Highland Country Club (NLE) in Meriden/Middletown, CT

[Ronald Montesano]

My bro-in-law, who got flummoxed at Ravenwood with the GCA banter of Yo, JNC and KLynch, sent me this link to an NLE course south of Hartford.

http://middletown-ct.patch.com/articles/highland-country-club-a-slice-of-westfield-history

There's also this:

http://www.huntermensclub.org/History.html

Anything to add, Tony, Brad, et al?

[Jim_Kennedy]

Ron,

Here's the 1934 aerial. It's in AP's backyard,  he has more info.
 
http://tinyurl.com/6s4cdkh


I have a book around somewhere that the Rev. Mark Jette, a friend of Tony's and a real nice guy (the Rev, not AP  ,  wrote that includes info about the course. I think he found that it was the oldest in the town.

[Sven Nilsen]

Add one more to the Robert Pryde column.

Highland CC was an offshoot of the Meriden GC (from the Oct. 1909 edition of Golf Magazine).

[Jim_Kennedy]

Nice find Sven.

My old post said it was the first course in Meriden, but I'm pretty sure it was the third. The first was called Bartlett Links, the second Bradley Park, and then Highland, which was actually located just over the Middletown border in the Westfield section of that city.
My best understanding is that all of these courses were under the helm of The Meriden Golf Club. Their clubhouse at the Bradley Park links is used today as private residence:




Here's the flame engulfed Highland Hotel that was renovated for the Meriden Golf Club to use as their clubhouse at the Highland CC site:



They did rebuild after the fire, but I don't know of that one still stands.

Hopefully Tony Pioppi will chime in if he sees this.

[Bret Lawrence]

Jim,

In the 1901 Harpers Official Golf Guide there are two courses listed under Meriden. 
The Meriden Golf Club founded in May 1899 and The Parker Park Golf Club founded in May 1900.
 
I'm not sure how long The Parker Park Golf Club lasted, but they had 90 members in 1900, compared to Meriden Golf Clubs' 187.
The 1901 Golf Guide also listed R.D. Pryde as the greenskeeper for the Meriden Golf Club.  He must have been splitting his time between Meriden and New Haven Golf Club?

I also found an article in the Hartford Courant, discussing the folding of the Arawana Golf Club of Middletown in 1910.  The article noted that many members chose to join the young Highland Country Club, preferring to help that club along rather than construct a new links closer to the city that was sure to run into doubtful support.

[Bret Lawrence]

Add one more to the Robert Pryde column.

Sven,

How many courses do you have knowledge of Robert Pryde designing?

[Sven Nilsen]

Bret:

About 12.  I'm sure there are more.

Sven

[Bret Lawrence]

Sven,

Thanks.  I recently tried to put a list together of everything I could find associated to Robert Pryde.  I have found 19 different courses.  If you include the two times he was in Newington and two courses at Racebrook, the number would be 21. 

I found an article from 1916, when Pryde was designing Wethersfied, which notes he had designed over 25 courses in New England up to that point.  I believe he built Alling Memorial (New Haven Muni) and at least 9 at Hunter (Meriden Muni) as late as 1929.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

I've been on the Highland site two or three times. You can find remnants of all 18 holes. The land is protected and completely grown over. The story goes the course closed for two reasons: the onset of World War Two and the fact that the family was part of the temperance movement and decided to not allow alcohol on the course.

If I have the history correct, this was not a Robert Pryde design, but a renovation. There are only a few holes that stand out in the aerial with some quality bunkering, and I think those are the ones Pryde worked on. Those holes are all on the edge of the layout. The 8th hole was a downhill par-3 of about 160 yards with a cross bunker not far off the tee and a green ringed with bunkers. There are also two greens that are near each other, possibly 10 and 15, with one of the bunkers that serves both. Very cool

I sent images to Bret Lawrence which he will be posting.

By the way, the course was entirely in Middletown.

Anthony

[Bret Lawrence]

Here are the images Anthony Pioppi asked me to post:



The 8th Hole:

[Tim Martin]

Add one more to the Robert Pryde column.

Sven,

How many courses do you have knowledge of Robert Pryde designing?

Bret-Could you post the list of Pryde courses as I was unaware he had done that many. Thanks.

[Bret Lawrence]

Tim,

These are the courses I found Robert Pryde to have some association with.  The highlighted entries I still had some questions about.

Keep in mind that many of these courses no longer exist.  At least as far as Robert Prydes' design is concerned.  Some of the later designs have survived to some extent.

Please feel free to add to the list or correct any information I may have over looked.

Thanks,
Bret

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Robert Prude was also a club maker and his cleek mark was the face of a bulldog, akin to the Yale logo.

The site of the course is on Atkins Street in Middletown. The clubhouse was on the opposite side of the road from the course. One or two stone pillars stand where the course began. The first tee is evident as soon as you get near it. I walked it about a year ago and we were able to identify all 18 tees and I think green sites.

I see from an earlier post that Pryde did design the course. What's strange is the good bunkering on so few holes.

Anthony

[Tim Martin]

Tony or Brett- Do either of you guys know how much Pryde is left at Hunter or is that mostly Tull/Zikorus at this point. It is a course I have always enjoyed and have played quite a bit of Winter golf there when the weather allowed.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Nothing left. Was wiped away in the Zikorus redo when some land was swapped with neighbor. Robert "Jack" Ross, I think, was involved there, as well. I need to do some more checking on that.

