Tom Winton

[V. Kmetz]

Sven (and all)

Wow, there is so much to respond to here; there's no way I can assemble it all for you at this moment - maybe not for a few weeks.

But here are some preliminaries:

Sven's Most Recent Post: The 1917 Bronxville "super" course...I had from time to time heard/stumbled onto the fact that a golf course used to straddle Central Avenue on the Yonkers/Bronxville line.  This course was reported to be in the area where the Sprain Brook Parkway terminates into the Bronx River Parkway and lay north of the Palmer Road.  This course was indeed built and lasted from 1921-1938 and was called Grassy Sprain.  It hosted the 1925 Met Open, won by Gene Sarazen, and its most famous hole was called "Robber's Roost" which was the 245 yard par 3 8th hole, played from high a top of rock ledge (go there today and you can understand how this topography was used).  It boasted several significant player-members (two of which factor heavily in Siwanoy/Winged Foot lore, Jess Sweetser and John G. Anderson) and was the frequent haunt of Titanic Thompson among other notables.

The Purchase Clubs: 

At other times in other related threads I have made the argument that pound for pound, the three mile circle one can draw from the intersection of Anderson Hill Road and Purchase Street in this hamlet of Harrison, NY is the greatest volume, concentration, and variety of sturdy golf architecture to be found in America. I realize that can be both a meaningless and/or brazen statement, but in that circle you have: Old Oaks (AWT, Allison); Century (Colt, Allison, AWT); Blind Brook (Raynor's most unique, unknown design and my personal fave); Tamarack (Banks); Brae Burn (the first solo design of RTJ and Palmer associate Frank Duane) the modern 1968 Fairview (RTJ); Purchase GC (Nicklaus - the newest of the group and a brutality) and two "publics" the 9-hole Doral Arrowood (many incarnations before becoming a Von Hagge stamp in 1992) and Bruce Memorial (aka Griff-Harris) a course primarily for Greenwich residents. With my divorced father living as a renter in this area and with my grandmother a ladies locker room woman for three of these clubs, you can at least see where my enthusiasm for golf and caddying came from.

as to Sven's post...and just so we're clear, Progress CC was to become Old Oaks, which makes this a bit confusing (more later)

Old Collins Farm on Purchase Street, Harrison (adjoining Century and Progress Clubs) - this would have to be on the west side of Purchase Street, and is approximately the site of Brae Burn CC & 7 holes of CC of Purchase. This course was never built as this article described.  The two clubs occupying this site were not built until 1964 and 1993(ca.) respectively. The Purling Brook Land Company was one of the purchasing organs for the still born Westchester Northern Railroad, a line intended to connect the Boston Westchester Railroad from its (then) northern terminus in White Plains to Danbury CT and Brewster via Pound Ridge NY.  Brae Burn contains the only "built" remnants of this stillborn railway.  It makes perfect sense that this sale and article are from 1926 because the entire Westchester Northern operation was scuttled in 1925 (and had only been under construction since 1915). This property (or a further divided portion of it) went into the hands of a visionary and colorful land developer Leonard Davidow whose went into health decline ca. 1960) and then passed to Lowell Schulman who, joined by defectors from Harrison CC (now Willow Ridge) created Brae Burn (which was born as Purchase Hills).

Eckardt Farm in North Castle near Chappaqua (overlooking Kensico Reservoir): As best as I can tell right now and from 1947 aerials, this course was never built, but was planned to be on the farmland/bluff east of Whippoorwhill Road in North Castle/so. Chappaqua with its center approximately  41° 6'54.34"N/ 73°43'52.25"W. To be sure there is no confusion, this is 2 miles south of the Ross-Banks Whippoorwhill Club, which was being built by the time this article is dated.


