145. A Week in New Jersey and Long Island , NY

While I was on my prior trip, the governor of MA announced new travel restrictions for entering MA that became effective August 1.  Essentially, to enter or re-enter MA from any state but NY, NJ, and the other 5 New England states (“exempt states”) one needs to either have a negative COVID test or self-quarantine for 14 days…and effective a week ago, RI lost its exempt status!  Travelers are required to submit a form upon entering MA, and I am concerned about flying, as MA may have a data sharing agreement with the airlines, which would make it easy for them to come after you if you avoid submitting the form.  So thoughts of trips to the mid-west etc. have quickly dissipated.

I had been invited for two golf rounds in the NY area during the week of August 10^th, one at Mountain Ridge GC (NJ) on 8/11 and one at Deepdale on 8/14.  I planned on a Monday-Friday trip covering 8 courses, mostly in NJ to cover some courses on my various bucket lists.  

 

Knickerbocker Country Club, August 10, 2020:  I left our home around 8:30am (far more civilized than 5am…but trust me, I am not becoming civilized…it is almost impossible to find a private club that is open for play Monday morning) and arrived at Knickerbocker around 1pm.  Again, due to COVID, never hit any traffic (except for two construction sites on the Merritt Parkway in CT).  The club was almost deserted except for the swimming pool and given both the temperature and humidity were well over 90 (and would remain so most of the week) I wondered if I had the wrong sports equipment with me. 

 

Knickerbocker was founded in 1914 and has been at this location (in Tenafly, NJ about 5 miles north of the George Washington Bridge entrance) since then.  The course was originally designed by Donald Ross and subsequently renovated by Herbert Strong (think Canterbury in Cleveland and Guyan…Post #143…in WV).  More recently in 2007-8 Ron Forse restored some of Ross’ features.  It has never made a USA Top 100 but was included in GW’s Top 200 Classic list several times allowing for its inclusion in my Merged GW 400.  The highest position I show in the merged list was #287 in 2014 and it had dropped to #383 in the recently announced 2020 Merged GW list.

 

I thought the course was good but not great…its ratings today are probably appropriate.  It is flat for a good number of holes and had good land movement on others.  I was surprised at how docile these Ross greens were for the first 4-5 holes but then as the round continued, the greens had greater overall slope and were fairly good….and overall very large (having been expanded back to original size by Forse).  From the tips it plays 6726 yards (par 72) and I played from 5790 yards.  There were some very good maintenance practices employed on the course, such as maintaining grass at the entrances to all fairway and greenside bunkers at fairway height (so that bunkers act as “gathering point hazards”…and Knickerbocker has a whole bunch of superbly placed cross bunkers, which must be carefully considered after placing a drive in the rough.  On the other hand, the course looked and felt too green, soft, and slow and would be much better if firm and fast.  My favorite hole was #6, a 191-yard par 3 with a diamond shaped green (home plate is a point in the front middle of the green).  I hit the ball well and had a 40 – 41 = 81.   Played in 2:20.

 

I was really surprised by the amount of tree damage caused by Hurricane Isaias.  Several clubs I tried to reach this past week had lost their power for as long as 7-9 days and I saw the remains of numerous trees with trunk diameters or 3” and more that had he broken like toothpicks around the property…and this damage was evident at every course on the trip.

 

After the round I drove to my hotel where I was meeting for dinner Mitch R. (a fellow Golf Magazine panelist and member of GGCC), who would be part of our group at Mountain Ridge GC the next morning.  I first met Mitch in 2016 when he hosted me at the Chevy Chase Club (Post #46), his home club outside of Washington, DC.  Mitch completed his first GM World 100 in 2015 without having previously been a Top 100 Panelist for any magazine…quite a feat!

Dinner was good and I got to bed reasonably early…good thing as the next three days would be 36 holes/day in tough weather.

