Best Small Clubhouse I've seen

[ian]

I've enjoyed visiting many great clubhouses, including an entire afternoon in Muirfield. My favourite is still Capilano, but that might be influenced by the incredible views in each direction.

The biggest suprise I ever had was a trip to see a hidden Travis course in northern Pennsylvania called Penn Hills.
The course only featured 9 holes of Travis and was in awful shape (but interesting historically). The clubhouse was a shock, it was modest in size but spectacular in the details. The outside is stone and the roof is all slate tile. The inside features a beutiful stone fireplace and vaulted ceilings. The interior has seen little change from its beginings, while warn, it is very beautiful. The clubhouse was designed by Clifford Charles Wendehack who also designed the clubhouse for Winged Foot. This was the original design for the Park Club in Williamsville (Buffalo) but was declined by the members as being too small.

I'm curious about any other great clubhouses away from the usual suspects like Muirfield and Winged Foot.

[Jeff Mingay]

My favourite clubhouse belongs to Gulph Mills GC. Its historic and simple -- very classy. The building is elegantly low-profile, and as far as I could tell, there's not a room in it that goes unused. It's functional, yet attractive -- perfect.

[Robert_Walker]

Somerset Hills
Prestwick
Palmetto
Royal Troon
The R  & A (smaller than it looks)
Newport CC
BTW....
Winged Foot and Ridgewood Clubhouses were designed by the same architect.

[APBernstein]

The current clubhouse at Briar's Creek on John's Island, SC is outstanding.  Granated they are building a larger clubhouse in the future, but this very interesting "hut", which will be retained in its current form even after the clubhouse, is as cosy as it gets.  Bar with four stools, high vaulted wood ceiling, tiny little kitchen (although all the Viking ranges probably cost more than my car), and a great TV area with great old leather couches and chairs.  Like I said, nice.

[TEPaul]

JeffM:

I thank you for your thoughts and feelings on Gulph Mills's clubhouse. I wish I shared your feelings. Some members love the way it is, some don't at all but all agree it's quite amusing. I'm one whose amused by it, but I wouldn't suggest changing it.

Actually we've been sort of forced to redo parts of our kitchen this year (to quite a tab) because the way it was we figured someone was going to die in there soon. And in the process of doing that we dodged a major bullet concerning the entire clubhouse.

Naturally for even a minor kitchen redo the State Code guys are going to have to come in for an inspection, they did, and in the process they said, "This entire clubhouse has to be condemned." Oh My God, shock and morning and there was much gnashing of teeth for a while until some clever member decided to call our Congressman and the entire matter was resolved in our favor the following minute!

You see the clubhouse is 76 years old (ten years younger than the course) and the deferred maintenance is also 76 years--a process Quaker Philadelphians call "Charm". All this fits into the Philadelphia adage that if the world is about to come to an end by all means come to Philadelphia because it's at least 30 years behind times!

Anyway, for real charm in a clubhouse around here I might pick Bitterman in Wilmington, the only other clubhouse in the Delaware Valley that most Gulph Mills members actually covet over their own!

[redanman]

Garden City's clubhouse is just about right.

I, too like the Gulph Mills clubhouse.  It reminds me of Luffness New and Royal Aberdeen. I await inspection of Bidermann (sp?)

[Brad Klein]

Clifford Charles Wendehack designed both Winged Foot and Ridgewood - and, I believe, Baltusrol. He was the master of German Tudor building architecture and wrote about the art of golf course clubhouses in an obscure 1929 book.

But these were not "small" - presumably the topic of this posting. These were all in the 40,000-50,000 sq.ft. level

The rule of thumb in clubhouse design is $125 per square foot above 10,000 sq. ft, and about $140 per sq. ft. under 10,000. So a 30,000 sq.ft. building cost $3.75 m. What a waste.

