Metropolis(Strong, Tillinghast, Finger & K. Dye) in White Plains, NY- new pics

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Don't hear too much about this course in Westchester County. I presume it gets lost in the shuffle with Winged Foot and Quaker Ridge nearby. Here's the history from the club's website:

 

The original Metropolis Club founded by eighteen men in New York City, was incorporated in 1886 with a charter stating that its purpose was “to promote social intercourse among its members and to encourage musical, literary, dramatic and other recreative exercises and to establish a library.” As the membership grew the club moved to larger quarters, finally settling at 105 West 57th Street, in New York City. It continued to grow, adding activities including a pool, bowling, billiards, gymnastics and a cards room. The club had an active charity program, entertaining children at its clubhouse and at various orphanages and hospitals. It also supported the “Federation of Jewish Charities”. The club had a fine restaurant, a men’s grill, and in the summer a roof garden. Its membership continued to grow reaching 700 male members.

            In 1922 a group of club members separated from the club, and incorporated as Metropolis Country Club. They purchased the then existing Century Country Club on Landers Road in the Town of Greenburgh, in Westchester County, for $500,000.

            Century Country Club had been founded in 1898. Century initially built a 9-hole golf course, designed by Tom Bendelow, on a site along the water of the Long Island Sound in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx, just north of the present day toll plaza for the Throgs Neck Bridge. In 1904, the members wanted the more fashionable 18-hole course so they purchased a 100-acre site along Landers Road in the Town of Greenburgh. There they built a golf course designed by Herbert Strong, several tennis courts, a toboggan slide, and riding stables. By the end of World War I, many of the members thought the course too hilly, especially one long uphill par five. And so, in 1922, Century purchased 175 acres on Anderson Hill Road in Purchase and sold their course to the newly formed Metropolis Country Club. The new owners graciously allowed the former owners to play their old course until 1924, when their new facility was ready.

            Among the projects that the new Metropolis Country Club owners embarked on was the addition of a new men’s locker room, a place to change, relax, and swap golf stories. In 1929 Metropolis added a swimming pool and began its slow change to a family country club. Six years later it added the pro shop.

            Toward the end of the 1920’s Metropolis purchased additional land. In 1929 the club engaged the famous golf architect A. W. Tillinghast. He redesigned the course, adding the current 7th, 12th, 13th, and 14th holes. In the early 1970’s, in order to add some badly needed parking areas, the club engaged the golf architect Joe Finger who converted the then 16th hole to parking and designed in its place and built the current 15th hole.

            During 1998 and 1999 the club engaged Joe Finger’s partner, Ken Dye, to redesign and upgrade the entire course. He added 134 yards to lengthen the course to a total of 6784 yards. The long uphill 16th hole, originally a par 5 and then shortened to a challenging par 4 in the early 1970’s, was again redesigned as a 486-yard uphill par 5.


 The club has hosted 4 MGA Opens and 3 MGA Ams.


What's the story today about the course?

[David Stamm]

I'm sure Deruntz knows. You've piqued my curiosity, Steve. FWIW, Century, if I'm not mistaken, had Colt/Alison do their new course.

[Phil_the_Author]

Steve and David,

Have either of you seen the very nice "Metropolis Country Club - A Short History" which was written by member David Oestreich and published in June of 2008? It is a lovely presentation and certainly should be seen by many clubs who would like to produce their own histories but don't want to do an actual book. It is about 50 pages including lovely photos both historical balck and whites and color of every hole. My favorite part is the chapter titled "How To PLay Metropolis Golf Course" and was written by and contains comments on every hole by Gene Borek, Cheryly Anderson and "Lighthorse" Harry Cooper.

It contains a wealth of information...

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Phil,

I'd like to see that book. I'm playing Metropolis on October 1.

[Jaeger Kovich]

Its a solid course. I found it very fun. Lots of elevation changes. Lots of trees. The course isn't very long, and a lot of the holes turn pretty sharp, so you find yourself hitting over trees a lot.

When talking with the pro at my club about Metropolis he said "The Pro-V1 ruined that course for the scratch player."

