1895

The influence of golfers from Scotland and England brought excitement to the game of golf in America. It was Tom Bendelow who influenced the Pratt family and gave them the knowledge and the tools needed to play.

Tom Bendelow laid out a six-hole golf course on the Pratt Estate, the first of an estimated 700+ golf courses that he would later design. Charles Millard Pratt and his brothers were charter members of the Queens County Golf Club.

The Queens County Golf Club was underway, with the first layout of a six-hole course.

The founders of the then named Queens County Golf Club were very much a part of early golf in America. With the most well-known industrialists of the day building their summer mansions on Long Island's Gold Coast, the Club was being developed as a social center. With great foresight they recognized the future importance of this newly introduced game of golf in America leading them to making golf their biggest priority. Work began in 1895 with a six-hole golf course, with an additional three holes added over the winter of 1895-96. They did not call in a design expert but rather studied numerous courses and noted their favorite features. President Harvey Murdock  headed the committee of members taking on the task. Considering they were all new to the game, the successful design and creation of the golf course was quite an accomplishment.

QCGC is one of the first 50 Clubs to form the United States Golf Association.

Formed in 1894, Theodore Havemeyer, Sr.was the USGA's first President. The U.S. Amateur trophy  is named in his honor. His family founded the American Sugar Refining Company, eventually branded as Domino Sugar.

His son, Theodore Augustus Haveymeyer, Jr. was a long-time member of Nassau Country Club (1913 - 1933).

Percy Chubb

1897

Queens County Golf Club Open Invitational

The Queens County Club began a long-standing tradition of an open invitational golf tournament, bringing to the Club the top players in both America and abroad.  On October 4, 1897 The Sun reported, "The expectation is that the first open tournament of the Queens County Golf Club will be a great success.  The special train, which is to run on each day, will make the course as convenient as St. Andrew's.  The length of the course is 2,860 yards … The lies throughout the green are unequalled."

Queens County Golf Club Open Invitational Winner:  W.G. Stewart

On October 14, 1897, the New York Times reported 48 golfers qualified for the QCGC Open Invitational.  Three prizes were offered -- the Queen's County Cup, the North Country Cup and the Glen Cove Cup.  W.G. Stewart, playing out of the Seabright Club in New Jersey,  won the Championship title over Devereux Emmett.  Emmet would later take part in the re-design of the club's course.  Stewart came to America in the late 1800s from Lancashire, England and was a summer member of the St. Andrews Club.

Queens County Golf Club became one of the founding members of the Metropolitan Golf Association.

QCGC was amongst the 26 founding clubs of the MGA.  On Wednesday, March 31, 1897 our delegates, Harvey Murdock (President of QCGC) and W. Crittenden Adams (Secretary of NCC) were on friendly ground when they met the Metropolitan League and their fellow founding club members at Delmonico's.  In these early years of the Nassau Country Club, many a Board meeting was held at Delmonico's, convenient to our early members whose homes and businesses were located primarily in Brooklyn and the surrounding city.

Walter J. Travis

Findlay S. Douglas

Nassau Country Club, Long Island, 1901

Bobby Jones Receiving Trophy from Findlay

Douglas During Jones' Grand Slam in 1930.

1899

Q.C.G.C. changes its name to Nassau Country Club.

With the formation of Nassau County, QCGC no longer  resided in Queens County.

August 5, 1899 Nassau's 18 hole course opened.  It was surveyed at 6,036 yards.  It was one of the few golf courses in America that extended over 6,000 yards, and was favorably compared to the best links abroad.

The current Nassau Country Club course was first laid out by a committee of members who took the reins in creating a new golf course after the acquisition of 107 acres in the Duck Pond district of Glen Cove.  With this acquisition came the inclusion of the Townsend family cemetery which now sits near the 18^th green and directly next to the halfway house (later named the Calamity Jane House). 

Nassau Country Club Open Invitation Winner:  Walter J. Travis

This was the second win for Walter J. Travis at the Open Invitation, this time on the Club's new course and under its new name, Nassau Country Club.

The Sun, October 15, 1899, reported  "Golfing history repeats itself at Glen Cove, for yesterday, Walter J. Travis, who won the first cup last fall at the last open tournament over the old course, won the first cup at the first open tournament held over the new course."

Member, Ruth Underhill, won the U.S. Women's Amateur at the Philadelphia Country Club.

Ruth Underhill was the granddaughter of the famed Charles Anderson Dana (newspaper publisher, author, Civil War figure, Presidential Cabinet Secretary, and editor of the New York Sun).  Although he was not a member of Nassau Country Club, his daughter Zoe married Walter M. Underhill, who was a member.  Paul Dana, Zoe's brother and Ruth's uncle and her cousin, Paul Dana's son, Anderson Dana, also called Nassau their home.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 1, 1899

Glen Cove, L.I., – The large number of golf enthusiasts – at least 100 – gathered at the Nassau Country Club's links yesterday, despite the many other holiday attractions elsewhere, attested to the continued popularity of the club.  The day was ideal for golfing, and the course everything that could be desired, while the several competitions, consisting of a sweepstake and a club handicap in Classes A, B and C, brought out most of the strong players.  Miss Ruth Underhill, woman golf champion, added to her long list of victories and also to her popularity by winning the sweepstake, in which she was pitted against some thirteen of the best men players of the club, she being the only woman in the competition.

To one who has played over this difficult course, her figures of 106-25-81 will be appreciated when, taking into considerations that although this her home club, she has played over the course less than half a dozen times since winning the national championship match.  Many of the best players of the club among the opposite sex have found, to their sorrow, that constant practice is necessary over this course for low figures." 

Nassau Country Club was one of 23 founding members of the WMGA in 1899.

Organized and headquartered in New York City, two of Nassau's members served as President of the WMGA; Mrs. Charles Lewis Tiffany (1908-1909) and Mrs. Mark Kessenich.

Mrs. Katrina Ely Tiffany was a prominent leader in the suffragist movement, holding many titles.  It was said that while leading the many New York City parades she often passed the office of her husband, Charles Lewis Tiffany, who lent her no support for her cause.

Walter E. Stoddart becomes the golf professional at Nassau CC.

Walter Edward Stoddart was a Scott from Musselburgh.  After completing his apprenticeship as a clubmaker, he emigrated to the United States in 1897.  His first position was at Brookline, however, the Boston Globe in April 1899 announced that he left there to become the pro at the Nassau Country Club.

Outing Magazine, September 1899, includes an article on golf at Nassau Country Club.

John Butler Coles Tappan

Ted Ray and Harry Vardon

Walter Travis 1901 pictured after his second U.S. Amateur win, with the original Haveymeyer Trophy.

1901

Walter C. Clark, