Glimpses of Long Island's Country Clubs

[Sven Nilsen]

50.  Reydon Country Club, May 26, 1932

[Joe Bausch]

These are awesome, Sven.  They might also need a home in the Bausch Archives. 

[Sven Nilsen]

51.  North Fork Country Club, May 27, 1932

[Sven Nilsen]

52.  Jackson Heights Country Club, May 30, 1932

[Sven Nilsen]

I have been unable to find the mysterious 53rd article in the series.  The 54th appeared a bit later, which makes one wonder if it was misnumbered.


54.  Corona Park Golf and Country Club, June 26, 1932

[Jeff Schley]

Sven,


Do you have a list to post and which ones are NLE perhaps? 


Hours of research there so well done.

[Sven Nilsen]

These are awesome, Sven.  They might also need a home in the Bausch Archives. 

Joe:


Feel free.  I may have a couple of other series like these that you might be interested in.


Sven

[Sven Nilsen]

Sven,


Do you have a list to post and which ones are NLE perhaps? 


Hours of research there so well done.

Jeff:


I may go back through and add in some additional information for each course.


In the meantime, John Sabino's thread on Lost New York courses might be interesting:


http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,64051.msg1525613.html#msg1525613


Sven

[Phil Carlucci]

During my research I had trouble turning up any detailed information on Shelter Rock.  This is great.

[Phil Carlucci]

You can argue that this series by the Times Union was a snapshot of Long Island golf at its absolute peak, unbeknownst to the clubs at the time.  Some of them had just opened for business intending to capitalize on the boom of the 1920s.  Little did they know what was ahead.  Within 10-15 years many of these courses were history.

[Sven Nilsen]

You can argue that this series by the Times Union was a snapshot of Long Island golf at its absolute peak, unbeknownst to the clubs at the time.  Some of them had just opened for business intending to capitalize on the boom of the 1920s.  Little did they know what was ahead.  Within 10-15 years many of these courses were history.

Phil:


I'm not sure how many of those closures were due to the club's struggles, or if there were better uses for the land as the urban sprawl spread on the island.  Not many places saw the kind of growth and housing construction that took place on Long Island post WWII.


Sven

[Phil Carlucci]

You can argue that this series by the Times Union was a snapshot of Long Island golf at its absolute peak, unbeknownst to the clubs at the time.  Some of them had just opened for business intending to capitalize on the boom of the 1920s.  Little did they know what was ahead.  Within 10-15 years many of these courses were history.

Phil:


I'm not sure how many of those closures were due to the club's struggles, or if there were better uses for the land as the urban sprawl spread on the island.  Not many places saw the kind of growth and housing construction that took place on Long Island post WWII.


Sven

The suburban growth/development aspect of it was unique to Long Island, as you said, and it pretty effectively squashed a number of clubs that were weakened during the Depression/WWII, that I guess theoretically could have had a chance to survive if they existed elsewhere.

Off the top of my head, Valley Stream and Sound View/Sound Shore were immediately repurposed into residential developments in the early/mid 1940s; Milburn (by then known as Willowbrook) was targeted for years for school development and in early '50s was immediately converted into grounds for Baldwin HS.

[Sven Nilsen]

Adding this post in as a repository for all of the Long Island courses that were in existence in 1932 (or had already gone out of existence) and not included in the series of articles.

Creek Club


Crescent AC

Deepdale GC


Halesite CC


Idlewild Beach GC


Jamaica CC


Laurelton GC (may have been NLE by 1932)

Links Club


Maidstone Club

Massapequa GC


Meadow Brook Hunt Club


National Golf Links of America

New Hyde Park GC


North Shore CC


Northport CC


Ocean G&CC


Oceanside G&CC


Piping Rock Club

Queensboro G&CC

Rockaway Hunt Club

Seawane Club

Shinnecock Hills GC

St. George's G&CC


University GC (Turnpike)

Women's National GC (Glen Head)


Woodcleft CC

[Phil Carlucci]

Adding this post in as a repository for all of the Long Island courses that were in existence in 1932 and not included in the series of articles.

