HuntingtonCC_Single

chapter eight

H The Roarin’ Twentiesuntington was part of Long Island’s Gold Coast, but
little to nothing is known about the Jazz Age parties that
In June of 1920 the club considered a plan to purchase its land from the Hun-
tington Land Company. The plan would have required each of 200 mem-

might have happened on Huntington’s grand estates. bers to contribute $750 in order to raise $150,000 – of which $135,100

Dinner-dances with hundreds of guests under magnificent lighting, made would be given to the Huntington Club Company to purchase the land and

world famous in The Great Gatsby, may have taken place, but there is no the remaining $15,000 to be used to cover operating expenses, allowing

historical record. The Long Islander did mention a few parties in the the company to pay off some of its other debts. The plan, however, was

late 1920s at Caumsett, the home of Marshall Field, but did so with very rejected by the membership.

little detail.

Action had to be taken, nonetheless, because the club’s mortgage, which

Most likely, the most famous party held in the area was the $1 million had grown to $60,000, was to come due in 1921. That action came in

party at Oheka in Cold Spring Harbor in honor of a famous dignitary two forms. First, the board decided to extend the mortgage for five years

the local socialites couldn’t wait to meet. That dignitary turned about (to 1926) at a higher rate of six percent. Second, the board called for the

to be a chimpanzee, dressed in a tuxedo, and one can only wonder how surrender of the 461 shares of stock originally issued to the founding

many Huntington Country Club members were among the victims of members in 1910, some of which had resigned or passed away. Remark-

Kahn’s deception. ably, all 461 shares were recovered. New shares totaling $81,000 were

issued by the Huntington Club Company in blocks of 7.5 shares worth

On a more mundane note, at the start of 1920 the club had 175 members $750 to 108 members.

and new greens at the second and seventh holes. In 1928 the board voted

to increase the number of proprietary members from 150 to 160. During Previous shareholders bought $18,950 of the new shares, while newer

the 1920s the club opened for the season on Decoration Day (Labor Day). members bought $62,050 worth of shares. The non renewing stockholders

41

The western side of the clubhouse in 1922 after the north end edition, which added Ray’s Room and the new pro shop.

were paid off in full, a total amounting to $27,150. This left the company The extended mortgage bonds came due on August 1, 1926, by which time
with $34,900 in new capital funds from which $28,000 of unsecured loans $10,000 had been retired. The $50,000 remaining was extended for an-
was paid off. Once again, Willard N. Baylis helped with the legal work in other five years.
achieving this transformation.
The 1924 club book revealed a few additional membership classes. Mem-
In 1922 the clubhouse underwent an $18,000 renovation that involved add- bers duly elected could opt to become annual subscribers or sixty-day sub-
ing a new men’s bar (now called Ray’s Room) on the north end of the main scribers, the cost being $175 or $87.50 respectively. The junior member-
level and a new pro shop underneath. ship category included young men 15 to 25 years of age who were sons of
members or residing with the member, and was available with an annual fee
After twelve years of service and contributions to the club, all members of of $25. And finally, widows of deceased members became special members
the board of the Huntington Club Company resigned in 1923, marking the upon payment of regular dues.
end of an era. They were replaced by a new six-man board.

42

Around 1920 the caddies who lived in Huntington went on strike, asking that
their fee be raised from seventy-five cents to $1 for 18 holes. The strike last-
ed about two weeks, during which time the members carried their own bags.
Eventually, the strike was settled and the caddies got a raise to ninety cents.

In September of 1929, ball cleaners were placed on the tees for the first
time. On the other hand, at least through 1930, manure was used to cover
the fairways, one nine a year, but the golfers played on.

(From left to right): Kitty Godwin, Margaret Haynes, 43
Eleanor Wakerley, and ReubenWakerley.

For the club’s first nine years, Mrs. Wakerley was the sole “proprietor” of
the clubhouse. As membership grew after the war, she hired a full-time
assistant (Margaret Haynes) in 1919, who became the club’s first waitress.
The club also hired a men’s locker room attendant (Harry Parmenter) in
1921 and dressed him in a butler’s uniform. He served until replaced by Ray
Welch in 1936. In 1921 Mrs. Wakerley hired Kitty Godwin as a waitress
and then her mother, Emma Godwin, as a cook.

part i: the chronological history | the roarin’ twenties

Caumsett, the Marshall Field estate. (Caumsett Foundation History Committee)
44

chapter nine

The Depression and War Yearslthough the stock market crash took place in October

A of 1929, its impact was not felt in 1930, nor even per-
In April of 1933 a new class of members, the 90 day subscribers, was cre-
ated. Such members paid dues of $100 and initiation fees were waived for

ceived. By end of 1931, however, the Depression had hit those elected in 1934. At the same time, the salaries of the golf professional,

the club hard and times remained caddie master, greens superintendent, and grounds crew all were reduced.

perilous for the next eight years. Caddie fees were lowered to 75¢ for 18 holes.

A considerable number of mem-

bers resigned, while others To save money on fuel, the clubhouse was closed during winters and the

couldn’t pay their bills. Efforts club membership book was not printed during the years 1929-1937. The

were made to retain members club had difficulty paying the interest on its loans, much less reducing the

and to entice the membership principal, but the Bank of Huntington allowed the loans to drift throughout

to use the club’s facilities. One the 1930s.

stimulus was to reduce the

greens fees that had been raised Ray Welch was hired as houseman in 1936 and the Wakerleys retired in

in May of 1930 by $1 to $3 on 1937. Housekeeping and service of meals became the responsibility of Mar-

weekdays and $4 on weekends. garet Haynes Reith, who had been employed by the Wakerleys for the pre-

vious eighteen years. She stayed at the club for six more years, as did cook

Marshall and Audrey Field Emma Godwin, who was famous for her pies. Both were terminated in
in Florida in 1931. 1942 because of the war. Although Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the
(USGA Photo Archives) club didn’t get a liquor license until 1940 when it obtained a limited (four

45

to six months) license. One side note on the Prohibition era – the uncle but the guests arrived in black tie and floor length gowns
of current member Duane Hayden, Jesse Hayden, would make the run to anyhow. The party was held for the benefit of the Long Island
Montauk on his boat the Black Mariah and bring his boatload of whiskey back Biological Association (of which Marshall Field was an offi-
into Lloyd Harbor. How much of that whiskey got to Huntington Country cer) and dubbed by Mrs. Field to be “one of the funniest par-
Club is unknown. ties of the season.” Over six hundred guests attended, each
paying $5 for dinner plus additional sums for after-dinner ac-
In May of 1938, all but two members of the grounds crew left when the club tivities. Dinner was served on the estate’s lawns and terraces,
turned down their request for a salary increase. They were replaced tem- which were lit by great floodlights and streamers of multi-
porarily by some of the older caddies until replacements could be found. colored electric lights strung in a festive fashion. A dance
band played during dinner.
As the 1938 season dawned there were only 114 members, plus twenty-one
junior members. Starting times were not necessary. The club’s income was After dinner the guests proceeded to another area of the
not sufficient to run the club satisfactorily. The club had an operating loss grounds, which had been converted into a Midway for the oc-
of $997.01 in 1939 and, with a loss of about $1,200 for 1940, ended that casion and included among its attractions “The Freak Show,”
year with an accumulated deficit of $3,000. The club asked each member “The Coney Island Photo Booth,” “The Long Island Living Pic-
to donate from $25 to $100 to liquidate bank indebtedness ($1,500) and to tures Show,” and “The Dancing Well.” As requested in the invi-
re-establish a working cash balance. tation, the guests were expected to have a sense of humor and
a certain amount of talent, and both were on display at this
Despite dire forecasts, the club seemed to have turned the corner in mid- time, as the Field’s friends played the Two-Headed Woman, the
1941. There was a small excess in income over expenses and membership Wild Man of Borneo, the World’s Tallest Dwarf, the Strong
was rising. And then … Pearl Harbor. Man Able to Lift 500 Pounds with Ease, and the Tattooed Lady.
Other attractions included a Wheel of Fortune, a ride around
The Circus Party at Caumsett the estate on a bicycle built for two, walking with the man on
stilts, and a visit with “the toast of the talkies,” none other
Perhaps the most famous party ever held at Caumsett took than Mickey Mouse himself, at this precursor to Disneyland.
place at the height of the Depression in 1932. Called the Cir-
cus Party, it was intended to be a “not fancy dress” affair, Guests then proceeded to the living room for the Midnight
Cabaret where they were entertained by show business greats
46 such as dancer Irene Castle, the singing Boswell Sisters,
George Gershwin playing the piano, and Paul Whiteman play-
ing the hit song, “Ramona.”

The party, which began at dusk, continued until dawn.

