The Links Club - Now with Photos

[Robert Kimball]

Man, I hate to hear that the original thread is gone. It was perhaps my one and only decent discussion topic I started on the board in 13 years! 

Oh well, it was all due to reading about it in George's book on C.B. and it fascinated me how the club could exist on so little members (in such a great location too). How nice to be able to imagine a place like that existed at one time (Lido!) and at least Tom got to get over there and take a few pictures before the bulldozers came around.

I wish it were still around today, but I guess the membership was too small to make it viable. Thanks, Sven and Tom for pictures as well as Tom and George Bahto for writing their books.

-- Rob

[DMoriarty]

The original thread is not gone.  Just the posts from the last two weeks of January.   

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,1518.msg29739.html#msg29739

[Joe Sponcia]

Sven, Tom,

Thank you for taking the time to post on the club.  I bet #15 green had more slope than what appears?

[Zack Molnar]

I found this article about the links club clubhouse.

http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-neo-georgian-links-club-no-36-38-e.html

[Jim Hoak]

Fascinating!  Thanks for this thread!!
What were the underlying causes of its demise?  All economic?  I saw they were down to a handful of members.  Why?
Can you imagine the attractiveness of that course if it were restored and around today?

[Tom_Doak]

Fascinating!  Thanks for this thread!!
What were the underlying causes of its demise?  All economic?  I saw they were down to a handful of members.  Why?
Can you imagine the attractiveness of that course if it were restored and around today?

Jim:

As we talked about on the other thread, The Links eventually failed because it was such an insular club that they never let any new blood join ... the membership started dying off and they didn't replace them.

[Joe Sponcia]

The road (6) and short ( look to have mesmerizing greens. 

What a testament to two men who seemingly built the same holes over and over again, yet we still marvel at each one.

The course was dubbed as one of the toughest tests...but really, were any MacDonald/Raynor's 'easy'?

[Tom_Doak]

The course was dubbed as one of the toughest tests...but really, were any MacDonald/Raynor's 'easy'?

It may have been marketed as such to people who never saw it, but my late friend Woody Millen said that back in his day [1940's and 50's], it was considered one of the better places to go on Long Island to try to shoot a low score.


Like all Raynor courses it was only around 6300 yards to start with, and they never built any additional tees.  There were a couple of "wow" holes ... the Redan was the most severe version I've seen ... but overall it was no backbreaker.

[Tommy Naccarato]

What a great thread and thanks to the both of you for posting it!  This thread echoes the great days of this site and, of course, having Tom's images; Tom Paul's dialog on playing the course, which I've been gifted many times in many a phone conversation on just not how the course played, but the cast of characters who were members.  Very affluent characters!


Mark McKeever is right! Rebuild it and they will come!  How cool would this place be as a private club, albeit a long wait on the tee as people played that Redan!  Its a wait I would have no problem with!

[Thomas Dai]

The Reverse Redan at the 13th -

Many thanks for bouncing this thread.

What a fabulous looking hole - folks sometimes use the expression a par-three-and-a-half hole. This one looks more like a 3.999999 to me!

Now the Redan at NBGC bends right-to-left as seemingly do most copies. This hole though bends the other way so as most golfers are right-handers this hole would presumably play as a fade-preferred hole.

Question - How does this effect the holes playability as long-shot hooks and draws tend to run out whereas slices and fades tend to sit down and stop quicker?

Atb

[Eric Hammerbacher]

Tom, there is just something about those slides that really captures a mood...cold, dreary, ominous.  The photos are wonderful.   You can almost hear the half-frozen grass crunching under the feet of a few old souls still playing the course before it closed. 

Also, I'm glad this thread got bumped back up, I've been going back and reading all the other threads about The Links Club with stories from Tom Paul about the great old clubs and characters.  I could read them for hours.

[Stephen Britton]

Bounce.


Thanks to Tyler Kearns for showing me this thread.

[Ronald Montesano]

Bumping threads like this has such virtue. Much like the insular club that The Links Club was, we have our own insulation. Seeing GCA names from another GCA decade, reading the enthusiasm with which they commented, is a secondary history lesson of its own.

To have an initial thread (https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,1518.msg29739.html#msg29739) from 2003, followed by another a decade later, is golden.

