Five best clubhouses

[Paul Jones]

For a modern clubhouse, I really like Bayonne.

[Mike_Trenham]

A few spots that have not been mentioned yet

1) Eastward Ho!'s porch sitting above the 18th green
2) Sakonnett's array of small free standing well weathered shingled buildings
3) The gigantic locker room at Forest Creek gets high marks from me and my preference is old and low scale.
4) The main part of Farmington in Charlottesville VA was designed by Tomas Jefferson and is really cool
5) The atmosphere in the locker house at Whitemarsh Valley is reason enough to join

[ward peyronnin]

I must say that the recently renovated clubhouse at Western Gails retained the ORIGINAL locker room comprised of lockers cabbaged together of rough sawn planks dating back to days of yore for sure. Very authentic and so pure

[ward peyronnin]

ok One more

Panmure has a splendid Scottish stucco "Dutch" clubhouse with pro shop detached. Inside is a remarkable sets of silver/glass/ceramic trophy's and memorobilia cleverly displayed dating to 1854 and with a set of portraits of i think 4 generartrions of club captains.

In the "Board " room are original John Sargent Singer( sic)  portraits of their sponsors, the Earl of Dundee, very cool

[Gene Greco]

No particular order(though all in New York):


Shinnecock Hills
National Golf Links
The Maidstone
Winged Foot
Oak Hill

[Sean_A]

Woking
Prestwick
Hoylake
Royal Blackheath
New Zealand

Honourable Mention: Swinley Forest, Gullane & Worplesdon

Ciao

[Dan Boerger]

Sean - Interesting choices, and very much in the "understated" camp. Swinley and Woking stand out not for the clubhouse as much as their verandas, IMO.

Tom - Excellent call on Old Head. Significant thought was put into making that clubhouse blend in well to the surrounds and provide extraordinary views to the patrons.

[tlavin]

1. Olympia Fields  (Men's locker room is 12,000 square feet with 40' ceilings)
2. Shoreacres (The view from the bluff is extraordinary)
3. Cypress Point (Understated and very cool)
4. LACC (Gimme a break, it's just great)
5. Medinah (Almost makes me wish I were a Muslim or whatever godforesaken religion inspired the nutty architecture)

[Kalen Braley]

Going with a more modern twist....

1)  BlackRock - Just a superb facility with an excellent locker room, eating facilities, tastefully done pool area.  I could really see myself hanging out there.
2)  Promontory - The dining room is fantastic with large bay windows and granite everywhere that provides for an epic experience.
3)  Sanctuary - Nice locker room and the grotto is a neat little spot.
4)  GlenWild - Excellent facilities and the dining can be converted to outdoor dining with movable walls.
5)  MPCC - A very cool spot to hang after playing a round with some nice views to boot.  (Had my best ever Long Island Ice Tea here) 

[mark chalfant]

Long Vue PA.

Milwaukee   charming both inside and out

Hidden Creek  low key, welcoming,  good food

The Country Club Pepper Pike

CC of Buffalo    Beautiful  interior rooms

Franklin Hills   exceptional  old world elegance

[Mark Bourgeois]

BT
Ravenstein
St Georges Hill
Cheeca (kinda cheating)
Noordwijk

[Pete Lavallee]

Sadlyy wife didn't enjoy the clubhouse at Woking as she wasn't allowed in!

I can't believe no one has mentioned Stoke Park; built by the son of William Penn it was described by Darwin as "a vision in white marble". It was also used in the James Bond movie Gold Finger. The grounds are spectacular, landscaped by Capabilty Brown. There is also a small Norman Church which has the gravesite of one of England's most famous poets, whose name escapes me right now. All this in close proximity to the lovely village of Slough!

[Jason Topp]

The only clubhouse I have spent time in for the purpose of experiencing the clubhouse:

[Jim Franklin]

The Bridge. I love the modern look of that structure.

[Phil McDade]

Arguably the most exclusive clubhouse yet mentioned on this thread:



It's so exclusive, I'm not sure any of the club's members have ever been in it.

