1st Residential Golf Community in America

[Tucker Davis]

Heys guys,,I just joined the site.  I used to be a member a few years ago, but work and school have kept me busy.  I have been keeping in touch with what is going with the site over the last couple of months.

I am getting  my Masters in Planning and I am begining work on my thesis.  I am preparing a master plan for a golf course development outside of Memphis, Tn.  I am studying how to blend New Urbanism and Traditional Neighborhood Design principles with a golf course development.  I am focusing on associating the Golf Clubhouse as an anchor for the Town Center.

For some of my research I am trying to find out some information about the 1st master planned golf community in the United States.  Does anyone have any idea where this might be??

[Bill_McBride]

Tucker, no idea, but it's funny, John "Tiger" Bernhardt was very interested a couple of years ago in building a course tightly integrated into a new village.  He was looking closely at Scottish villages and the important role golf plays in those small towns.  Of particular interest in Scotland is how egalitarian golf is, especially when compared to England.  The plumber plays with the lord of the manor.  

It's an interesting topic, and one where affordable, accessible, and low impact golf could serve a vital role for a town wrapped around it.

North Berwick is a great example in Scotland.  Between the start of the High Street and the central harbor and the first tee of the West Links lies the town's public putting course - a lot flatter than the Himalayas at St. Andrews but a lot more in the middle of the village.  Then just east of there is the first tee of the Glen, the East Links.  North Berwick might be the perfect example for what you are thinking about.

[paul cowley]

...I doubt its the first, but Pinehurst in its inception sure walked the walk.....as did many early resort communities, including Pebble.
In many of the earliest efforts, golf tagged along as an amenity, not necessarily an integral focus of the community.

[Tucker Davis]

North Berwick may be one of my favorite places in golf.  I went there a few years ago.  It is a perfect example.  So is Gullane, Carnoustie, St. Andrews

I am trying to find the oldest in the U.S.  

[Mitch Hantman]

Check into Mountain Lake in Lake Wales, Florida.  I believe it was completed in 1918.

[Tucker Davis]

Thats great.  I have been trying to find some info. to see if Olmstead had worked on some golf courses.  I knew he had.  This is a great example.  But is it the oldest???  IF not, Probably pretty close!

[Jim_Bick]

Look at Ardsley CC in Ardsley-on-Hudson, NY (Westchester County. It was founded in 1895 as part of a residential real estate development. The club has a published history which may be helpful.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

There is a geography professor at Oklahoma State who has made a study of residential golf course communites in the US. His name escapes me at the moment. Wayne Morrison may be able to help you on his name.

[Tyler Kearns]

Tucker,

Capilano G & CC in West Vancouver was likely one of, if not the first golf course used to sell adjacent housing lots in Canada (1932-1936). The golf course is part of the much larger community known as the British Estates.

TK

[wsmorrison]

The professor of geography is John Rooney.  He is a fantastic guy and extremely knowledgable.

I'm not sure, but Salter's Point near Marion, Massachussetts is a community that was built around a golf course and dates to 1900.  The golf course still exists.  Chances are, if you can sneak past the gate, you'll see the one and only Bill Dow on the old tractor mowing fairways.

[SPDB]

I would think The Tuxedo Club would have to be among the earliest. It wasn't centered exclusively around golf, but sports (polo, real and lawn tennis, hard racquets, etc) figured prominently in the community and there was/is a center club house.  

[Tom Dunne]

Sea Island, GA and Rancho Santa Fe, CA both strike a chord. I don't know if either are The Oldest, per se, but from a master-planning standpoint might be worth looking into.

Curious to see what you come up with!

[SB]

I have heard it is the Capital City Club (Brookhaven) in Atlanta.  I believe I read a historical marker to that effect.

[SB]

PS - 1911.

[Tripp_Davis]

Tucker,

The Olmstead firm was involved in a good many golf course communities - Druid Hills is the one that comes to mind.  Whippoorwill in New York is another.  However, Pinehurst was really the first I know of that worked around a town center, eventhough the clubhouse for the golf is removed from downtown.  If I am not mistaken, the Olmstead firm was involved at Pinehurst as well.  

Creating golf course communities around a "town center" is nothing new and is often the focus in planning sessions.  Three of our four new courses in design right now have such principals.  However, it takes quite a bit of land and a strong need for a retail base to make it work in the way you might be thinking.  

I would be interested to see what you are doing with the mysterious project in Memphis.

Tripp

[Tim Bert]

Tucker,

Shelby, Fayette, or Tipton county?

I grew up in Memphis, but I no longer live there.  Everyone appears to be migrating to Fayette and Tipton these days.  Seems like some tremendous potential for growth in those areas.

[wsmorrison]

Has anyone determined if a golf community predates Salters Point? Tuxedo club was earlier but golf was one of many activities and not the main one as was previously discussed.

[BCrosby]

Wayne -

I'm not clear what you mean by "golf community".

If you mean housing that sprang up around a golf course, there is lots of that in virtually every town that goes back pretty far. Just in Atlanta you have East Lake and Brookhaven from 1905 to 1910.

But if you mean a golf course and abutting residences that were concurrently developed by a single owner as part of a master plan, I suspect there wasn't much of that until more recent decades.

Though I too would be curious to know when the first was.

Bob

[rgkeller]

Pebble Beach

[wsmorrison]

Bob,

If you don't know what is meant by the first residential golf community in America, I sure as heck don't.  I think it would be a community planned with a golf course as the main recreational feature.  

The community of homes on Salters Point was planned with the golf course and they date back to 1900.  It is a wonderful community of vacation homes on a beautiful point of land.  Where's Bill Dow when you need him?

[paul cowley]

...there is of course the famous 9 holes at Fenwick in coastal Conn.....established in 1898 with the golf course in its center.
Katherine Hepburns family home graced a fairway.

[Brad Klein]

Small point: it's Olmsted, not Olmstead. He did the layout for Pinehurst town center but golf was not "planned" there on any plat map and he never himself visited the town.

Mountain Lake is a good example, from 1917.

[Lynn_Shackelford]

In the past Tom Doak has mentioned Yeaman's Hall.  You guys have just posted some that were built earlier.  But Yeaman's would not have been built were it not for some Yankees from the North wanting winter homes.  And for the record the homes are well placed, not in play, but seen from a distance while playing.  We have ventured far in how homes are situated today, but not far in quality.

[TEPaul]

I was looking at the original Ruth/Olmsted/Raynor plan of Mountain Lake while down there a few years ago and I thought the date on the plan was 1915. The interesting thing is it's just about the same today as it was back then.

The same three did Fishers Island. A lot of the same members and almost the same staff at both places at one point.

[michael j fay]

Fenwick is a very early one, but Hepburns house is out on the point and not on the golf course.

I believe the start date at Mountain Lakes is 1916 and it is now the oldest course in the State continuously in play.

Pinehurst was desgined as a Hotel/Resort and probably would not fit this category perfectly. Pine Needles in 1927 was designed as a residential golf property.

In North Carolina in the early 20's Roaring Gap was a Master Planned golf/residential property. (Built by Ross, Tufts was involved in the planning.

Bald Peak Colony in New Hampshire has been a gated community since 1922.

I would go with Fenwick as the winner.