The names Travis and Travers were inseparable during golf's early years in America. The pair played an exhibition at Knollwood. Jerry Travers, winner of four U.S. Amateurs (1907-1908 and 19 l 2-1913), five Met Amateurs 1906-1907 and 1911-1913), and the 1915 U.S. Open, had a one-up lead going to the old 18th, but hooked his tee shot onto the roof of the clubhouse veranda. Undaunted by the gathering crowd, he climbed to the roof, waved the gallery back, chipped onto the green and holed his putt for a match-saving par!

Jerry Travers, winner of four U.S. Amateurs, five Met Amateurs and the 1915 U.S. Open.

Both Travis and Travers returned to Knollwood years later. Travis came back in l9l9, four years after retiring from championship golf, and fired a 71 to win the Opening Day tournament. Travers, then on the comeback trail, carded rounds of 72-70 in September of 1922, teaming with member Ralph Day to edge three time Met Amateur champ Oswald Kirkby (71-73) and member Ashley Wood.

Francis Ouimet, winner of the landmark U.S. Open of 1913 and the 1914 U.S. Amateur, played at Knollwood in 1915 in a foursome that included professionals Tom McNamara, Francis Wilson, and Tom Paterson, and carded rounds of 70-69.

Bobby Jones was no stranger to Knollwood. On one occasion during the mid 1920's, he was introduced to member Clifford Roberts. The two found they had mutual friends, including hotelier Walton Marshall, who operated the Vanderbilt in New York and the Bon Air Vanderbilt in Augusta, Georgia. thus was planted the seed that eventually flowered as the Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament. Club lore tells us that Jones and Roberts discussed such matters in the men's grill room at Knollwood.

Bobby Jones came back to Knollwood in May of 1929 to fire a (then) course record 37-31=68 the first time he played the revised course. He was the guest of J.M. Nye, and played with club president William Breed and Stewart Adair, father of his lifelong friend and rival, Jerry Adair.

Bobby Jones and Knollwood member, Cliff Roberts, engineered hte basic designs for Augusta National.

The first major competition over the new course took place in October of 1928 when professionals Johnny Farrell (72) and Gene Sarazen (73) teamed to defeat amateurs George Voigt (78) and Johnny Dawson (75) by the score of 3&2. Two years later, Voigt had Jones on the ropes in the British Amateur, almost foiling the Grand Slam at its first stage. Dawson at the time was a rising young star being looked upon as the "next Jones."

The P.G.A. held qualifying for its (then) match-play championship at Knollwood on September 10,1929, an occasion remembered for the misfortune of Tom Creavy, a local professional. Creavy led the field into the 36th hole, only to meet with disaster, taking an 11 and failing to qualify. A par would have given Creavy a 68.

In April of 1930, members of the U.S. Curtis Cup team practiced at Knollwood the day before sailing for Europe. The team was captained by Glenna Collett Vare and included, among others, the great Long Island amateur, Helen Hicks.

In the club's early years, Knollwood members competed for any number of cups donated by fellow members. Prominent among them were the Carroll Cup and the Harriman Cup. The Archbold Cup later became the prize on Thanksgiving Day - sleet and snow postponed it in 1929, so the 36 holes were rescheduled for December 4. Thanksgiving also was the day for the annual caddie dinner sponsored by the club.

Knollwood was the scene for many years of the annual New York Stock Exchange tournament. Through 1930, all but one had been played at Knollwood, and the tournament continued on at least into the early 1940's. One hundred golfers competed in 1911, among them such golfing luminaries as player/architect Charles B. MacDonald and Daniel Chauncey, the latter former president of both the M.G.A. (1905-1906) and U.S.G.A. (1907-1908). Our celebrated Hall Clock was a gift to the club in 1911 by the Stock Exchange, as were ten years later, the two oil paintings of red-coated British golfers now hanging in the grill room.

Knollwood today is primarily a family golf club. Things were not always that way, however. Indeed, the club was founded with tennis, bowling, and riding, perhaps even fox hunting, as its primary attractions.

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