Old Griffin Farm near King Street, Greenwich (two miles from Progress and Century Clubs). I cannot at this time tell what this was supposed to be, if it was built, not built, or became something else.  It COULD be the first site of Griff-Harris, the public course in Greenwich, but that is credited to RTJ with a date of 1965 and no other pre-history.  It could be the current Doral Arrowood at the corner of King St and Anderson Hill Road (across the street from Blind Brook) but it's odd that Blind Brook would not be mentioned and it is my understanding that the previous golf use of the property (Green Valley and Purchase CC) has always been for 9-holes, as it is today. More investigation required.

Harrison Avenue, Harrison (adjoining Century Club) AND Collins Estate (opposite estate of Arthur Lehman, apparently close to the Old Collins Farm)
These were one and the same, not distinct properties

No golf course ever built, this property is west of Century and a further divided portion of it ended up in Davidow's (then Schulman's hands as part of the Brae Burn purchase in 1963.

I'm actually visiting the Westcheset county aerial archives lter this week (Wednesday) and if I can delve further, I'll follow up on some of this.

cheers

vk

[Sven Nilsen]

VK -

The Griffith course website notes RTJ partially designed the course (9 of 18 holes) -

"The golf course is an 18 hole, par 71 (men), par 73 (ladies) Robert Trent Jones designed course (partially-9 of the holes). From the blue tees the course is 6,512 yards long; white tees-6,093 yards; green tees- 5,710 yards, and gold tees- 4,256 yards. All the bunkers have been renovated within the past 4 years. and the tees were renovated in 2001-2002."

I don't know if this means there were nine holes there before he did his work or if nine were added later.

Also, I had revised the list of properties prior to your post, noting the fifth parcel up near Valhalla.

Sven

[V. Kmetz]

Sven,

I can't really pin down the Valhalla property - the description is a bit too general; I've never heard of a course in that general area and the 1947 aerials don't show too much - not that I really know what I'm looking for except clearing fairways and dotted bunkers...

What this whole Winton thread has reinforced is that for Westchester-Fairfield, one of the premier and historic golfing districts in the world, the years of 1915-1930 were even more Golden than can be imagined. And furthermore, how precipitously it all came to an end by 1931...and by the Second WW, had even been redacted in many cases.  Brae Burn (born as Purchase Hills) would end up being the actual first new golf construction, after a fallow period of almost 35 years, during which clubs re-organized into different iterations and names, but nothing new was built.  Historically understandable, but fascinating nonetheless.

If Winton has any contemporary reputation at all; it's primarily as a designer/steward of Westchester's Muncipal array. Given the ramshackle state of most of these courses; it's really no way to see his work.  But sometimes, at Saxon Woods, at Maple Moor, at Sprain, at Kisco and certainly at Mohansic, you get the idea that this guy was a very fine imaginative designer of golf holes and golf shots.

cheers

vk

[Jim_Kennedy]

The municipal courses that were part of the WCPC did amazingly well in the Great Depression. Granted, there were a lot of folks living in the area, even 80 years ago, but those numbers would would bring a smile to the face of most operators in 2014. Creating some new infrastructure during the period, the Parkway, seems to have helped.

Scarsdale Inquirer, January 1 1932,
Park Group Gives Golf Statistics

A total of 204,978 rounds of golf were played on the four public golf courses operated by the Westchester County Park Commission during the 1931 season, as compared with 180, 512 in 1930. This increase is largely accounted for by the new course at Saxon Woods which opened on August 1, and for its half season of operation registered 30,593 rounds. The new course naturally attracted players accustomed to using the Maple Moor course which showed a drop from 73,206 in 1930 to 65,833 in 1931. The patronage at the Sprain Lake course in Yonkers increased from 57, 681 in 1930 to 59,004 in 1931. There was a slight drop in the attendance at Mohansic Park from 49, 625 in 1930 to 49,548. This was probably accounted for by construction operations on the Crompond Road which is one of the main approaches to Mohansic Park. The new State Parkway connecting the Bronx River Parkway with Bear Mountain Bridge is expected to be an important factor in drawing greater patronage to Mohansic next year. A slight increase in the number of players was noted immediately after the official opening of this parkway on November 14. The Mohansic course was the first one opened by the Commission, being put into operation in 1925. Regardless of competition of the courses in the lower part of the County which have since been opened, Mohansic has retained its popularity with many players. Next year with the new parkway in use, its popularity will doubtless be increased.