For small, let's think small - under 5,000 sq. feet. ($900,000 or less)

Here are some truly light, useful and appropriate clubhouses:
-The Dunes Club, Mich., is about 2,000 sq. ft
-Tobacco Road, NC, a 5,000 sq.ft. open room with vaulted ceiling
-University Ridge, Wisc., 4,500 sq, ft.
-Lane Creek, 4,500 sq.ft. modern lodge
-Caledonia G&FC, SC, 5,000 sq.ft. hunting/fishing lodge

My alltime favorites are the following "temporary" clubhouses, which could be/should have been kept as such:

-Chechessee Creek, SC
-Spring Island, SC
-Forest Creek, NC

[ian]

Brad,

I really think you would like this place. The clubhouse has the details of his other work but is very compact; It is nothing like the large ones. I can't confirm the square footage, but I wouldn't think it was much more than 5000.

The smallest I remember was at Seville in Florida, stricly functional; golf balls, dog & beer all in one room.

[Doug Wright]

Never been there, and don't know how small it is, but the clubhouse at ANGC sure is attractive.

The clubhouse at Crail was small and in a beautiful spot, on a hill overlooking the course and the water.

All The Best,

[RJ_Daley]

A new CH that is mid-sized and maximizes its sq footage with high vaulted main room and adjoining lofts and a basement walk-out with downstairs meeting small banquet rooms is Bayside, the Axeland and Proctor course in Ogallala.  With its log construction and center piece floor to vaulted roof 3 story stone fireplace it is reminiscent of 'The Old Faithful Inn' at Yellowstone park as centerpiece of the restaurant-bar. The pro shop is off to one side.  The downstairs is something like Pine Needles where there are meeting room. My guess is about 8000sq ft.

Another very cool clubhouse is Bishops Bay in Madison WI.  It is the old Bishops residence with a small addition for dining area opening up to outdoor screened terrace then out to open air terrace.  This looks out over Lake Mendota.  The stone residence has a roof of green-rust-black slate.  The locker rooms are in basement and are adequate.  Very small cozy bar.  Members lounge is old office area of Bishop.  I too like the simplicity of Tobacco Rd.  I didn't care for New Caledonia however.  Whistling Straits isn't bad either.  I didn't get a look at much at Yeamans Hall, but it seemed pretty thick with atmosphere, creaky old stairs and all...

[Doug Wright]

I'm also one of the few who knows The Pennhills Club in Bradford, Pa of which Ian speaks. I grew up near there and played the course many times. It is a marvelous small clubhouse. The stone work is outstanding. And the Travis holes are memorable, great bunkering and greensites.

All The Best,

[John_D._Bernhardt]

Does anyone have any pictures of the real small, less than 8,000 sq feet. How do you feel about the arts and crafts reveival in clubhouse art.

[TEPaul]

Brad Klein:

Watch what you say about small and temporary clubhouses! Roger Hansen reads this site you know and Roger can be a very economical man--I bought a cap and a Ben Crenshaw signed book at Hidden Creek and he didn't just give me an ordinary high five, he gave me one we both had to leap to reach. But Roger still has the trailor out there which can't be more than 500sf and he might make it permanent if he reads your post.

I can't be sure but the clubhouse at Bidermann can't be more than 2000sf max and that probably includes the upstairs and maybe the basement which nobody's been down to since Lafayette. It's just a very cool old stone colonial house, but of course something that small can't really service a normal membership so they use the old barn (that's been redone obviously) for the lockerrooms, drinks and I think the pro shop.

I remember the Links in Long Island well. Not any bigger than Bidermann's house but it was a frame Long Island ancient farmhouse. But at the Links they used the old barn for the pros shop except it was not redone--just the old barn.

I like Fisher's Island clubhouse a lot too--quite small and U shaped. Somerset Hills is a weird narrow very long U shape too and very cool. Hard to beat Cypress too.

The cliche in Florida has been to build a 90,000sf Taj Mahal clubhouse and golf course, first bring the members in, sell some of them lots if possible, fill up the club's
membership, sell the remaining lots once the membership is full, destroy the entire look and feel of the golf course with the remaining houses closing in on the course, put the whole project on the market just before the membership starts to get completely disappointed and go do it again somewhere down the street!

I mentioned this Rebault clubhouse I saw the other day just south of Fernindina Beach Fla. Quite small and unbelievably beautiful architecture and ambiance under the Live Oak and Spanish Moss and overlooking the River. It had been sitting in delapidation for many decades and they just restored it for $1.3 mil, for absolutely no purpose I can see since they're dedicatedly letting the old golf course go back to nature under this "succession" policy! Ribault sure has things about 180 degrees backwards from the rest of Florida, that's for sure--but the old NLE course has a super pretty restored clubhouse anyway!

