winston Guest. The club adopted its present name on October 17, 1931, bringing the polo players into the club. The Saratoga Golf Club Real Estate Corporation purchased 43 of the 57 acres, including the clubhouse, taking a $23,000 mortgage from J. P. Morgan. Polo remained popular at the club through World War II. (The sport revived again in 1977, when Skidmore College fielded a

polo team, and the field north of the club was reactivated.) During the Depression years, thirteen of the members organized as the Little Club Owners, Inc,, took over the deed, and saved the club financially. They eventually returned the deed to the club. The club’s present property took form during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1953 the club purchased an additional 29 acres along Seward Avenue from the Putnam family, then another 12 acres on Church Street in 1956. The club purchased part of the Denton Farm in 1961, then another six acres on Church Street and two acres on Plank Street in 1968. The Church Street purchase included the Ostrander house, which was called Hylands. It was refurbished and became the new clubhouse. The previous owner had operated a restaurant called the Dorian from the house. The club’s swimming pool complex, including cabanas and lockers, was built in 1969, after a few false starts through the years. it was financed by bonds from twenty families. Originally, the members cooked at poolside, but nowadays the meals are prepared in the main kitchen. The clubhouse was renovated during 1995. The building today includes the main dining room, the president’s dining room, a cocktail room, Board room, meeting rooms, men’s and women’s locker rooms, and the pro shop. The membership, which held at 150 through World War II, now stands at 363.

Scarsdale Golf Club

he Scarsdale Golf Club traces its roots to the Scarsdale Gun Club, which operated from a small clubhouse northwest of the Scarsdale depot. Eventually, the members developed an interest in golf, and one Saturday in 1896, they laid out a nine-hole golf course in a farm off Old Army Road, just south of the present club site – and played that same afternoon, a feat that was duly recognized in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. The neophyte golfers were owners of large estates in Scarsdale. So was Welcome Hitchcock, a woolens merchant who invested heavily in Scarsdale real estate. His holdings included the Lemuel Hart farm, west of the Hartsdale depot, and a large part of the Greenacres section of Scarsdale. When he could no longer pay his carrying costs, the bank took over and incorporated the Scarsdale Estates as a trustee for his creditors. To make the community more attractive to potential residents, the Scarsdale Golf Club was formed in 1898, absorbing the entire membership of the Gun Club. A nine-hole golf course, designed by Willie Dunn, was laid out on the Hart farm in Hartsdale, 100 acres of woodland and orchards that included a fouracre lake, immediately adjacent to the railroad station. The first clubhouse was a remodeled home located near the present entrance to the club. The golf course was expanded to eighteen holes in 1900. In 1909 the Scarsdale Golf and Country Club was incorporated and entered into a lease arrangement with Scarsdale Estates. At the same time, a new clubhouse was built at the top of the hill, overlooking the lake and golf course. In the second decade of the century, the club suffered two fires, each destroying clubhouse facilities. The first took place in 1913, and the new building was sup-

plemented with a locker house in 1917. Both burned down in 1919. The present building was christened in 1922. The club helped finance its new home by selling some property near the entrance and along Central Avenue. An additional 55 acres to the south were purchased, and A. W. Tillinghast engaged to revise the course. “Tillie’s” work was extensive, including ten new holes laid out over extremely wooded and rocky terrain. The revised course opened in 1923. Tillinghast’s course met with some change in 1962, to accommodate the club’s new driving range built over terrain once occupied by the first hole. Architect Geoffrey Cornish also discarded the old par-3 ninth, Scarsdale’s signature hole, and built the present hole in its place. The centerpiece of the Scarsdale golf calendar is the Wilson Cup, one of the Met Area’s top amateur team competitions since its inception in 1972. The tournament honors the late Charles E. Wilson, a former member who served as director of the War Production Board under presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman during two wars and later was president of General Electric. The club’s facilities today include six tennis and four paddle courts, six bowling lanes, and a swimming pool.

Right: Former General Manager Mark Moon

Left: Doug Rapp, former General Manager for more than fourteen years.

Served With Distinction Robert Arnold* Mark Moon J. Douglas Rapp Fred Hollister

Kiltie golf, a popular pastime of the 1920s.

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Seawane Golf and Country Club

I The Seawane clubhouse in 1934.

Served With Distinction Craig Henne* Barry L. Chandler Edward Closs Donald Mollitor Frank Turner Feo P. Kaklugin

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n 1914 a startling discovery was made on the Hewlett Harbor estate of Joseph Auerbach. It was an Indian grave, containing the remains of a young Algonquin chieftain, his first-born son, and all his worldly possessions, including numerous beads called “sewan.” Auerbach anglicized that to “seawane,” adopted it for his estate, and for the first hole on the nine-hole golf course on his property called Meadow-Edge. In 1927 Auerbach and friends Arthur Mann and Tracy Morris decided to convert his estate into an eighteen-hole golf club that would attract Manhattan residents to its resort facilities, just 40 minutes away. The fledgling Seawane Club engaged Devereux Emmet to design an eighteen-hole golf course, which he carved out in true links style, with 200 bunkers but seldom a tree in sight, much of it on land reclaimed from the marshes. The club and course opened in 1928. The club was easily accessible by train, air, and boat, the latter via two deep-water canals, one of which emptied into Lake Kathellen, a deep body of water just a few hundred yards from the clubhouse, which provided a fine anchorage for motor boats. For their clubhouse, the membership modernized Auerbach’s three-story Victorian estate, creating two dining rooms, one in a large sun parlor. Club facilities also included the Annex, which was separated from the clubhouse by formal gardens. Located at the edge of Lake Kathellen, it included eighteen bedrooms, and was ideal for families wishing to spend a weekend, a week, or the entire summer at the club. There also was a Beach Casino on Hewlett Bay two minutes away, with eight hundred feet of sandy beach, a pier, and a diving float, and a reciprocal arrangement with the nearby Atlantic

Beach Club. The club provided a motor boat connection between the Annex, Casino, and Beach Club. The club fell upon hard times, and in 1943 was sold to a group of members who reorganized under the name Seawane Harbor Club. The club sold the surrounding land to members, some of whom in turn sold out to real estate developers. The situation did not improve, however, and eventually the golf course and clubhouse facilities fell into a state of disrepair. At a meeting on February 17, 1960, the Hewlett Harbor Residents Committee created the Seawane Harbor Corporation to purchase the club’s land and buildings. The sale took place on October 14, with Palmer Farrington purchasing the club from his former clubmates, then selling it to the new club. Residents were asked to pledge $1,000 to join the new group as charter members. To upgrade their facilities, the new club tore down the old clubhouse, and built a modern new structure that was state of the art at the time. The Annex was then demolished, and a pool and cabanas built on that site. To revitalize the golf course, the club turned to Robert Trent Jones, whose work focused on bunkering and trees. Some 350 trees were planted, changing the course’s linksland flavor forever. That is, until an ongoing restoration guided by architect Stephen Kay transformed Seawane into a fabulous links course that will take its place among the very best in the county. Seawane has been home since 1948 of the Richardson Memorial, conducted by the Long Island Golf Association, which honors the late William Duncan Richardson, who was a reporter for the New York Times for nearly three decades (1921–1957), and a Seawane member.

S e a w a n h a k a C o r i n t h i a n Ya c h t C l u b

he Seawanhaka Yacht Club was founded in September of 1871 in Oyster Bay, aboard William L. Swan’s cabin sloop, Glance. Swan led a group of young men who preferred to steer and sail their own yachts, at a time when many yachtsmen hired professional captains and crews to do the racing, And so the new club was dedicated to amateur sailing and racing. Swan was elected the club’s first Commodore. Operating from a clubhouse in New York City, Seawanhaka began racing on New York Bay in 1875. It wasn’t until 1891 that the club purchased its property on Centre Island, and built a Victorian Era clubhouse overlooking one of the best protected and most attractive yacht harbors in the world. Seawanhaka then merged with the Oyster Bay Yacht Club, the new organization adopting the present name. By the turn of the century, Seawanhaka Corinthian had a new diversion, a nine-hole golf course. The original clubhouse building is still in use, although added on to over the years. The most significant addition came in 1952 when the east side of the porch was enclosed to form a dining room much larger than the original. At the same time, the kitchen extension was built, including the General Manager’s office on the main floor and the General Manager’s apartment on the second floor. One feature of the clubhouse is the model room, which is a small party room “decorated” with a great collection of model boats. Other club facilities include two tennis courts, a junior clubhouse that is also used for those members involved in frostbite sailing, and a full service environmentally sensitive boat yard that has been a unique part of the club’s offerings since the 1920s.

The Seawanhaka International Challenge Cup, the nation’s second oldest yachting prize in continuous competition, behind only the America’s Cup, is on display in the club’s bar. It started in June 1895 and has been contested forty-one times in the ensuing 107 years, with lapses of as much as nine years.

General Manager Barry Chandler

Served With Distinction Barry Chandler* Scott K. LaFreniere Barry Grundy

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Shenorock Shore Club

he Shenorock Shore Club was conceived by Ralph P. Manny, Commodore of the American Yacht Club. In 1945 Manny bought the former Milton Point Casino (built in 1924) property at public auction, including sixty-three cabanas, the Sea Horse Yacht Club and the Bouwerie, and formed the club. The Casino had been forced to close its doors because of gas rationing during World War II. Prior to that, it had hosted such stellar performers as Rudy Vallee. He invited his friends from such well-to-do towns as Scarsdale and Bronxville to join him A postcard showing the club’s beachfront. in forming a casual beach and tennis club. With the aide of a General Manager, Manny ran the club as its benevolent Served With Distinction “Sachem,” and membership remained “by Manny’s invitation” for two decades. Manny established three Richard G. LaCoursiere* rules: “no glass on the beach,” “no tipping,” and “bills Fred Stelter must be paid on time.” The membership purchased the Jack Toomey club from Manny for $600,000 in 1965.

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The Sea Horse Yacht Club across the street became the club’s winter Harborside clubhouse. The original Sea Horse clubhouse had burned down in 1929, and was rebuilt for the 1930 season. The grassy area at the north end of the beach, fondly referred to as “the Bouwerie,” was once part of the Wainwright estate, and included a mansion known as “the Bouwerie” because it was patterned after a house in New York City’s Bowery. The club used the house for overnight accommodations for the members. When the structure was declared a fire hazard in 1956, it was torn down, and the entire point became a picnic area, a quiet place to relax in the shade, and enjoy the seaside view. The club built two platform tennis courts there in 1969, and in 1972 placed a swimming pool on the very site of the mansion. The “Bouwerie” is also used for cookouts and parties. The club is situated on what many believe to be the best natural cove on Long Island Sound, one that is ideal for windsurfing and secure deep anchorage for larger boats. The club also has nine tennis courts, two paddle courts, a pool, a unique picnic area, and an outstanding summer camp for the children. At the beach, the club has eighty-one cabanas (including canine cabanas) and 370 bathhouses. Shenorock is noted for its outstanding restaurant, which in the summer is located in the main clubhouse, overlooking the Sound, while in winter restaurant service is found in the cozy, intimate Winter Club. The club is famous for its Sunday evening buffets. Shenorock offers its members a year-round social calendar.

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

he wealthy established summer colonies in the Hamptons during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Golf came near the end of the century, and with it a great club and social center, the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. During the winter of 1890–1891 three summer residents of the exclusive Southampton colony were wintering in Biarritz, France, where they encountered the Scottish professional, Willie Dunn. William K. Vanderbilt, Duncan Cryder, and Edward Mead asked Dunn if he might demonstrate golf for them, and Dunn captured their fancy. When they returned to Southampton the following summer, they obtained the services of Royal Montreal professional Willie Davis for one month. Together, they found an 80-acre site ideally suited for golf, and began laying out a twelve-hole course. The Shinnecock Hills Golf Club was organized in August, and in September, construction of a clubhouse was approved. Finally, on September 21 the club was incorporated, becoming the first such legal entity in this country. During the early years, the membership roster read like an abridged version of Who’s Who of American Society. Shinnecock Hills purchased its property in January of 1892, and the clubhouse was completed that June. It was designed by Stanford White, the most fashionable architect of the day, designer of Penn Station and the original Madison Square Garden. Built in the shingled country house style of the region, it was the first building of its kind in the United States, and included a grill room, lockers, and shower-baths. It formed the nucleus of the present clubhouse. Aside from being the domi-

nant landmark in the area, it also quickly became a focal point for the Southampton social set. In fact, the social status associated with membership in the club became so desirable that Shinnecock Hills soon was forced to establish a waiting list, the first of its kind in this country. Golf quickly became fashionable at Southampton, especially among the women, who made extensive use of their own Red Course. During the 1890’s Shinnecock Hills also was noteworthy because of the encouragement given the children of members to learn the game, a practice most clubs of that era frowned upon. Among them was Beatrix Hoyt who, beginning in 1896 when not yet sixteen, won three consecutive US Women’s Amateur Championships. The Red Course was abandoned in 1901 so that the eighteen-hole White Course, which hosted the US Open and US Amateur in 1896, might be expanded to a championship test utilizing the land north of the clubhouse. During the late 1920s Sunrise Highway was extended through the Hamptons, indeed, through the old course. And so the club bought land north of the old course, and hired the prominent architectural firm of Toomey and Flynn to design an (almost completely) new course. Built during 1928 to 1931, the course opened for play on July 1, 1931, and has undergone little change since. It is recognized as one of the very best in the world, and has hosted three US Opens and the Walker Cup. Despite its strong social overtones a century ago, Shinnecock Hills remains strictly a golf club today.

