by Scott Simpson

 

        This is the second and final part of a review of Sleepy Hollow Country Club by reader and golf club architecture afficionado Scott Simpson, whom we thank for his interesting and wonderfully written contribution.

 

        Despite some inconsistencies in design features, inevitable given the number of people that have touched the course and the significant changes in routing, Sleepy Hollow is a delightful track, worthy of its reputation and pedigree. The course is characterized by imaginative use of the terrain, some of which would undoubtedly be daunting to a designer, especially one without recourse to modern earth-moving equipment. Most notable is a ridgeline in the midst of the property, along which the 5^th, 15^th and 16^th holes are imaginatively routed.

The 5^th green appears to be suspended directly above the Hudson River. After an extensive tree removal program, one member is said to have asked his caddy, “When did they put in the river?”

 

        The green complexes at Sleepy Hollow are mostly of the push-up variety (the infinity-style 5^th green pictured above is an exception), to be expected since both Macdonald and Tillinghast excelled at building greens slightly elevated from the surrounding landscape. Because of the raised greens, the bunkers remain mostly at fairway level, yet provide a substantial lip to be carried by the player’s explosion shot.

 

The 11^th is typical of the push-up greens found at Sleepy Hollow. Players who miss the green with their approach shots will invariably face a delicate pitch or chip with only the top of the flagstick visible.

        The greens themselves were simply spectacular, a tribute to the greens staff. Despite consistent rain in August, including heavy showers the evening before, the greens ran true and fast -- so fast that we all struggled with our speed initially, but greens that a golfer would sell his soul to play on a regular basis. An MGA official told us later that they were running 12.4 on the stimpmeter at the start of play that morning, readings that I hasten to note are by design taken on the flattest terrain.

 

Anthony adroitly escapes from a greenside bunker on the 11^th, one of the deepest on the golf course. While not an issue for a player of Anthony’s skill, the challenge for us mere mortals is obvious.

 

        One minor quibble with the bunkers is that the actual surface of the sand in many cases is quite flat, and balls can frequently end up against or even under a lip of 3 inches or more. When this happens, especially when the ball rests against the back lip of the bunker, the player has absolutely no shot in any direction. Given the raised greens, ensuring that the bunkers play as hazards with sufficient challenge to the recovery shot, I would prefer to see a slight sloping of the bunker, so that balls would feed at least a short distance from the edges.

        Macdonald’s use of template holes was designed to ensure that his projects included no weak holes, an admittedly impossible standard. But the strong holes predominate at Sleepy, and we’ll look at some of the best and most interesting amongst them. The 7th hole is Sleepy Hollow’s Redan, though it is technically a reverse Redan and a downhill one at that. Because the downhill shot comes in at a steeper angle (as well as the fact that the shape calls for a fade), the ball will not release on the green as firmly as it does on the original Redan at North Berwick in Scotland. However, the ground leading to the green also slopes severely from the player’s left to right, and Macdonald recognized that players could utilize that landing area to great effect.

 

Macdonald’s reverse Redan as seen from behind the green. Despite the flattening effect of the lens, the pronounced slope of the ground short of the green is the ideal landing spot, as the green itself slopes away from the player.

 

        I can’t render a personal verdict on the hole, as my 5-iron sailed long and left, leaving me no viable shot to the green for my second. The downhill nature of the hole certainly lends an air of drama, awaiting the inevitable hard right bounce. My crooked number notwithstanding, I would happily spend an hour on the tee box experimenting with different clubs and shot shapes, searching for that perfect landing spot, but aware that each day would bring different wind and turf conditions and pin placements to which the player must adapt. In that sense we can declare Macdonald successful in adapting the strategic concepts of links golf to an inland setting.

        Amusingly, I similarly butchered the original Redan, the 15^th at North Berwick, on my only visit to that shrine, though my excuse there was that the hole plays mostly blind. While Redanaphobia is not a widely recognized psychological disorder, my wife Theresa would be well advised to consider a press on the tee when we play the Old Macdonald Redan.

