Wykagyl Country Club
 |
|
| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Wykagyl, New Rochelle, New York, USA |
| Established | 1898 |
| Type | private |
| Total holes | 18 |
| Tournaments hosted | HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship |
| Website | http://www.wykagylcc.org/ |
| Designed by | A. W. Tillinghast & Donald Ross |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 6,702 yards |
| Course rating | 73 |
Wykagyl Country Club is a golf course in the Wykagyl section of New Rochelle, New York. Through the years, the club has hosted major professional and amateur tournaments and is considered to be one of the premier "classic courses" in the country.
The club is private and application for membership is by invitation only.
In February 1916 the Professional Golfers' Association was established in New York City. One month earlier, the wealthy department store owner Rodman Wanamaker hosted a luncheon at the Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle. This gathering of Wanamaker and the leading golf professionals of the day prepared the agenda for the formal organization of the PGA in New York City a month later. The organization's first president was Robert White, one of Wykagyl's best known golf professionals of the time. Golf historians have dubbed Wykagyl "The Cradle of the PGA".
The course was initially designed by Lawrence Van Etten and was completed in 1905. It quickly became famous for both its beauty and the cruelty of its hilly terrain. English golf pro Harry Vardon dubbed the 18th hole, also known as "cardiac hill," as "one of the greatest" he ever played. Over the years Wykagyl has attracted a number of prominent golf pros including George Duncan, Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, and Alex Smith.
The design of the golf course has evolved over the years, although the greens on the 1st, 7th, 9th, and 16th holes remain essentially unchanged from the original design. In the 1920s, several holes including the 5th and 6th were redesigned by Donald Ross, one of the most noted architects of the period. A. W. Tillinghast made additional changes in the 1930s, eliminating holes and improving others. In 1994, golf course architect Arthur Hills did a complete overhaul of the course to keep it in line with championship standards, such as being over 6,600 yards (6,000 m) long, with a 72 par. Most recently, Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw completed structural renovations aimed at preserving the rugged character of the course.
...
Wikipedia