By January of 1942 numerous resignations were received, over thirty by year, there wasn’t enough money around to bring it back from the weeds.
June 20. The board decided not to open the club until May 1. The green- The club was down to about 80 members, including very few young mem-
keeper was told to maintain the grounds with economy. Gas rationing was bers, and the board was making efforts to maintain sufficient membership
imposed and members living just a few miles from the club couldn’t spare to keep the club alive and the golf course in shape.
the extra gas needed to drive to the club.
In 1945, the Committee on Wounded Veterans was given permission on
In September of 1942 the board discussed whether the club could afford to several occasions to use the clubhouse for social events.
maintain the golf course in 1943, knowing that if they let it go for even one

Ray Welch Ray Welch working behind the men’s bar.

Born in 1889, Ray Welch was hired by the club as houseman in
1936. By 1943, due to the economic pressures of World War
II, he was the only clubhouse employee. With no house chair-
man above him, he ruled his room as he wanted, with neither
food nor card playing allowed. Ray had his way with the mem-
bers. On one occasion, member Emmet McCormack and a friend
ordered drinks, one a gin and tonic and the other vodka and
tonic, which looked similar. After Ray placed the drinks on
the table, McCormack asked which was his, and Ray responded,
“The one with my finger in it.”

Although he owned land adjacent to the eleventh, twelfth,
and thirteenth holes, he is said to have lived in the basement
of the clubhouse. Ray Welch died in 1969.

part i: the chronological history | the depression and war years 47

Arthur Gwynne. George Lindsay.
48

chapter ten

Huntington Purchase, Inc.

“ You will be glad to know that the crisis which threatened the continued “
existence of the club has been successfully met and there is now good reason
to expect that the club can be maintained permanently on a sound basis.

F - A. Earl Heacock, club president
November 15, 1943

rom the beginning, the founders of the club, with fore- The club was able to pay its taxes and interest on the mortgage, at least for
sight and wisdom, provided for a corporate structure substan- the first half of 1942, but not its rent. No interest was paid from August

tially the same as it is today. That is to say, the real estate was owned by 1942 through 1943 as the club focused its attention on keeping the grounds

a land holding company (called the Huntington Club Company) that leased usable by members that had paid their dues for the year. The Bank of Hun-

the property to the Huntington Country Club. Traditionally, the country tington understood, acknowledging the role the club played in the develop-

club paid the taxes on the property, the interest on the mortgage (both the ment of Huntington. The bank promised that there would be no foreclosure

responsibility of the owner, the Huntington Club Company), rent to cover action before September 1, 1943.

the excess over the real estate taxes, and interest to maintain other expenses

of the property such as insurance and utilities.

49

In 1943 the club didn’t know if dues from its members would be enough local draftees on the train ride to New York City. He had served with the
to cover real estate taxes and keep the course in good condition. First- Army Air Force in France during World War I and was a director of the
half taxes were paid by April 1. The greenkeeper and his assistants left the Huntington YMCA. Gwynne died in February of 1959 at age 72.
club’s employ early in 1943 and the club hired a journeyman to maintain the
course at $50 per week. There was a note, later refuted, in the Long Islander Gwynne and Lindsay, with help from the club’s legal team, created a new
on July 8, 1943, that the first nine holes were in good shape and being oper- corporation called Huntington Purchase, Inc. and, acting as trustees, can-
ated as a public course. vassed the membership for subscriptions totaling 1,000 shares of capital
stock in the new corporation at $50 par value per share, hoping to raise
By May 1, 1943, the holders of the $30,000 of principal amount of bonds enough money to purchase the old mortgage. They agreed to proceed with
not previously held by the Bank of Huntington sold their bonds to the bank the incorporation of Huntington Purchase and the purchase of the old mort-
so that, on that date, the bank held the entire $50,000 mortgage debt of gage once $25,000 had been subscribed.
the Huntington Club Company. The bank, at that point, offered to sell the
debt to the Huntington Club Company at eighty percent of its face value, The response was immediate and strong. Subscriptions amounting to
or a discount of $10,000. The offer was valid through September 15, 1943. $30,900 (618 shares) were quickly obtained and on September 10, 1943,
Huntington Purchase was legally incorporated under the laws of New York
Enter Arthur Gwynne and George N. Lindsay, a future club president State. Arthur Gwynne, Nevil Ford, and Francis E. Ruland were the incorpo-
(1949-1950) and immediate past club president (1941-1943). Their com- rators. The first meeting of Huntington Purchase was held on September 14,
bined efforts and leadership during this period of economic stress earned at which time the bylaws were adopted and officers were elected, Gwynne
them recognition as saviors of the Huntington Country Club – better still, as president, Ford as vice president, and Ruland as secretary/treasurer.
as founders of the modern Huntington Country Club.
The directors were authorized to proceed with the purchase of the Hun-
During his previous tenure as president, Lindsay, a successful lawyer and tington Club Company mortgage, which they were able to do thanks in part
investment banker and father of New York mayor John V. Lindsay, had to a loan of $10,100 from Gwynne and Lindsay. Subsequently, members
been working closely with Addison W. Sammis, president of the Bank of continued to purchase subscriptions in the new corporation and by No-
Huntington, apprising the bank of the club’s weakening financial status, and vember 6, the entire initial capital of $50,000 was reached. An additional
reaching an understanding ear. $20,000 in capital (400 shares) was authorized on November 27. Quickly,
230 shares sold, raising the corporation’s capital received to $61,500.
Arthur Gwynne was an investor and stockbroker and a member of the New
York Stock Exchange. He served as chairman of the Selective Service Board In 1943, with the club deep in debt, Huntington Purchase agreed to pur-
of Huntington from 1940 to 1947 and, in that capacity, always accompanied chase at $1.00 per block as many of the 144 outstanding blocks of shares

50

issued in the early 1920s. (Recall that in July of 1921 the Huntington Club Nevil Ford, president of Huntington Purchase for twenty-two years.
Company had recalled its old stock and, between 1921 and 1924, issued
new stock [$81,000 par value] in blocks of seven and one-half shares each investment banker with First Boston, specializing in international corporate
[$750] to 108 members, some purchasing more than one block.) Hunting- finance. A member since 1936, Ford served as chairman of the war finance
ton Purchase acted so as to get that ownership interest off the books of the committee for New York and helped raise $5 billion for the war effort.
Huntington Club Company. On December 30, 1943, Huntington Purchase
accepted the deed for the club’s real property from the Huntington Club
Company and essentially, the Huntington Club Company was without as-
sets or debt.

And so, for the first time in its history, the club was debt free. The real
estate taxes for 1943 and 1944 were paid. The clubhouse and golf course
were leased to the Huntington Country Club for $2,400 per annum. The
rescue project was a success.

In each year through 1949, Huntington Purchase made loans to the club for
capital improvements, repairs, or operating deficits. In 1944 the southwest
corner of the property, encompassing one acre and a house and not used
for club purposes, was sold to then club professional Edward Scott. In ad-
dition, the Frederick Conklin tract on West Neck Road, adjacent to the
eighth hole, was sold for real estate development (half acre home sites) in
March, 1945.

Arthur Gwynne stepped down from the presidency of Huntington Purchase
in 1945 and was succeeded by Nevil Ford, who held the position for the
next twenty-two years and, in that capacity, helped guide the club back to
its pre-Depression stature.

Born in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, Ford was a member of the Harvard
class of 1913 and a naval officer during World War I before becoming an

part i: the chronological history | huntington purchase, inc. 51

The bar area of the grill room as it appeared in the late 1970s.
52

chapter eleven

MThe Post-War Years (1945-1980)any golf and country clubs failed to survive the
Depression and war years. Huntington Country
In 1957 the club began to study how its facilities might be improved or ex-
panded. Many improvements and repairs had been deferred for over twenty

Club, however, made it through with its financial years and the clubhouse was too small for the members’ needs. In addi-

basis in good order. This chapter is the story of how the club got itself back tion, to offset an increasing tax burden, the club needed facilities to encour-

on solid footing. age non-golfing (house) members to participate and a dining room/lounge

The Facilities complex large enough for parties and limited use by community organiza-
tions. This, in turn, mandated a modern kitchen on the same floor as the

The club was in disrepair in the 1950s and the kitchen staff at times “absent dining room. Also under consideration at this time was a watering system
without leave.” Nancy Heckscher, who was a member of the house commit- for the golf course.

tee at the time, remembered bringing spaghetti and desserts from home and

serving them to grateful members.

The club’s facilities were expanded in 1957 to include a skating rink, which
was operated by the Huntington Winter Club, a group of Huntington resi-
dents (including many country club members) that was formed that year.
The lower parking lot was constructed at this time, one reason being to ac-
commodate cars coming to the new facility. The winter club membership
contributed to the cost. The topsoil removed to build the lot was used for
new tees and a new fourth green. For a more detailed story of the Hunting-
ton Winter Club, see chapter 21.

The men’s bar, added in 1922 and refurbished over the years, now Ray’s Room.