[David Stamm]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Stoke Park; built by the son of William Penn 

Wasn't it Christopher Wren who designed it?

[Dan Dingman]

Here in the Detroit area, architect Albert Kahn designed many of the best clubhouses in the area - Country Club of Detroit, Franklin Hills CC, Bloomfield Hills CC, Detroit Golf Club.

Are the other cities in the USA where one architect designed many great clubhouses?

DD

[Robert Mercer Deruntz]

Aside from a few great one's aready mentioned, the golf experience seems to be tainting the judgement of the clubhouse.  Among the the great courses with great clubhouses not yet mentioned:
     Indian Creek--I have yet to be in a more impressive clubhouse
     Oak Hill
     Sleepy Hollow--the clubhouse cost a few million to build in 1905 and was one of the Vanderbilt's trophy houses
     Friars Head--It took years to build because Kenny was not going to settle for less than greatness.  Just check out the attention to
                      detail in the floor level molding.
     Plainfield


Great clubhouses on not quite great courses:
     Bridges (in Rancho Santa Fe)
     The Reserve
     Muttontown--formerly the Fonda estate
     Old Westbury--formerly the Post estate
     Hudson National
    

[Bill_McBride]

Mentioned a couple of times on this thread, still my all-time favorite:  The Valley Club of Montecito.

Fifteen green with clubhouse behind, a photo.



Here's Michael Miller's painting, really captures the serene beauty of the eighteenth hole with clubhouse behind.

[Sean_A]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Stoke Park; built by the son of William Penn  

Wasn't it Christopher Wren who designed it?

David

I think you are about 100 years out of whack.  The estate had something to do with Penn's (not sure which one) return from the States after the Revolutionary War.  Compensation money from his confiscated PA holdings was used to build Stoke Park - the mansion and gardens.  I can't recall the archie's name right now, but he was a VERY famous archie in the time of King George III's reign.  He may have been a Scots - I think his name sounded Scottish.  Must be a see you Jimmy deal.

Christopher Wren was the guy who built shit loads of churches in London (including St Pauls) after the Great Fire in the 1660s.  This will give me a great excuse to dive back into one of the great books of history - The Diary of Samuel Pepys.  

Ciao

[Mark_F]

Capital simply has to be in the running.  No other course in the world surely has such a magnificently lit dunny.


The pro shop isn't too shabby either.

[Phil_the_Author]

It would be dificult to top the King Kamehameha Golf Club:



It was designed by John Rattenbury at the Frank Lloyd Wright Talesian.

From the 18th faairway:



The interior is even more stunning than the exterior. I can honestly say that this is the only golf club that I want to visit FIRST for the club house...

[Mark Chaplin]

Stoke Park - The Mansion was designed by James Wyatt, architect to George III, who worked on the development of the house and monuments from 1790 to 1813.

My favourites;

Old Elm
Chicago GC
TCC - especially the locker room building
Royal St Georges
R&A

[Bill_McBride]

[

Wasn't it Christopher Wren who designed it?

David

I think you are about 100 years out of whack.  The estate had something to do with Penn's (not sure which one) return from the States after the Revolutionary War.  Compensation money from his confiscated PA holdings was used to build Stoke Park - the mansion and gardens.  I can't recall the archie's name right now, but he was a VERY famous archie in the time of King George III's reign.  He may have been a Scots - I think his name sounded Scottish.  Must be a see you Jimmy deal.

Christopher Wren was the guy who built shit loads of churches in London (including St Pauls) after the Great Fire in the 1660s.  This will give me a great excuse to dive back into one of the great books of history - The Diary of Samuel Pepys.  

Ciao

Wren also designed the original buildings at William & Mary College in Williamsburg Virginia.  He also designed the public market building in Windsor, outside the castle gates.  Good story here, he wanted to build a post and beam building with a handful of columns based on his engineering skills.  The town fathers insisted on a whole raft of columns because they didn't trust his engineering, so Wren gave them what they wanted -- but most of the columns stop several inches below the beams!

[David Stamm]

My mistake about Wren. For some reason the style made me think it was him.