Henry Nichols, General Manager for twenty-six years.

General Manager Gregg J. Deger

Served With Distinction Gregg Deger* Luke O’Boyle Joann M. Gallagher Henry Nichols

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Siwanoy Country Club

he Siwanoy Country Club traces its roots back to the late 1890s and a harness track that occupied a corner of the present club property. It attracted the Rose brothers, Augustus and Middleton, real estate developers, to the Tuckahoe area. The pair bought land adjacent to the race track in the southern part of Tuckahoe, east of White Plains Road. Towards the end of the century, Middleton Rose laid out a nine-hole course on the property, which they called Fairview Park. Among those playing at Fairview was a group of eighteen golfers from Mt. Vernon. By the end of the 1900 season, they began to discuss the possibility of establishing a club of their own closer to their homes in Mt. Vernon. Their dreams became a reality when they obtained a lease on the Glover Estate, thirty acres along White Plains Road on the northern outskirts of Mt. Vernon. The Corcoran Manor House on the property became their clubhouse, and was ready for the formal opening on July 4, 1901. The club’s nine-hole golf course was completed by autumn. The name chosen for the club was that of a Mohican tribe that once lived in the area. In the spring of 1903 the club was notified that the property was to be sold to James Bailey (of circus fame). The club quickly leased another site, called “Hunt’s

Served With Distinction General Manager Robert Kasara

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Robert J. Kasara* Gary Jorgenson Dr. Carlo Bianchi

Woods,” and went about the business of constructing a modest clubhouse, and a nine-hole golf course, which opened in May of 1904. The new property was north of the Glover Estate, approximately where White Plains Road now intersects the Cross County Parkway. Siwanoy remained at this site for ten years, by which time it had become obvious that a nine-hole course was no longer sufficient for the growing membership. During 1913 the club decided against expanding adjacent to the Hunt Property and purchased a larger 110-acre tract to the north in Bronxville. The club engaged Donald Ross to lay out an eighteen-hole championship course. The club’s new home, ironically, was located across the street from the old Fairview course where Siwanoy’s founding fathers had learned the game. The new course, which opened in May of 1914, was highly acclaimed, and hosted the inaugural PGA Championship in 1916. The manor house on the grounds was fashioned into a clubhouse and connected to a locker facility the club constructed. That building soon proved too small, and the present clubhouse was built before the 1929 season. Siwanoy is famous for its organized group of winter golfers called the “Snobirds,” which were founded during the winter of 1907–1908. The Snobirds play in all kinds of weather, using red balls and wearing ski caps, gloves, and all sorts of winter paraphernalia. Brooms are used instead of regular flagsticks to help players clear the snow from their line to the cup. In addition to golf, Siwanoy members also enjoy four tennis courts, four paddle courts, and an Olympicsize pool.

Sleepy Hollow Country Club

owards the end of the nineteenth century, Colonel Elliott Fitch Shepard (a lawyer who founded the New York State Bar Association in 1876) purchased 338 acres high above the Hudson north of Tarrytown in Scarborough. Shepard’s wife, Margaret, was the eldest daughter of William H. Vanderbilt, thus a granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt. The Shepards engaged Stanford White to design their manor house. White responded with a seventyfive-room Victorian structure typical of the Italian Villa architecture popular in the eighteenth century. It featured high patterned ceilings, elaborate cornice work, hand-carved mahogany paneling, a ballroom, and a graceful, winding stairway near the front entrance later used for Debutante Balls. Outside, an elaborate terrace offered a panoramic view of the Hudson Valley, and overlooked sunken, formal gardens. The gatehouses at the club’s entrance and exit were built of massive pillars of carved stone, and the gates themselves of ironwork, both imported from France. The building was completed in 1893, and cost Shepard $2,500,000. Unfortunately, he did not live to see it completed. In 1911 a group of men of legendary wealth formed the Sleepy Hollow Country Club and purchased the Shepherd estate from his widow. Among them were William Rockefeller and his son Percy, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John Jacob Astor, Franklin Vanderlip, Oliver Harriman, V. Everit Macy, A. O. Choate, and James Colgate. To build their golf course, the founders turned to

Charles Blair Macdonald. After an initial conflict with William Rockefeller was resolved – Rockefeller had been adamant that no trees be cut down – Macdonald and his engineer, Seth Raynor, built the course during the extremely hot summer of 1911. In the late 1920s A. W. Tillinghast gave the course a major facelift, in fact expanded it to twenty-seven holes. The present Sleepy Hollow clubhouse is one of two homes to have occupied the grounds. The first, a summer home called Woodlea, became the club’s Golf House, including a pro shop, dining room, bar, and bedrooms. It was located to the left of the present first green. Sleepy Hollow’s club facilities underwent some changes in the 1960s when financial considerations dictated the consolidation of all facilities into one clubhouse. Prior to that, the converted Shepard mansion was used primarily for Saturday night dances, an occasional costume ball, and “guests in residence.” In 1960 the club voted to add a new wing to the northern end of the clubhouse that would include a new men’s locker room, a grill room, and a pro shop, and to do away with the Golf House. Work on the clubhouse wing was completed in 1962, and the Golf House was finally demolished in 1967. A swimming pool and a recreation house were built on the site of the old Golf House, and opened in 1968. The club also boasts twelve tennis courts, three squash courts in a building constructed in 1936, and four paddle tennis courts. In addition, the club has stable facilities for fifty horses, and the members have access to fifty miles of riding trails.

General Manager William Nitschke

Served With Distinction William J. Nitschke* Marshall Brereton Robert C. James

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Southampton Golf Club

General Manager Craig Ruhling

Served With Distinction Craig Ruhling* Hans Richter John Terassi John Martin Frank Graygor Joe Graygor

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he Southampton Golf Club was founded in 1925 as a club for the middle-class businessman of the region. Today there are more than 400 members, mostly local businessmen still, all but approximately 10 percent from the East End. The club traces its origins to the early 1920s when a group of eighty men, headed by John D. Corrigan, founded a golf company and bought some land out on Cow Neck in North Sea, bordered on the north and west by Peconic Bay and on the east by Scallop Pond. Their hope was to develop the property as a private golf club. Their plans ran headlong into one Colonel H. H. Rogers, who planned a wildlife sanctuary for the area, and instituted a lawsuit to prevent the construction of a golf course there. In July of 1925, Charles Sabin entered the picture, donating 95 acres of farmland including his farmhouse, mandating only that the property be maintained and used as a golf course, The club accepted his offer, and the Southampton Golf Club was legally incorporated in August of 1925. In November, 1925, the club purchased an additional 125 acres, and engaged Seth Raynor, a Southampton resident who had an impressive portfolio of golf courses to his credit, to design an eighteen-hole golf course. Raynor began designing his first nine holes (the present back nine), but died suddenly of pneumonia in January 1926. His associate, Charles Banks, had those holes ready for play later in 1926, at which time the club had fifty-two members.

During the construction process, the club built six temporary holes and three clay tennis courts across the highway on land that is now a driving range. This land was sold to local farmers in 1941. Banks took his time with the remaining holes, which were opened for play in 1929. The fourth, with its elevated green backed up on the highway, clearly bears the Banks imprint, and is regarded among the toughest par-4s on Long Island. A modern fairway bunkering plan was implemented by architect William Mitchell 1967; an irrigation system was added in 1969, as was a driving range. The main clubhouse was the larger of two barns on the farm, renovated to accommodate 300 people on the second floor, with the men’s locker room downstairs. The farmhouse was used initially as a women’s locker house before the women’s locker room was added to the second floor. A twin silo structure was built on the western end of the clubhouse, accommodating the men’s and women’s wash rooms, upstairs and downstairs. The clubhouse underwent a major refurbishing starting in 1994 when the entire northern half of the building was demolished and a new twin-silo structure was erected – designed and built by the firms of several members. A brand new food and beverage facility was part of the project. In 1996 the remainder of the clubhouse, including the men’s and women’s locker rooms, was completely renovated. Like neighbors Shinnecock Hills and National, Southampton remains strictly a golf club.

Southward Ho Country Club

he Southward Ho Country Club was organized in 1923 and bought 140 acres of land and buildings from the estate of Louis Bossert in Bay Shore. The property was formerly part of the Hyde estate, which extended from the Great South Bay north to the Long Island Railroad tracks, where Hyde had a private station. Once three stories high, Hyde’s mansion included a ballroom and a large porch overlooking wide front lawns to the south. It later was completely modernized and became the Southward Ho clubhouse, complete with spacious lounges, card rooms, dining and grillrooms, a spacious men’s locker room including handball and squash courts, with suites upstairs for summer residents. The locker room was once a stable, but was moved and connected with the main house. Located on the property, not far from the clubhouse, was a working windmill, which has become the centerpiece of the club’s logo. Now covered with wisteria, it is also the focal point of the club’s atmosphere each spring. For their golf course, Southward Ho turned to A. W. Tillinghast, who was basking in the glory of his (now-defunct) US Open course at Fresh Meadow and the twin courses at Winged Foot. The Depression proved difficult at Southward Ho. Indeed, the club went bankrupt in 1934, and had its mortgage foreclosed. The club was reorganized that year, and run by a bank as the South Bay Golf Club. Towards the end of World War II, the club found itself in a very precarious situation, where the appearance of a serious real estate speculator might have spelled finis at any moment. It was here that Horace Havemeyer stepped in to save the day – and the club.

Havemeyer was the son of Henry Havemeyer, the “Sugar King,” scion of the family that dominated the American sugar industry for many years. Horace bought the club from the bank, and gave the club a tenyear option to purchase. In the meantime Havemeyer agreed to pay the taxes, but established two conditions that had to be observed. First, that Southward Ho continue operating as a golf club; second, that the club set aside a certain sum each year, to be invested and eventually used towards the purchase price when the option was exercised. The club eventually did take advantage of Havemeyer’s gift, purchasing the property in April of 1954. The name had been changed back to Southward Ho the previous year. In recognition of Havemeyer’s central role in the club’s history, the “Havemeyer tournament” was instituted in 1951 in his honor. It became known as the Havemeyer Memorial after his death in 1956.

General Manager Paul O’Donoghue in front of the clubhouse.