[Ed Homsey]

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[Ed Homsey]

Sorry about previous post.  Was trying to post the jpeg of an article about Winton.  Will try this:

[Ed Homsey]

Now I see that the jpeg was cropped poorly.  Will try to correct that.

[Ed Homsey]

[Jim_Kennedy]

Ed,
Thanks for revealing another course by Winton.


There were a couple of courses up in Armonk, the area near Eckhardt estate/Kensico Reservoir. North Castle was one, and the other was Signal Hill. North Castle was built on the Pritchard estate, perhaps Signal Hill occupied the Echardt property.

Scarsdale Inquirer, May 29 1931





Signal Hill became Byram Lake club by 1933, and today it's Brynwood - completely redesigned by Al Zikorus.

[Sven Nilsen]

Another piece on Gedney Farms, this one from the March 18, 1922 New York Hotel Review:

[Sven Nilsen]

This is one of the article Jim linked to above relating to Lawrence Farms (Nov. 11, 1929 The Yonkers Stateman):

[Sven Nilsen]

Another one of Jim's links, this time from the April 24, 1941 edition of The New York Post confirming the name change of Lawrence Farms to Mount Kisco GC.

[Sven Nilsen]

Here's a bit of followup on the Hunt Property, which at one point was the location of Siwanoy and later Sunningdale as outlined above.

The first piece is a published letter (The Daily Argus, Nov. 8, 1924) from Jesse Winburn (the same guy who we be in charge of all of the Westchester Parks purchases in a few years) to the members of the Mount Vernon CC.  In the letter Winburn notes that he has purchased the Hunt Estate, and after trying to negotiate with the club he is now allowing them to join his new organization.

The second article is from the May 12, 1925 edition of the New York Times.  It notes that Winburn was selling a portion of the Hunt property to the Westchester County Park Commission and notes his dismay in not being able to develop his men's only golf course.

[Sven Nilsen]

Here's a Grantland Rice piece from the Dec. 30, 1916 edition of The Evening Independent.  A couple items of note:

1.  Rice notes the number of pros who came from the small town of Montrose in Scotland, including Winton and quite a few other names of note.

2.  Rice claims there were 3,200 golf courses in the U.S. by 1917.

3.  He quotes Jack Clark who states he and his brother Bob laid out a six-hole course in West Medford, MA, which may predate the first efforts in the Boston area that we know about.

[Sven Nilsen]

Ed and Jim:

Regarding Le Roy and Woodward, is it your read of the article that the Le Roy CC originated as Woodward's private course?  Or are we getting that information from somewhere else?

Sven

[Sven Nilsen]

Here's an updated timeline for Winton:

