The paragraphs and photos in the history sections are extractions from the book
"The Knollwood Spirit" 1894-1994
by William Quirin, M.G.A.
(Click on any photo to see a detailed enlargement)

The first golf course in this country may have been located in Oakhurst, West Virginia, near White Sulphur Springs and the Greenbrier Hotel. But the Oakhurst course, started in 1884, lasted no more than one decade, and was in no way related to later courses at the hotel.

The Knollwood Arch at the 1st tee. A 107 year old landmark.

Although the issue is still debated, it appears that the St. Andrew's Golf Club in Westchester County has a legitimate claim as the country's oldest enduring golf club, dating back to 1888, a fact that can be substantiated beyond doubt. St. Andrew's claim is disputed by the Foxburgh Country Club in western Pennsylvania, which has a deposition, dated 1947, from a charter member, placing the club's date of birth in 1887; and by the Dorset Field Club in Vermont, which maintains, without conclusive evidence, that golf started there in 1886.

Other Metropolitan area clubs that took an early interest in golf include Tuxedo (1889), Ridgewood (then called Ho-Ho-Kus, 1890), Rockaway Hunting (probably 1891), Shinnecock Hills (1891), Greenwich (originally called Fairfield County, 1892), and possibly Powelton (1892) and Wee Burn (as early as 1893). Knollwood members played many of these early courses before their own course was built.

There was a major influx of new courses circa 1894 that included: Maidstone, Meadow Brook, Morris County, Richmond County, Montclair, Glen Ridge, and North Jersey (originally Paterson). But surprisingly, there were no additions to the Westchester golfscape, where it all began, until the birth of our club in September of 1894, and the opening of our first golf course the following spring. It can accurately be asserted, therefore, that our property is the oldest enduring golfing site in Westchester County. St. Andrew's present site is that club's fifth, all before the turn of the century.

Apawamis, which began as a civic-minded social and literary club in 1890, did not have a golf course until 1896. The Ardsley Casino was organized in 1895, perhaps the outgrowth of a social club dating back to 1890, but it was not until 1896 that both club and golf course were formally opened.

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