Served With Distinction Paul O’Donoghue* Howard Mosbacher Arthur Parish

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Club Administrator Karen Degnan

Executive Chef Patrick Wilson

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he St. Andrew’s Golf Club was formed at a dinner party at the home of John Reid in Yonkers on November 14, 1888. Reid invited his golfing friends to celebrate their first season of golf, which had started on Washington’s birthday, just a couple of weeks before the famous Blizzard of ’88. In attendance that February were John B. Upham, Henry Tallmadge, Harry Holbrook, Kingman Putnam, and Alexander Kinnan. In a hilly pasture across Lake Avenue from Reid’s home, just east of Palisade Avenue, they built a three-hole “golf course,” each hole approximately 100 yards in length, the three forming a triangle. Since only one set of clubs was available (imported from Scotland), just Reid and Upham played, with the others forming this country’s first golf gallery. After the November meal, Reid announced the real reason for the gathering. He wanted to form a club to preserve and foster their common interest in golf. And so, serenaded with Scottish ballads, was born the St. Andrew’s Golf Club of America. Once the April thaws came, the golfers located more suitable land on which to play their game, around the corner in a meadow owned by neighborhood butcher John Shott. Reid and his friends quickly built a sixhole course and golfed there for the remainder of 1888. The expanding group’s “nefarious rites of pasture” continued, despite criticism from the local churchgoers, who objected to their Sunday play. St. Andrew’s first clubhouse was a table (later a tent) in the backyard of Judge Theodore Fitch. But by 1892 the club was forced to move – the city planned to extend Palisade Avenue north through the heart of the golf course. And so, in April of 1892 the men of St. Andrew’s came to their apple orchard, from which they derived their nickname,

“The Apple Tree Gang.” Located four blocks north of Shotts’ meadow on Palisade Avenue, the apple orchard was a 34-acre parcel on the top of a hill overlooking the river. Again they built a six-hole golf course, this one steeply-banked with apple trees everywhere. One tree in particular served the dual function of locker room and nineteenth hole, the members hanging their jackets, picnic baskets, and wicker decanters from its branches. There was a progressive faction within the ranks, however, who wanted to upgrade the club’s facilities, and bring St. Andrew’s on a par with the other leading clubs of the time. And so Reid and Company were on the move again, this time in May of 1894 to the 100acre Odell Farm off Saw Mill River Road in Gray Oaks, three miles northeast of the Apple Orchard. A nine-hole course was laid out on abruptly rising terrain between Snake Hill and the road. For a clubhouse, they inherited one of the oldest farmhouses in Westchester County, built in 1790. It was during its three years at Gray Oaks that St. Andrew’s played its most significant role in the development of golf in this country. On October 10, 1894, St. Andrew’s hosted a national match-play amateur championship which ended in a dispute, as had an earlier medal-play “championship” at Newport. The result was the formation on December 22, 1894 of the United States Golf Association to govern American golf and conduct its national championships. St. Andrew’s was one of the USGA’s five charter clubs. In March of 1897 the Greens Committee of St. Andrew’s called the first meeting which, within a few weeks, led to the formation of the Metropolitan Golf Association. With its move to Gray Oaks, St. Andrew’s adopted its official “uniform,” the standard scarlet (“Hunter’s

The St. Andrew’s clubhouse

pink”) jacket, winged collar, blue-checked cap and waistcoat, brass buttons, gray knickers, plaid stockings, gray gaiters, and a silver cross in the lapel. As the 1897 season progressed, there was growing discontent once again that St. Andrew’s had fallen behind the times. And so in mid-August the club purchased a densely-wooded parcel of 160 acres in Mount Hope, at the top of a long, steep hill about five miles north of Yonkers, again just off the Saw Mill River Road. There the club built an eighteen-hole golf course and a new Dutch-Colonial clubhouse, designed by member R. H. Robertson, that overlooked the nine holes in the valley below. The new course was opened in October. At the end of that season, Reid retired as president of the club, a position he had held since its inception. St. Andrew’s Mount Hope site was rather inconve-

niently located for those times, perhaps a move designed to attract only the most serious of golfers to the club. A four-horse stagecoach and a three-horse bus transported the members over the arduous four-mile trip from the railroad station to the clubhouse. Prominent on the St. Andrew’s membership roster over the years have been Malcolm Wilson, former governor of New York, Oliver Harriman, J. P. Morgan, Charles Schwab, Nicholas Murray Butler, Charles Evan Hughes, former baseball commissioner Ford Frick, and World War I hero Eddie Rickenbacker. But perhaps the most enthusiastic of all St. Andrew’s members/golfers was steel baron Andrew Carnegie, who joined in 1894 and later built himself a summer cottage on the reverse side of the hill behind the clubhouse. Carnegie, who like Reid hailed from Dunfermline, Scotland, is credited with the remark that “golf is an indispensable adjunct to

higher civilization.” He also personally signed the $50,000 mortgage that financed the new clubhouse at Mount Hope. His love for the game was never more apparent than on the day in 1901 when he sold Carnegie Steel to US Steel for $250,000,000 – he seemed more excited about having parred St. Andrew’s fifth hole for the first time that day! Despite the fact that many have portrayed the men of St. Andrew’s as golf ’s first missionaries, John Reid actually wanted the club to be nothing more than a private retreat, where he and his friends could enjoy a peaceful round of golf. And that is precisely the character that St. Andrew’s assumed. But as the times changed, and the family-oriented facilities of the country club grew in popularity, St. Andrew’s suffered. By the mid1970s, the situation had become alarming. The club decided to make a radical change. Jack Nicklaus was called in, and he proposed a golfing community consisting of townhouses, built in the Dutch Colonial style of the clubhouse, bordering a “restored” golf course. Work began in the fall of 1982, but problems quickly surfaced, as both golf course and townhouse construction hit the shelf rock that is such a dominant feature of Westchester terrain. Construction schedules lagged, and eventually stopped, with only eighty-six of the proposed 209 townhouses completed and work yet to start on the renovation of the clubhouse. Out on the golf course, Nicklaus created three new golf holes and rerouted the rest of the course to some extent, while preserving the basic flow of the remaining holes. The full course was ready for play by July 1, 1985, with a final cost of $3,500,000. The project was a financial disaster, and the course still needed work. The club began a Master Plan in 1995 that would renovate the course, clubhouse, and pro shop, and the Nicklaus group returned to accomplish the former task. That, together with a new membership policy, has helped restore St. Andrew’s to it rightful place among the elite clubs in the Met Area.

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Served With Distinction Paul Schifano* Lawrence King Thomas Walsh

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t. George was a victim of religious persecution inflicted by Roman emperor Diocletion against the Christians during the early years of the fourth century, but also was popular for having slain a dragon. Later, St. George was adopted as the patron saint of England, and it is his cross that adorns the flag of England. The legend of St. George ultimately spread to Suffolk County on Long Island in the form of St. George’s Manor in Setauket, a quiet and restful summer resort hotel that attracted a wealthy clientele of New York businessmen. Among those who frequented the Manor were the founding fathers of the St. George’s Golf and Country Club, who adopted the name for their club, and as their logo St. George, armed only with a golf club, fighting the dragon. The central figure in the organization and construction of St. George’s was Devereux Emmet, the noted golf course architect, socialite, and lifelong resident of Long Island. Emmet lived on an estate in nearby St. James called “Sherrewogue,” which he built on a sheep pasture overlooking Long Island Sound and Stony

Brook Harbor. Indeed, Emmet maintained a nine-hole golf course at Sherrewogue. It is quite likely that several of St. George’s founding fathers gained their first exposure to golf on Emmet’s private course. St. George’s founding group met in Manhattan on April 16, 1915, and authorized the purchase of the 140-acre Williamson farm and its 200-year-old farmhouse, which was located between the present thirteenth green and Sheep Pasture Road. The club celebrated its formal opening on June 23, 1917, two months after the United States entered World War I. The Williamson farmhouse was enlarged and became St. George’s first clubhouse, lasting through 1930. But where there are dragons, there also is fire. The new Colonial clubhouse, opened in 1931 on the highest point of the property, burned down in 1953. So, too, did its successor, in 1969, after which the present clubhouse was built, opening in November of 1970. Although plans originally called for thirty-six holes, Emmet in fact built just eighteen,after being part of a committee of four that selected the site. Emmet, who also served as greens chairman and Tournament/ Handicap chairman at the club, designed the course in the style of a Scottish links. It opened in 1917. St. George’s was hit hard by the Depression, For a number of years, the golf course did without fertilizer. In 1937 the widow of Frank Melville (who, with son Ward, were prominent members who carried the club financially through these years) offered the club $25,000 for a fairway watering system, provided she could be assured that the club would survive. And survive it did.

The Stanwich Club

n the late 1950s the need for new private clubs in the Greenwich area was apparent. At the Round Hill Club, for instance, there was a five-year waiting list for membership. Consequently, a group of Round Hill members began investigating the possibility of a new club in the “Back Country,” beyond the Merritt Parkway. In 1960, one of the most spectacular and devastating fires in Greenwich history claimed the clubhouse of the Greenwich Country Club. While that club considered rebuilding at the same site, a group of its members looked into the possibility of moving the club to a new location farther out from the city. One piece of property interested both groups, the Hekma Estate, formerly Semloh Farm, between North Street and Stanwich Road west of the parkway. Purchased in 1909 by Edwin Holmes, a burglar alarm tycoon, Semloh (Holmes backwards) grew into a magnificent estate and farm. There were several lakes on the property, a greenhouse, and fifteen fountains spotted throughout extensive gardens. The pastures – today’s fairways – were used for grazing cattle. The fieldstone manor house, originally built in 1910, was later stuccoed over to suit Mrs. Holmes’ tastes. After Holmes’ death, the property was obtained in 1930 by Jacob Hekma, who continued to operate it as a model farm in every respect. After Hekma’s death in 1949, his widow continued to live on the estate until her own death in 1960, at which time Semloh consisted of 330 acres. The estate was tied up in litigation at the time the Greenwich Country Club group was contemplating a new home, so that club decided to rebuild at its original location. The Round Hill and Greenwich groups formed the Northwich Development Company in February 1962,

intending to purchase and develop Semloh Farm, with a country club and golf course as the centerpiece. Northwich summoned golf architect William Gordon to inspect the site, and Gordon was impressed. In October 1962 the Northwich group completed the purchase of some 270 acres from the Hekma estate for a price of $475,000. Northwich, in turn, sold 186 acres including the clubhouse to the Stanwich Club, which had been organized that summer. The remaining acreage was sold in five-acre plots to Northwich subscribers and was converted into the magnificent homes that now surround the golf course. The name chosen for the club, an amalgamation of Stamford and Greenwich, had been part of the local lexicon for nearly 250 years. The facilities now feature a swimming pool, eight tennis courts, four paddle tennis courts – and a view of Long Island Sound eight miles away. The clubhouse formally opened in June of 1964, one month before the golf course was ready. Stanwich was quickly recognized as possibly the strongest course in the Metropolitan Area. In 1981 Stanwich received its first national exposure, hosting the final edition of the Golden Lights tournament on the LPGA circuit. In 2002 Stanwich hosted its first national championship, the US Mid-Amateur, which was won by member George Zahringer.

General Manager Peter Tunley, past president of the CMAA.

Served With Distinction Peter J. Tunley* Noel Coed Harmut Hofacker

The clubhouse

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MCMA president Patricia Barbino with her Board: (left to (right) Burton Ward, Michael D. Loper, John C. Bladt, Randall J. Ruder, David A. Shaw, Barry Chandler, and Donald F. Mollitor.

Served With Distinction Alain Hassas* Robert Hall Patricia T. Barbino Wolfgang Bulka

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he house and grounds of the Strathmore-Vanderbilt Country Club have a storied history tracing back to the very beginnings of Manhasset and its individual subcommunities. The Strathmore-Vanderbilt was part of the Streckel estate, one of the sixty “land grants” that formed Manhasset in 1860. Streckel was a wealthy farmer who also was prominent in the sugar industry. His property extended from Lakeville Road on the west to Searington Road on the east, and from Northern Boulevard south to Powerhouse Road. In 1906 title to the estate passed to William Chester, who subdivided the property into country estates for members of New York’s upper social strata, among whom were the Whitneys, the Paysons, and the Paleys. The next two decades were a period of elegant weekend country leisure, riding, and entertainments. In 1914 Chester sold the last piece of his holdings, a French Chateau, to Louis Sherry, the ice cream and candy baron. Sherry redecorated the chateau in the style of the Petite Trianon, Marie Antoinette’s cottage at Versailles, going so far as to import a complete paneled library from France. Among the elegant features on the estate were the forty-foot waterfall in the courtyard and the formal gardens, which included aromatic boxwood trees and rare foliage. The gardens were ideal for an evening walk. After Sherry died in 1923, the house and 700 acres were sold to Frank Munsey, who owned the New York Sun, Baltimore Sun, a bank, and Munsey Trust, and was a patron of the arts. Munsey didn’t share Sherry’s architectural tastes, and so spent two years and $2.5 million renovating the mansion. He added two wings and an

octagonal tower trying to emulate the Louis XV architecture he preferred. He eliminated the waterfall, fearing that an assassin might climb to the top and shoot him in his bedroom. Munsey died a bachelor before the project was finished, and the estate was willed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Subsequently, Graham Fair Vanderbilt purchased the house and 100 acres, and used the estate to host numerous parties. Eventually, though, the property came into the hands of Consuelo Vanderbilt, whose interests lay in Europe. Vanderbilt sold the property to developer William Levitt, who at the time was building “Strathmore” communities in Manhasset, and liked the idea of a French Chateau at the end of a long, winding, tree-lined drive. His vision was to create an association of property owners who shared in the maintenance and benefited from the facilities, which include four tennis courts and a swimming pool.