 

Mountain Ridge Country Club, August 11, 2020:  Mountain Ridge was founded in 1912 and originally was located in West Orange, NJ, with a nine-hole course designed by David Hunter.  Five years later Alfred Tillinghast had expanded the course to 18 holes, but the property was very hilly and not well suited for golf.  After subsequent evaluations by the likes of Raynor, Banks, and Travis all came back saying not much could be made with this property.  The club eventually sold their original property and purchased the current site in West Caldwell.  The new course was designed by Donald Ross and completed in 1931 with a new clubhouse designed by Clifford Wendehack (Winged Foot, Bethpage, Ridgewood, Park CC)…pretty good lineage on both fronts!  Since 1931, the club has hosted four Metropolitan Opens (the 4^th being held August 20-23, 2020) and the 2012 US Senior Amateur Championship. 

 

I had played Mountain Ridge once before in 2016 (Post #46) and had heard good things about recent renovation work completed by Ron Prichard.  Golf Magazine was having a mini gathering of local Panelists, and there were about 12 of us there.  The recent work was clearly quite extensive based on my first look down holes 1 and 10 which run alongside a completely redone practice range.  The major changes to my eye are:

 

--very well done green size expansion (I would guess to original size in most cases);

--major tree removal creating superb vistas throughout the course and improving turf quality;

---elimination of areas of “double trouble” (dictating the need to pitch out) leaving the player the option of a heroic recovery and risk of a double bogey or worse;

--widening of the fairways bringing back Ross’ use of strategic options and angles; and

--excellent placement of cross bunkers along the edges of the fairways (with fairway height grass at all bunker entrances).

 

Mountain Ridge continues to have two different nines, with holes 1-9 being mostly straight and very hilly, and hole 10-18 (especially 11-17) generally being flat with many doglegs…but the nines do “fit together” very well.  IMO best holes are #6 and #7.  Overall a huge improvement, but I would like to see the course be faster and firmer, and importantly, the women’s tees here are 5500 yards (par 73).  I doubt that the average woman member can reach more than three par 4’s in regulation …and if the men members had to play at “equivalent distances” most would quit the game.  This is a problem at many “top” clubs and courses and needs to be corrected…and the costs are small.

 

In terms of historical ratings, Mountain Ridge has never cracked a Top 100.  It has been on the GW Top 100 Classic four times.  No question that 10-15 years ago a course like this would be in the USA Top 100, but the overall quality of courses out there has risen so much that I do not think it will make that goal this time.  Get firm and fast and there will be a new story here.

 

For the record, I did not play well and had a 45 – 42 = 87, playing from about 5500 yards.  From the tips it plays 7122 (par 71) and I expect it will present itself very well at the Met Open this week.

 

After the round, we had lunch with Ran Morrissett (Architecture Editor of GOLF), David DeNunizo (Editor-In-Chief), and Jason Abel (CEO) and discussed the Panel’s future plans.  Overall a very productive and interesting discussion.  Around 1:45 the lunch broke up and I headed south to the Edison NJ area.

 

Forsgate Country Club-Banks Course, August 11, 2020:  The drive to Forsgate was some 50 miles (0:55) and the course was fairly busy…so this would not be a quick afternoon round; such is golf in the COVID era, everyone has “cabin fever” and the game of golf is one of the few healthy and safe releases.

 

Forsgate has 36 holes; its first course was designed by Charles Banks and was his last course design (he passed away at the all too young age of 49 just prior to the course’s completion in 1931).  With his passing, so ended the Charles Blair Macdonald—Seth Raynor—Charles Banks lineage in golf architecture.  To some degree this trio was underappreciated, but efforts by Tom Doak and the late George Bahto have resurrected their place in golf history to its current high perch.  The second course (now called The Palmer Course) was designed by Hal Purdy and opened in 1961 and was renovated by Arnold Palmer in 1995.