53

Ash Eldredge At the same time, the bar area at the entrance to the grill room was rebuilt,
with the bar area facing north into a small grill room for informal dining. A
In 1981 honorary membership was granted to Ashton Eldredge, dinner party marking the completion of the project was held on December
author of the club’s 1980 history book. Eldredge was a pro- 3, 1960.
prietary member since 1948, his father a member for many The next year, a terrace was built between the pillars at the front door and
years before that and one of the subscribers to the first 1230 the practice putting green, expanding the area for outdoor dining which
shares of Huntington Purchase. Ash was the junior club cham- originally had been restricted between the pillars under the overhang.
pion in 1924, served many years on the board, and was club In 1967 a long range planning committee was established. Chaired by Bill
president 1960-1961. He was vice president of Stone & Web- Grant and empowered to study every aspect of club operations, the com-
ster, a worldwide construction and investment firm. mittee hoped to develop guidelines to help future boards deal with future
needs, primary among them a larger men’s locker room. In 1968 the club
The project called for significant discussion because of the financing re- had 225 regular members, but only 160 lockers. Some members did with-
quired. 175 members attended a special meeting of the membership on July out lockers, while others doubled up. In addition, the pro shop was small
11, 1959, and they voted 135 to 40 to move ahead with the project. (The (although completely remodeled in 1963) and the bag-storage facility was
94 proprietary members voted 76 to 18 in favor.) The cost was estimated to not in a good location relative to the pro shop.
be $250,000 for clubhouse improvements plus another $50,000 for a golf
course watering system. The section of the dining room added in 1960.

Mindful of why it was created in the first place, Huntington Purchase did
not want any mortgages on the property, hoping to keep the title to the
property free from any encumbrances. Eventually, however, it was pre-
vailed upon to approve a mortgage of at most $150,000. Also part of the
financing was a $40,000 assessment and $109,300 of non-interest-bearing
debentures, all of which were paid off by 1972.

The dining room wing was built in 1960. It was the principal item in a major
construction project that added a space 60 x 45 feet onto the southern end
of the clubhouse. The new wing included a kitchen, a large combination
dining room and lounge, an enlarged ladies locker room, a new furnace,
and rearranged living quarters for the staff downstairs. And so, for the first
time in club history, the kitchen was on the same floor as the dining room.

54

Post-War Visitors the convenience of those members arriving at the club from the west, the
road had been difficult to maintain, had hazardous curves and dangerous ac-
In 1946, members of the United Nations were allowed to use cess to Route 25A, and provided an unattractive approach to the back side
the club’s facilities upon payment of greens fees. Among those of the clubhouse. In 1964 the original entrance road was rebuilt, a project
who visited were France’s M. Couve de Muirville and the Unit- that was executed free of charge by member Milton Hendrickson’s road
ed Kingdom’s Sir Alex Cadogan. construction company. (Hendrickson was given an honorary membership in
1964.) The pillars at the club’s entrance were put in place in 1975.
As a result, a major improvement project was proposed in 1969. After
discussion, it was cut back to a smaller project executed in 1970 that in- The club once had another entrance, this one from the Hillbrae section to
cluded air conditioning the dining room, improving the exhaust system in the east. Motorists used that road (and the road near the maintenance area)
the kitchen, purchasing new furniture for Ray’s Room, and refurbishing the as a shortcut between Route 25A and West Neck Road, causing unneces-
entrance hall and lounge. sary traffic through the club’s grounds. The Hillbrae entrance was closed in
1966-1967.
Further improvements were accomplished in 1972 and 1973 when a two-sto-
ry addition was built on the western side of the club, facing the ice rink. That The Golf Course
project included the construction of the current men’s locker room, reloca-
tion and enlargement of the ladies’ locker room back into the old men’s locker The golf course received constant attention during these years from a
room, the enlargement of the grill room, and an improved snack bar for the grounds crew consisting of superintendent Charlie Ruppert and his crew of
winter club. The projected cost was approximately $210,000 and the club four. Earlier in club history the course had burned out in July and August,
asked Huntington Purchase for a loan obtained by increasing the mortgage. playing easier than in the spring and fall when the rough grew tall while the
mowers took their time getting around the course. Mounds fronted the faces
Between 1974 and 1976 the present grill room and bar area were redone, of the bunkers and the grasses on the mounds were clumpy, wild, and stiff.
the patio was expanded, the pro shop was enlarged to include an office for
the golf professional, and a sprinkler system was installed throughout the The golf course was tweaked somewhat during these years. In 1951 the
clubhouse. At the end of that decade the grill room was expanded, as was club purchased the cow pasture that became the large parking lot from C.A.
the men’s locker room, towards the back end of the building. Griffith, developer of the adjacent Hillbrae section, and in 1955 Robert
Trent Jones designed the present par 3 ninth hole. The new right-hand
In September of 1963 the board voted to close down the entrance road from green on the fourth hole was built in the late 1950s. The crossbunkers on
Route 25A near the maintenance building. Built sometime after 1953 for the hillside on the 15th hole were removed in 1965.

part i: the chronological history | the post-war years (1945-1980) Over the years trees have been planted between fairways to beautify the
course. Many were gifts from members, with Lloyd Rasweiler being the

55

What might have been! This could have been the setting for a new course The first golf cart arrived at the club in the late 1950s, the property of Em-
on Lloyd Neck. (Courtesy of the Caumsett Foundation History Committee) met McCormack whose firm, Moore-McCormack Shipping Lines, was a
very large ocean shipping company. McCormack always had Al B. Herman
primary donor – at least ninety-five percent are from his nursery. In the fall caddie for him and drive the cart. The cart resurrected McCormack’s golf-
of 1962, for instance, ninety trees were planted on the front nine to help ing career for a few years and when he stopped playing golf at the end of
delineate the fairways, paid for by contributions from almost ninety percent 1960, he donated the cart to the golf professional. The board reacted swiftly
of the club’s 285 members. The following year trees were added to the back in January 1961, mandating that use of the cart be restricted to disabled
nine and an attempt was made to fertilize the rough to make it uniform. elderly members who had difficulty walking the course.

At the winter club’s expense, trees that eventually would shield the rink In 1950 a shelter was moved alongside the twelfth tee and used as a refresh-
from the golf course were planted around the skating rink. Small ever- ment house. It was replaced in 1963 by a better wooden structure.
greens, marking 150 yards to the center of the greens, were planted in the
spring of 1975. On the other hand, a large tree on the sixth hole was lost The construction of the cinder block house by the thirteenth tee took place
during an ice storm in the winter of 1969. in 1969. This one was replaced by a newer building in 1980. In 1963 the
practice tee was enlarged to three times the original size. The club com-
In the era before golf carts there was a rustic bridge crossing the gully on the pleted fencing in most of its perimeter that same year. Some cart paths were
twelfth hole. The bridge stood on locust stilts and hung thirty feet in the air laid down in 1970, others in 1977.
at its highest point. It was often a target from the tee and from those attempt-
ing to recover from the gully. The bridge was in constant need of mainte- To address the issue of small (and therefore poorly conditioned) tees,
nance and many thought it was dangerous. It was finally taken down in 1962. noted architect William Mitchell was hired in 1968. Mitchell designed lo-
cal courses Old Westbury, Noyac, Woodcrest, Crab Meadow, and sev-
eral Suffolk County-operated municipal courses. He maintained offices in
Huntington Station. The project cost $75,000, half of which was for the
enlargement of the tees, designed to reduce maintenance costs with the
introduction of modern equipment. At the time several of the greens and
tees were too close to each other. The second and eighteenth tees were
the same, so Mitchell moved the seventeenth green one green diameter to
the north to allow for separate second and eighteenth tees, thereby mov-
ing the seventeenth green away from the far end of the practice range. The
new seventeenth green, however, was built over the old path Charlie Rup-
pert used to bring equipment out to the back nine and consequently, it had