The Strathmore-Vanderbilt clubhouse

Sunningdale Country Club

here was at least one golfer in Westchester County during the early part of the century with a special affection for the Sunningdale Golf Club in England, and he must have been instrumental in naming the Sunningdale Country Club in Scarsdale. The Westchester club was established in November of 1913 by a group of twelve men. The club’s early roster included such names as Gimbel, Bamberger, Stern, Rothschild, and Wallach. Sunningdale’s founders leased an existing nine-hole golf course in Mt. Vernon, near the intersection of White Plains Road and what is now the Cross County Parkway. It had been the second home of the Siwanoy Country Club, which moved to its present site in Bronxville for the 1914 season. Club facilities in Mt. Vernon included a restaurant and tennis courts. But like Siwanoy, Sunningdale’s golfers soon felt the need for an eighteen-hole golf course, and in mid-summer of 1916 purchased the present 175-acre site on the western extreme of Scarsdale, high above the Sprain Brook Parkway. The property was of some historical interest, having been an encampment site during the Revolutionary War for the French troops who had come over in 1781 to aid the American cause. The grand opening of the “new” Sunningdale took place on Memorial Day 1918. The original clubhouse had an additional wing added during the 1920s – an extension of the locker room, plus rooms upstairs for the club’s bachelors. The swimming pool was added in the early 1930s, necessitating major changes to the golf course. Major renovations to the house and grounds took place during the 1960s, when a new grill and card room

were added, a new golf compound was built, including pro shop, club storage, and cart storage, all under one roof, and the halfway house at the eleventh tee was remodeled. Paddle tennis was added to the club’s offerings at this time, and a watering system with reservoirs was installed, the latter creating a few new water hazards for the golfers. The clubhouse was expanded again in 1987 when two additional dining rooms were added, a lounge and additional staff quarters were built, and the dining terrace was enlarged to conform to the larger clubhouse. The external design of the clubhouse extension was completely in harmony with the original structure. Sunningdale’s first eighteen-hole golf course soon proved unsatisfactory, and in 1920 A. W. Tillinghast was commissioned to orchestrate a major revision in the course, extending it to 6,300 yards. The course recently underwent restoration under architect Stephen Kay that has made Sunningdale a strong challenging “members” course. Sunningdale’s facilities also include ten tennis courts, two paddle tennis courts, a large swimming pool, and a kids pool.

General Manager Raymond Corcoran

Served With Distinction Raymond Corcoran* Hans Jueneman Armand Ausserlechner Bill Birner The club’s spacious Lounge

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General Manager Brian Gillespie standing outside the clubhouse.

he story of the Tamarack Country Club begins in 1909 across the Connecticut border in Port Chester, New York. It was there that a group of local businessmen formed the Port Chester Country Club. On the site a mile from the railroad depot, they built a clubhouse and a nine-hole golf course, with fairways maintained by a flock of sheep. In 1923 they expanded to a full eighteen holes. But that regulationsize course would last the club only five years. When the town of Port Chester wanted the land as a site for a new high school, the club was informed in 1928 that it would have to move. Fortunately, the club realized $242,000 from the sale of the land, and so was able to purchase the vacant Griffen Farm on Locust Road in Greenwich, 500 feet above sea level. Golf architect Charlie Banks, in the process of building the nearby Whippoorwill course, was engaged to build an eighteen-hole course of championship proportions. Clubhouse architect Frank Moore built a charming New England-style clubhouse that nestled perfectly into the setting. It opened on July 4, 1929.

Served With Distinction Brian Gillespie* Thomas Tuthill Louis Nanarello

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The change in address was accompanied by a name change. The club was now called Tamarack in recognition of the species of pine tree indigenous to the region. Thirty years later, the club’s green committee would plant 10,000 pine trees (costing fifty cents each) on the course, most of them between parallel fairways to protect golfers against errant shots. Tamarack survived the years of the Depression and World War II, thanks in large part to a handful of members who personally sustained the club financially. The club also has weathered a major fire, which destroyed the clubhouse on April 18, 1967. During the year it took to build the present clubhouse, the club operated out of an expanded cart barn. Today, Tamarack’s members enjoy four tennis courts and an Olympic-size swimming pool. Tamarack was host of the IKE Tournament during its formative years (1953–1962). The tournament was the brainchild of F. M. Flynn, publisher of the Daily News, who wanted his paper to sponsor a golf tournament. He asked sportswriter Dana Mozley to arrange a meeting with leading players Willie Turnesa, Frank Strafaci, and Tommy Goodwin. Their consensus was that a stroke-play tournament for amateurs was needed. After the News’ Washington correspondent secured President Dwight Eisenhower’s permission to use his name, the “Ike” Tournament, sponsored by the Daily News, became a reality. The private-club segment of the first Ike was contested at Tamarack, as was the entire tournament the second year. Whippoorwill became cohost starting in 1955.

T h e Ta m O ’ S h a n t e r C l u b

he Tam O’Shanter Club was founded on July 4, 1962, by a group of fifty men who purchased Fruitledge, a 157-acre tract of land in Brookville off Fruitledge Road, The property formerly had been a potato farm owned by John Froelich, who retained 20 acres for his own use. The Froelich home became the original Tam O’Shanter clubhouse. The pool area was surrounded by rickety wooden cabanas and two run down tennis courts. The fields that became the golf course were treeless. The original name proposed for the club was Fruitledge Country Club, but this was quickly changed to Tam O’Shanter. The founding fathers engaged Steven Kristoff to design an eighteen-hole golf course on the property. Golf was the club’s primary activity at the time. In 1967 Robert Trent Jones was brought in to renovate part of the course. The same cadre of men also led the club following a disastrous clubhouse fire in 1971. This gave the club a new beginning, and the impetus to build on the same location one of the most striking modern clubhouses in the region. Located on a knoll overlooking the golf course, at the highest point on grounds, and made of glass and brick, with sharp angles, the new clubhouse opened in June of 1973. In the interim, the club operated out of trailers and tents. By 1993 Tam O’Shanter had 230 members, who

truly supported the club, funding several major renovations during the mid-1990s. The main dining room was renovated in 1995, followed by the locker rooms during 1996 to 1998. During this same period, extensive work was done on the golf course under the aegis of David Postelwaite. The Tam O’Shanter clubhouse is operated on an opulent scale, featuring a masseur, a masseuse, and a beauty parlor in the clubhouse, and chefs on the golf course during tournaments. The social life is the core of the club, which is known for its exceptional food. The membership is comparatively young, with numerous family activities on the social calendar. The club’s non-golfing facilities include six Har-Tru tennis courts adjacent to an Olympic-size swimming pool.

Served With Distinction Steven Vando* David Mackrell Donald P. Emery Marc Scuteri Hans Juenemann Sam Grayson General Manager Steven Vando in his office.

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I The Towers Country Club in the autumn.

Former General Manager John Daskos

Served With Distinction John Daskos Janice Sussman

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n 1969 Sigmund Sommer was the successful bidder on the 126-acre property of the Glen Oaks Country Club on the Nassau-Queens border. One of New York’s most successful builders and developers, primarily of apartment buildings and shopping centers, Sommer paid $16 million for the land, and allowed the club to retain use of their golf course through September of 1971, when their new facilities in Old Westbury were near completion. Of the 126 acres, 105 were in Queens and 21 in Nassau, and the different zoning laws in the two counties proved pivotal. Sommer chose Abraham H. Salkowitz as his architect, and followed Salkowitz’ advice to build three towers on the Queens property rather than an array of garden apartments throughout the old golf course – thereby saving the golf course. New York City zoning laws stipulated that no building could block more than a 45 degree view of the sky for neighboring residents, which presented no problem to Salkowitz, who presented his plans for North Shore Towers to Sommer in October of 1970. The surrounding community quickly objected, not just to the height of the buildings, but also to the project’s possible effects on traffic flow, police and fire service, and availability of schools. There was also the nagging suspicion that more towers would be built. The Community Planning Board rejected the plan in May of 1971, involving Mayor John V. Lindsay and future governor Mario Cuomo in the debate. One local politician asked the mayor to condemn the property and use it for needed parkland.

Nevertheless, the needed variances were obtained on August 11, 1971, and ground was broken soon thereafter. The towers, called Amherst, Beaumont, and Coleridge, were built (simultaneously) of reinforced concrete, rather than with a steel frame, and were completed in 1973. They stand 326 feet tall, thirty-three stories high, with views of the Manhattan skyline and Long Island Sound. The towers are supplemented with an underground parking facility, an arcade and a promenade of retail shops, also underground, as well as indoor and outdoor pools, five tennis courts, and a health spa and movie theater. The three towers occupy just 2 percent of the property, leaving 98 percent of the golf course preserved as open space, albeit many of the holes disrupted. To further complicate the task of golf architect Frank Duane, most of the acreage in Nassau County was sold after being rezoned for office buildings (the original course extended almost to Lakeville Road). Duane preserved only three of the original greens (No. 3, 11, and12), but was able to fit a shorter, yet sporty, eighteen-hole course into the property. The present maintenance building is located on the site of the old Glen Oaks clubhouse. And so was born the Towers Country Club, available exclusively to residents of North Shore Towers. The complex, which opened for rentals in November of 1974, includes 1,740 luxury units which are home to 5,200 residents.

C o u n t r y C l u b o f Tr o y

he Country Club of Troy was organized in 1925 to “create a place of rest and recreation for the members and their families, promote social intercourse among its members, and encourage the playing of golf and other games and sports.” The clubhouse, locker room, and pro shop were designed by Roger Pliny, a prominent New York City architect. The Colonial-style clubhouse, which actually is a series of buildings, is located at the edge of a wooded gorge, which the main lounge overlooks. Early features of the clubhouse included a flagstone terrace overlooking the eighteenth hole, dotted with a number of round tables covered with beach umbrellas; it was replaced by a cocktail lounge in 1961. Also, a screened-in porch adjacent to the dining room, a pleasant place for outdoor dining in the summertime; it recently was converted to a television room for the children. In the early years, there was an unpaved, mile-long dirt entrance road, with crushed stone spread around the clubhouse area. Members driving to the club in newly-washed cars would soon find them covered with dust . . . and the etchings of children. The first General Manager was a man named Welch, who is remembered for the tiger skin hanging diagonally on the back wall of his office, and for selling candy to the children and cigarettes to . . . Walter Travis designed the Troy golf course, although he died well before it opened. There was a formal opening of sorts in 1929 when a foursome including the great women’s champion Glenna Collett Vare played the two holes that were open at the time. The eighteen-hole course, completed according to Travis’ plans, has changed very little over the years.

The club has always had tennis courts and a swimming pool, and in more recent times has added paddle tennis courts. The pool once had three diving boards, including one on a high tower. A gorgeous elm once stood at the clubhouse end of the pool, but was taken down mysteriously after a child complained that it was too cold in its shade. The club once had separate boys and men’s locker rooms – the girls shared one with their mothers. Today, the children use the building at the pool for locker space. Another popular activity at the club is bridge, which is a year-round passion among the ladies. In an earlier era, the annual club show spotlighting the vocal and acting talents of the members was a social highlight. The July 4 fireworks displays were popular with the members and residents. In 1931 a rocket was launched carrying an American flag, and the Star Spangled Banner played as the flag descended.

General Manager John Matway preparing for a wedding reception.

Served With Distinction John D. Matway* Richard Hackenburg Donald Emery The clubhouse and terrace

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Carolyn Kepcher outside club.