It's fairly easy to understand why The Links Club would have gone under, regardless of membership. Have a look at the clubs to its north north/west, and there is plenty of pasture for those who need golf.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Links+At+North+Hills/@40.7682937,-73.6893253,14z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x92b2c86b45cf90c1!8m2!3d40.7641983!4d-73.6744766 

[Paul Rudovsky]

I am reading theses threads and posts for the first time this morning...interestingly after re-reading Bahto's fabulous "Evangelist" book last week!  What fascinates me is the differences in some fairly specific thoughts and numbers between posts (and even within posts).  For example, in the newspaper article posted by Swen 2/7/14 (first post in this current thread), the article says IN THE SAME ARTICLE that the original subscription fee was $1,000, $2,500, and $5,000!!).  More importantly, is the sense that this was a brutally tough course.  In "Evangelist", Bahto says that while CBM tried to keep it playing as difficult as possible (no rakes in bunkers, etc) "...the Links Club course was a moderated version the National Golf Links.  That was because the original membership needed a more comfortable and less strenuous version to play over."


So question for Tom (Doak)...which description seems more accurate to you...tough or almost like Burning Tree (MD)?


The most fascinating aspect of this club to me has always been the secrecy.  I grew up in Queens and stared playing this silly game when I was 10...and playing a fair number of courses about 10 years later.  But literally I had never HEARD of it until residing Evangelist for the first time some 10 years ago.

[Tom_Doak]

So question for Tom (Doak)...which description seems more accurate to you...tough or almost like Burning Tree (MD)?


The most fascinating aspect of this club to me has always been the secrecy.  I grew up in Queens and stared playing this silly game when I was 10...and playing a fair number of courses about 10 years later.  But literally I had never HEARD of it until residing Evangelist for the first time some 10 years ago.

The course was barely 6300 yards, but there were a handful of really difficult holes -- the Redan, at 220 yards with a high green like CC of Charleston, was the toughest I have ever seen.  And the rough and ready conditions presented their own challenges.


However, my late friend Woody Millen, who was club champ at Piping Rock in his youth, told me The Links was considered an easy place to post a good medal score, in his circle of friends.


I had never heard of the course until it showed up in the Cornish & Whitten book in the list of Macdonald's work.  And then Ben Crenshaw asked me if I'd ever seen it - he hadn't either - so I went to check it out.  That was my first attempt, when the old professionals told me to leave.  I got lucky the second try, and the greenkeeper showed me around.


I will never forget him telling me to put my camera away, and when I asked why, he said because Mr Macdonald did not think pictures did justice to the course!

[Gib_Papazian]

Gentlemen,


It has obviously been quite some time, but my recollection is Uncle George and I both suspected The Links Club in Manhattan (I think it is on 62nd or 63rd) had all sorts of memorabilia - even C.B.'s original routings - stored in their archives. George had lunch there and took a picture of C.B.'s portrait, hanging on the wall.


Apparently, many of the members had no idea who their founder was - or only had a vague memory of some golf course affiliated with their "Gentleman's Club." 


Some years later, I tried to arrange a visit in advance, but ran into a brick wall. Even having a large number of well-connected friends all over the MET Area got me nowhere . One early evening, Redhead and I were wandering around after dinner - where we ate with Daniel Boulud oddly enough - and being a brazen fuck from California, I just decided to ring the bell, under the pretense of inquiring whether The Links Club had the same reciprocal agreement with Olympic as the NYAC.


Since we were both dressed in our Sunday best (for you Brits, that means a suit, tie and fancy-ass designer dress), the door was actually opened - by Alfred Pennyworth's doppelganger, with a mix of icy politeness, but also a hint of amusement. Her Redness was resplendent, but I'm afraid my scuffy saddle shoes and crooked 1/4 Windsor tie job (known as a "half ass") shrieked hick from the planet hippy.


When I asked if there was any sort of reciprocal agreements with other clubs, the look on his face said I may as well have come from the Ravenite with John Gotti's crew. The answer was "The Links Club is strictly private, with no agreements with anybody."


One last shot: "Did he happen to know how one might reach the club historian?" No dice . . . . "Our memberships roles are strictly confidential, I hope that answers your question . . . good night."


Click.


Deadbolt click.