        The 10th hole is a similarly dramatic downhill Par 3, especially photogenic with the fronting water hazard and wooden bridge. The golfer instinctively tenses as his ball seemingly takes forever to fall to earth, unsure as to whether the distance has been correctly gauged. Judging from the contours of the green, the drama might not end after landfall.   The back of the green, where my well struck 8-iron plugged, is severely sloped.   In typically firm conditions, my shot would clearly have spun back towards the center of the green. But, looking at the falloff to the water and the narrow collar of longer grass, it’s unclear whether a shot that lands on that slope remains on the green or even stops short of the water.

 

Though not tied architecturally to the remainder of the golf course, the 10^th is still an awfully idyllic spot at the far end of the Tillinghast corridor of tree-lined holes. The long walk with a putter must be especially pleasing to club members who have hit the green, as the last segment is over water.

 

        Sleepy Hollow finishes strong, as the routing heads back towards the Hudson and offers up some memorable holes. The 15^th is called Punchbowl, the name graphically describing the cylindrical shape of the green and surrounding complex. Any approach shot within the contour of the punchbowl feeds down towards the green, but those left short or offline will produce an interesting third shot, one that can be delicately chipped or pitched or, if the line of play is through the short grass, putted.

 

The entrance to the Punchbowl 15^th green. Again the camera flattens the perspective, as the slope is at a much steeper pitch than it appears. Mitch wisely putted his ball, visible on the left side of the fairway, and barely had to touch it to run it into the middle of the green, despite extremely soft conditions (in dryer conditions, the approach shot probably feeds onto the green).

 

        We played the hole as a longish Par 4 at 437 yards from the white tees, which was certainly Macdonald’s original intent (and is consistent with the punchbowl template holes at venues such as The National and Seth Raynor’s Yeamans Hall near Charleston, SC). However, an interim renovation of Sleepy Hollow moved the tees back some twenty-five yards and converted the hole into a short Par 5, resulting in most club-players hitting a short, though blind, wedge into the green. The course currently plays as a Par 70, so the temptation to add a third Par 5 is perhaps understandable. But to me (and Macdonald, Raynor, Hanse and Bahto can all be presumed to be in my camp), the challenging longer shot, completely blind except for a directional marker, is the more strategically appropriate, since the challenge of landing a wedge in a punchbowl seems minimal.  However, both our newly famous caddy Sean Wolff, a noted good stick per this recent New York Times article and Anthony preferred the 15th as a three-shot hole.  I can only attribute this to their skill and length, since even the lengthened hole would effectively play as a long Par 4 for them. They would rarely face the flip wedge into the punchbowl and would obviously relish the legitimate eagle opportunity.

        The 16^th hole, called Panorama, is a classic Macdonald/Raynor short hole, and by virtue of the Hudson River backdrop, one of the more

frequently photographed holes in golfdom. The prototypical Macdonald/Raynor short hole requires only a short pitch, often significantly downhill, to a plateau green that falls off on all sides to deep bunkers, or in this case a single deep bunker that, except for the walking path to the putting surface, surrounds the green in a horseshoe shape. The putting surface typically contains multiple levels so that the actual target is far smaller than it first appears from the tee.

        A review of photographs of the hole over the years confirms the success of the Hanse/Bahto restoration work. Tillinghast broke up the one bunker into several of his typically large sloping bunkers, presumably retaining the challenge but sacrificing the unique visual effect of his predecessors’ work. But far worse lay in store for this hole, as Rees Jones rebuilt the bunkers into his typically shallow, saucer-shaped hazards. I’ve never understood his bunkering, as the shallow saucers present little challenge to the player and are visually boring. In this instance, he placed two such rounded saucers just short of the green and an elongated saucer in front, resembling a sand-filled emoticon. Fortunately the “Open Doctor’s” design malpractice was mercifully short-lived.

 

The long and the short of Sleepy Hollow’s short hole. The original Macdonald/Raynor design in 1914 (top). A.W. Tillinghast’s version of the hole, with his typically steeply sloped bunkers, did not improve things (below left).  The Reestrocity (below right) made it even worse. (Did players getting up and down from the front bunkers get smileys?)

 

The current 16^th (above) restored to its former glory.  Below, the view from the front left corner gives only a sense of the contour of the 16^th green. My shot spun all the way back from the middle of the green to this low spot, leaving a long uphill birdie putt, though the player will be fortunate to escape with his par.