[Bob_Huntley]

Two come to mind, both by George Washington Smith, Cypress Point and The Valley Club of Montecito.

[rhobbs]

The Dunes Club in New Buffalo is my favorite clubhouse of all times.  Its 2000 square feet.  The pro shop is 4 feet by 10 feet.  The "locker room" has about 8 lockers.  The main room has a tv and a bookshelf to the left of it that has pretty much every golf magazine published in the US.

One of my favorite things is when you finish nine you stop in the kitchen and open the fridge up yourself.  It is a bachelor's dream.  It is stacked 10 deep with every drink you can imagine.  You grab what you need, jot down on the log what you had and you are back out for the next nine.  

The only place that I have heard is this wonderful is Redtail up in Toronto.  

"with a modest while elegant Tudor clubhouse that is set on the edge of the 18th fairway, which runs past it. A small pro shop, a roaring fireplace, The Golf Channel going all the time, top-notch Scotch and cigars, a few bedrooms upstairs, terrycloth bathrobes that feel like they belong to a king"

This is a quote from Lorne Rubenstein's Redtail, a peaceable kingdom preserved by golf.

Sounds hard to beat.

[Anthony_Nysse]

I second Brad Klein in the fact the Chechessee Creek has a really cool clubhouse. VERY fitting to the course, but whn I was there in March, there were building a new one(Bigger) right next to it.

[Joe Hancock]

Tony,

I'm surprised you didn't mention the great facilty at Diamond Springs. I thought it fit the golf course to a...never mind.

Hope all is well. Maybe some of us Michigan GCA'ers can get together before you go off and frolic in some dirt a long way from here! Seeing Bruce and Mr. Wigler played together, maybe we can get a match with them!

Joe

[rhansen]

Tom,
I read your post and I doubt that my members will let me keep the temp clubhouse. We are planning a 17,500 sf clubhouse. I have tried to make it as small as possible but I have a wife, daughter, and club manager. All have input and all create more sf. I doubt that I can build it for $140/sf that Brad suggests.

[Paul Richards]

Brad mentioned the Dunes, which has about the nicest, and
most economical, small clubhouse I have yet to see.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Joe,
  Mr. Matthews seems to play out at Railside once a summer or so, but I'd love to connect up with them a play some stick before I'm just a stick in the...dirt!!
  As for Diamond Springs...perfect for the course. I mentioned it a while back after we played it. I really like the seating upstairs when yourself, Mike, Kris and I talked.

[TEPaul]

RogerH:

Whatever you do with your clubhouse at Hidden Creek I'm sure it will be terrific.

But judging from what you said the other night I'd suggest you completely finalize the placement of it with Bill Coore first or you might show up there one day and find that he's moved the 9th green into the middle of the bar or men's lockerroom.

I was thinking about what you said and it's probably no joke. One time before you'd finished construction on the course I was walking from #18 to #1 with Duncan and Bradley and the parking lots and driveway were being finalized and the both of them had their eyes on a pile of dirt btween them where they started thinking it might look like a nice tie-in to put a really good looking rugged bunker in there!

[ChipOat]

The Dorset Field Club (VT) has a quaint little clubhouse.  Of course, it has a quaint little golf course, too.

[TEPaul]

That Chip mentioned the Dorset quaint clubhouse and course  reminded me of a really quaint little clubhouse (that actually has just been rennovated in one of the more fascinating rennovations I've ever known) that would win my award for best small cluhouse and also quaint course.

It would be the Tarrantine G.C. in Islesboro (Dark Harbor) Maine. An Alex Findlay course (they think) that I swear to God is the most complete "time has stood still" course and clubhouse I've ever seen in my life.

If you want to see about the way golf must have been in the late 19th century this would be the place! Clearly the agronomics are better than back then but other than that it's probably unchanged!

[Scott_Burroughs]

I also liked Chechessee's temp clubhouse.  I thought it was the real one when I got there, and thought it was just the right size.

Tobacco Road's is also a good one.  Rustic.

All in all, I don't really care much at all about clubhouses, since I spend so little time there.