 

Forsgate’s Banks Course is a demanding test.  It is filled with deep deep greenside bunkers literally built with Banks’ steamshovel.  There must be 10-15 greenside bunkers where the player must hit their bunker shot up at least 10’ to escape the hazard.  You had better bring your game!  To some degree I thought the course was too penal and lacked some of the strategic width and the mental “chess game” present in most CBM and Raynor tracks.  I thought the best holes to be #12 (named “Horseshoe” but really an adaptation of the CBM/Raynor “Short” design first displayed at National Golf Link’s 6^th hole (Posts #19 and #138)…and an even better green that Sleepy Hollow’s #16 post Hanse…Post #128…but not a better view) and #17 (“Biarritz” with the longest valley I can recall seeing on a Biarritz design).  

 

The course finally was included in a Golf Week Top 200 listing in 2019 and 2020…both at #195 which earned it position #395 on my Merged GW list both years.

 

My game was fairly ugly this afternoon, yielding a 42 – 45 = 87 from 5650 yards; if I had played it from the tips (6904 yards) I might still be out there.

 

After the round I headed east to the NJ “Shore” where 3 of my rounds over the next two days would take place.

 

Hollywood Golf Club, August 12, 2020:  I first heard of Hollywood GC in the late 1970’s and the discussion centered on Mr. Robert Jacobson, who had won the club championship at Hollywood 25 times from 1932-1960.  One of Jacobson’s sons was a member at Quaker Ridge when I was there, and later in Pinehurst I met Earl E., who became a senior partner in Jacobson’s firm.  Finally, the wife of a person I did a lot of business with in the 1990’s grew up at Hollywood…and Saul P. and his wife Linda P. remain great friends.

 

I first played Hollywood in 2015 (Post #21) and loved every minute of it.  At that point the course was about one year into its renovation by Tom Doak’s Renaissance Golf Design, and the changes since then are deep and superb, but first I need to fill in some history.  

 

Hollywood GC was founded in 1898 and the course was originally designed by Issac Mackie.  In 1914, Walter Travis (an early member of Hollywood, British Amateur Champion, and  

Three-time US Amateur Champion) redid all the greens and bunkers.  During the subsequent years, the course was revised by Rees Jones and others.  Finally, Renaissance’s Brian Schneider has been restoring Hollywood back to Travis original intent since 2014.  In terms of important events, Hollywood hosted the 1921 US Women’s Amateur, 2014 US Senior Women’s Am, and the Met Open in 1906, 1991, and 2017.  I wanted to play it after more recent work since 2015 prior to submitting my ballot for GOLF magazine’s next USA Top 100 later this summer. 

 

Hollywood has never made a US Top 100, although recently it has come close.  On my Merged GW list, it was #115 in 2005 and then started a significant drift downward to #205 in 2011.  Starting in 2016 is has made a steady climb, accelerating in the last two years:

                        2016    #199

                        2017    #190

                        2018    #184

                        2019    #157

                        2020    #108

 

Good signs and a climb that has been earned.  My favorite holes on the course are #4, #9, #11, #12, #13, and #16.  The bunkering throughout the courses is superb (featuring I think two “volcano bunkers”), as are the expanded green complexes.  When it was first redone by Travis it had some 220 bunkers, including 57 on the notorious 12^th hole.  I counted the bunkers on #12 back in 2014 and came up with 39…and was told the current count there is 42.  The course is for sure playing firmer and faster.  But most of all, it meets two tests that are very hard to meet on one track:  it is both fun and an excellent test of golf.

 

No question in my mind that this one will break into the USA Top 100 ranks in the next two years…and it is about time that it is recognized by Golf Magazine, Golf Digest, and top100golfcourses.com.

 

If you have not played this is a must see and play!

 

I played with two members, Burt E., the club’s historian and member of the restoration committee, and Matt L.  All in all, a very good morning…except for my putting.  Hit the ball fairly well but could not do anything with the putter and had a 44 - 42 = 86.