56

drainage problems. The club kept the old green active until the mid-1970s, A Move To Lloyd Neck?
when a supposedly better draining green surface was constructed, but issues
with the seventeenth green continued until 2009. During the summer of 1957 the club had the opportunity to ob-
tain property on Lloyd Neck. Mrs. Willis Wood – who was William
Mitchell also submitted plans (that were rejected) for a course renovation J. Matheson’s daughter Anna (Nan) – and Mrs. Marshall Field
that would have extended the course to 6,475 yards. The major focus of his (their husbands having died in 1957 and 1956, respectively) of-
plan was the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth holes. At the time, the fered to sell the club some 200 to 250 acres from Fort Hill
tee for the par 3 fourteenth hole was located very close to the thirteenth and Caumsett at $1,500 per acre to replace the present facil-
green. Mitchell proposed eliminating the fourteenth hole, thereby creating ity. Reportedly, Mrs. Wood and Mrs. Field envisioned creating
room to enlarge the thirteenth green and move the fifteenth tee back and to a residential development with the “new” Huntington Country
the east, making that hole play at 530 instead of 470 yards. To replace the Club as its centerpiece. One advantage of this prospect would
old fourteenth hole, Mitchell proposed building a 180-yard par three head- have been adding a waterfront bathing club to the facilities.
ing south from the fifteenth green, with an angled carry across the ravine
and with its green cut in the woods south of the sixteenth tee. This would The club had discussions with two clubs on Long Island that
have necessitated a new sixteenth tee south of the original and the sixteenth had recently built golf courses (most likely Pine Hollow and
would have become a right dogleg of 435 yards. Meadow Brook) and the USGA about the cost of building a new
golf course – a price estimated between $40,000 and $50,000
The possibility of installing wells and a pumping system was first discussed per hole on relatively open land, including a watering sys-
in 1932 and 1933, the board deciding not to proceed at that time. In July tem. The club also had an architect and builder give estimates,
of 1953 the club was notified that the town would cut back its water supply which were lower but didn’t include digging a well to provide
by fifty percent in order to provide sufficient water for the residents in the a satisfactory flow of water for a golf course.
growing suburb. This reduction in available water would make it difficult
to water the greens adequately, so the club decided to investigate the pos- In the end, Wood and Field were told that the opportunity was
sibility of drilling for water on club property and engaged a water supply not in the best interest of the club. And so was averted a move
engineer to draw up plans for the piping design of a limited system. In the that would have changed the character of the club forever.
spring of 1954, the club decided to move ahead with these plans.
When New York State purchased Caumsett, Robert Moses’
In July of 1954 the club commenced drilling at a site next to Route 25A plans called for building two golf courses, a parkway con-
near the fifth tee, going down 260 feet to obtain a satisfactory flow of wa- necting Caumsett to the Bethpage Parkway (including a bridge
ter. A 5,000-gallon storage tank was installed and the system was capable of over Lloyd Harbor), and another parkway joining Caumsett
pumping 300 gallons per minute to the golf course. One-third of the piping to the proposed Oyster Bay Bridge and points east along the
Sound. None of Moses’ plans ever materialized.

part i: the chronological history | the post-war years (1945-1980) 57

The Dulles Family ship was closed for further applications until those already in the system
became members and vacancies opened.
At least two famous members of the Dulles family were mem-
bers of the club. John Foster Dulles, a member from 1928 to In 1953 greens fees were set at $3 on weekdays and $5 on weekends. Caddie
1947, was the secretary of state under President Eisenhower fees were $2.90/$2.50 for classes A and B, respectively. In January of 1956
and Allen Dulles, a member from 1936 into the 1960s, was di- dues and initiation fees for members over thirty-five were both set at $300.
rector of the Central Intelligence Agency during the Eisen-
hower and into the Kennedy administration. At the end of 1957 four of the original directors of Huntington Purchase
decided not to run for re-election, Arthur Gwynne among them.
was installed in 1954, the remainder by the spring of 1957. The system was
capable of watering just the greens and tees. During the late 1960s, Huntington Purchase tackled two problems com-
mon to many country clubs. By the end of 1966, about twenty-two percent
The USGA warned the club that watering the fairways would kill the red of the shares of Huntington Purchase stock had fallen into the hands of non-
fescue. Late in 1957 the club decided to water the tenth fairway to test members – by either death or resignation – a dangerous situation should
the USGA’s theory, and the results were encouraging. By 1959 the club that number approach or exceed a majority. In addition, a new member had
decided to go ahead with fairway watering, with a modest amount of re- little chance of becoming a proprietary member. Proprietary membership
seeding with bent grass to prevent total destruction of the other vegetation. required that a member hold 10 shares of stock and thereby obtain the right
The cost for installing this final stage of the club’s first irrigation system was to vote and be entitled to a reduction in dues.
wrapped into the financing of the new dining room wing. The Robert Trent
Jones organization oversaw the project, eventually increasing the flow to And so Huntington Purchase passed an amendment to its bylaws allowing
500 gallons per minute. The club was able to run twelve large fairway sprin- it to split two shares into three, each with par value $33.33 rather than
klers at a time, dispensing 35 gallons per minute to the fairways. The Jones $50, thereby keeping the club’s capitalization at $70,000. Those members
organization also brought a six-inch water main to the clubhouse hydrant. holding more than 10 shares after the split were asked, but not required, to
In 1963 the club looked into the possibility of tapping into the town’s water make their extra shares available to non-stockholding members.
supply as insurance, should the pump and booster fail.
The club also made an intense and successful effort to acquire those shares
The Membership held by nonmembers and sold them to regular members without shares of
their own. By July of 1967, there were only three nonmember stockholders
The membership quickly regained healthy status after the war and by 1955 and the number of proprietary members had been increased from 117 to
there were 224 members, 204 of whom were regular members. Member- 157. Others wishing to purchase stock were told that they would be accom-
modated in the near future.
58

The front hallway as it appeared before the renovation. The men’s locker room as it appeared before the renovation.

Huntington Purchase also set up an escrow arrangement with United States The Hermans
Trust Company so that shares owned by members would automatically be pur-
chased by the club at death or resignation, at the same price paid by the member. The three sons of John Herman (who drove the club’s team of
horses in the early years) worked at the club at one time or an-
At the end of 1968 the club had at least four membership categories: regular, other, all three as caddies. Their names were John Nicholas,
house, tennis, and the new house/winter membership that included use of Jr., Edwin (Eddie), and Adam Albert (Al B.) – all were born in a
the house facilities of the country club, the winter club facilities, and plat- home off the second hole. John ran the halfway house when it
form tennis for annual dues of $298. Dues for regular members were higher was at the twelfth tee and Eddie worked on the grounds crew,
by age, peaking at $750 for those aged 35 or older. However the club’s drove a tractor (as did his father), and manually changed the
house, restaurant, and bar revenues were below those seen at similar clubs sprinkler heads for the first watering system. Eddie Herman
in the region. This problem continued into the 1980s, when minimums were won an $11 million lottery, but continued working. He was
established, and remained a concern thereafter (see chapter 12). also known to sell the golf balls and hockey pucks that had

In December of 1967, Nevil Ford retired as president of Huntington Pur- strayed off line.
chase. A former mayor of Lloyd Harbor, Ford passed away in 1979.

At the end of 1980 the club had 477 members, including 238 regular members.

part i: the chronological history | the post-war years (1945-1980) 59

The front of the clubhouse as it appeared before the renovation.
60

chapter twelve

More Recent Times (1981-2000)uring the 1980s and 1990s the club’s focus was clearly

Don the golf course, its maintenances, and its restoration
In addition, trees and electric drinking fountains were placed around the
course in 1986. Course conditions in 1987 were called “the best in twenty-

to the Devereux Emmet design of the 1910s and 1920s. five years” despite a dramatic increase in annual play to 20,000 rounds. The

The facilities were looked upon with a more laid back attitude; conservative course remained in fairly good shape in 1988 after a horrible growing season

spending and “Don’t mess with tradition” were the modus operandi of the and was coming back that fall after a devastating summer.

day when it came to spending large amounts of money on the clubhouse. As

the turn of the century approached the board began discussing the question,

“What is more important, improving the clubhouse or pouring more money

into the golf course?”

The Golf Course

Charlie Ruppert retired in 1985 and was honored at a retirement dinner on
September 25. Many members can still picture him driving his Jeep, pulling
the gang mowers as he cut the fairways.

Phil Anderson, a veteran of eight years at Woodcrest, was hired in May of
1986 and a completely automated sprinkler system (costing $122,000) was
installed on the golf course that year to replace the manual, one-pipe system.

The grill room as reconstructed in 1974.

61

Phil Anderson resigned in 1990, moving on to Old Westbury, and was suc- The board went so far as to create a golf course improvement philoso-

ceeded by 29-year-old Glenn Creutz, a Commack native who earned a de- phy, namely: “The Huntington Country Club Golf Course is a unique

gree in geology at SUNY Brockport. Glenn started his career as a summer facility having a special character which was developed though the ge-

assistant to Harry Bahrenburg at Cedar Brook and then became an assistant nius of Devereux Emmet, a noted turn-of-the-century golf course archi-

to Bahrenburg at Huntington Crescent for seven tect. Any renovation/improvement/mainte-

years. During this time, he earned certificates in nance to the golf course should reflect, within

turf management from Cornell and Rutgers. reason, the style and character which Mr.

Emmet envisioned. Grass-faced bunkers, di-

The practice tee was expanded forward in rectional mounding, smallish subtle greens,

1994 and this resulted in many balls landing in native grasses and carefully placed or exist-

the adjacent seventeenth fairway. Consequent- ing verticals (trees) were the signature of Mr.

ly, bells were placed on the seventeenth hole Emmet. The Huntington Country Club golf

and eighteenth tee to warn players at the range course should continue to retain these design

to hit short irons only, until the golfers had features and any future renovation or restora-

cleared the area. tion effort should recognize this style in the

work contemplated.”