        Sleepy Hollow presents an exhilarating challenge for golfers, testing all aspects of their games as they traverse the course’s visually spectacular terrain. Our story also has its own happy ending, as for once the quality of our golf measured up to the venue. Our three amateur partners contributed five natural birdies, which combined with Anthony’s typical firepower, allowed Team Willow Ridge (our club team) to tie for low net in the Pro-Am competition. While we unfortunately didn’t win any money for our professional partner, I’m informed that a beautiful rendering of the 16^th hole is being sent to each of the amateurs.   I’ll be sure to find a place of honor for it in my home office, as a memory of a delightful day on an exceptional golf course, thankfully restored to its prior glory.

 Special to Golf Community Reviews: Text & photos by Scott Simpson

 

        Sleepy Hollow Country Club is a justifiably storied name in the history of American golf, amongst a handful of clubs where the game of golf put down its roots in this country.  The club’s original membership formed a Who’s Who of American business and society, including William Rockefeller, John Jacob Astor, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Oliver Harriman and Harrison Williams, amongst other prominent personages.  Befitting its location, the club took as its logo Washington Irving’s iconic Headless Horseman, though the imagery is perhaps even more appropriate than it initially seems, as headless horsemen also have deep roots in both Scottish and Irish folklore.

The finishing hole at Sleepy Hollow is an uphill Par 4 appropriately named Mansion Rise. This hole was added by Tillinghast, as Macdonald’s original routing stayed on the lower ground of the property. The outdoor space under the green awning is a particularly delightful spot for lunch or a post-round adult beverage.

 

        The 338-acre property in the “Washington Irving” hills was originally purchased by Rockefeller and Frank Vanderlip in 1910, including a 75-room Neo-Renaissance mansion built for but never occupied by Vanderbilt’s granddaughter, and sold in 1911 to the organizers of the club.  The newly formed Sleepy Hollow Club retained the services of Charles Blair Macdonald, considered the father of American golf course architecture (in fact, it was Macdonald who coined the term “golf course architect”), to design its course, which opened in 1914.  It was Macdonald’s second design commission after the completion of his masterpiece, The National Golf Links of America on Long Island.

        I was particularly excited to play Sleepy Hollow as my golf travel plans include an early October return trip to Bandon Dunes to check out Old Macdonald, the recently completed TomDoak/Jim Urbina homage to Macdonald.  With hopes to extensively research the man’s work, I spent the summer shamelessly begging all who crossed my path for entrée to The National but, alas, came up empty.  Unless a kind-hearted reader of this blog site comes to my rescue, you’ll likely find me in the gallery when the Walker Cup returns to The National in 2013 (the club hosted the inaugural Walker Cup in 1922).

        I was fortunate to play Sleepy Hollow as part of the Met Open Pro-Am

administered by the Metropolitan Golf Association and am delighted to share some thoughts about the golf course. Our day was arranged by Anthony Casalino, an assistant professional at Willow Ridge Country Club in Harrison, my home club; fellow Willow Ridge members Steve Fox (my partner in a victorious Governors Cup earlier this summer) and Mitch Cohen ably filled out our team.

        Macdonald collaborated on virtually all of his best-known designs with Seth Raynor, an accomplished designer in his own right, and their joint legacy includes, in addition to The National, such notable tracks as The Mid-Ocean Club in Bermuda (specifically built as a refuge from Prohibition), Yale Golf Club, The Greenbrier and the reputedly spectacular but now lost for the ages Lido Golf Club.  Macdonald, an American, was sent to live with his Scottish grandfather in St. Andrews as a teenager, before golf had crossed the Atlantic.  I expect to have much more to say about Macdonald after our Bandon Dunes trip, covering his unique experiences in St. Andrews (his introduction to the game came via Old Tom Morris), his rather large self-regard, as well as his formative role in promoting the game in the U.S.  Amongst his extensive contributions, Macdonald built the first 18-hole golf course in the U.S. (Chicago Golf Club), was a driving force in the establishment of the United States Golf Association and was also a great amateur player, winning the first United States Amateur (his 12 and 11 margin of victory in the championship match is still a record).  Macdonald was truly the vanguard of the golden era of golf course architecture, blazing the path followed by Raynor, Mackenzie, Ross, Tillinghast and others.