 

Canoe Brook Country Club-South, August 12, 2020:  After a 45 minute drive north to Summit, NJ, I arrived at Canoe Brook CC.  I had been here in October 2015 (a few days before my afore mentioned 2015 round at Hollywood) to play the North Course (Post #20) and was back to play the South.  The North was designed by Walter Travis and opened in 1901 and the South was built by Charles Alison (of the firm Colt, Alison and Mackenzie).  Impressive heritage, but somehow road expansions etc. resulted in the need to redesign parts of both courses and these changes were made by Alfred Tull (1952), Hal Purdy (1971) and Rees Jones (1994).  Knowing the more recent history, I headed to Canoe Brook with some trepidation.

 

I arrived just before my tee time and headed to the first tee, which is a bit of a trek (via cart not so bad).  Frankly the first hole is awful….511-yard par 5 straight downhill at first, then flat to a wide and shallow green guarded by a large pond that starts about 80 yards short of the green front and covers all but the right hand 40% of the fairway.  The pin was way left and on my 7-iron third I bailed right and somehow two putted from about 90’ for a par.  On #2 (the #1 handicap hole) I hit a 3 wood second to about 4 feet and sunk the birdie putt.  The third is a downhill par 4 that I bogeyed, and #4 is a very uphill par 3 where I hit a 6-iron to about 15 inches just past the hole, for another birdie.  So, after 4 holes I am one under.  After bogeys on 5 and 6 and three pars on 7-9, I finish the front nine with a one over 38…and tell myself to grind hard on the back, where I will need a 2 over 37 for the magic number.  

 

Bogeys on 11 and 12 do not help but are followed by pars on 13 and 14.  #15 is a straight slightly uphill par 5 (489 yards from tips and 445 from my tees) and I hit my third shot to about 6’, and the putt is headed dead center in the cup when it suddenly veers right in the last 5-7”, just lipping out of the right edge and staying out, for a par.  Now I need to finished #16-18 even par, and par #16 and #17.  The final hole played 377 yards for me from an elevated tee to a slightly elevated green (overall hole is downhill).  Hit very good drive and then three wood stopped about 5 yards short of the green.  So so chip and missed 15’ putt and I had another 76…one too high.  Getting tired of this stuff!!!  Oh well, fairly pleased with how I played, just a little frustrated.  One thing is for sure, my putting substantially improved during my drive from Hollywood to Canoe Brook.

 

Obviously, course is one stroke away from a Top 50 in USA!  But actually, I liked the course and thought it was more fun than the North and made excellent use of some difficult land (still dislike #1).  It has never made a USA Top 100/200/400 but did host the 1936 US Women’s Amateur as well as four Met Ams.  Drive back down south to the Jersey shore was filled with “what-if” thoughts (as you are probably aware, the word “if” did not exist until the game of golf was invented).

 

Manasquan River Golf Club:  Founded in 1922, Manasquan River opened with a nine-hole course designed by Robert White. Four years later an additional nine holes lying to the west of the initial nine were added by White.  The topographies of those two nines are vastly different.  The initial nine (which for the most part is now occupied by holes 1 and 12-18) is basically flat and lies next to the river.  Holes 2-11 lie on land that rises sharply upward as one heads west away from the river and the initial nine holer.  Renovation work was performed by Ron Prichard and then a few years ago Andrew Green completed a major renovation.

 

Overall the golf course is very good its best holes IMO are #3, 7, 15 and 16.  The 7^th hole plays 657 yards (overall very downhill) and given the raw unused land behind the 7^th tee could easily be stretched to 800 yards (that is NOT my recommendation…”could” does not mean “should”).  I played with three other members of ISAGS (an international golf society) and hit the ball fairly well, shooting a 41 – 41 = 82 from 6143 yards (very long for me these days).  We were very fortunate that the rain and thunderstorms held off during our play.  The forecast for this day as of 24 hours earlier was fairly ugly, but never came to fruition.