[Tom MacWood]

That is an interesting history; I have heard and read great things about this course. I've seen that date (1904) for Strong before, and always thought it was awfully early for him. I did some checking and discovered he arrived in America in January 1905, so obviously there is more to the story than we know at present.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Its a solid course. I found it very fun. Lots of elevation changes. Lots of trees. The course isn't very long, and a lot of the holes turn pretty sharp, so you find yourself hitting over trees a lot.

When talking with the pro at my club about Metropolis he said "The Pro-V1 ruined that course for the scratch player."

Jaeger,

I agree, it's a terrific golf course.

But, the ruination started when they destroyed some wonderful holes ...... to build TENNIS courts

If you can get old aerial photos, like the ones that Jamie Slonis or someone else supplied for Pine Valley, and compare them to the current course, you'll see the dramatic difference.

[Phil_the_Author]

Tom,

You posted, "That is an interesting history; I have heard and read great things about this course. I've seen that date (1904) for Strong before, and always thought it was awfully early for him. I did some checking and discovered he arrived in America in January 1905, so obviously there is more to the story than we know at present."

The "Brief History" doesn't go into any of the early details, but if I remember from conversations that I had with David, I believe the property was purchased late in 1904 & they had Strong outn in the Spring of 1905 and it opened for play a year or so later. I may remember it wrong, but I'll check with him.

[Mike Sweeney]

Lots of trees. The course isn't very long, and a lot of the holes turn pretty sharp, so you find yourself hitting over trees a lot.

Trees are a big part of the day at Metropolis. Considering the neighborhood, a Doak 4.

4. A modestly interesting course, with a couple of distinctive holes among the 18, or at least some scenic interest and decent golf. Also reserved for some very good courses that are much too short and narrow to provide sufficient challenge for accomplished golfers.

[Tom MacWood]

Jaeger,

I agree, it's a terrific golf course.

But, the ruination started when they destroyed some wonderful holes ...... to build TENNIS courts

If you can get old aerial photos, like the ones that Jamie Slonis or someone else supplied for Pine Valley, and compare them to the current course, you'll see the dramatic difference.[/b][/size][/color]

Pat
When did they build the tennis courts?

[Steve_ Shaffer]

David,

Century is indeed a Colt/Alison of 1924.

[Tom MacWood]

Back in the early 50's there was a book that was a precursor to Doak's confidential guide, the author of the book was named Merrill I believe. But any way he was very high on Metropolis, he called it one of the best courses in the East, and noted the beautiful scenery.

[ChipOat]

Like so many Westchester County courses of that era and on that kind of topography (e.g Whippoorwill, Mt. Kisco, WC South), Metropolis has:

really good green complexes;
lots of elevation changes;
tight, crowded, cramped;
too many trees.

Except for the trees that could be removed, the above are all good efforts on a tough piece of property.

[Matt_Ward]

Agree w Chip -- Metropolis could stand to follow the game plan Winged Foot did a short time ago -- but the tree issue there is a good bit denser and in need of a major elimination. Solid green complexes and wonderful rolling terrain -- it's also one of the more unique entrance ways because it's so tucked away from public view.

Of the holes there -- the 6th is a cool hole -- sweeping downhill as a dog-leg par-4.

If one were to rank the best of Westchester Metropolis would be fighting for consideration near the rear of that line in my opinion.

In no particular order ...

Winged Foot / West
Winged Foot / East
QR
Fenway
Sleepy Hollow
Westchester CC / West
Whippoorwill
Century
Knollwood
10th spot ?

[Tom MacWood]

I found these two articles in the NY Tribune that may be of interest.

[Tom MacWood]

~

[Jaeger Kovich]

Matt - Just curious, but where do you think Sunningdale, Hudson National, Apawamis and Glen Arbor fit on your list?... The only ones I have played other than Metropolis are the first 4 on your list.

[Matt_Ward]

Jaeger:

Boy, you do raise an interesting question. The depth of Westchester County golf courses (private side that is) is quite good in so many ways -- no doubt you mentioned a number of other courses that likely would be battling it out for the last few spots on any top ten listing for the area.

Places like Winged Foot (both courses), QR, Fenway, Sleepy Hollow, Westchester / West would likely garner the first six positions. After that there would be a range of others -- including the ones you mentioned. My only point on Metropolis -- a course I do like and would like even more if they followed the tree removal solution posed by a few people here -- is that Westchester County has so much solid golf.

