The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-13
ASPECTS OF CURRENT GOLF
WHY NEW YORK ATHLETIC
CLUB HAS NO COURSE.
Had an Option on Hills Once-Let
Lapse and Present Organl1auon
startesI Hudson River Towns n
PhilsdeiphIa TO Entertain This week.

Philsdeiphia TO Entertain This week.
Many Of the golf clubs that now -FOUR
ish had vicissitudes Ia their young days.
but once established q course 10 long
enduring and az lasting as the playing
form of q high class exponent OF the game.
About New York only n club devoted
solely t o golf. the Lawrence Harbor Coun.
try Club, has stopped since 1895 for lack OF
support. but fully q score have had TO
give up, to move or TO join hands with
some other club through thep passing or
their leases on lands wanted by the build.
ers. The origin Of the Fox Hills Golf
Club on Staten Island is an unusually
int eresting story. 1t owes It's existence
to the di sbandment OF the Staten Island
Cricket and Baseball Club. once a power
in field and aquatic sports. and to the
refusal Of the shll famous New York
Athletic Club to acquire the property.
Prior to 1900 the Staten Island Cricket
and Baseball Club had maintained q nine
hole golf course at Livingston. b
club grounds had only room enough FOR
a cricket crease, baseball diamond AMI
lawn tennis courts, 80 that for golf tht
members had to walk a few city blocks
TO ground back OF the sailors Snug Har-
Dor and owned by that corporation. d
institution Used 1t as pasturage for the
droves OF cove that provided fresh cream
and milk for the 'snugs." as the veterans
Of that retreat are locally termed. Coll
fourished here for several years, games
to be especially noted at the time
being a thirty-six hole match between
George +. Armstrong and John H.
Chadwick and team matches with the
Merton Cricket Club Of Philadelphia.
Two factors led to the giving up OF the
course-an objection to Sunday golf by
the Sailors Snug Harbor corporation
and the yearning by the players for q
longer and more difficult course.
The t~reeless mounds and hollows OF
the present Fox Hills course appealed
to the golfers and the Staten Island
Cricket and Baseball Club took a lease
on the grounds. There is a tradition
that the committee Of inspection visited
the property the morning after a light
fall OF snow. when the place was AZ smooth
az the icing on q cake. and 1t seemed
to be only necessary to set up tees and
stick in the hole tins to be ready TO golf.
Alack! With the melting OF the snow the
small stones on the turf we're more plentt-
full than blades OF grass and the hillsides
as adamantine "a the Giants Causeway
in Ireland. This meant expense. I'M
expected expense. yet after Tom bende-
low had mapped out a course the
cricketers enjoyed the royal and noien
game on the hills for a couple OF seasons
Later the Staten Island Cricket and Base
ball Club went into the hands Of a receiver.
The golf addenda passed out utterly.
and the cricket, baseball and lawn tennis
grounds, with the old house, were taken
over by the new Livingston Field Club,
Athletic Club. Some Of the members
had become ardent golfers. and they
petitioned the club to set up . course
on the vacated Fox Hills property. A
committee made up of Joseph j.: O'Dono
hue, James d, Foot and a Mr.. Van Nest,
now deceased, examined the grounds
and reported unanimously that the club
governors voted down b suggestion,
for the reason 1t has been said hat the
new clubhouse or Fifty.ninth street
was approaching. completion and the
New York Athletic Club had no spare
cash On hand.
All right said O'Donohue. 'Ill have
q golf course there anyhow"
James Laing. Their professional at the
! Crescent Athletic Club. looked over the
land and told O'Donohue il would cost
$50, 900 to make it ready for golf. The
protector demurred and said $4,000 would
With eight friends he organized the Fox
Hills Golf Club. The nine OF trumPs.'
as they are called. were Percy r.. King,
William W. Lowrey. A.J Morgan. Joseph
j.. O'Donohue, Mortimer NJ. Singer,
Thomas j. O'Donohues Hugh o'Donohue'
Bruce Price and f. G. Tallcott. When
Incorporated in 1900 Alexander Holland
and Cyrus A. Briggs were added as char
ter members,
After being n virtually. for
years George Vanderbilt bought the land
and now owns it, the Fox Hills Golf Club
having a long lease. There were many
ponds-one deep pond remain n
fore the first lee and home green tradi.
tion has it that five boys were drowned
once while at play. The bottom OF the
cbasm with precipitous sides in the way
to the fourteenth hole was then a quag-
mire, and the first pair OF horses driven
into it to plough whe beginning the
work OF improvement disappeared en-
tirely. The rank grass covered a hog,
and It was in this costly way. the club
found out the fact. Not a sign Of the
horses has since been seen. and only by
great agility did the workman manage
10 save ms own lie.
Now there Is an open ditch to drain
the chasm. forming Il hazard called
-Hell's Kitchen" and thick turf carpets
in green the old time pools and quag-
mires. Percy K. King was chairman
Of the pioneer greens committee. One
result OF the early draining was to flood
the cellars OF the nearby residences and
Chairman King had to hear many pro-
tests from indignant housewives. There
are 81, 600 feet of drain pipes beneath
the soil. Hundreds OF tons Of small
stones have been carted of and the large
stones blasted out. 1t is estimated that
the putting greens alone have cost
$50, 600. There Is nothing startling in
these figures to a golfer. To transform
rough land into smooth has been costly
since the very beginning OF sport. As
to the class" Of the course, Harry Var.
don said II he stayed in the United States
nothing would suit him so we'll as to be
the clubs professional.
Joseph j. O'Donohue Is president oil
the Fox Hills Golf Club aud a director,
with G. F. Ahlstrom. i. B. Barrett. William
BOYD, y. NJ. Dix, q. +. Fawcett, c. Holtz.
man. W. q. Hoople. q. w. Lembeck
II. A. McAleenan. Edward Morrison,
Hugh O'Donohue. +. q. Potter. John NJ,
Savage and A. J. Stone as associates
or the green committee are P. w. Pogson,
chairman: h. 7, Allen. b. y. Bottome,
! william Boyd and James w. Dean.
A. H. Pogson Ia chairman Of the tourna.
ment committee, and his associates j. Nj,
Fleming, T.. c. johnson. II: II. Lloyd,
IN rlao prashrav aud n n Mumlok