The Apawamis Club
The Apawamis Club is a private country club located in Rye, New York, Westchester County, long known for its 18-hole golf course and prominence in the sport of squash. The 1911 U.S. Amateur was contested here, resulting in a playoff between the reigning British Amateur champion, Harold Hilton, and his lesser-known American opponent, Fred Herreshoff. Apawamis is also the home base of a nationally recognized junior squash program and hosts the world renowned Briggs Cup tournament.
Club Founding and History
The Apawamis Club was originally founded on June 25, 1890 as a social organization by a group of 40 gentlemen from Rye and the surrounding towns. Their shared goal was “to improve both the physical and moral tone of the village”. The club was named after an area in Rye dubbed Apawamis by the Native Americans. The name is derived from the words "appoqua" which means “to cover” and "mis" meaning “the trunk of a tree” – together the name implies “the covering tree”.Located in a residential area of Rye between Club Road and Highland Road, Apawamis abuts two historic neighborhoods. Its property boasts one significant National Register eligible structures. The current Apawamis clubhouse was completed in 1908, and built of stone, replacing a previous wooden structure consumed by fire in February 1907. The structure was designed by Frank A. Moore and the cornerstone was laid sometime after Thanksgiving 1907.
A structure once known as the Apawamis "Manager's House" was built in 1895 and moved to Highland Road. It belonged to one of the founding members of the club, Henry W. Cooper. As Treasurer of the Apawamis Board, Cooper was instrumental in the purchase of the club's current property in 1899. The building was torn down in May 2023.
Golf Course Design History
Apawamis' transition from a social club to a golf club took off in 1899. The club had started out with a nine hole course on Boston Post Road in 1897. After two or so years of popular use of the course, the officers of the club were faced with a challenge – the cost of renewing their lease was deemed too high and demand to play the sport showed no signs of ebbing. As a result, in February 1899, members announced that they would purchase 120 acres of the former Charles Park estate close to the Rye train station to create the venue that exists today.The new 18-hole "Golf Course "for Millionaires" created for members like American politician and journalist Whitelaw Reid and Standard Oil industrialist Henry Flagler was laid out by Tom Bendelow. At 6280 yards, it was poised to be one of the longest of its kind in the country. Membership, which at this time was 300 members, was anticipated to expand to 1,000 members. It was also decided that a new clubhouse based on the structure at the Atlantic City Country Club would be erected after the golf course was finished. E. S. Gage was the architect selected for the clubhouse. Costs for the entire project, buildings and greens, were estimated at $100,000.
The expansive links opened informally to great acclaim on May 13, 1899 in a match against Westchester Golf Club. The newly elected captain of the 1899 Apawamis Golf Club team was Herbert A. Sherman. Other players on his winning team included Frank H. Wiggin, Maturin Ballou, Victor Delano, S. W. Doubleday, R.F. Mathews and Roger Samson. The home matches that followed were played on May 20, 1899 against Richmond County Country Club; on June 3, 1899 against Bedford Golf; and on June 10, 1899 against Wee Burn Golf Club. The clubhouse itself opened on October 7, 1899 with 700 members and guests in attendance. The "cosey" structure was two stories tall with a large piazza.
Over the last 120 years, many notable golf course architects, club pros and amateurs have left their signature on the Apawamis golf links:
Tom Bendelow
The original 18-hole course at Apawamis was first laid out by Scottish architect Tom Bendelow. It was largely completed by May 13, 1899. Bendelow, who has been called the "Dean of American Golf", had recently designed New York City's public course at Van Cortlandt Park and had been hired as the superintendent of the site.Later in August 1899, newspapers shared "glowing accounts" about the design's "undulating nature" and told readers that ""Tom" Bendelow is now busily engaged putting on the finishing touches to it." The natural contours of the well-tended pasture land spoke to Bendelow's aesthetic philosophy and also helped expedite installation of the greens and holes. Bendelow took advantage of two existing brooks and a pond on the Park Estate to create water hazards. Three of the holes were made to be over 500 yards and the ninth hole, the longest, came in at 580 yards. With a total length of 6,280 yards, Bendelow's design instantly made the new Apawamis course one of the longest in the country at the time and a must play destination later lauded by Bendelow's friend and world champion Harry Vardon. The length of each original hole was as follows: IN 240, 350, 120, 380, 520, 350, 420, 200, 580 OUT 460, 390, 300, 275, 565, 240, 160, 330, 400. The course was instantly acclaimed as championship caliber and compared favorably for being "as nearly as long as old St. Andrews and longer than Hoylake, Sandwich, and Muirfield." By 1901, newspapers lauded the links at Apawamis as "ideal" and called Bendelow's course "Among the Best in the Country".
