Engineers Country Club is a historic

country club A country club is a privately-owned Club (organization), club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Ty ...

located in

Roslyn Harbor, New York Roslyn Harbor is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. It is considered part ...

, on the historic Gold Coast on the north shore of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

History

Founded as a

Jewish country club Jewish country clubs are country clubs whose members are predominantly Jewish, having been excluded from other elite social clubs during periods of rising anti-Semitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a result, many major cities acros ...

, the club has an 18-hole championship golf course which hosted the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. The PGA is one of the four men's major golf champi ...

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off th ...

and the

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

in 1920. The competitions were won by

Jim Barnes James Martin Barnes (April 8, 1886 – May 24, 1966) was an English professional golfer and a leading figure in the early years of professional golf in the United States. He is one of three native Britons (with Tommy Armour and Rory McIlroy) t ...

and

Chick Evans Charles E. "Chick" Evans Jr. (July 18, 1890 – November 6, 1979) was a prominent American amateur golfer of the 1910s and 1920s. Evans, who won the 1910 Western Open, became the first amateur to win both the U.S. Open (golf), U.S. Open and U. ...

, respectively. Herbert Strong was the architect of the original golf course and

Devereux Emmet Devereux Emmet (December 11, 1861 – December 30, 1934) was a pioneering American golf course architect who designed more than 150 courses worldwide. Early life Devereux Emmet was born in Pelham, New York, on December 11, 1861, one of eight chi ...

remodeled part of the course in 1921. The golf course was constructed on the former grounds of the W. R. Willet Manor estate. The property was purchased by the Engineers Country Club in March 1917, which had been formed on January 21, 1917 by the Engineers Club of Manhattan.The first round on the newly constructed course was played on June 29, 1918. The first foursome out consisted of club president B. G. M. Thomas, vice president Nat M. Garland, Frank Dupont, chairman of the Building Committee, and T. I. Jones, one of the governors. After completion of his round, Garland described the 18th green as "''sui generis'', ''rara avis'' ... in a class by itself". Engineers Country Club plays yards from the black tees, from the blue tees, from the white, from the gold tees and from the red women's tees. The women's championship tees are farther back at . The signature 14th hole, which for a time had been abandoned, has now been reintegrated to the main golf course and is open for play. This short par three with a classic postage stamp green was dubbed the "Two or Twenty Hole" due to the fact that in 1919 Bobby Jones and

Gene Sarazen Gene Sarazen (; born Eugenio Saraceni, February 27, 1902 – May 13, 1999) was an American professional golfer, one of the world's top players in the 1920s and 1930s, and the winner of seven major championships. He is one of six players (alon ...

both took double figures on the tricky hole. There is a sign near the tee box referring to the difficulties Jones and Sarazen experienced while playing the hole. In August 1920 a sports writer said, "No young club in the history of golf, let it go back 400 years, has come in for as much discussion and comment as Engineers. The main nerve test will be on the greens. You will find strong men weeping as they finish a round." In July 1924, prior to the playing of the

Metropolitan Open The Metropolitan Open is a golf tournament organized by the Metropolitan Golf Association. In the early 20th century it was one of the top events in the country and was retroactively given PGA Tour-level status. History The tournament has been ...

at Engineers Country Club, golf writer George Trevor of the ''

Brooklyn Daily Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

'' described the golf course: Since 1998 the club has completed major renovations to update its facilities. In 2004, club president Jonathan Gold stated, "We became kid-friendly about six years ago. We built a kiddie pool and playground, and we hold events such as carnivals. Making it attractive for children is a big draw. We are relaxing a lot of the age-old rules that have been part of these old-time country clubs that would frown on kids under a certain age." In 2018, Engineers Country Club was sold to

RXR Realty RXR Realty is a vertically integrated real estate and infrastructure owner, investor, operator, and developer headquartered in New York City. The firm’s portfolio of commercial, residential, multifamily, infrastructure, and logistics projects i ...

References

External links

Official site

Engineers Country Club on GolfClubAtlas.com
{{coord, 40, 49, 13, N, 73, 38, 32, W, display=title Roslyn Harbor, New York Golf clubs and courses in New York (state) Sports venues in Long Island Sports venues in Nassau County, New York Town of North Hempstead, New York Golf clubs and courses designed by Devereux Emmet