Siwanoy CC (Bronxville, NY) – 1916-1925, remodel 9 holes.
Fall River CC (Fall River, MA) – 1918, remodel of 6 hole A. Fenn course, add 3 holes.
     -Sept. 5, 1924 The Sun article notes Winton rearranging 9 holes.  Did this work take place later?
Corning CC (Corning, NY) – 1920, 9 holes.
     -Sept. 5, 1924 The Sun article notes Winton laid out 9 holes.
Bailey Park CC (Mount Vernon, NY) – 1922, with A.W. Tillinghast, 9 holes.
Lynnhaven CC (Norfolk, VA) – 1922, 18 holes.
     -Sept. 5, 1924 The Sun article notes Winton laying out 18 holes, Guides only have 9 and give a date of 1922 for the course.
Mill River CC (Stratford, CT) – 1923, 18 holes
Mohansic Park GC (Yorktown Heights, NY) – 1925, 18 holes.
     -Sept. 5, 1924 The Sun article notes Winton course to be laid out at Mohansic.
     -Dec. 24, 1926 Scarsdale Inquirer article notes 18 holes by Winton opened July, 1925.
Woods Hole CC (Falmouth, MA) – 1925, 18 holes (9 hole Findlay course dates from 1898).
     -Sept. 5, 1924 The Sun article notes Winton laying out 18 holes.
Hollow Brook CC (Peekskill, NY) – 1925, M. Park 9 hole course dates from 1919.
     -Sept. 5, 1924 The Sun article notes Winton laying out 18 holes.
Cranmoor CC (Toms River, NJ) – 1925, original design.
Sylvan Lake GC (Beekman, NY) – 1925, 6 hole course.
     -April 9, 1925 The Sun article notes 6 hole course by Winton.
Westport Harbor GC (Westport Harbor, RI) – 1925, 9 holes.
     -Sept. 5, 1924 The Sun article notes Winton laying out 9 holes, 18 planned.  Guides only have 9 holes completed.
Private course for Donald Woodward – Pre-1926.
     -Apr. 10, 126 Daily News article notes Winton built a 6 hole course for Woodward (possibly now Le Roy CC).
Amityville CC (aka Great South Bay GC and Chapelfields GC) (Amityville, NY) – 1926, 18 holes.
     -Sept. 5, 1924 The Sun article notes Winton laying out 18 hole course at Chapelfields.
Congressional CC (Blue Course) (Rockville, MD) – 1927, remodel.
Hopewell Valley GC (Hopewell Junction, NJ) – 1927, 18 holes.
Maplemoor GC (White Plains, NY) – 1927, expansion to 18 holes.
     -April 24, 1926 and Dec. 24, 1926 Scarsdale Inquirer articles note addition of 9 new holes by Winton.
Sleepy Hollow CC (Scarboro-On-Hudson, NY) – Pre-1928, remodel.
Sprain Lake GC (aka Sprain Brook GC) (Yonkers, NY) – 1928, 27 holes.
     -Dec. 24, 1926 Scarsdale Inquirer article notes contemplated Sprain Brook Parkway project.
Westport GC (aka Westport Inn GC) (Westport, NY) – 1928, 18 holes.
     -Preexisting 9 hole course by T. Lee.
Kings Ridge Club (Portchester, NY) – 1929.
Sunset Hill GC (Ossining, NY) – 1929, remodel of existing 9 hole 1924 course.
Lawrence Farms CC (nka Mount Kisco GC) (Mt. Kisco, NY) – 1930, 18 holes.
     -Nov. 11, 1929 The Yonkers Stateman article notes Winton designed 18 holes.
Saxon Woods GC (Scarsdale, NY) – 1931, 18 holes with A.W. Tillinghast.
     -Dec. 24, 1926 Scarsdale Inquirer article notes contemplated Saxon Woods Park project.
     -Jan. 1, 1932 Scarsdale Inquirer article notes course opened Aug. 1, 1931.

Date Unknown:

Bronxville GC (Bronxville, NY) – Date Unknown.
Apawamis Club (Rye, NY) – Date Unknown, renovated the greens.
Westchester CC (Rye, NY) – Date Unknown, renovated greens on 36 holes.
Gedney Farm CC (White Plains, NY) – Post-1922, reconstruction of 7 holes.
     -Sept. 21, 1922 Scarsdale Inquirer article notes course opened in 1922.
Colgate University GC (Hamilton, NY) – Date Unknown.
Allview CC (Ellicott City, MD) – No information on this course other than a notation that it was in Ellicott City.
Toms River CC (Toms River, NJ) – Date Unknown.
     -Same as Cranmoor CC?
Portchester CC (Portchester, NY) – Date Unknown.
     -Same as Kings Ridge Club?
Big Spring CC (Louisville, KY) – Date Unknown, remodel of original 9 hole G. Davies course

East side of the pond:

Coombe Hill -UK
South Herts -UK
Woodcote Park -UK

[Jim_Kennedy]

Ed and Jim:

Regarding Le Roy and Woodward, is it your read of the article that the Le Roy CC originated as Woodward's private course?  Or are we getting that information from somewhere else?

Sven

Ed's in the best position to find that out. I've never seen anything about Woodward's  course, save for what Ed posted.   