In 1995 it was announced that the greens com-

mittee had the architect’s original plans and pic- The board proposed a five-year renovation plan

tures of each hole as it looked in the 1960s and to be done in-house in late fall and early spring,

that Glenn Creutz had 1938, 1947, and 1953 but only phase I of the plan was approved un-

aerials of the course. Plans were underway to conditionally. The rest of the plan was ap-

restore the course to its 1960s look, a process proved pending an architect’s review and that

that would take several years. Assistant superin- a new irrigation system be part of the plan,

tendent Myles McLaughlin prepared a 29-page extending to all areas that required watering.
document detailing the course restoration pro- Green superintendent Glenn Creutz with his dog, Edward. The club attempted to bring golf architect Tom

posal. The board complimented the greens su- Doak or his assistant, Gil Hanse, on site in 1997

perintendents on the depth of their research and their attention to detail in to advise regarding the renovation, but neither was available at the time.

restoring the original Devereux Emmet design features.

62

Bunkers at the fourth (left) and fifth (right) greens during the course restoration.

At first Glenn and crew worked on six holes (Phase I, at a cost of $5,000). dimensions, and mounds were added to the course at the greens and be-
The members reacted by saying they were making the course too hard and tween the fairways.
some insisted that the tall fescue grasses around the course be removed.
Consequently, architect Ron Pritchard was brought to the club in 1998 to Phase II of the restoration was completed before the 1998 season and phase
review the work. He told the board that Glenn and his crew were doing the III followed a year later. Phases IV and V were completed in 2000 and 2001,
right thing and that “the links character of the course should be accentuated respectively. The total cost for the in-house restoration was $125,000. Fifty
with a strong reliance on native rough grasses and fewer trees.” trees were removed during the restoration, done slowly so as not to shock
the members. A large cedar tree on the third hole was severely damaged by
Pritchard recommended that only hardwood trees be preserved and as few wind in 2000. The crew worked fall, winter, and spring each year to have
evergreens as possible be retained. The bunkering should be restored as their work completed by Memorial Day.
shown in the 1938 aerial, the key element here being attaining their original
depth and bringing the sand back down to ground level, not in the faces. Among the highlights of the restoration were consolidating the fairway bun-
The greens were extended back into their aprons, restoring their original kers on the right side of the first hole (while restoring the mounding), add-

part i: the chronological history | more recent times (1981-2000) 63

ing depth to the bunkers at the fourth green (giving the approach shot a new the greens by drilling into that layer of coal. In doing so, he was able to able
look), restoring the church pews bunkers on the left side of the fifth fairway, to determine that the original sixteenth green was much larger than the one
and removing the right bunker and swinging the fairway to the right of the then in play and without the collar it had at the time.
green. Other improvements included removing the trees at the third green,
restoring the pot bunker and right side bunker at the seventh green, restor- In addition, the club also addressed the severe drainage problem at the sev-
ing the pot bunker on the left side of the thirteenth fairway, and restoring enteenth green in 1998, when the green was completely rebuilt to USGA
the complex of three pot bunkers on the left side of the eighteenth fairway. standards, with subsurface drainage. Noted architect Tom Doak was en-
Throughout the process Creutz and his crew conducted an archeological ex- gaged in 1999 to advise the club concerning the fourth hole. Like Pritchard
periment, using the aerials to suggest the location of bunkers on the original and the USGA before him, Doak recommended restoring the original
course, then drilling four feet into the ground looking for the sand to con- fourth green (with subsurface drainage), noting that the right green brought
firm the bunker’s location. They were able to use shadowing on the aerials the maintenance area and the trees on the right side of the hole too much
to determine the height of the mounding around the course. Emmet built into play – something Emmet would not have approved.
his greens with a layer of coal underneath to drain the water produced by
torrential downpours; Creutz was able to determine the original shape of The board, however, decided to keep both greens in playing condition, use
them equally often, and then seek the opinion of the membership. Soon
The grill room bar, with the doors of the grill room closed. thereafter, reacting to a petition signed by eighty active regular members,
64 they decided to use the dogleg fourth hole ninety percent of the time and old
green primarily for practice. That same year, the club established a 100-yard
practice area in the triangle between the fourth, fifth, and sixth holes, includ-
ing the old fourth green, a pot bunker, and bunkering in the Emmet style.

A consultant was hired in 1999 to analyze course irrigation system and
subsequently, in 2000, Friends Irrigation of Deer Park was contracted to
build a two-line system at a total cost of $1,385,000. Installation of the
new system started on September 10, 2000, and work was completed by
April 1, 2001. A new well, 470 feet deep, was drilled behind the fourth
green and a new pump house was built. The new irrigation system was
paid for by assessment ($1,500 in each of 2000, 2001, 2002), by increasing

the initiation fee from $18,000 to $25,000 for regular members (prorated A limited number of families on the waiting list were allowed to play Tues-
for other classes), and by a ten-year mortgage paid from the club’s capital days through Fridays, use the practice range and putting green, and could
improvement fund. be invited to play in certain tournaments.

The Membership The cap of 230 long adhered to for regular membership remained in effect
until 1987. By that time, the number of rounds played per year at the club

The club entered the 1980s with a long waiting list estimated at two years had been increasing and the time to play eighteen holes increased. In 1987

in 1984. A new special junior category the club decided to decrease the regu-

was established in 1986 for future legacy lar membership from 230 to 220 by not

members. It required that the candidate replacing one member each year over a

notify the club within 120 days of turn- ten-year period. This process was tem-

ing twenty-one or graduating from col- porarily interrupted in 1991 and not re-

lege, graduate, or professional school of sumed thereafter, and the cap went back

their intentions. By 1989 a formal proce- to 230. Dues, however, continued to in-

dure had been worked out for this class, crease year after year, doubling between

offering two options, with varying privi- 1984 and 1994. It was estimated that it

leges and costs. cost a typical family of four $12,000 to

belong to the club in 1994.

The club celebrated its seventy-fifth an-

niversary in 1985 with several events The club began to address a concern in

during the July 4 weekend. (See pictures A foursome relaxing in Ray’s Room: (from left to right) Bob Golden, the mid-1980s. Even though the amount
of golf played at the club kept increasing,
in chapter 20.) Allen Murray, Al Arbour, and Mike Gottsegen.

the members didn’t eat or drink at the

A new optional senior membership category was established in 1991 for club before or after their rounds. The dining room was supported by only

members seventy-five or older who had belonged to the club for thirty or thirty percent of the membership. Most other clubs in the area had similar

more consecutive years. For half the dues, assessments, and minimums paid problems and attempted to solve them by establishing dining room mini-

by regular members they enjoyed full weekday privileges but were not al- mums. So the discussion began at Huntington Country Club in 1986 and

lowed to play golf on weekends or holidays. minimums arrived within the year. In 1988 the club approved dividing the

part i: the chronological history | more recent times (1981-2000) 65

dining room budget and minimums into two six-month components, April that the clubhouse was for the members and not a profit center. The board

through September and October through March. discussed several possible solutions in 1995 ranging from allowing outings;

raising membership size; assessments; raising dues, initiation fees, and the

In 1991 club manager Roger Ross made several suggestions on how the club minimum ... finally deciding to raise the dining room minimum by $500

might increase revenue, two of which were quickly approved. One called and add 8% to dining room and bar prices.

for members to sponsor more weddings within their extended families, not

just for their own children. The other asked For many years the club operated with just

that members sponsor more parties on Fri- one outing per year, that for Huntington

day nights. Paul Jack Hospital. That had changed by the mid-
1990s. Outings became more frequent in

Discussion on the philosophy of operating a Paul Jack served the club in several capacities. 1997 and the club prepared an outing pack-

dining room at the club began in 1993. The Starting in 1957, he was the men’s’ locker room age brochure that year.

range of possibilities discussed extended attendant. He also shined shoes and tended bar In 1998 Gerald Kessler was appointed the
from closing the dining room completely, in Ray’s Room following Ray Welch’s death in club’s historian, a role he had previously as-
opening for lunch only, to having the room 1969, running up and down the stairs to and sumed unofficially.
catered by an outside provider. Whether the from the locker room. When he retired in the
club needed a dining room manager was also
1990s, he was replaced by three people!

questioned. A subcommittee of the house The club started the new millennium in

committee was formed to analyze the situ- 2000 with 230 regular members, 414 total

ation and find out what other clubs did. In a 1994 questionnaire, the mem- members, and 57 names on the waiting list.