Creek Club
Deepdale GC
Jamaica CC
Links Club
Maidstone Club
Massapequa GC
National Golf Links of America
North Shore CC
Piping Rock Club
Rockaway Hunt Club
Shinnecock Hills GC
Women's National GC (Glen Head)

Some others to add:

Bridgehampton
Huntington Bay
Long Island CC
Manhanset (Shelter Island)
Meadow Brook
Montauk Downs
Northport CC
Oceanside G&CC
Quogue Club
Riverhead CC
Sayville GC
Seawane
Shelter Island
Southampton
St. George's
Westhampton

Apologies if any of these were in the series.

[Sven Nilsen]

Phil:


Do you have anything on Westwood Golf & Country Club in Woodmere?  Sounds a lot like the location of Meadowlawn (f/k/a Cedarpoint).


The image below is from a 1939 map.


Sven

[Phil Carlucci]

Phil:


Do you have anything on Westwood Golf & Country Club in Woodmere?  Sounds a lot like the location of Meadowlawn (f/k/a Cedarpoint).


The image below is from a 1939 map.


Sven

Yeah, all the same place.  I wrote about it a few years ago:

https://www.golfonlongisland.com/teebox/2017/02/golf-related-street-names-the-ghosts-of-long-island-golfs-past.html

[Sven Nilsen]

Thanks for the feedback.  Pretty sure Cedar Point was a 1922/23 Herbert Stong design.  In 1931 they tried to run Meadowlawn as a private club, don't think it lasted more than a year.


There are reports that Arnold Rothstein was involved with its inception.



Sven

[Sven Nilsen]

Here's an attempt at placing the various courses from the articles, as well as some others, on a map of Nassau County.  Going to attempt to do the same for Queens and Suffolk Counties. 


If anyone has any courses that should be added to the maps, please let me know.

[Phil Carlucci]

Map looks great.

Oceanside G&CC -- northern half of today's Middle Bay, roughly below the "d" in Oceanside
New Hyde Park GC -- just SE of Glen Oaks

[Sven Nilsen]

Map looks great.

Oceanside G&CC -- northern half of today's Middle Bay, roughly below the "d" in Oceanside
New Hyde Park GC -- just SE of Glen Oaks

Phil:


Are Ocean G&CC and Lawrence in the right places?


Did Lawrence CC become Lawrence Village GC?


Thanks,


Sven

[Sven Nilsen]

Here's the Queens map.  A lot to add in the way of old courses.

[Sven Nilsen]

Map looks great.

Oceanside G&CC -- northern half of today's Middle Bay, roughly below the "d" in Oceanside
New Hyde Park GC -- just SE of Glen Oaks

Updated map posted above, with a couple of tweaks.

[Phil Carlucci]

Map looks great.

Oceanside G&CC -- northern half of today's Middle Bay, roughly below the "d" in Oceanside
New Hyde Park GC -- just SE of Glen Oaks

Phil:


Are Ocean G&CC and Lawrence in the right places?


Did Lawrence CC become Lawrence Village GC?


Thanks,


Sven

Yes and Yes.

[Sven Nilsen]

Trying to track through the various names and locations of many of these courses can be a bit tricky.


For example, Devereux Emmet built Queensboro G&CC in Astoria, Queens in 1917.  This course was also known as Astoria CC.


Around the same time, Bayside Links (or the Bayside Hotel GC) was built in the Bayside neighborhood of Queens.  This course would soon become the Belleclaire CC, and in 1927 the course would be sold to new ownership who renamed it Queensboro GC.  A few years later a new group came and redubbed the club Old Belleclaire CC.


To add a little more confusion, in the 1930's Alistair Mackenzie was brought in to build Bayside Links just up the road from the location of Old Belleclaire.


Sven

[Sven Nilsen]

Another Long Island course that has faded into the ether.


Munsey Park GC near Manhasset.  Designed by Marty O'Loughlin, it opened in 1932 and was gone by 1937.


If anyone has any more information on this one please let me know.


April 14, 1932 Brooklyn Times Union -