Served With Distinction Carolyn Kepcher* Ben Herman

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onald J. Trump, an avid low-handicap golfer at Winged Foot, made his entry into the arena of Metropolitan golf club ownership at Trump National Golf Club, the former Briar Hall Country Club in Briarcliff Manor. Trump purchased the property for $8 million in 1997. The course, which had been six years in the planning, opened in 2002 and has exceeded even Trump’s expectations. It has already been called the greatest course in the New York area, and has been nominated as the best new private course of the year. Jim Fazio designed the golf course, using the routing of eleven of the original holes, guided by an Audubon Signature Program. The new course cost $30 million, and was the largest excavation project in Westchester County history. Over three million yards of earth were moved. The course features winding creeks, lakes, gorges, stone bridges, and a cavernous ravine with a 120-foot drop that is crossed by two 200-foot-long suspension bridges. At $7 million, Trump calls the par3 thirteenth hole the most expensive golf hole ever built. The green is framed by a 101-foot-tall black granite waterfall that pumps 5,000 gallons of water per minute. Trump plans to cap the membership at 250, and they will enjoy a $15 million 45,000-square-foot Robert Lamb Hart clubhouse with amenities such as a swimming pool, spa and health center, and three indoor practice areas with computerized screens for instant feedback. Trump National’s predecessor, Briar Hall, traces its roots to the turn of the century and a gentleman named

Walter W. Law, who built a private nine-hole course on his estate, on a ridge high above the Hudson. Known as the Briarcliff Golf Club. Its golf course was available to guests of the adjacent Briarcliff Lodge, which was located on high ground overlooking the course. The first hole was a conversation piece, a 250-yard, par-4 starting from a tee atop the pro shop, with a toboggan-slide drop of 250 feet down the hill to a green nestled in the valley below. In 1922 an additional eighteen-hole golf course, designed by Devereux Emmet, was built across the street. The catalyst was Chauncey Depew Steele, the new proprietor of the Lodge, who wanted to make Briarcliff “one of the sports Mecca’s of the East.” Gene Sarazen served two years (1923–1924) as professional at the new Briarcliff Country Club, at a salary said to have been the highest ever paid to a professional golfer. One feature of the Briarcliff course was the “elective” hole – there were two separate fourteenth holes, one moderate, the other a real tester. To avoid confusion with its neighbor, the name of the club was changed once again in 1924, this time to Briar Hills. In 1948, due to advancing age, Theodore Law, son of the founder, sold the club to a group of local businessmen who changed the name to Briar Hall Golf and Country Club. There was another ownership change in 1980. By that time, the golf course and club facilities had become rundown, and the membership had grown old, trends the new ownership set out to reverse, but failed.

Tu m b l e B r o o k C o u n t r y C l u b

umble Brook Country Club, Inc. was named for the brook which flows through the club property. It was incorporated and organized in October 1922 and was largely an outgrowth of an in-town social group known as the Touro Club. Shortly thereafter the club purchased the 155-acre R. G. Miller farm in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Willie Park, one of the foremost golf course architects of the time, was commissioned to design the first nine and construction was then started. Erection of the clubhouse, designed by local architects Smith and Basset, was begun the following year. In 1924 the opening affair at the clubhouse was held at the end of May. The Annual Anniversary Dinner Dance is held each year in May commemorating this occasion. The golf course was opened to play that same season. The Club’s first two tennis courts were not built until May of 1929. In December of that same year, the club purchased an additional 4½ acres of land on Simsbury Road from the Estate of Curtis Cook, which is where the practice fairway and driving range are currently located. On September 15, 1946, the original $60,000 mortgage note on the club, dated February 13, 1924, was retired and burned. The next year, construction of the second nine designed by Orrin E. Smith, was begun and opened to play in the spring of 1949, That same year, an addition to the clubhouse was built, enlarging the kitchen and providing for the private dining room and a downstairs card room. During the next six years,

the clubhouse was renovated, redecorated, and the locker rooms were enlarged. In addition, the swimming pool, pool building, snack bar, and new pro shop were all built. In 1960 the club purchased the Humphrey Farm. north of the original club property, thereby assembling sufficient land for a third nine holes. After more than a year of planning, ground was broken for a new clubhouse in the fall of 1963. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving in 1964, an open house was held for all members, officially opening the new clubhouse. The third and fourth tennis courts were added to the club’s facilities in 1965, with a fifth court added in 1970. Eventually, two more tennis courts were completed in 1974 to accommodate the increase in play, The club’s two paddle tennis courts were opened in 1969. The third nine, designed by George Fazio, opened for limited play in the fall of 1970, and was eventually integrated with the rest of the golf course in 1971. In 1974 construction of an enlarged and improved golf pro shop was begun and completed. The club celebrated its Fiftieth Anniversary with gala festivities throughout Memorial Day weekend 1974. The original membership numbered about 140. During the Depression, it dwindled to below 100. Then, in the mid-1940s, the membership begin to climb. In 1999, after a year of festivities in celebration of its Seventy-fifth Anniversary, membership stands at over 450.

General Manager Ara Paul Daglian

Served With Distinction Ara Paul Daglian* William J. Wild Michael Robinson Noel Berry

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T h e Tu x e d o C l u b

Former General Manager Ian Fetigan

Served With Distinction Kenneth W. Adams* Ian D.N. Fetigan Robert Josey John Perry

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ierre Lorillard, a great-grandson of the tobacco tycoon Peter Lorillard, had a vision for the area surrounding a lake in the Ramapo Mountains of lower Orange County. He wanted to develop the area for sporting activities – hunting and fishing, primarily – and to this end he envisioned a “park,” including an exclusive club and community. He owned 2,000 acres there, which were ticketed for his project. He named it Tuxedo Park, the anglicized version of the Indian name for the lake, “P-tuck Sepo.” which translates as “home of the bear.” In October of 1885 Lorillard formally organized the club and engaged noted architect Bruce Price to build his dream. Price quickly gathered a work crew of 1,800 men and in the next eight months, despite a severe winter, built “thirty miles of graded dirt and macadam roads, a complete water and sewage system, the Park gatehouse and police station, twenty two turreted cottages, two blocks of stores, the village stables, a new dam, an icehouse, a swimming tank, the hatchery, and the Clubhouse itself.” The latter, a huge gray wooden building with wide porches, opened on May 30, 1886, with a gala party that attracted comment in the New York press. Within a few years, the club built a golf course, race track, and mile-long toboggan slide. The total cost for the project was $2,00,000, no meager sum in those days. Hunting and fishing proved to be failures in the controlled environment of the Park, which was surrounded by an eight-foot high fence. Nonetheless, Tuxedo Park soon became a fashionable playground for New York’s upper social strata. Names like Waldorf and Astor adorned the club’s membership roster. Most of the

original members built homes in the Park. Thereafter, the Tuxedo Park Association, which administered the Park, established a strict residency policy for membership in the club, and controlled that membership by selling property only to the chosen few. The social highlight of the season at Tuxedo Park was the Autumn Ball. This gala occasion also served as a coming out party for many of society’s debutantes. The initial Autumn Ball in 1886 marked the first appearance in this country of a tail-less dinner jacket destined to become known as the “tuxedo.” Golf was introduced to Tuxedo by Dr. E. C. Rushmore, who had heard of the game’s popularity in Great Britain and thought it “had possibilities” in this country as well. Unaware of the pioneer group just across the river at St. Andrew’s, Rushmore sent to Montreal for clubs and balls, and a crude six-hole course was laid out early in the summer of 1889. To improve their golf course, the members turned, upon recommendation from Montreal, to a Scottish engineer working in nearby Patterson named Henry Hewat. Hewat designed a nine-hole course on the opposite side of the lake from the clubhouse, and had it ready for play in April of 1892. Due to the remote location of the course, though, the game failed to grow in popularity, until 1894 when a new course was built near the north gate of the park. That course lay entirely to the west of the Ramapo River, and was divided by the Erie Railroad tracks and the old Orange Turnpike (Route 17). Tuxedo’s course was expanded to a full eighteen holes in 1897. The course underwent a major facelift in 1934, when additional land leased from the Palisades

Interstate Park left sufficient room for several new holes. The latter work is credited to W. S. Flynn; his course was recognized as a very difficult one, a hilly course featuring numerous water crossings. Tuxedo’s original clubhouse was torn down in the early 1920s to make room for the present clubhouse. Work was begun in 1926. The sprawling stone structure, designed by John Russell Pope and built in the English Country Manor style with open terraces, was unveiled in 1928. It was severely damaged by fire in 1943, and rebuilt at half its original size. The stunning view of Tuxedo Lake, however, has not been disturbed. The club’s swimming pool, just outside the clubhouse, also opened in 1928. The entire Tuxedo community was devastated by the Depression and Second World War. By the mid1940s, only a handful of the original families remained. Many of the fabulous homes that dotted the hillsides had been shut down In September of 1953 construction of the New York Thruway jolted the club, cutting a wide swath through the golf course, swallowing up all but the four holes located west of the Erie Railroad tracks. In the final

analysis, the Thruway and the Tappan Zee Bridge (which opened in 1955) actually helped save the club, making it more accessible to prospective new members from nearby counties. Also in 1953 Tuxedo purchased the Morgan Hamilton farm in Eagle Valley, two miles south of the lake, and outside the Park. At the same time, Robert Trent Jones was hired to design the new layout. By July 4, 1956, nine holes were ready for play, and the new golf clubhouse had been completed. The full eighteen holes were finished the following year. Other sports have proven popular at the club. The club’s racquets building, built in 1899, houses racquets, squash, and court tennis, the latter being a sport that Tuxedo helped pioneer in this country. Tuxedo’s court has the distinction of being the oldest in this country in continuous use. The club’s six lawn tennis courts lie outside this building. The club’s boathouse was built in 1938. Tuxedo’s new golf house, designed by Robert Lamb Hart, opened in 1998. It includes locker rooms and dining area. Outside are two paddle courts, making Tuxedo the only club in the country to support five different racquets sports

Former General Manager Robert Josie and wife Margaret, who were deeply involved with AABR for many years.

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Village Club at Sands Point

The new 14th hole overlooking the bay. Photo by Kristin Quirin.

Served With Distinction Ed Ronan*

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he Guggenheim estate in Sands Point has had a storied, albeit varied, existence over the years. It started life as host to Gold Coast society during the 1920s, was transformed into a corporate resort, and recently became a private club for residents of Sands Point. The Guggenheims amassed their family fortune primarily in mining, smelting, and refining. It was Isaac Guggenheim who built the original Manor House in 1916–1918 on his 210-acre piece of property overlooking Hempstead Harbor. Isaac called his estate “Villa Carola.” After Isaac’s death in 1922, his brother Solomon bought the estate at public auction, and renamed it Trillora Court. Founder of the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan, Solomon lived on his estate until his death in 1948. In 1924 he engaged Scottish golf professional William Mackie to lay out a nine-hole golf course on the property. The course also was called Trillora. The original mansion was destroyed by fire, and the present building, Italian Renaissance in style, was quickly constructed in its place. It was designed by H. Van Buren Magonigle, and was surrounded by formal gardens, a greenhouse, orchards, and vegetable and flower gardens which, typically, included 6,000 tulips. There also were pastures for the Guggenheim’s prizewinning dairy herd and horses. Among the outbuildings in 1924 were the main entrance lodge, golf clubhouse, farm house, hay barn, and dog kennels. The mansion was built around an open central court, and included a music room with a large Estay organ, and a billiards room which has become the

Gothic library in the present clubhouse. The mansion’s exterior is a tapestry of brick in a variety of colors. The setting was chosen for the view and for its exposure to the prevailing summer breezes from the southwest. During the 1920s, there were as many as 104 people employed on the estate. Solomon Guggenheim, himself, commuted to New York City on the smaller of his two yachts (a 25-footer); he used the larger one (a 125 footer) for European cruises. After Solomon Guggenheim’s death in 1948, the estate was purchased by a group of builders who planned to construct a large colony of houses on the property. In fact, they built three before their project failed. In 1953 IBM Chairman Thomas Watson purchased the estate as a country club for IBM’s New York area employees. The Beach House was built in 1954. The computer giant first used the estate for executive training, then (after 1979) as a conference center. The property was sold to the Village of Sands Point on December 1 ,1994, and since 1997 has been operated as a private club by the Village for its resident members. The mansion remains the focal point of club activities, hosting summer concerts, Holiday parties, and weekly bridge gatherings. Club facilities also include a swimming pool overlooking the beach and a new golf clubhouse. And the old nine-hole golf course has been replaced by a sparkling new eighteen-hole course designed by noted architect Tom Doak that plays east to the shores of Hempstead Harbor.