        Macdonald’s stated goal was to bring the design features of the greatest golf holes of Scotland to the U.S., what later came to be known as template holes.  Thus his courses feature Alps, Redan, Biarritz and Eden holes, modeled and frequently named after their source influences in Scotland (excepting Biarritz, which is obviously not of Scottish ancestry).  These were in no way slavish reproductions of the originals, but rather the designers looked for features of the properties that would facilitate creating similar strategic challenges as the original holes, bearing in mind that this was an era in which the architect did not have the ability to move much earth.  We find some notable examples of these at Sleepy Hollow.

The 3^rd is Macdonald’s Eden hole at Sleepy Hollow, modeled after the 11^th at The Old Course.  Macdonald felt that the original’s only weakness was that it could be played from tee to green with only a putter. Played across a deep gorge, only partially visible here, this “Eden” takes putter out of play off the tee.

 

        Macdonald and Rockefeller were both, no surprise, strong personalities and had a falling out even before the course opened for play.  Thus, in the late 1920s/early 1930s, the club hired A.W. Tillinghast, the renowned creator of both courses at Winged Foot, Quaker Ridge and Fenway, to add a third nine for the club.  He accomplished this through a substantive change in the routing, adding what are now the 1^st and 18^th holes -- Macdonald’s routing did not start or end at the mansion-clubhouse, probably because of his concerns about steep slope of the land involved -- as well as a corridor of holes, the 8^th through12^th, that head off into the woods.

        This created a unique existential dilemma for the club in developing its master plan: Were they restoring a Macdonald or a Tillinghast?  Given that Tillinghast’s work at Sleepy Hollow, excepting perhaps the uphill finishing hole, was likely not his best (unlike at nearby Winged Foot), the logical decision was to emphasize a return to the design concepts of Macdonald, a decision that was agonized over for a considerable period of time.  I’ll gloss over the decades of tinkering with the course, including a most unfortunate appearance by Rees Jones in the early 1990’s.  Ultimately the club entrusted Gil Hanse and George Bahto with the restoration assignment, and the course reopened to universally glowing reviews in 2007.

Etiquette would compel Mitch and Anthony to watch their partner hit his tee shot on the 4th, but they’re surely not the first players whose necks involuntarily swivel, Exorcist style, to take in the eye candy behind them.  Fortunately it’s not the last time we’ll enjoy this view.

 

        Hanse is a noted designer and restoration specialist who recently had left Tom Doak’s design shop to venture out on his own and has since won acclaim for his minimalist work on venues such as TPC Boston and Castle Stuart in the Scottish Highlands.  According to Hanse, “With Tillinghast, the outcome of his work came down to whether or not he was drinking at the time. If he was, the result would be complex and imaginative course design.  At the time Tillie worked on Sleepy Hollow, he must have been on the wagon.”

        Bahto, a one-time minor league baseball player and owner of a dry cleaning store, followed a serendipitous path to golf course architecture.  He was a member of The Knoll Club, a Charles Banks design, at the time a fire destroyed its clubhouse and all club records.  Bahto volunteered to research the club’s history after the fire; he discovered that Banks had studied under a man named Seth Raynor, and following that trail, of course, led back to C.B. Macdonald.  So absorbed was Bahto by this work that he ultimately wrote and published The Evangelist of Golf, the definitive biography of C.B. Macdonald (unfortunately now out of print).  Bahto ultimately was tempted to try his own hand at golf course design, and more recently played a meaningful advisory role in the creation of Old Macdonald at Bandon Dunes.

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        This is the first in a special two-part series on Sleepy Hollow Country Club, one of America's earliest and most noted golf courses.  Although Sleepy Hollow is not located in a golf community, we thought Scott Simpson's article a fascinating read, from a historical as well as course analysis perspective.  Scott, a resident of Westchester County (NY) and dedicated reader of this blog site, is an itinerant golfer; we are envious of the international roster of golf courses he has played but grateful he writes about some of them here.  As he notes in his review of Sleepy Hollow, Scott is headed to the famed Bandon Dunes in a few weeks, and we look forward to his comments about another one of America's most notable -- if not vintage -- golfing venues.

        Next: Sleepy Hollow from all angles