 

Overall, I thought the course was very good…and the views looking east from holes 2-11 are often very compelling.  That club’s website says that bluff is the highest point along the Atlantic Seaboard from New Jersey thru Florida.  It plays reasonably fast and firm and is in excellent condition.

 

While the club has never been included in a USA Top 100/200/400, it hosted the US Girl’s Junior Championship in 1990.

 

After the round and a very good lunch (lobster et al), I drove about 5 miles to Spring Lake.

 

Spring Lake Golf Club, August 13, 2020:  By Thursday afternoon I was pretty tired.  When I arrived at Spring Lake, I learned that my 3:00pm tee time was just approximate…the club does not have tee times during weekdays.  With at least 4 groups in front of me, it looked like a 4pm start…and a slow 18 holes.  Plus, it had started to rain…not hard but fairly constant.  I retreated to my car for a short nap!  At 3:35 I was able to tee off.  

 

Spring Lake GC was founded in 1898 and started with a 9-hole course designed by Willie Nelson of Prestwick.  Within 10 years the club had outgrown the confines of nine holes…and soon thereafter purchased a 118-acre farm plus an adjoining 30-acre plot.  George Thomas (later known best for his brilliant designs in the Los Angeles area, including LACC-North, Riviera, and Bel-Aire CC) of Philadelphia was retained to design the new course.  After some five years of play, the club asked A. W. Tillinghast to renovate and improve on Thomas’ design, and Tillie’s work was completed by 1918.  

 

While the course was enjoyable to play and well maintained, frankly I found the architectural features to be rather bland and ordinary.  The greens reflected almost none of the contours and slopes typically found in Thomas’ and Tillinghast’s work, and the same can be said about the bunkering.  The club’s website makes no mention of any other architect’s involvement, but I had difficulty finding many of these two architect’s “fingerprints” on the layout.  I have no explanation based on facts…only conjecture.

 

From the tips Spring Lake plays a relatively short 6552 yards (I played from 5423) and a par of 72.  The course is very flat except for a couple of what appear to have been old wash areas to channel off flood waters.  The front nine played very slow and I chose not to keep score…but it would not have been pretty.  The rain persisted for about the first nine holes and then let up, and while the front nine was slow, some groups obviously quit after nine and the back nine moved along fairly well.

 

As with Manasquan, Spring Lake has never made a USA Top 100/200/400 but did host a USGA Championship, the 1981 Senior Women’s Amateur.

 

After the round I had a long (1:30) drive north to Mineola, Long Island, NY, which thankfully did not involve any heavy traffic.  One more night of sleep away from home, then 18 holes Friday and then I can get home, see me bride and hopefully get some rest!

 

Deepdale Golf Club, August 14, 2014:  In 1924 William K. Vanderbilt II commissioned C. B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor to convert part of his estate in Lake Success, NY (just east of the Queens County/Nassau County line) into a private golf course for his use.  Shortly thereafter Vanderbilt’s friends convinced him to make this new course part of a small elite private club, which would be closer to New York City and more accessible than some of the great clubs of Long Island further east (in today’s vernacular, it sounds like they convinced Vanderbilt to “downsize”).  That club became Deepdale Golf Club and was incorporated on October 26, 1924.

 

Fast forward about 30 years and plans were announced for the building of a major expressway (which would become part of the Interstate Highway System) to be known as the Long Island Expressway or I-495 eventually stretching some 70 miles from the western end of Queens at the entrance to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel to Riverhead, NY (just northwest of the Hamptons).  I well recall the building of the LIE in the late 1950’s as it replaced a major throughfare formerly known as Horace Harding Blvd.  Believe it or not, this was important golf territory in the 1930’s.  There were four “majors” played in Queens prior to WWII:

 

            --1930 PGA Championship, Fresh Meadow CC (Post #14)

            --1932 US Open, Fresh Meadow CC

            --1939 PGA Championship, Pomonok CC

 

Fresh Meadow was located about 5 miles west of the original Deepdale GC, and Pomonock was about one mile further west.  Both were located on Horace Harding Blvd and Pomonock was about 0.5 from Kissena Golf Course, the NYC muni on which I played most of my early golf.  Shortly after WW II, Pomonock disbanded and Fresh Meadow sold its Queens location (to Met Life who built a shopping center and housing complex) and moved five miles east to Lake Success (near the original Deepdale).