You can see three of the older greens. The back left corner of the range is the old severe punchbowl green. Just past the downslope on the 4th hole to the left is a two-tiered green with a punchbowl back. That hole was played up the hill from a tee no longer on the property. To the right of the 11th tee is another green.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Some more Middletown golf course history.

Prior to Highland there was the Arawana Golf Club. There was a group of golfers who formed a club and played under that name before the course was built. It was in existence from about 1900 to, I think, the year Highland opened. Somewhere I along the line I read that the turf from the Arawana greens was given to Highland. The two sites are probably 5 miles apart. Homes cover where Arawana was located as best I can figure. Arawana was the name of the river cutting through the area before it was change to Coginchaug.

[Bret Lawrence]

Tim,

To my knowledge, Litchfield Country Club in Litchfield, CT is still a Robert Pryde design.  I believe many of the greens were rebuilt after the 1955 flood, but the layout is very much the same.  The routing is slightly different.  The current first hole is the old 6th hole.

Here is a map from 1924 of the Robert Pryde layout:



I believe Wyantenuck still has a good number of Pryde holes left.  Outside of the four holes redesigned by Banks and a few other holes updated in-house.  I believe the second hole, which is a 240 yard blind Par 3 was originally designed as a Par 4.  I am not 100% sure about this, but I did notice old fairway bunkers that are now just grass bunkers!  

Orange Hills still has some pieces of Pryde as well.  The owner, Bud Smith told me Cornish used 4 and 1/2 original holes on each nine when he redesigned the course.

As for the other courses, I am not entirely sure how much of Prydes design still exist.

[Bret Lawrence]

Tony,

Any idea who designed Arawana?

Bret

[David Stamm]

How is Pryde's work regarded, generally speaking?

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

Arawana was member-designed.

Pryde's work, what is left, is considered solid, I would think, but very little it left.

His Racebrook design was the first 36-hole facility in Connecticut.

By the way, there was a Middletown Golf Club, but it was in Cromwell and is now known as TPC River Highlands, where the PGA Tour's Travelers Championship is held. Most, including the PGA Tour, thinks the original name of the layout was Edgewood but that came after Middletown GC, which was formed by a group including a number of Wesleyan University people. It opened in 1928. The name was changed because so many golfers came into Middletown looking for the club. The layout was a co-design of Robert "Jack" Ross and local golf pro Maurice Kearney. There is nothing left of the original design but the two ponds on River Highlands (8 and 17 holes) are visible in the 1934 aerial. I think there are about 72 bunkers on the course, many of which Tillinghast, in his nationwide quest to dumb down golf, suggested be removed.

This will give you an idea of  how well it was bunkered. In the 1934 aerial the cluster of bunkers in the lower left is gone, except for the X-shaped bunker, only four bunker are left around the green on the left and teh two bunker short and right are gone as are the greenside bunkers on the bottom green.

[Bret Lawrence]

Here a few more references to Robert Prydes work:

Thanks to Jim Kennedy for sending me these articles.  I will be sure to include these on an updated list.

Robert Pryde was the first golf coach at Yale and led Yale to 15 of their first 21 National Championships. He was instrumental in starting the CSGA and was the first secretary of the CSGA.  He was also a member of the 1932 U.S. Olympic Curling team.  For more information on Pryde check out the link to Yale Golf:

https://webspace.yale.edu/Yale-golf-history/Topics/ArchitectPages/Pryde.htm

[Bret Lawrence]

Two more articles also sent to me by Jim Kennedy.

The first article discusses renovation work at New Haven Country Club
http://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/53888930/?terms=robert+pryde

The second write up is from Lakeside GC, mentioning Robert Prydes influence on Max Behr

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

The New Haven Country Club Pryde designed no longer exists. The existing one was designed by Willie Park Jr., who according to the club history was recommended to the club by a seed salesman after Donald Ross and Seth Raynor turned them down.

[ANTHONYPIOPPI]

I wonder if the reference of Paul Smith in the one article is to Paul Smith's College or just the town http://www.paulsmiths.edu/? I just looked on GoogleEarth and did not see a layout. Bret, since you are the Robert D. Pryde guy, I think you need to contact the school.

There is a the nearby Saranac Inn Golf and Country Club, but that was designed by Seymour Dunn, according to the website.

The March 1899 issue of the Golfer lists St. Regis Golf Club in Paul Smiths.

Anthony

[Sven Nilsen]

I wonder if the reference of Paul Smith in the one article is to Paul Smith's College or just the town http://www.paulsmiths.edu/? I just looked on GoogleEarth and did not see a layout. Bret, since you are the Robert D. Pryde guy, I think you need to contact the school.

There is a the nearby Saranac Inn Golf and Country Club, but that was designed by Seymour Dunn, according to the website.

The March 1899 issue of the Golfer lists St. Regis Golf Club in Paul Smiths.

Anthony

Anthony:

There's a course that was called the Paul Smith's Adirondack Club that is attributed to Seymour Dunn from some time prior to 1899.  That 1912 article suggests Pryde laid out a new course, which might have been the St. Regis River GC (which is noted in the later Annual Guides with a date of formation of 1912).  There's record of Emmet having done a "Design Only" there in 1910, and then another course being built around 1912.

Sven