[V. Kmetz]

Sven/Jim and all...


This has less to do with Winton than the thread title heralds, but it seemed the best place to continue....I've been doing heavy research on originals/NLEs in Westchester County since this thread was last engaged...


Bailey Park (1901* - 1926) - Like Hessian Hills (the Butchart course that never really was built or played and whose ruins serve as featured bones in Hudson National) all the evidence so far points to that this was never fully built or realized or truly played.


This property was the first "actual" Siwanoy course. Siwanoy was organized in 1900 up at Fairview Park and then brought officially here (2.5 miles south) in the form of a nine hole course on leased land. When this happened in 1901, the property was known as Glover Estate at Corcoran Manor and the manor house was on the NE corner of Lincoln and Columbus, and the course lay ENE of this home on 35 acres.


We know it is (at this point) 35 acres because that's what James Bailey (of Ringling-Barnum fame) bought in 1903, causing the Siwanoy group to have to beat it up the street about 5 blocks to the Hunt Woods property where they existed for 10 years until the current property, ironically adjacent to Fairview Park where they started.


Bailey built an enlarged new estate home, The Knolls, on that first Corcoran Manor/Siwanoy clubhouse...



This manor home site is now the McKim, Mead and White 1928 built Park Lane cooperative apartments... Dick Clark grew up there, his mother worked on Bailey's estate before he was born, and the family took residence there after it became a co-op...he had the wrought iron fencing that surrounded the Bailey Estate/Park Lane replicated in his California home.


When Bailey took over in 1903, golf seems to have died on the property...whether or not anyone (Bailey or others) used the member-built Siwanoy course or its bones has no provenance in anything I've read. Bailey died at the Knolls in 1906 and this 1911-12 map lists no golf course, but shows the estate, which no longer would be referenced by Corcoran/Glover names and now by Bailey Park.



The next period 1913 - 1923 is the most indefinite as to what was happening to the property. As this section of Mount Vernon was still in the midst of transition to a suburb proper, it still was thought as of as retreat of former farms and large manors...there were proposals ideas for hotel-residences and ventures of this "resortish" sort. Even though the Cross County and Hutchison River Parkways were not yet fully voiced projects, the seeds of such transportation projects begin to make appearances...World War I abated some of this...


By 1924, we have this, a map of Bailey Park Golf Club...now the 35 acres has been greatly expanded NNE, skirting and glomming the west/northwest side of the Warburg Orphange/Hospital/School facility...an area of expansion now occupying the present Mt. Vernon HS. As you can see this has a stick line drawing of an entire 18 hole course.



and this, a February 9 invitation to a club gathering:



But was this course ever realized?


to be continued...


cheers  vk

[V. Kmetz]

So when last I left you, the demi-rhetorical question was posed "whether or not this joint Winton-Tillinghast was ever truly built...?"


The answer is no.


Bailey Park CC was conceived in 1921 and formally incorporated in summer 1922 following heirs' estate fights after James Bailey's death in 1906 (and his wife's later that year in Egypt).  His heirs and his estate entanglements left the property and his magnificent manor house "The Knolls" in stasis for most of those 15 years, tended to, but not utilized or used...


Tillinghast and Winton made a survey and plan for the property (reported on Aug 3, 1922) and a full walking account of the intended holes can be found in the March 28 1923 Daily Argus (this matches up quite precisely with the independent 1924 Atlas image from the last post as well as the visual evidence you will see in a moment).


In 1923 and 1924, this Bailey Park CC was VERY active as a host of all sorts of club and civic ventures... dinner dances, bridge games, fashion shows, lectures, community meetings and the like. This was easy...they had Bailey's well appointed Knolls manor house in good repair, sold most of his chattel at auction (3/13/23) and were able to outfit the manse as any first-rate club might do. Yet the only golf reported out from this time period was:

• a hole in one on the 6th hole of the Bailey Park "pony" course on 6-15-23
• an intended "soft open" of 9 holes on Election Day (11-4-24) for which local ads soliciting caddies were made.