Anybody in the Treehouse have a relationship with one of the members? Even years after finishing the book, I'd still be fascinated to comb through their archives. Arranging lunch would seem doable, but letting some obscure former golf scribe rummage through their attic would probably be a tough sell . . . .


 








       




   

[Tim Martin]

So question for Tom (Doak)...which description seems more accurate to you...tough or almost like Burning Tree (MD)?


The most fascinating aspect of this club to me has always been the secrecy.  I grew up in Queens and stared playing this silly game when I was 10...and playing a fair number of courses about 10 years later.  But literally I had never HEARD of it until residing Evangelist for the first time some 10 years ago.

However, my late friend Woody Millen, who was club champ at Piping Rock in his youth, told me The Links was considered an easy place to post a good medal score, in his circle of friends.

Tom-I was lucky enough to play with Woody Millen in March of 2015 at Palmetto. Absolutely one of the most fun rounds ever as once he knew I had an interest in the courses on Long Island I just played and listened. He had an old bucket hat on and still played pretty well in his mid seventies. I sat outside with him after the round and just continued to listen over a drink. A lifetime highlight as far as getting paired up.

[Mike Hendren]

That first hole is some serious sod farm architecture.

[Richard DeMenna]

Greetings All,

Recently I discovered this informative site and in particular this thread. This is a trip down memory lane as I caddied at this course from 1966-1982 (minus two interrupted periods 1970-1974 and 1977-1979). I was fortunate to reach the number one caddie position in the fall of 1975 and maintained that position until the spring of 1977. At that time, a career change had me move to the west coast for a two year period.

This thread certainly brings back many happy memories. I enjoyed my time there as a caddie for the rich and famous, earning spending money, and perhaps the best part playing countless rounds of golf. That was once members were off the course for the day!  I will be happy to discuss any simple questions concerning the architectural design of the course. There were some minor changes to the course that have not been mentioned in the previous threads.

Fortunately, not knowing the forbidden rule of taking photos of the course, I have a small collection of pictures for some of the golf holes. Additionally, I have a few newspaper clippings discussing the eventual death of this one of a kind establishment.  At the moment I am having issues posting images to the thread but hopefully this will get resolved. Stay tuned.....

[Richard DeMenna]

To start the ball rolling again on this thread (it seems to have a life of its own) attached  is a picture of the front entrance of the clubhouse. Previous pictures on this thread show the side view of the clubhouse. This was the entrance into the kitchen area. Members there would stop in, before or after finishing the 10th, for a beverage and occasionally a quickly made sandwich. Caddies were sometimes fortunate in having a member give them a bottle of coke. Never a Pepsi! Robert Woodruff, former president of the Coca-Cola Company, was a member of the Links Club. We caddies would call him Mr. Coca Cola.

Pictures of the course later......


Interesting note on the clubhouse, this picture has a candid resemblance to the Inn shown at the beginning of the Newhart TV show. I always thought it was, since William Paley Chairman of the Board at CBS, was a leading member of this club; it was not.

[Richard DeMenna]

Sorry, pics are not posting correctly.  I sent a message to moderator.  Please stand by!

[Brian Finn]

Richard,


First off, welcome.  I hope you enjoy reading and interacting here as much as I do.

Second, while it’s quiet at the moment, I’m sure you’ll find many people (myself included) eager to hear everything you can share about the club.

Additionally, posting pics is an ongoing challenge for many here. Luckily, there are several people who know how to do it and will help you soon enough.

[Anthony Gray]

 So why the demise of the course?

[Joel_Stewart]

Sorry, pics are not posting correctly.  I sent a message to moderator.  Please stand by!

The moderator may or may not answer.


Here is a thread on posting pictures.


https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,68966.msg1654666.html#msg1654666

[Richard DeMenna]

Richard,


First off, welcome.  I hope you enjoy reading and interacting here as much as I do.

Second, while it’s quiet at the moment, I’m sure you’ll find many people (myself included) eager to hear everything you can share about the club.

Additionally, posting pics is an ongoing challenge for many here. Luckily, there are several people who know how to do it and will help you soon enough.

Thank you for the friendly welcome. I am happy to learn that posting pics here is not for the faint of heart. Hopefully the pics I have will find a home here. If not by me then perhaps a surrogate?