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The Golden Era |
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Shinnecock Hills Club House - Designed by Stanford White in 1892 |
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| Long Island Enters the Golden Era | |
| The Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland where the game of golf began, was established in 1888. The game of golf took off in the U.S. and by the turn of the century it is estimated that there were over 1,000 courses in America. Most of these earliest courses were of uninspired design. In the early years of the 20th century golf course design entered a golden era and Long Island was at the center of this renaissance. The greatest golf course architects in the world designed courses on Long Island. Courses that are largely intact and true to their original masterful designs. The very best early designs were done on Long Island. Courses that set the standard for years to come. Shinnecock Hills and the National Golf Links in Southampton were considered the very best of the earliest courses, monumental achievements in course design that have stood the test of time. | |
| Why Long Island? | |
| The answer is simple. Lots of prime real estate, a temperate climate and an affluent market that was hungry for golf courses. | |
| The Architects | |
| With names that seem right out of an E.L.
Doctorow or F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, Willie Dunn, Devereux Emmett, A.W.
Tillinghast, and Charles Blair Macdonald are some of the
world class designers of this era.
Devereux Emmett ( 1863 - 1934 ) His name shows up often on some of Long Island's most classic courses. He and the most prominent architect of the day, Stanford White were married to sisters. His first design was the forerunner to the Garden City Golf Club ( Island Golf Links ). Ironically, this most prolific designer of Long Island golf courses achieved his most famous design at the Congressional Country Club course near Washington, D.C and not on Long Island.
Building a course at a time when giant mechanical earth moving equipment was not available was a monumental task. Architect Robert Trent Jones estimated that it took seven teams of horses one week to contour a single green. The difficulty of building a course served as a motivation for the designer to " get it right " the first time. Designers would agonize over their plans and would often live on site for several years while the course was built.
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