Metropolis is one course that would really stand to gain with the kind of improvements implemented by a range of other courses -- most notably at Winged Foot.

[Jaeger Kovich]

Matt - I completely agree. There seems to be an endless supply of world class private golf in the Westchester area, and if you expand out to LI and Jersey its the same thing.

I was having a discussion with a few pros and caddies about the "tree issue" during the Met PGA at Quaker this week. They wanted to know how many trees were in the original design. So I pointed out that the amount wasn't the point, its a playablity and maintenance issue. You need the morning exposure, and you need the air flow, but the Tillinghast courses need the specimen trees, and the trees are a huge part of Westchester golf... I think all these courses need to look to WF as the model here. If you kneel down at WF bellow the treeline, you can see golf holes everywhere because there are no low hanging branches. You need the chance to be able to hit a recovery shot from the trees. A fun old course like Metropolis could really be great with some tree removal.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Tom MacWood,

I played it pre and post tennis courts.

My guess is the 70's, but, I'll try to narrow the date down by looking at the dates the course hosted the MGA Amateur.

[Tom MacWood]

I have a feeling the 1904 course was designed by Bendelow, or someone else who was operating around then in that neighborhood (Tucker or one of the Dunns), and Strong came in at some later date to make changes.

[Julian Wise]

As a member of Metropolis, I cannot agree more that the course needs massive tree removal like what was done at Winged Foot and so many other courses.  Each year, we take down trees (never enough) and each time we take down trees, the older members complain that it is ruining the beauty of the golf course.  One of the problems is that the members who are against tree removal do not play some of the great courses that benefitted so greatly from removing trees--they just play Metropolis and don't really get "playability" of a course.  If we removed more trees, I truly belive that Metropolis would be right up on the list of the top courses in Westchester-certainly equal to Century, Fenway, Knollwood et al.  BTW, another terrific course in Westchester is the Country Club of Purchase.

[Matt_Ward]

Julian:

I was following what you said very closely -- can you tell me what qualites you see in CC of Purchase -- given the extreme narrow corridors and the close proximity of the wetlands / forced carries which intrude.

Frankly, I see the CC of Purchase as one of the most strained Nicklaus courses to fit the nature of the property available.

If Metropolis were to cut significant trees down the elements of playability, better overall turf (not to say the place is poor by any means) and the enhanced strategic elements would all be a part of such a mixture.

Until that happens -- too much of what you face at Metropolis is bowling alley repetition.

[Stewart Abramson]

I really enjoyed Metropolis. There are lots of interesting elevation changes, and variety of short and long holes, straihjt and doglegs etc. There are a few tight fairways that could use some tree thinning as discussed above. Here is a link to a slideshow of my photos of Metropolis

https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/albums/72157631832834341  https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/albums/72157631832834341 


ed. to replace outdated link

[Patrick_Mucci]

Julian Wise,

I've been playing Metropolis since 1968 and always enjoyed it.

Although, I wasn't a fan of the introduction of tennis courts at the expense of some of the holes on the back nine.

With respect to "every club's battle" over trees, do you have any early aerials taken in the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's.
Sometimes those aerials say more than 1,000 words.
They offer proof positive that the golf course wasn't always as it appears today.

While older members may claim the course was always tree lined, the old aerials often provide enough evidence to change a few minds and rekindle a tree clearing program.  While some of the trees are majestic, some have become invasive to the lines of play.

Since the tennis courts were probably added in the 70's, many, if not most members are probably unaware of the course prior to the introduction of the tennis courts.  That's another area where early aerials could be eye opening and lead to acquiescence with respect to further tree clearing.

Matt Ward,

I'd disagree with you regarding the replication of a "bowling alley" like golf course.

If anything, Metropolis has a great deal of diversity in its holes, both in terms of topography and configuration.
Very few holes are straight away, most have interesting turns that match the terrain perfectly.

While I'd agree that a good number of trees should be cleared, there's nothing repetitive about playing Metopolis.

# 17 probably does more to create the impression or myth about clausterphobia, but overall, it's a terrific golf course.