“How could Charles Blair Macdonald remain mad at such a club? Honestly!
To play the course today, one can only think of the great pride thatany architect would take in such a course. However, notMacdonald. Ever the perfectionist, he wanted the complete run of the 340 acres for his beloved game of golf when he was awarded this project in 1911. Unfortunately, polo was the glamour sport at the time and the founders remained adamant that the land sprawling beneath the north side of the clubhouse be reserved forthat gentlemenly pursuit.
Macdonald could often dominate a group of powerful men through the sheer force of his commandingpersonality butnot at Piping Rock. The men who founded this Gold Coast club in Locust Valley were equally unyielding.
With Macdonald perpetually at odds with the club board, Seth Raynor oversaw much of the construction work and began liasing directly with the board.”
I grew up at Piping Rock. This story has been floated for years but is it really true and if there is some truth to it what are the details of it or the extent of it?
Where did Ran Morrissett get the information to have credibly or accurately written what is quoted above? Macdonald did write that the club had some serious horse interests but he did not say that he was completely at odds with its board over some conflict with golf holes that I'm aware of.
Even I remember polo matches being played on those polo fields (when it was the practice range as it is today).