Wa c c a b u c C o u n t r y C l u b

accabuc traces its roots to 1776 when Enoch and Jemima Mead moved north from Greenwich, and eventually built an estate they called Elmdon. Descendants of Mead have since played a significant role in Waccabuc’s history. The name Waccabuc is an Anglicization of the Algonquin “wequa-paug” for “long pond,” a reference to Lake Waccabuc at the northern edge of town, where the Waccabuc Country Club maintains its lakefront annex. The spirit of Waccabuc derives from the families which have, for several generations, lived in the community, and given it a sense of continuity. The town of Waccabuc retains the charming, family-oriented country lifestyle of previous centuries. A stone marker on the front lawn of the country club states that the distance to New York City is 52 miles. The marker dates back to the colonial era, and was part of a system instituted by Ben Franklin when he was Postmaster General. In 1830 Martin Mead, a grandson of Enoch Mead, built a small house near Elmdon. Meanwhile, Enoch’s granddaughter Thyrza married the prominent printer Robert Hoe and they passed their summers at Elmdon until 1877, when they bought Martin Mead’s house, enlarged it, and called it Indian Spring Farm. In the early 1890s they added many new facilities, including a lawn tennis court and a private racetrack, the remains of which can be seen on the golf course. A couple of years before his death in 1912, Hoe added a nine-hole golf course over the terrain now occupied by the front nine. Upon Hoe’s death, the estate was sold to the Kings and Westchester Land Company of banker George Mead, another grandson of Enoch Mead, and converted it into the Lake Waccabuc Inn, a full country resort

which attracted clientele from as far away as Boston. So that Waccabuc residents might continue enjoying the use of Hoe’s golf course, the Waccabuc Country Club was formed in 1912. The club and the inn operated as a “cooperative venture” until 1927, when the club took over the lease on some 200 acres, including the inn and golf course, and the inn became its clubhouse. The club eventually bought the property in 1960. The clubhouse is supplemented by an outdoor terrace seating 150 people. The clubhouse was doubled in size in 1996, the start of a long-range plan that has seen a new golf shop, cart storage building, and irrigation system, as well as a renovated tennis house and halfway house. The original golf course was expanded to eighteen holes in 1923 under the direction of members and golf professionals. The course underwent a major revision in 1961–1962 at the hands of golf architect Alfred Tull, who orchestrated a major revision of the front nine and two holes on the back nine. Waccabuc members enjoy six Har-Tru tennis courts and four platform tennis courts at the clubhouse as well as a beach club in an idyllic setting on a picturesque lake, where the facilities include a regulation size swimming pool at lake’s edge, boating, canoes, kayaks, a full children’s day camp, and a deck seating 120.

The Waccabuc clubhouse, with the Ben Franklin plaque in foreground.

Served With Distinction John D. Assumma* Captain J. Douglas Miller

General Manager John Assumma celebrating Christmas at club with wife Maureen and four children.

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We s t c h e s t e r C o u n t r y C l u b

General Manager William Minard (left) and Executive Director Bob James (right).

Served With Distinction Robert C. James* William Minard* John J. Roberts Gerd Koening Joe Vincent John H. McGuire Martin Barry James McHugh Tom Dempsey

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or a number of years the Buick Classic at the Westchester Country Club has been among the biggest benefactors of local charities on the PGA Tour. In retrospect, it can be said that the facilities of the Westchester Country Club were destined to host a major tour event, even though that is not what the club’s founder had in mind. John McEntee Bowman was a former stable boy who rose to become president of the Bowman-Biltmore hotels, one of the largest hotel chains in the world. Bowman envisioned an ideal community for millionaire sportsmen, a residential development built around a golf course. Focal point of the community would be an eight-story hotel, including private apartments for fulltime residents and luxurious rooms for the well-heeled traveler. Private homes would be built on the grounds, serviced by the hotel as far as meals, maid service, gardeners, and mechanics were concerned. Bowman estimated that the project would cost some $2,000,000. That figure, and the scope of his plans, astounded the post-World War I golf world. Bowman began implementing his plans in 1919 when he purchased 583 acres from the Hobart J. Park estate in Rye, including farmland and woods on a hilltop in Harrison, with a distant view of Long Island Sound. He later acquired the adjacent 35-acre Hill estate, then another 62 acres five miles away on Manursing Island. The cost of the land alone exceeded Bowman’s initial estimate of $2,000,000. Work on the hotel began late in the summer of 1919. Designed by the architectural firm of Warren and Wetmore in the style of a nineteenth-century Italian villa, the brick and white stucco structure took five years

to complete. In the meantime, work began in 1920 on a “temporary” Sports House which included all the features typically associated with a golf clubhouse. Work also began on the Beach Club on Manursing Island, which eventually would include a casino, an Olympicsize saltwater swimming pool, and a thousand-foot beachfront for swimming and canoeing. Bowman then commissioned Walter Travis to design forty-five holes of golf – an eighteen-hole championship course, a sporty, less-demanding eighteen-hole test, and a nine-hole course for beginners and practice. Travis was sixty years old at the time (1921). The courses were built by the Philadelphia architectural firm of Toomey and Flynn, and were ready for play early in 1922. With the Sports House and the Beach Club also completed (the hotel itself was behind schedule), the Westchester-Biltmore Country Club was unveiled to the world on May 25, 1922. The grand opening of the Beach Club took place two weeks later. The total cost had exceeded $6,000,000, but the facilities were unequaled anywhere in the world. Club facilities also included an indoor swimming pool, squash courts, and a brokerage office in the clubhouse, three polo fields (now the practice area), a bridle path, a track for horse racing, twenty tennis courts, and eventually five paddle tennis courts. Westchester’s five grass courts to this day are considered among the best of their kind on the East Coast. The Westchester-Biltmore Country Club was an immediate success – and had little difficulty attracting members. With an initiation fee of just $25, Bowman had 1,500 members signed up by opening day. Lavish parties were the order of the day at the club throughout

the “Roaring Twenties.” The West Course was advertised as “reversible” for winter play – that is, the holes could be played backwards, with the ample-sized tees used as greens. Despite being an artistic success, however, the club was experiencing financial problems. By 1929 it was more than $5,000,000 “in the red.” In effect, the realization of Bowman’s dream had destroyed his empire. By 1929 eighty-one homes had been built on the grounds of the Westchester-Biltmore, and the owners of these and other members of the club had reason for concern. They were forced to act to protect their own interests and to insure their club’s future. In rapid succession they formed the Harrison-Rye Realty Corporation and, on June 30, 1929, purchased the club from Bowman for roughly $4 million, then leased it back to the newly formed Westchester Country Club, which had been incorporated on July 3. The new club immediately confronted the Depression and payment of its mortgage. Membership dropped to a low of 700 before a vigorous recruiting campaign added almost 500 new members in the late 1930s. It took some creative accounting, however, to avoid bankruptcy and save the club, but this was accomplished. And then came World War II, and another drop in membership, this time to a low of 800. And once again the club came back. Today, the Westchester Country Club’s membership roster numbers 1,250. Over the years the club has entertained presidents, prime ministers, kings and queens. Members have included John McGillicuddy, CEO of Manufacturers Hanover, television host Ed Sullivan, opera star Robert Merrill, and former Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca. In May of 1988 Westchester unveiled a “significantly rebuilt” Sports House. The exterior facade was preserved, but very little else. The building now is thought to be the most complete athletic facility on the

Long-serving General Manager John McGuire

East Coast. It includes 1,000 men’s lockers, 400 women’s lockers, a family dining room, cocktail lounge, two bars, mixed grill, pro shop, exercise room, swimming pool, and two squash courts. While the West Course remains Westchester’s main attraction, hosting a PGA Tour event (now called the Buick Classic) yearly since 1967, the South Course has not been overlooked. Indeed, in recent years the club has made a concerted effort to toughen the course, and the South is now an outstanding members’ course.

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We s t c h e s t e r H i l l s C o u n t r y C l u b

General Manager Drew Bollard with clubhouse in background.

cross Ridgeway Avenue, and just down the road from the Gedney Farm Hotel, on an eminence with a view of Long Island Sound, was the 77acre estate of New York banker David Bigelow Safford. When Safford moved to Asheville, North Carolina, late in 1913, the year after the hotel opened, a nine-hole golf course was built on his former estate and his home was converted into a clubhouse. The course was built by Scottish professional Pete Clark who expanded it to eighteen holes by 1915. That course hosted the inaugural open championship of the Westchester Golf Association in 1920. The golf course was available to guests of the Gedney Farm Hotel across the street, which, during its

approximately ten-year existence, provided a steady flow of vacationing golfers. Primarily, though, the course was used by a cadre of golfers operating under the name Gedney Farm Country Club. (For more details about the hotel, see the Ridgeway Country Club history on page 198.) The club’s lease on the property expired late in 1921. When the owner offered the land for sale, the club was forced to act or face extinction, with very little in its treasury. Nonetheless, it was reorganized under the more fashionable name Westchester Hills in 1922. In 1924 Westchester Hills decided to invest in a major renovation. Noted architect Frank Moore created a Northern Italian style structure that opened in 1926. A separate locker house was built in 1924, and later connected to the main building. Westchester Hills weathered some difficult times during the Depression and World War II. Critical was an influx of members from the second Gedney Farm club across the street, which was dissolved during World War II, and the course operated as a public facility for several years. Westchester Hills’ moment in the national tournament spotlight came as co-host (with Ridgeway and Greenwich) of the LPGA Tour’s MasterCard International Pro-Am in 1985 to 1987.

Served With Distinction Drew V. Bollard* The original Westchester Hills clubhouse

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We s t h a m p t o n C o u n t r y C l u b

he Westhampton Country Club was founded in February of 1890 with three goals in mind: to foster social gatherings and dancing; to provide for a good baseball diamond; and to further the hotly fought sailboat races that were the focal point of the summer activities of the Westhampton colony. The club leased property west of Beach Lane, and built a clubhouse with wide verandahs “down by the shores of the bay.” Tennis also was popular at the club. Baseball was a vital part of club life, highlighted by an intense rivalry with the nearby Quogue Field Club. With little land available near the clubhouse, the club’s first (nine-hole) golf course was built at nearby Quiogue Point, with several holes along Quantuck Bay. In 1895 the club began acquiring tracts of land near the clubhouse, and a new nine-hole course was built there in 1898, extending down to Exchange Point. By 1915 the club’s golfers were thinking in terms of eighteen holes. And so the club leased its present property from member William C. Atwater, Sr., and borrowed sufficient money from Atwater to build the new golf course. The original clubhouse was moved across Moniebogue Bay to its present site during the winter chill. The dining room was added during the late 1950s and the men’s grill and locker room in 1988. The new golf course, designed by Southamptonite Seth Raynor, incorporated architectural ideas based on outstanding holes in the British Isles. Towards the end of the 1920s, reacting to a plethora of golfers, the club decided to build a second eighteen-hole course at Oneck Point, about a quarter of a mile south of the existing course. The club purchased

142 acres there, and hired Charlie Banks (a protégé of Raynor) to design “one of the finest golf courses on Long Island.” The new course opened in July of 1930. The terrain featured a chain of small lakes that emptied into the larger Oneck Lake. When the Depression hit, membership dropped from a high of 678 to just 109. The club found itself overextended, operating at a deficit, and unable to meet its mortgage payments. The Oneck Point facility was lost in July of 1933. The golf course simply disappeared over time. The Hurricane of 1938, whose eye passed over the Hamptons, added to the club’s financial woes. In 1944 a reorganized club, called Ketchaboneck, assumed the lease on a year-to-year basis. Ketchaboneck was a mere shell of a club, however, forced to operate on a minimum budget, with no funds even for repairs. The members purchased the facilities in July of 1950. The organization was renamed the Westhampton Beach Golf Club, then reverted back to the Westhampton Country Club the following year. Although open year-round, Westhampton’s season runs basically from the end of the school year through Labor Day.

A painting of the eighteenth hole and clubhouse by member George Lawrence.

Served With Distinction Michael H. Thorne* Evelyn Law George Caeners Michael H. Thorne, General Manager

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W e s t S i d e Te n n i s C l u b

Manager Alain Ghesquiere-Dierickx

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he West Side Tennis Club was organized on April 22, 1892, on the west side of Manhattan at a time when the tennis world centered around Newport, Rhode Island. The club began as a men’s social club in rented space on Central Park West between Eightyeighth and Eighty-ninth Streets, with three red clay tennis courts. By year’s end, there were five courts, and the founding thirteen members had grown to forty-three, seven of whom had been ranked players in 1885, the first year the USLTA formulated such rankings. The club grew quickly, and to find roomier quarters moved to a new home at Seventeenth Street between Morningside Drive and Amsterdam Avenue. There the club paid an annual rental of $160 – $20 per year for each of its eight courts. The club moved again six years later (in 1898) to 238th Street and Broadway, grounds covering two city blocks, room enough for twelve grass courts that were surrounded by fifteen clay courts. At the time, the national championships were played in Newport, where the tennis took a back seat to the social aspects of the occasion, which annoyed many of the West Side members who attended, several of whom were USLTA officials. They believed that West Side could put on a more professional sporting event. The Davis Cup matches were held at West Side in 1911, giving the club a chance to show its capabilities, but also highlighting the fact that the facilities at 238th Street were inadequate. And so in 1913 a Search Committee was appointed to find the club a new home. The committee found a ten-acre site in Forest Hills Gardens, a “charming evocation of an English country village,” minutes from Manhattan by subway or the

adjacent railroad. The property was purchased for a cost of $77,000 from the Sage Foundation, which developed Forest Hills Gardens. The Davis Cup was played in Forest Hills in 1914, and 12,000 people, the largest crowd ever to attend a tennis match in the United States, watched from a wooden grandstand erected for the occasion. There followed an intense controversy about where the 1915 nationals would be played – West Side or Newport. West Side was given the nod, and with one exception hosted the nationals (later called the US Open) through 1977. The men’s nationals were played at Bill Tilden’s home club in Philadelphia for the three years 1921 through 1923. There was one negative aspect to hosting the championships. The portable wooden grandstand had to be erected, then demolished for each event, and was stored on club grounds. For three months each year, the club was in turmoil. When Wimbledon built a stadium in 1922, it seemed inevitable that West Side would follow suit. The club purchased additional land from the Sage Foundation, and built a 14,000-seat horseshoe stadium there. The country’s first tennis stadium proved to be unexpectedly costly at $150,000, a burden that was somewhat alleviated by the USLTA’s promise that Forest Hills would become the permanent home of the national championships. Construction of the stadium began in April of 1923, and was well enough along to host the first Wightman Cup matches in August. Reacting to the drought of 1949, the club dug an artesian well to supplement the city’s water supply and provide sufficient water supply for the grounds.