At least six of Bendelow's courses have since been recognized by the United States Department of the Interior and added to the National Register of Historic Places. In fact, Bendelow's design for City Park Golf Course, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was the first golf course awarded such an honor in the history of the National Park Service.
Maturin Ballou
In November 1899, working with the club's newly hired golf professional Willie Davis, Maturin Ballou, an Apawamis Club member and player on the golf team, oversaw the installation of a new drainage system. Ballou had the opportunity to show off his handiwork the following year to Harry Vardon on November 6, 1900, in a best ball exhibition match with Davis. After playing, Vardon announced that Apawamis was one of the three best courses he had seen in the country after Newport and Atlantic City.Ballou eventually became USGA secretary from 1902-1903 as well as the president of Apawamis. In 1910, he was given a rare honorary membership at Apawamis in recognition that he was "instrumental in bringing the club links up to their... excellent condition." Some refinements of Bendelow's course are also said to have taken place at the suggestion of Willie Dunn Jr. in collaboration with Ballou..
William "Willie" Davis
was one of Apawamis' earliest resident pros and also left his design imprint on the course. Davis received an offer to join the club in the fall of 1899. When he started in November 1899, he brought with him proven experience in golf course design, having laid out the first 12-hole short course at Shinnecock Hills, Long Island in June 1891 over a period of approximately one month. Davis had also planned the links at Newport Country Club in 1894 and 1899 where he was previously a resident professional.By July 1900, Davis had made some changes to the Apawamis links that Bendelow had originally laid out. "'Willie' Davis' Work" included shortening several holes but also increasing the ninth hole in length to 600 yards. The resulting total yardage was 6205. Names of the holes included Fairview, Waterloo and Consolation. Davis made news on July 21, 1900 when he broke his own record on the course. Davis' record score of 78 was something that even famed British golfer Harry Vardon could not best.
At Apawamis, Davis also found support as he worked to establish a championship tournament specifically for golf professionals at clubs on the East Coast. Together with fellow pro Willie Norton of Lakewood Golf Club and Deal Beach, he rallied 44 professionals to create a petition for presentation to the Metropolitan Golf Association in 1901. Apawamis member Maturin Ballou supported the concept believing "the competition as proposed would be a good thing in every way." However the MGA Executive Committee disagreed and Davis and the pros were turned down in April of the same year. Davis' dream did not come to pass until 1906.
When Davis died in Rye at the untimely age of 39, he was credited as being the oldest resident golf professional in the United States and the first to have come to America to make a living as a golfer. He succumbed to pneumonia in 1902.
Thomas Chisolm
Chisolm, a British golfer from a course near old Rye, England was hired in April 1902 by Apawamis to take Davis' role for one season before being replaced by Willie Anderson.Willie Anderson
Apawamis was the home course for golfing great Willie Anderson for three seasons from 1903 through 1905. His 1901 US Open victory made Anderson much sought after by clubs including Baltusrol Golf Club where he applied. Weighing his choices, on March 23, 1903, he ultimately signed a contract with Apawamis. Anderson remains the only golfer to win three consecutive US Opens.In November 1905, Anderson signed with the Onwentsia Club in Chicago to be their pro for the 1906 season but only stayed one season. Moving from club to club, he died suddenly in 1910 of hardening of the arteries; he was only 31. Herbert Strong was hired as the head professional to take his place at Apawamis.