 

Note…if this feels like it is getting tedious, stick with it…it will provide some interesting insights into New York politics in the 1950’s and beyond.

 

Now I need to step back into the 1920’s and 1930’s, when Robert Moses ruled the roost in NYC and NYC.  The following I learned from a fascinating book, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro, published in the 1970’s.  Moses was named head of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority which ended up building New York’s road system, Jones Beach and other City and State parks, etc…literally public works costing some $27 billion.  Caro explains a few of Moses’ more interesting transactions.  The routing of the Northern State Parkway through Nassau County was altered to avoid impacts on the estates and clubs (apparently particularly Wheatley Hills Country Club) of some of Moses’ friends.  If you look at a map of Nassau County, note how the Northern State Parkway suddenly heads south for about 2 miles before turning eastbound again.  Caro makes some interesting calculations regarding the amount of excess gasoline used annually by cars on this route.  Caro also claims that Moses, a Democrat, purposely built the Long Island parkways with low overpasses so that blacks could not use bus transportation to get to NYS parks such as Jones Beach.  Obviously, since Moses was a Democrat, such a claim must be summarily dismissed.  Seriously…go read the book as it is brilliant.

 

Back to Deepdale.  When the LIE was being routed, Moses was on his way out and could not control the LIE’s routing.  Unfortunately for the club, the LIE was routed directly through the original Deepdale GC property and the club purchased the Grace estate located about ½ mile from the original course, and hired Dick Wilson to build a new course on the estate, using the original Grace home as a clubhouse.  Deepdale moved to this new location in 1955 and has now been there for some 65 years.  Deepdale’s original course was sold to the Village of Lake Success and some of the original Deepdale is incorporated in the Village Club of Lake Success, which I played once in 1986 with an old friend of my parents Sid Nadworny, who was a member.

 

Interestingly, many golf courses move locations around Nassau County in the late 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s as a result of the rapid growth on LI after WW II and the construction of the LIE, including the following:

 

            --Deepdale’s move in 1955 as described above;

            --Fresh Meadow’s move from Queens and purchase of the financially troubled Lakeville CC in 1946;

            --Glen Oaks’ CC move of about 8 miles east from Lake Success to Old Westbury, NY, also necessitated by the building of the LIE.

 

Deepdale has only appeared on some recent GolfWeek USA Top 200 Classic lists, including a high of #101 in 2012 and most recently #125 in 2020.  It has not hosted any important national events but since 1972 has hosted three Met Am’s.

 

Now to the golf course.  One would doubt that Dick Wilson could design a golf course equal to one designed and built by Macdonald and Raynor…and one would be right!  This is a good golf course generally in phenomenal condition…but far from great.  Its architecture is somewhat repetitive and uninspiring.  On the other hand, the club is superb.  Very exclusive and private and filled with all of NY’s movers and shakers…today’s business, political, media, sports, and entertainment power brokers.  But, not my cup of tea, and the feeling may be mutual (no invitation to join has been received since my visit).  Am pleased I finally had the chance to play it.  I had a 44 – 41 = 85 and could not sink a putt (left two long ones just short and hanging on the edge).  Played with Fergal O. (another G2C2 member) and two mutual friends from Cape Cod (Kevan G. and Alex D.), who moved on the Garden City for an afternoon round.  I headed north and happily arrived home around 5:30.  Got out of bed Saturday morning around 10:30 (am I think!).

 

So now stand at 1240 courses played with lots left to go.  Travel in the immediate future will be limited as MA has placed restrictions on returning to MA from almost anyplace but the northeast, and I at most have 10-12 courses in the northeast on my high priority list!