![]() ![]() ![]() Bendelow - described by some as the "Johnny Appleseed of American Golf" - was a prolific early golf course designer, and designed some 700 courses in his lifetime. (During this era, golfers at Boston's Franklin Park paid a 25–cent fee.) Local newspapers blasted the poor playing conditions, the unmanageable crowds, and a general lack of golf etiquette.Īs a result, the City hired Scottish–born Golf Architect Thomas Bendelow in 1899 to manage the course and oversee its expansion from a 55–acre, 9–hole course to a 120–acre, 18–hole course. Unheard of in this day and age, the only charge was for a caddy, and those who did not use one paid nothing for the privilege of golfing at Van Cortlandt. In its first year, there were no set rules at the Van Cortlandt Golf Course, and it quickly became overcrowded. Architect William Follet Mitchell rearranged fairways, eliminated two hillside holes, and added four new holes west of the Putnam Railroad line. ![]() In the 1940s and 1950s, Bendelow's course had to make way for the Major Deegan Expressway and the Mosholu Parkway Extension.The house's locker rooms, dating to 1902, have retained their original wooden lockers, which were featured in a scene from the Oliver Stone film Wall Street (1987).The ninth hole was among the longest and most challenging hole ever created in the United States. Then, golfers confronted the ninth hole, with a 700-yard fairway that crossed two stonewalls and two small brooks. Playing through the 2,561–yard course was relatively easy for the first eight holes, each less than 200 yards. The original layout spread over today's 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 12th, 13th and 14th holes. McClure Peters constructed the nine–hole course north of Van Cortlandt Lake for a cost of $624.80. To golf enthusiasts, the fields, tall grasses, and colorful wildflowers of Van Cortlandt furnished the perfect spot for the golf links, which quickly earned the nickname "The Meadows." Unlike the City's more manicured parks, Van Cortlandt made one forget the teeming urban landscape outside its borders. The Mosholu Golf Club founders took advantage of Van Cortlandt's wildly sprawling grounds. The average New York resident could tee–up alongside celebrities, and new golfers organized clubs to further their enjoyment of the game. And as the game of golf opened up to the public, its popularity soared. The course at Van Cortlandt Park, now open to the general public, represented the first municipal golf course in the U.S.Īt a time when most American golf courses were private - and held the right to control who could play - the Van Cortlandt Park course broke new ground. In the end, the "Mosholu Golf Club," as the Riverdale group called itself, had exclusive use of the course for two afternoons a week, but that was all. Although Roosevelt agreed that a course could be useful to attract people to use the new park, the city could not allow a municipal asset to be in private hands. The group developed the course, setting up bunkers and greens on a nine–hole course. Roosevelt, a member of the Board of Parks Commissioners, to contribute to the cost of building a golf course in Van Cortlandt Park. The Three Stooges also made Van Cortlandt their preferred golf course. Visitors have included Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, and Joe Louis.In addition to being the first public course in the country, Van Cortlandt Golf Course hosted the country's first public golf tournament in 1896. ![]()
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