bers were asked far-reaching questions: “Does the membership really want The Facilities
a dining room at the club?” ... “Should the club solicit outside outings to

substantially offset operating losses?” ... “Should the number of proprietary The club had a serious long-term problem with vandalism that actually

members be increased to (perhaps) 250?” According to the responses to the began in 1973 when vandals cut down the flag pole. They destroyed the

questionnaire, the members were dissatisfied with the quality of the food and flagpole again in 1978 and their attacks became more frequent starting in

the service. 1985, when the halfway house was destroyed by a firebomb. The club im-

mediately planned to rebuild the halfway house, but there was considerable

In 1992 the house committee recommended against outside events, noting debate about where it should be located. Some felt a halfway house at the

66

The clubhouse after Hurricane Gloria in September 1986, with the were stolen in 1990 and there was a break in at the pro shop in 1992. In
awning wrapped around the roof. 1997 the vandals broke down the exterior fencing to gain entry, then dam-
aged greens and burned water coolers. The vandals were active as late as
thirteenth tee would be vulnerable (again) while others wanted to place it 2003 when the interior of the chalet was badly vandalized. There have been
at the third tee, accessible to the tennis players, and suggested the nines be no acts of vandalism since.
flipped to make that a reasonable stopping point for the golfers. Ultimately,
it was rebuilt where it was at the time, between the twelfth green and thir- The club built a new cart storage building in 1990. It was placed adjacent
teenth tee. (Previously, it had been situated at the twelfth tee.) to the skating rink and screened with a privet hedge from the first fairway.
The new building had the capacity to store fifty golf carts. The old building
A $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the vandals was es- attached to the clubhouse was renovated and became a caddie room in the
tablished but the vandals were not deterred, damaging the chalet and some summer and a room for visiting hockey teams in the winter.
cars in the parking lot that same year. A security company was engaged in
1986; a low-hanging wire across the cart path on the thirteenth hole sabo- The club’s budget for 1990 included $50,000, intended as the first install-
taged one of their men. Vandalism continued into the early 2000s and the ment on $250,000 to be used to renovate and redecorate the clubhouse
club changed security companies several times, to no avail. The front gates over the next five years – a project that was to include the dining room,
lobby, trophy room, bar, grill room, and the men’s bathroom. That project
part i: the chronological history | more recent times (1981-2000) was to have been paid for by an assessment. However, the membership
voted to cancel everything except some work in the dining room that was
done during the winter of 1990-1991.

To facilitate funding for future needs the capital improvement fund, which
had been created a decade earlier to pay for the irrigation system, was rein-
stated in 1992 and budgeted at $115,000 for 1993. All the exterior wood on
the clubhouse was repainted in 1993 and the ladies’ locker room was redeco-
rated. Ray’s Room was renovated that year using insurance proceeds result-
ing from the damage caused by a broken water pipe. The kitchen and pro
shop were renovated in 1994, all paid for from the capital improvement fund.

The club’s lease from Huntington Purchase was renewed for another twen-

67

Ray’s Room in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
68

ty-one years in 1993. The Everitt House

The club joined the computer age in 1994 when the administrative func- For almost a full year starting in May 1992, the club discussed
tion, dining room, Ray’s Room, the pro shop, and the starter’s cabin were the possibility of purchasing the Helen Everitt House imme-
computerized. diately to the right of the front entrance. This historically
designated house, which sat on one acre, was available for
The club’s dress code was modified in 1995. Members were now required $300,000. A committee was appointed to investigate the true
to wear jackets and ties on Friday and Saturday evenings, jackets but no ties cost of purchasing the property and discovered when mort-
on Wednesday evenings, but Sunday evenings were completely informal. gage taxes, real estate taxes, and maintenance were added, the
Casual dining in the dining room in June and July of 1999 was very success- total cost to the club would be more like $700,000. Since the
ful, with the number of dinners served going up significantly. Casual dress property did nothing to enhance the golf course and provided
invaded the patio in 2001, when members were allowed on Friday and Sat- the club with nothing more than the security of a buffer at
urday nights during golf season in proper golf attire. the entrance, the idea of purchasing the property was tabled.

The concept of long range planning resurfaced at the club late in 1996 and a The grill room before the renovation.
long range planning committee was established in 1998, with membership 69
from all the club’s major committees, its focus being to look two, five, and
ten years ahead and anticipate the club’s needs. The committee members
were appointed in August and given their guidelines. All projects proposed
earlier in 1998, including a new roof and expanding the dining room and
ladies’ locker room (where 35 new lockers were needed), were put on hold
until the committee was operative. The committee’s first activity was to
request $10,000 to have a consultant assess the clubhouse. The expansion
and redecorating of the ladies’ locker room was completed early in 1999.

Proposals for the expansion and renovation of Ray’s Room came in over
budget in 1999 and, together with the cost of the new irrigation system,
added too much to the club’s debt. Huntington Purchase intervened and

part i: the chronological history | more recent times (1981-2000)

Framework for the new trophy room.
70

chapter thirteen

The Clubhouse Renovation (2001-2010)t a board meeting in 2000, one member commented,

A“We should start all over again and build a brand new
ing room and grill room on Sundays only. The amendment stated that on
all evenings except Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, men were required to

clubhouse.” This was the first recorded mention of wear jackets and ties in the dining room and grill room. In 2004, Hunting-

what would become a controversy that would span almost ten years and ton Purchase suggested allowing completely casual dining in June and July

leave the membership at times divided. to see if that picked up dining attendance. In response, the club adopted a

proposal to allow smart casual dining from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

To assist in long range planning, the committee decided in 2001 to hire

a public opinion research company to conduct surveys of the member’s Reacting to the results of the survey, the long range planning committee met

wishes; they utilized four focus groups of twenty members each to do so. again in January 2002 and recommended that the club hire an outside coun-

try club design firm to help the club decide how to combine both formal and

According to the survey, dining attire was very important to the members. casual dining. In July they recommended the selection of DCAK-MSA Ar-

Many still wanted formal dining and others preferred casual dining. Most chitecture, represented by Brian Aitchison, to prepare a master plan for the

supporting casual dining were younger members, although many of them future development of the Huntington Country Club. Aitchison responded

wanted to maintain the formal traditions of the club as well. The club’s by presenting to the club five options from basic to elaborate, with costs

physical plant, however, wouldn’t easily accommodate both simultaneous- ranging from $85,000 to $3.2 million. The club selected the middle option.

ly. With dining room usage having grown in the late 1990s, due mostly to

outside usage (in fact, in 2002 the golf committee found it necessary to es- It was at this time in 2002 that Huntington Purchase recommended for the

tablish a soft cap of ten to twelve outings per year), a dining room expansion third time (it had done so previously in the 1990s and in 2001) that the club

was firmly in the club’s future plans. The board approved an amendment to purchase the property of the Huntington Racquets Club adjacent to the sev-

the rule established in 1993 that allowed casual dining for men in the din- enth green to protect club property from someone building condominiums

71

The grill room during the renovation. while giving the membership true value for money spent. The committee
suggested that the club “Don’t rush, get it right.”
there. The property was available for $750,000 and could possibly be used
for housing for the greenkeeper or the staff. The board ultimately declined The board planned to finance the project with a long-term mortgage plus a one
the offer, deciding there was a lack of real use for the property and that us- time up-front payment by the members that would be prorated, should mem-
ing that much money to purchase the property would prevent the club from bership be terminated. New members would pay the fee over the remaining
going ahead with needed clubhouse renovations. time of the original loan. At the December board meeting, a suggestion that
the club abandon the project completely was voted down unanimously.
In November of 2002, the long range planning committee established a list
of rules that would govern any renovation effort. In general, they decreed After several revisions, DCAK-MSA’s final proposal for the clubhouse ex-
that all existing maintenance issues had to be resolved and that the ambi- pansion would have cost $2.9 million and the issue became how it would be
ance, nature, and feeling of the club should not change. More specifically, financed. Whether or not the club carried out this renovation, it was going
following the recommendations of the survey they asked for separate formal to have to spend over $540,000 of the total cost to address infrastructure
and informal dining areas; enhanced golf course views from the clubhouse deficiencies that had to be rectified in the near term regardless.
and patio; renovated men’s locker, bath, and shower areas; a larger card
room and lounge for the ladies; and an expanded dining room seating 175. In 2003 member Demilt Aitkin proposed an alternate plan that would have
Their goal was to achieve as much of this as possible at a reasonable cost, expanded further to the southwest and more to the back of the house over
the men’s locker room, but wouldn’t have provided the views from the grill
room that the architect’s plan proposed, and so was rejected.

The board approved the clubhouse master plan on April 29, 2003, and
scheduled an open forum of the members on May 27 that was preceded by a
presentation by the architect. At the open forum some members suggested
doing the renovation in discrete phases; others expressed concern that the
project was creating divisiveness among the membership and with Hunting-
ton Purchase. The board decided to have a poll conducted by independent
auditors and to consult in more detail with the Huntington Purchase board.