Platform tennis was introduced at West Side in the 1950s, when one portable court was placed over courts Nos. 2 and 3. Prior to that, the club had been closed for the winter, closing its doors in early December and reopening in early April. By the late 1960s, the club had two heated aluminum courts. In the early 1970s, a bubble was placed over two of the tennis courts, and by 1979 the four north-side courts were inside the bubble, available for play year round. West Side’s grass courts were converted to Har-Tru in 1976, ending American tennis’s “grass era.” The US

Open was moved to larger quarters at Flushing Meadows after the 1977 tournament. West Side today maintains thirty-eight tennis courts (twenty-one HarTru, five red clay, four Deco-turf, and eight grass) and two platform tennis courts. The summer schedule is crowded with club tournaments, one of the most unusual being the Century Tournament, where the partners’ total age must exceed 100. The members also enjoy a busy social calendar. Duplicate bridge has grown in popularity starting in the 1950s.

The clubhouse as seen from the grass courts.

Served With Distinction Alain Ghesquiere-Dierickx* Robert A. Burger Michael Hoskam

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Wheatley Hills Golf Club

General Manager Toni DeMay

Served With Distinction Toni DeMay* Frederic G. Goldmann Wolfgang E. Bulka John Calhoun

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n 1912 the members of the Midland Club in Garden City proposed leaving the crowded Salisbury Links (today’s Cherry Valley Club) where they played, to form a private club of their own. Although the idea was vetoed, a splinter group proceeded to found the Wheatley Hills Golf Club in East Williston, which opened its doors in 1913. The name “Wheatley” dates back perhaps two centuries, and is a familiar one throughout the region northeast of the club. Indeed, the land immediately to the west of the club was known as Wheatley Ridge. The “movement away from Salisbury” was led by Richard W. “Pop” Turner, the club’s first president. The founding group consisted of some forty men, former Salisbury players all. They were joined in 1914 by another group of the same size, mostly Brooklynites, who were members of the short-lived Glenwood Country Club in Glenwood Landing, which was supplanted by the new North Shore Country Club that year. The club leased the William Titus farm of approximately 100 acres, and then engaged architect Devereux Emmet to design an eighteen-hole golf course. Emmet had nine holes ready for play by the fall of 1913, and the full course completed by October of the following year. Through its early years, the club’s property was bisected by the Long Island Motor Parkway, which divided the golf course into two nearly equal pieces, connected by a tunnel joining the ninth green and tenth tee. The club had its own private entrance from the Motor Parkway.

The road ultimately became antiquated, and was closed in 1938. In 1940 Wheatley Hills purchased its part of the Parkway’s right-of-way, had it landscaped, but did not revise the golf course. The Titus farmhouse, a white, two-story, Southern Colonial structure situated on the knoll to the east of the present clubhouse, served as Wheatley Hills’ first home. An old ship bell, located behind the house and used to signal farm workers at meal time and at the end of the work day, is the only reminder of that period. Now located in the middle of the practice putting green, it once was used to salute the victor in the club’s championship tournament, and now is rung to signal the start of shotgun tournaments. When the club purchased the land from the Titus estate in 1926, the present clubhouse, designed by J. H. Phillips, was built and dedicated on November 18, 1926. Early American in design, with stone walls, a slate roof, and a two-story Colonial portico, it was seriously damaged by fire on February 6, 1976, but quickly restored. The golf course was revised extensively after the 1931 season by Emmet and his partner, Alfred Tull. Nine new holes were built at that time. The occasion for the change was the building of the Northern State Parkway – as far as nearby Jericho Turnpike at that time. The new roadway cut across the eastern end of club property, destroying a few holes in that area. True to its heritage, Wheatley Hills remains today strictly a golf club.

Whippoorwill Club

he Whippoorwill Country Club was conceived in the mid-1920s, taking its name from the bird which once populated the Armonk area. The club’s grounds included the Afterglow Farm of George Mackay and a monastery, the ruins of which can be seen to the left of the present eighteenth fairway. A modest cobblestone and clapboard residence was converted into a clubhouse, and was supplemented by a new locker house. The club’s founders chose Donald Ross as their architect, and Ross built a course that was situated entirely on the east side of Whippoorwill Road. But in 1928 the members placed the development of the golf course and adjoining property in the hands of Frederick S. Ruth, who had gained prominence by developing club colonies at Mid-Ocean, Fisher’s Island, and Mountain Lake. Ruth envisioned “a fine, dignified, proprietary club . . . a thoroughly high-toned development made up of people all imbued with the desire for greater privacy and social protection than is now afforded by any other club within commuting distance of New York . . . who would like to spend summers in a really private park, among only the most delightful surroundings, and with every facility for enjoying the best of the out-of-doors.” Ruth advised the club to expand its holdings to 850 acres, and replace the Ross course with a distinctive twenty-seven-hole layout designed by Charles Banks, with whom Ruth had worked at Mid-Ocean and Fisher’s Island. He also envisioned that the course would be surrounded by magnificent homes, and that there

would be a magnificent clubhouse at the highest point on the property, with fifty bedrooms for members or guests spending a weekend or holiday at the club. Unfortunately, Ruth’s plans ran headlong into the Depression. Whippoorwill opened in 1930, although only eighteen holes were constructed. The proposed clubhouse never was built, nor were most of the homes, as the real estate market failed. Between 1932 and 1942, Whippoorwill was operated on a semi-private basis. Gas rationing put an end to golf at the old Whippoorwill in 1942, and the course grew hip high in weeds. The modern Whippoorwill Club traces its roots to 1942, when one of its neighbors, paper magnate Louis Calder, purchased the club’s property and paid off the club’s back taxes, a speculative move that began to pay dividends after World War II. A new club was incorporated in 1946, and work began to restore to the club some of the glory and dignity envisioned by Fred Ruth back in 1928. The golf course was restored quickly, with play commencing in April of 1947. The new club faced a crisis in 1950 when the old clubhouse was destroyed by fire. While the club operated from temporary quarters in an adjacent building, work started early in 1953 on the present clubhouse, which opened with a New Year’s Eve party that winter. The present proprietary Whippoorwill began in 1966, when the membership bought the club from Calder. The clubhouse underwent considerable expansion and modernization in 1988.

General Manager Raymond Gradale in front of the clubhouse.

Served With Distinction Raymond Gradale* Stephan T. Fischl

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Willow Ridge Country Club

General Manager Michael Lopez

Served With Distinction Michael Lopez* Michael D. Loper Kevin Harrington Barry Chandler George Caeners Frank Rotuna Robert Conca

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he Willow Ridge Country Club in Harrison has done business over the years under six different names, more than any other club in the Met Area. It is situated between two well-known clubs, Westchester Country Club and the Apawamis Club, and has managed to thrive in their shadows. This cloak of anonymity has made it perhaps the best-kept secret in Westchester County – despite a spectacular clubhouse setting high atop a knoll overlooking six exceptionally scenic and challenging golf holes. The story starts in 1917 when a group of prominent, wealthy men, possibly headed by Oliver Harriman, an early club president, and perhaps reacting to overcrowded conditions at Apawamis, established the Green Meadow Country Club. The new club acquired a 121-acre site including a building that had served as the New York State Home For the Insane, and was quickly converted into a golf clubhouse. They engaged golf professional Maurice McCarthy to design and build an eighteen-hole golf course. Then, as now, the signature hole was the “double dam” sixth hole, so named because of the two ponds and connecting waterfall that front the green. Green Meadow became a hotbed of golfing activity during the 1920s, but suffered severe financial problems during the Depression years, and eventually the club was dissolved. In 1941 it was succeeded by the Green Valley Country Club, a public course that was forced to close its doors for four years during World War II (1942–1945). After the war, two local golf professionals, Danny Galgano and Vince Paladino, purchased the property for $50,000 and established a private club called Hasty Brook.

Hasty Brook was followed in close order by two other private ventures, Willows Country Club in 1950 and Harrison Country Club in 1953, the latter run by the Gelman family from New Jersey. When the New York Thruway was built, the club obtained free landfill to build up the valley holes and thereby alleviate severe drainage problems. In 1965 a group of approximately ten dedicated golfers, all members of the Harrison Country Club who had grown tired of dealing with an absentee landlord, organized the Willow Ridge Country Club and leased the property from the Gelmans for ninety-nine years. Within a year, the town of Harrison unsuccessfully attempted to condemn club property and take it over for municipal recreation facilities that would have utilized the clubhouse, swimming pool, and golf course. The new club has prospered ever since, operating in full control of club property as if club-owned. The clubhouse underwent an extensive interior and exterior renovation in 1985.

The Willow Ridge clubhouse

Wiltwyck Golf Club

t the turn of the nineteenth century, the Hudson Valley proved to be fertile grounds for golf, home to the Dutchess Golf and Country Club in Poughkeepsie and the Powelton Club in Newburgh. So too in Kingston, where the Twaalfskill Golf Club was founded in 1898 as an elite, all-male bastion that survived with its nine-hole course as the “only game in town” right through the 1920s. In the unlikely year of 1933, one year after the Depression had reached its depths, a group of local “working men,” all members of the Kingston Kiwanis Club, culminated two years of discussion by forming a club they named “Wiltwyck,” Dutch for “wild refuge,” a name given to the area by Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant. The new club purchased the Treadwell estate, which extended from Hurley Avenue to Lucas Avenue on the western outskirts of Kingston. Construction of a nine-hole golf course began late in 1933, and it opened in 1934. It was a tough course, with the rough cut but twice a year with a sickle bar. And so Wiltwyck coexisted with Twaalfskill for a number of years, with the latter considered the “rich man’s club.” The seeds for change were planted in the early 1950s when the plan for the New York State Thruway routed the superhighway through the heart of the Wiltwyck golf course. Wiltwyck received $100,000 in damages from the Thruway Authority, and another $108,000 from the sale of the remaining land on the old golf course. Club President Arthur Davis proved a wise and capable leader at this time, insisting that the club take advantage of the situation to improve its facilities by

building an eighteen-hole golf course. To this end, the club engaged Robert Trent Jones, and in April of 1954 purchased the 140-acre Stewart farm. The new land was located half a mile south of the original site, bordering the Thruway, and Jones immediately set out to mold it into a championship golf course. He had nine holes ready for play by midsummer of 1955, and the full eighteen open the following year, when the new clubhouse opened. The members used a makeshift course on the Hurley Avenue side of the original site while awaiting completion of their new course. The only significant change in the golf course took place in 1959 when construction of the swimming pool shortened the once 600-yard seventeenth hole, a change orchestrated by the membership. Wiltwyck’s fortunes received a positive impulse in the mid-1970s when a number of people left Twaalfskill to join Wiltwyck and avail themselves of Wiltwyck’s extensive family activities. From that point on, Wiltwyck has retained its preeminent position in Kingston.

General Manager Jack Ruddick

The Wiltwyck clubhouse

Served With Distinction Jack G. Ruddick* Albert and Theresa Barone

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Winged Foot Golf Club

W General Manager Colin Burns, Sr.