(Whether or not this "pony" course was some amalgamation/vestige of Siwanoy's 1901-03 course or something else is anyone's guess...the 6th hole of the Tillie/Winton plan is not a par three...if the pony course was any part of that, it would likely have been their intended 4th hole or 17th hole [nearest the clubhouse])


I have found no reports of how the Election Day event was carried off. It was 48 degrees with windy, cloudy conditions in Mount Vernon that day, so I leave it to your imagination.


As 1924 becomes 1925, a few items occur:

• The plans for the Hutchison River and Cross County Parkways are being formulated, and parkway authority purchases are being made.
• The parent of the Bailey Park CC (the Bailey Park Company) start selling adjacent parcels to the club to pare off the mounting debt of carrying a social club without golf for 2.5 years.
• The full 18 hole golf course has hit a wall in terms of construction progress

Though the 1924 map from my previous post indeed shows an accurate stick figure routing, the greatest piece of provenance that this course was unfinished is from the 1925 aerial (one with stick figure overlaid /one without)






I apologize for the crude grafting of the images and the roughness of the stick figure one but is there any doubt that this course was no where near a finished project by the year of the photograph?...crossing scars and virgin woods still dot the property...only a few green sites are fully realized...some intended holes paths aren't even cleared...in 1925


This is significant because on November 6 of that year, the board, mindful of its debts and now informed that the County Parkway commission intended to run the Cross County/Hutch right through their property, decided to abandon all the grand plans and call it day...a decision announced publicly on November 30th....and after a year of general/preferred shareholder in-fighting as to disposition was ordered shuttered by a judge on 12/15/1926...the CC articles of incorporation dissolved by 1-25-27.


cheers   vk

[Neil Regan]

I don’t know if you guys have seen this yet.
(If the image does not appear, please let me know.)
Winburn had all sorts of plans to develop in Westchester.
At one point he had bought $8,000,000 of land there.

This spread was published in December 1926, right after the Bailey Park failure was finalized.
You will see that Winburn had hired Winton and Macfarlane, hoping to build or rebuild a zillion courses.
It is also just a great aerial showing Westchester golf in the 1920s, and clarifies some of the locations discussed in this thread.
And has a photo and signature of Tom Winton.
Have you guys seen either before ?

[Neil Regan]

This is a link to a higher resolution of the aerial.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/nc9nkii208pvuof/Aerial%201926%20NY%20Times%20201212%20Winton%20Winburn%20Golf.png?dl=0

[Mike Sweeney]

This is a link to a higher resolution of the aerial.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/nc9nkii208pvuof/Aerial%201926%20NY%20Times%20201212%20Winton%20Winburn%20Golf.png?dl=0

Amazing aerial. Thanks for posting.

[V. Kmetz]

Great find Neil.... (no matter how clever I am with the search terms I rarely get such results). This map is invaluable for research on the NLEs... in that connection I see four I've never seen before: the first three listed "Westchester," "NY Athletic,"" Manhattan"and Longue Vue CC in Hastings.


Another that vexed me is Maplewood in White Plains, until it dawned on me that this is likely the executive course which used to loop over  the northeast side of the Cornell-Westchester Medical complex.  I may be the only person in the world who's played that one.



I've seen bits and news pieces about this Bronxville Golf Association, but never this comprehensive a look


One bit of follow up I have is that the featured parcels (A and B) would become part of Leonard Davidow's holdings, which in turn Lowell Schulman acquired in 1962-63, and became most of Brae Burn and much later CC of Purchase.


cheers  vk

[MCirba]

Sven/All,


Cranmoor and Tom's River are synonymous.

[MCirba]

Tom Winton designed Allview outside of Ellicott City in Columbia, MD and the course opened in 1931 as a public facility.

It existed until the mid-1980s when the owner sold to a group looking to develop housing.   Today, a golf course called Fairway Hills GC exists on much of the original site (100 acres used for housing), but other than some hole corridors is basically a new course designed by the Ault/Clark group that opened in the later 1980s and still exists today.