Meanwhile, Huntington Purchase had sent its own ballot to the proprietary
members and received responses from 180 of the 202 eligible voters who

72

responded to two questions. On the one hand, 68 of them were for the mas- tatives from the club’s board meet with a group of Huntington Purchase
ter plan, 107 against, with 5 having no opinion. On the other hand, 109 of directors to work out an amicable solution to their problems.
them said they might approve a modified master plan, while 26 would not. A new renovation committee was formed in February consisting of four
members from each board. A meeting of the committee was held in late
The club’s auditors received 265 responses from the 378 members. The March, after which a letter from Huntington Country Club president Bob
results were very close, with 130 for the master plan, 128 against, and 7 McTammany and Huntington Purchase president Lloyd Rasweiller was sent
having no opinion. Clearly, the board had no mandate to proceed. to the membership. The letter set a positive note and described plans to
continue meeting to achieve a renovation plan that would be endorsable by
Huntington Purchase then suggested that the board come up with an al- both boards.
ternate plan containing significant changes from the original master plan. The committee decided to ask Dick Hanington of Huntington Country Club
They would then take another vote before approving mortgage financing. and Jim Donaldson of Huntington Purchase, both with extensive construc-
Huntington Purchase indicated that they would not approve financing if the tion experience, to work together and develop plans based on current areas
club wanted to move forward with the original master plan. of agreement. Soon thereafter, the committee decided to involve member

The club appointed a new membership communications committee, headed The dining room during the renovation.
by Bob Carlson. Its task was to form an action plan achieved by asking mem- 73
bers, “What needs to be changed in the master plan to get you to accept it?”
Late in the year, five meetings of the members were held and their sugges-
tions summarized in a five-page document. From that document the com-
mittee put together two alternate plans – the minimal plan, costing $2.1
million and the revised master plan, costing $3.1 million. The minimal plan
called for expansion of the main dining room only, while the revised master
plan also included an expansion over the men’s locker room. The member-
ship voted for the limited plan, 150 for and 135 against. There was a heated
discussion about these plans and the proxy issue at the annual meeting in
January 2004. That meeting ended abruptly with the issues unsettled.

Early in 2004 the long range planning committee, citing divisiveness among
the members and problems between the club’s board and the Huntington
Purchase board, decided to have a cooling-off period and have represen-

part i: the chronological history | the clubhouse renovation (2001-2010)

Dick Hanington. Andy Schmitz.

Andrew Schmitz, a local architect, to make some sketches of what the two renovation of the clubhouse. The club was talking with four banks about
boards had in mind. His first attempt came in too expensive, and he was the financing and discussing alternate means of financing rather than just a
asked to redesign. His new expansion plan was mostly to the rear of the mortgage.
building and included a new trophy room that would seat sixty (rather than
twenty). It would cost $3.5 million. The two boards agreed that renova- The club interviewed several architectural firms about the design, includ-
tions would not exceed $4 million and would not commence until the be- ing the firm that had done the original master plan. The firm Mojo Stumer
ginning of winter 2005-2006. Associates, which had done recent renovations at Muttontown and Nisse-
quogue, was chosen and presented three sets of plans – all included an ex-
At the March 2005 board meeting, it was reported that the proprietary panded trophy room, a non expanded dining room, a central hallway, and
members had voted 149 to 32 to approve a $4 million mortgage for the a new entry way. Members Hanington and Donaldson continued working
with the architect in the design phase of the final plan.
74

The board initially targeted Labor Day for submitting a proposal to the permits from the Town of Huntington was going very slowly (and unlikely
membership, but alterations to the plan went slowly and the annual meet- to be finished until the end of November) so construction couldn’t start
ing became the target date. The renovation project was given the go ahead until after January 1, meaning the clubhouse would be closed the entire
at the annual meeting in January of 2006, with a $4 million cap on the cost. summer of 2007. This was unacceptable, and so the renovation project was
The work was to start in August or September, with an informative presen- postponed for a year.
tation to the full membership in May.
In the meantime, a subcommittee headed by Joseph Schumm, Jr. was estab-
A new committee was formed to address coping with the renovation. Their lished to investigate the club’s options regarding renovation versus a new
concerns ranged from “Where does everything go during the renovation? clubhouse. The committee met and determined that the $4 million reno-
The business office? The permanent staff?” … “Will the clubhouse be fully vation was untenable. It would be a waste of money, given what the club
operational through the Christmas season?” … “Will the clubhouse really would get for the money. The $4.8 to $5.2 million renovation plan was
reopen for Memorial Day?” … “How will this effect the winter club’s ac- feasible, but would not meet all the future needs of the club and in five to
tivities?” to whether the Town of Huntington might slow down the process seven years, a new renovation project would have to be considered. And an
of getting the necessary permits. entirely new clubhouse would be very expensive.

In August 2006, member Edward C. (Ned) Meagher sent out a question- Member John Kean presented (gratis) a plan for a 25,000-square-foot club-
naire to the membership regarding the renovation project. The results came house in the $10-11 million range. Some present disputed that cost, sug-
in during September: 62.4% responded and 69% of them favored an en- gesting that about $13 million would be more accurate. Others pointed out
tirely new clubhouse, 24% the renovation, while 7% abstained. that building an entirely new clubhouse would shut the club down from
fall 2007 to spring 2009 and that all club activities would have to be held
Consequently club president Daniel R. Stanton, Jr. invited Huntington Pur- elsewhere, at some cost.
chase members on the renovation committee to the August 22 board meet-
ing. A lengthy discussion followed, with almost everyone present speaking, Consequently, four new subcommittees were established early in 2007,
the primary topic being whether the club should consider a more extensive one to address the design and construction of a new clubhouse, a second
and expensive plan such as building a totally new clubhouse. to study the renovation of existing facilities, the third to address the
financing of either project, and the fourth to study how to manage
Bids for the $4 million renovation were expected in two weeks. It was club operations during the construction phase. Other considerations to be
estimated that it would take at least six weeks more to obtain architectural addressed included relocating the seventh tee (should a trophy room patio
estimates for a completely new building. In addition, the process of getting be part of the plan) and relocating the putting green (were a new clubhouse
to be built).

part i: the chronological history | the clubhouse renovation (2001-2010) 75

The new back hallway. The proprietary vote took place on Saturday, September 22 (even though
there were a few regular members who could not vote that day because they
The board established the following procedure: the full membership would had never been able to purchase stock), after which club president Daniel
review the plans, have a question and answer session on June 22, then vote R. Stanton, Jr. wrote the following letter to the membership (which we
the next day and be informed of the results. Then the proprietary members present almost in its entirety):
would vote. Their votes would be reviewed and an option chosen at the
August 21 board meeting. “The proprietary member vote on the clubhouse project was opened and counted on Sat-
urday, September 22, at 2 p.m.. The count was witnessed by officers of both Hunting-
When it came time to vote, the members were presented with two options. ton Country Club and Huntington Purchase. Of the 229 ballots that were mailed out,
One was a renovation, at a cost not to exceed $5.2 million, authorizing 224 were returned to the club office and counted. The renovation of the clubhouse re-
Huntington Purchase to execute a mortgage for $4 million. The other was ceived 136 votes (61%) and the option for a new clubhouse received 88 votes (39%).
to erect a new clubhouse, at a cost not to exceed $13 million, authorizing
Huntington Purchase to execute a mortgage for $9.5 million. “The Board of Directors of the Huntington Country Club met on Tuesday September
25 and approved proceeding with the renovation project.
The full membership voted first, their poll closing at noon on Saturday, Au-
gust 18 and the votes were tallied that afternoon. Of 386 eligible members, “As we go forward, we will do our best to keep the membership updated on the progress
283 voted and there were 143 votes in favor of the renovation and 140 votes of the renovation project. There will be a link on the home page of the HCC web site
in favor of the new clubhouse. Among them were 94 proprietary votes in that will be updated regularly and there will also be a section in the Beeline devoted
favor of the renovation and 95 such votes in favor of a new clubhouse. There to the project. Please be reminded that the project will not have any affect on the
were also 49 non proprietary votes in favor of the renovation and 45 such 2008 golf season and that the clubhouse facility will be in full operation as well.
votes in favor of the new clubhouse.
“The last several years have been a difficult time for the Huntington Country Club.
76 The membership has been divided over the clubhouse project, and the debate has been
spirited. The board has made every effort to let the various sides of the issue be heard.
The time has come for us to move forward and to unite as a club. The golf course and
the membership have always been the strengths of the Huntington Country Club. We
look forward to presenting the membership with a clubhouse that they can be proud of
and enjoy for many years to come.”