The club’s living room

Served With Distinction Colin A. Burns, Sr.* James L. Noletti Stephen Fischl Rudy Sidler Forrest Davis

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inged Foot traces its roots back to 1920, when a small group of members of the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) felt the need for a course of championship quality close to Manhattan. But in 1921 the NYAC’s Board of Directors formally voted down their proposal that the club either purchase an existing course or build one of its own. Undaunted by that negative vote, and acting independently of the NYAC, they incorporated the Winged Foot Golf Club on August 5, 1921, taking for their name and insignia the emblem of the NYAC, a replicate of the mercury sculpture displayed in the lobby of that club’s building in Manhattan. That fall, with just the promise of a first-class golf club in Westchester County, Winged Foot enrolled 200 members, most of them from the roster of the NYAC. In May of 1922 Winged Foot purchased a 280-acre site in Mamaroneck. The land once belonged to the Mohican Indians, and later was the camping ground for two armies during the Revolution. It was adjacent to the home of novelist James Fenimore Cooper, whose books The Spy and The Last Of The Mohicans had been set in the Mamaroneck area. Architect Albert W. Tillinghast was engaged, and given the mandate: “Give us a man-sized course.” The forty-eight-year-old Tillinghast, the “in” architect of the 1920s, responded with two magnificent courses, the West and the East, both of which are perennially ranked among the country’s fifty greatest golf courses. Tillinghast had the two courses ready for play by June

16, 1923. Course construction was a monumental task. It is said that Tillinghast moved 7,200 tons of rock and cut down 7,800 trees to prepare the site. What resulted were thirty-six holes that bend right or left through beautiful forests, roll up and down typical Westchester countryside, flow across lakes and streams, and weave through a series of bunkers that so clearly define the preferred route to the flag. Winged Foot’s English Scholastic clubhouse was designed by Clifford C. Wendehack, and opened in 1924. The dining room and lounge were added the following year. The structure literally grew out of the ground on which its stands. The stone used to build the clubhouse came from the ground on which the golf courses were built, or from stone walls and fences already on the property. On December 22, 1972, a serious fire destroyed the interior of the dining room, but prompt restoration had the facility ready for service the following spring. Murals were added, bringing scenes from the two courses inside the clubhouse. Winged Foot has truly lived up to its founders’ expectations, hosting numerous national championship including four US Opens, two Women’s Opens, the US Amateur twice, and most recently the PGA Championship in 1997. In addition, the club conducts one of the most prestigious two-man team competitions in the country, the Anderson Memorial, named for one of the club’s founders and early golf champions, John G. Anderson.

Wo l f e r t s R o o s t C o u n t r y C l u b

he Wolferts Roost Country Club traces its roots to the Albany Press Club, a social club in downtown Albany that was founded in 1886. At various times, the Press Club’s clubhouse was located on North Pearl Street, then on Beaver Street, and finally on State Street. The club’s name was changed to the City Club of Albany in 1897; it had 150 members at the time. Resident members were required to live within 20 miles of Albany’s City Hall. Saturday nights were club nights, and members were expected to attend. In 1915 the club purchased approximately 50 acres, most of it the estate of the late Governor David B Hill, who had died in 1910. His estate was called Wolferts Roost, named for Washington Irving’s “Wolferts Roost and Other Tales.” The Press Club adopted the name Wolferts Roost at this time. Membership had grown to 390. The original nine-hole golf course, with sand greens, was designed by Harold Andrews, a civil engineer and amateur golfer. It opened on September 11, 1915. The Hill mansion was converted into a clubhouse, and a carriage house and stable were renovated into a men’s locker house. The club purchased an addi-

tional fifty acres from the adjacent Van Rensselaer estate in 1916, but it was not until well after World War I that the course was expanded. In 1921 A. W. Tillinghast, who was between Baltusrol and Winged Foot at the time, was hired to redesign the original nine and create a second nine as well. The greens were changed to grass at this time. The Tillinghast course opened on July 23, 1924, with an exhibition match featuring Walter Hagen. On November 13, 1926, the clubhouse was destroyed by fire. A new clubhouse, built on the same site, opened the following year. The club purchased an additional forty acres in 1931, and the course was redesigned by Leonard Ranier of Cooperstown. Another revision followed in 1938, creating basically the present course. Also during the late 1930s the club sold some land along Loundonville Road for residential development, the money alleviating financial problems caused by the Depression. In 1968 a new field house was constructed, replacing the old men’s locker house. The clubhouse was expanded in 1989.

The Wolferts Roost clubhouse

Served With Distinction Peter Young*

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Wo o d c r e s t C l u b

Former General Manager Arthur Crouch inside the clubhouse.

Served With Distinction Arthur J. Crouch Kurt A. Brod Wolfgang E. Bulka Michael Hoskam

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he Woodcrest Club was founded in 1960 when the former Burden estate in Syosset became available following the death of the second husband of Burden’s widow, Florence Sloane. The club was conceived by Pat Tiso, at the time golf professional at nearby Pine Hollow. The picturesque parkland golf course of the Woodcrest Club is the second reincarnation of a historic piece of land that started life as the Lewis farm, on which prize-winning cattle were raised. The farmhouse and stables were located in the vicinity of the present tenth green, and were reached by means of a road off Underhill Boulevard The farm buildings were torn down soon after the property was purchased in 1915 by James A. Burden, owner of Burden Iron. He converted the 120 acres into a magnificent “Gold Coast” estate called “Woodside.” His brick, stone, and concrete English Georgian manor house, which was built without a steel structure, was designed by noted architect William Adams Delano, whose credits included the White House. It would become the Woodcrest clubhouse. The paneling used in the building was imported from English castles. Burden employed a staff of forty-five for the daily operation of his estate, which included a prize-winning rose nursery (near the sixteenth green) and a polo field extending between the second and seventh greens. It was at Woodside that the Prince of Wales stayed during his visit to this country for the 1924 Westchester Cup polo matches between the United States and Great Britain, one of the great social happenings in “Gold Coast” history. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were fre-

quent houseguests of the Burden during Roosevelt’s White House years. Many a fox hunt were conducted on Woodside property. Immediately after purchasing the Burden property, the club made a large addition to the building to house a dining room, and imported the massive chandelier wall fixtures from Vienna. Clubhouse facilities today include a sports lounge with a billiards table, a fitness center, a steam room and sauna, a swimming pool with snack bar, and four tennis courts. For their golf course, the founding fathers turned to William Mitchell, who built a number of outstanding courses on Long Island during this period. Mitchell had Woodcrest read for play in 1963. The golf course was renovated starting in 1999, and brought back to its original design. A couple of the water hazards on the back nine were extended.

The Woodcrest clubhouse

Wo o d m e r e C l u b

ike several other golf clubs in the Met area, the Woodmere Club wasn’t born with golf in mind. In fact, Woodmere was founded in 1908 as a tennis club, and at a different site in the village of Woodsburgh. The club moved to its present location in 1910, purchasing some property along Railroad Avenue, and leasing adjacent land from the White family. Woodmere’s Colonial clubhouse had been built as a home in 1908, and was remodeled and opened on Labor Day, coinciding with the completion of the golf course. The building underwent a major renovation in 1994. The club’s leased acreage had a storied past in conjunction with the neighboring Rockaway Hunting Club. Several holes on Rockaway’s early golf course had been on that very land, as had the Hunt club’s second steeplechase course. For many years, the two club’s courses laid side by side, until 1939 when Rockaway Hunting sold its remaining land north of Atlantic Avenue. Woodmere’s golf course underwent constant upgrading during its early years. What resulted was a low-lying marshland links of definite Scottish flavor, even though the numerous hazards were man-made. Without question, the fourth hole was the centerpiece of the old course. It was a par-4 of about 400 yards, with a 20-foot-high cross bunker in the drive zone. Beyond the bunker, the fairway sloped right, and the three-tiered green featured a “valley of sin” through the middle, with out of bounds close to the right side. The club offered a $500 prize to anyone who could carry the bunker off the tee and stay in the fairway! The Woodmere caddies of 1925 were trailblazers of sorts, being the first in the Met area to carry with them

The Woodmere Club

on the course envelopes filled with grass seed to plant wherever divots were taken. The Woodmere golf course underwent a major facelift in 1947, when the club bought a large parcel of land from the Rockaway Hunting Club. The land was the former site of several golf holes which the latter club had discarded in 1939. Although Woodmere rejuvenated those holes for a short time, in 1949 Robert Trent Jones was commissioned to build an entirely new back nine. That land had been purchased outright from the White family that same year. A new seventeenth hole was built in 1952, again the direct result of a (smaller) land purchase from Rockaway Hunting. And the greenside bunkering, perhaps the distinguishing feature of the course, was remodeled in 1986-1987 by architect Brian Silva. Today, Woodmere’s members also enjoy six tennis courts and a unique “elevated” swimming pool. Indeed, the club’s first pool, dating back to the 1920s, was unequaled in the Met region, featuring two “floats” fifty yards apart, surrounded by deep water.

General Manager Donald Mollitor

Served With Distinction Donald F. Mollitor* Roland Frankel Kurt Kumbert

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Wykagyl Country Club

T The Wykagyl clubhouse

Served With Distinction Timothy Muessle* Brett A. Morris Gary Jorgenson James J. Noletti Walter Satterthwait Alexander Levchuck

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he Wykagyl Country Club came into being in 1898 as the Pelham Country Club. The club leased land north of the Boston Post Road, built a nine-hole golf course, and used a residence nearby as their clubhouse. Two months after their lease expired in October of 1904, the members signed a three-year-lease on the 186-acre Livingston Disbrow farm in New Rochelle. The Disbrow farmhouse became their clubhouse, providing room for lockers and a dining facility seating as many as twenty people. The club was renamed after the Wikagyl Indians, who once inhabited the region. The club’s new grounds were truly historic acres. One of the largest Indian “castles” stood near the site of the present clubhouse. Peter Faneuil, builder of Faneuil Hall, was born there in 1700. Neighbor Thomas Paine, author of “Common Sense,” may well have thought out his revolutionary ideas while strolling Wykagyl’s “fairways.” During the Revolution, British general Howe encamped his troops at Wykagyl for ten days while en route to the Battle of White Plains. The club purchased its land in 1907, and built a separate men’s locker house in 1909. The clubhouse was remodeled in 1915, with new wings added to both sides of the farm house. The grand opening is still considered one of the greatest social events in New Rochelle history. A fire on February 5, 1928, severely damaged the clubhouse, and a second fire, on the same day in 1931, destroyed the building. The present clubhouse was opened on October 1, 1932. The men’s locker house

was replaced by a new building which opened in October of 1928. In 1930 the club became the first in Westchester to install a swimming pool. Club facilities today also include three tennis courts, a like number of paddle courts, and four bowling lanes. The original golf course in New Rochelle was designed by Lawrence Van Etten, a long-time member, and was ready in 1905. There was no significant change until after World War I, when Donald Ross revised the front nine, work that was completed for the 1920 season. In 1928–1929, the Wykagyl Gardens apartments were built, crowding the first green and second tee, and the club’s original swimming pool was built, eliminating the tenth hole. The club engaged A. W. Tillinghast to carry out a significant revision of both nines, which was completed by Labor Day of 1931. Golf architect Arthur Hills gave the course a nice facelift during the winter of 1994–1995, enlarging the tees, rebuilding three greens, and returning the bunkers to their original look with grass faces. After renovating the dining room in 1998, the club funded a major clubhouse renovation in 2000, involving the men’s locker room, a new ladies’ locker room and men’s grill, and updated pool facilities. Wykagyl has played a significant role in golf history, from the time in 1916 when the club’s golf professional, Robert White, was the driving force behind the founding of the PGA, through modern times, when the club has hosted several events on the LPGA Tour.

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PUBLISHING © Copyright 2004 by Metropolitan Club Managers Association First printing, 2004 Q Publishing LLC Franklin, Virginia -- QPub@mindspring.com Elizabeth B. Bobbitt, EDITOR AND GRAPHIC DESIGNER All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of The Metropolitan Club Managers Association. To order copies of this book, contact: The Metropolitan Club Managers Association

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Quirin, William L. MCMA : the Metropolitan Club Managers Association : a heritage of service beyond the games / by William L. Quirin. p. cm. ISBN 1-931169-05-5 (alk. paper) 1. Metropolitan Club Managers Association—History. 2. Metropolitan Club Managers Association—Charities. 3. Country clubs—United States—Management—Societies, etc. I. Title: Metropolitan Club Managers Association. II. Metropolitan Club Managers Association. III. Title. HS2723.Q85 2004 367'.973'06--dc22 2004020339 Printed in Iceland by Oddi Printing Corp.

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