Lost 9 at Maidstone

[Tim Martin]

I’ve been curious as to the lost nine at Maidstone and how the full eighteen holes compared to the West Course. In another thread I saw that Mike Cirba played the nine holer this last year and wonder if he or anyone else who has played can share their impressions. Any clarification as to whether the 1938 “Long Island Express” hurricane provided the death knell or if in fact the nine was rebuilt and then later abandoned would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Adam_Messix]

Tim,


The full 18 East course was written about in one of Dan Wexler's books about lost courses.

[Ronald Montesano]

Enlighten me. There are 27 holes at Maidstone. It appears that there is a main 18 and an east 9. Is that east 9 part of the second course? Did they build homes over the other nine, or did the land slip into the sea?

[Joe Bausch]

I was fortunate to play the 9-hole Maidstone East Course this past summer. I had a blast. Evidence:

https://www80.homepage.villanova.edu/joseph.bausch/images/albums/MaidstoneEast/index.html

I will let Cirba chime in on the architectural heritage of this fun course.

BTW, the big course is awesome, but you knew that.

[Tim Martin]

I was fortunate to play the 9-hole Maidstone East Course this past summer. I had a blast. Evidence:

https://www80.homepage.villanova.edu/joseph.bausch/images/albums/MaidstoneEast/index.html

I will let Cirba chime in on the architectural heritage of this fun course.

BTW, the big course is awesome, but you knew that.

Joe-Great set of pics! Looks like plenty of movement in the greens with the uphill par five 6th hole a standout.

[MCirba]

Enlighten me. There are 27 holes at Maidstone. It appears that there is a main 18 and an east 9. Is that east 9 part of the second course? Did they build homes over the other nine, or did the land slip into the sea?

Primarily homes, Ron, although I'm not sure a couple of early holes down on the beach would be recoverable today.

[MCirba]

As far as the architectural history of the East course, I used to have David Goddard's detailed history of the course/club but I let someone borrow it who let someone else borrow it so whatever I have is largely from that now second-hand source.


My understanding is that the East included a number of original green sites from the club's original 18 holes opened by Willie Park, Jr. and Adrian Larkin in 1899.   In 1915 Park's brother John with Larkin made additional enhancements.   It's rumored that Seth Raynor made significant enhancements to the overall Maidstone property and/or created an entire new East course around 1921 but no physical evidence of that has been uncovered.  In 1924 Willie and John Park created a new property plan that created two 18 hole courses that was largely implemented by brother John between then and 1930.


During WWII the club sold off land that included 7 holes of the East.  Eventually, two holes were combined to create today's 2nd hole, another hole was abandoned and the remainder constitute today's course.


Any corrections or additional information is welcomed, thanks.

[Phil Carlucci]

Tim,


The full 18 East course was written about in one of Dan Wexler's books about lost courses.

I was pretty sure of this too, but I just flipped through both "Missing Links" and "Lost Links" and can't find his write-up on Maidstone. I know I've seen it somewhere.

As far as the architectural history of the East course, I used to have David Goddard's detailed history of the course/club but I let someone borrow it who let someone else borrow it so whatever I have is largely from that source.


My understanding is that the East included a number of original green sites from the club's original 18 holes opened by Willie Park, Jr. and Adrian Larkin in 1899.   In 1915 Park's brother John with Larkin made additional enhancements.   It's rumored that Seth Raynor made significant enhancements to the overall Maidstone property and/or created an entire new East course around 1921 but no physical evidence of that has been uncovered.  In 1924 Willie and John Park created a new property plan that created two 18 hole courses that was largely implemented by brother John between then and 1930.


During WWII the club sold off land that included 7 holes of the East.  Eventually, two holes were combined to create today's 2nd hole, another hole was abandoned and the remainder constitute today's course.


Any corrections or additional information is welcomed, thanks.

Bill Quirin in "America's Linksland" says it was the hurricane in 1938 that cut Maidstone from 36 to 27.  Hard to determine if that was the actual direct cause or not.  What's definitely true though is that Maidstone was blasted by that storm and parts of the two courses were destroyed and washed out to sea, per newspaper accounts.

[Joe Bausch]

Here is a 1930 aerial of Maidstone, showing both courses. I've tried to clean up this image and it is clickable to a larger size.

[Bret Lawrence]

Here is a piece written in 1944 from The Maidstone Club’s 50-Year History: This is one story from a series that ran in the East Hampton Star for a few weeks in 1944.  The top of the the second column mentions the designers of the golf course.  You can find the rest of the history on NYShistoricalnewspapers.com.
The East Hampton Star., October 12, 1944




Alick Gerard (Sometimes spelled Alex or Alec), the professional at the time, was responsible for implementing the Park brother’s design.  Alick Gerard assisted Seth Raynor with bunkering at Oakland Golf Club and Yeamans Hall.  Gerard was also the longtime professional at Mountain Lake Club in the winters.  He was followed at Maidstone and Mountain Lake by his son Alick “Buddy” Gerard.  A Gerard was pro at Mountain Lake from 1919-1978.  Perhaps Gerard’s work was later confused for something Raynor may have built?  I have never seen Raynor’s name associated with the club otherwise. 

[MCirba]

Thanks, Bret...my memory isn't as good as it used to be so I appreciate you filling in the gaps.