Sincerely,
Daniel R. Stanton Jr., President

Dan Stanton. At the October 31, 2007 board meeting, the Schumm committee decided to
alter the plan. Most prominent among these changes were the elimination of
Three days after the proprietary vote the board voted at its next meeting the patio outside the trophy room and the covered colonnade from the club
to proceed with the renovation. To pay for the $5 million project, the club entrance to the parking lot, enlarging the patio outside Ray’s Room, and
took a $4 million mortgage with the First National Bank of Long Island and reworking the ladies’ locker room. There was a discussion about whether
assessed each member $2,000 up front plus a new monthly charge of $108 the club should close earlier (late October/early November) to guarantee
(other membership classes paid less) that would be placed in a new renova- opening by Memorial Day, just in case there was a delay in getting permits
tion fund starting in January, 2008. Plans were made for outside work to from the town.
begin in September or October 2008 and that the club would be closed
from January 1, 2009 to Memorial Day. The club office and pro shop would To maximize staff retention during the renovation period, the board offered
be housed in 10 x 14 structures placed in the parking lot. Alternate plans retention bonuses (equal to the greater of Christmas bonus or two-weeks
would be made for the members’ celebration of Easter and Mother’s Day. salary), pay for unused vacation days, continuing insurance coverage, plus a
sign-on bonus of three weeks pay.

In light of the national economic crisis that started in the fall of 2008, one
member suggested putting the renovation project on hold, but the board
voted against his proposal 14 to 1. Clubs closer to Manhattan suffered more
acutely from the crisis than did those in Suffolk County.

Member Dick Hanington, a professional in the field of renovating expensive
properties in New York City, persuaded his friend and fellow member,
John Kean, developer of ultra expensive homes, to draw renderings of the
new building. Kean had been a supporter of building a new clubhouse. Han-
ington himself was on site throughout the construction work, making the
everyday decisions that kept the project progressing.

The clubhouse was cleared out in time for demolition work to begin on
schedule in early November. The floor and some of the foundation walls in
the kitchen area were found to be structurally unsound; it cost an additional

part i: the chronological history | the clubhouse renovation (2001-2010) 77

$50,000 to reinforce them and this delayed the project slightly. Despite a The trailers in the lower parking lot during the renovation.
rugged winter, construction manager Dale Stokkers, a Huntington native, The new overhang over the pro shop entrance and bag storage room.
kept things moving with minimal delays and the projected reopening of the
clubhouse was estimated to be either the last week of May or the first week
of June. Substantial delays occurred at this point. The town of Huntington
was on time with its permits but the club had considerable difficulty get-
ting Suffolk County’s Health Department to come on site and inspect the
kitchen. Consequently, the club’s certificate of occupancy was delayed. The
clubhouse finally opened on August 1, 2009, but it wasn’t until the follow-
ing April that all the final touches were in place, most notably the redecora-
tion of the clubhouse.

The highlight of the renovation was the new trophy room, which was
expanded beyond the west side of the original building. Hung near the
ceiling in the new founders bar adjacent to the trophy room are the
twelve family crests honoring the thirteen directors of the original cor-
poration, two of whom were members of the Conklin family. The crests
were manufactured in England and consist of mahogany plaques, mounted
with hand painted copper shields accurately detailing the original family
names: Williams, Taylor, Smithers, Morse, Matheson, Jennings, Heck-
scher, Gilbert, Field, de Forest, Conklin, and Baylis. Credit must go to
house chairman Bernie Reynolds, who conceived and implemented this
adornment to the clubhouse.

The dining room remained the same size although the serving area was re-
moved, making room for two more tables. Ray’s Room was untouched.
The kitchen is now more centrally located in the area of the old trophy
room. There is a new central hallway, cutting down on the traffic through
the grill room. The ladies’ locker room also was extended beyond the back
of the original building, with a new bathroom, sitting room, and new lock-

78

ers. The men’s locker room was redone, with a new shower area and twen- The south end of the dining room during the renovation.
ty to thirty new lockers. Moreover, the conflict that existed throughout the The dining room at a later stage of the renovation.
early years of the decade had all but disappeared.
79
The Membership

Another overriding theme of this decade was stock ownership, an issue that
played a central role during the voting process for the clubhouse renovation
project. A number of young regular members who favored building a new
clubhouse felt left out of the decision making process.

Prior to 1991-1992, Huntington Purchase bylaws called for two-thirds of
the stock to be owned by regular members, yet a fair amount of stock was
in the hands of people who were not regular members. During 1992-1995,
Huntington Purchase’s goal was to have 90% of the stock owned by regular
members, but this goal was never achieved.

In 2002, the board discussed whether members switching from regular to
senior regular would be required to surrender stock (and voting privileges)
they might have held for many years, and adopted such a policy. Now, any-
one downgrading membership status must surrender any stock held.

In 2005 it was resolved by Huntington Purchase that, subject to a change
in Huntington Country Club’s bylaws, any increase in number of regular
members above 230 would have to be approved by 75% of the shareholders
of Huntington Purchase. At the end of the year, the two governing bodies
agreed to issue 200 additional shares of Huntington Purchase stock, bring-
ing the total up to 2,300 shares.

In 2006, it became mandatory that all regular members purchase ten shares
of stock at $50 per share. Should stock be unavailable when becoming a

part i: the chronological history | the clubhouse renovation (2001-2010)

Looking through the
dining room window
towards the seventh hole.

80

regular member, that person would be required to purchase stock when it A view of the patio from the grill room.
did become available.
Despite the economic crisis, however, the club found itself in good shape
In November of 2009 the board approved increasing the cap on regular mem- financially, with just the new renovation mortgage to be paid off. The club’s
bership to 260. Huntington Purchase suggested doing this in increments and web page, up and running in April 2007, improved communications be-
issuing new stock for each new member, to guarantee voting rights. At the tween management and the membership. As the club reached the end of its
same time, Huntington Purchase reiterated its belief that all full dues-paying centennial year, it had 388 members, including 251 regular members and
members should have voting rights. At that time, some house members had 19 senior members. The club today also has regular, house, tennis, senior
voting rights and some dues-paying regular members still did not. weekday, junior, nonresident members, fifty-plus members with over fifty
years of continuous membership, and honorary membership categories.
After ten new regular members were added in the first few months, the
club decided to pause for further review. There was no wait list, aside from Among the club’s honorary members are Lloyd Rasweiler (elected 2002),
a few people previously on the wait list who preferred to wait until the eco- Jean Latham (2005), and William Citterbart, Jr. (2008). Lloyd Rasweiler
nomic crisis subsided before joining the club. will long be remembered for his annual contributions of trees and shrubs
from his nursery that beautified the grounds; Jean Latham for her tireless
The Bridge Players work with the 18- and 9-hole golf groups and on the membership commit-
tee; and William Citterbart for printing the club book free of charge for the
In recent years bridge has grown steadily as a club activity. past twenty-one years.
Several years ago, a few members gave lessons to interested
club mates. Today, there is a duplicate bridge game the second
Wednesday of every month and a Wednesday night group that
meets at 5:30 for dinner, with play starting at 7 p.m. They may
have two or three tables, or as many as four or five. The men
have a game in Ray’s Room on Tuesday mornings that attracts be-
tween eight to eighteen players. On weeks other than the week
of the duplicate bridge game, several groups have two tables
of bridge. On any given day, there might be as many as thirty-two
players in one corner of the building or another. On Thurs-
days, a bridge teacher gives a lesson in the morning, followed
by lunch and a big duplicate game with nine or ten tables.

part i: the chronological history | the clubhouse renovation (2001-2010) 81

The grill room bar. new landing area was canted so that balls would end up where they originally
did and the hitting area was lowered below the original tee, and at an angle,
The Golf Course to reduce the risk of a sliced ball ending up in the seventeenth fairway. The
expanded range also had a new teaching area for the golf professionals and
The number of rounds played per year decreased from 20,000 to 14,000 was available to the members in July 2007. Those on the range were asked
in the last seven years, following a trend evident at most Long Island clubs. to be considerate of golfers on the seventeenth and eighteenth fairways.
The membership is younger, and younger members are busy driving their
children to a myriad of activities. The ladies now play more rounds each An ongoing problem was resolved during this decade. After realizing that
year than the men, allowing the club to increase the cap. deep tine aeration (with sand added) did not resolve the drainage issues at
the seventeenth green, the club engaged a company to dig a dry well in the
The club’s golfers saw a few changes during the first decade of the new rough ahead of the green, which created a runoff system from the green and
millennium. A proposal was made in 2005 to double the size of the driving approach area into that well.
range by adding a new tee area to the right of the original one, executed by
removing some of the trees between the seventeenth tee and the range. The

82

part i: the chronological history | the clubhouse renovation (2001-2010) The grill room.
83



The dining room.

The trophy room lounge.
86

part i: the chronological history | early huntington The trophy room8.7

The lounge.
88

part i: the chronological history | the clubhouse renovation (2001-2010) The piano in the sitting area of the dining room.
89

90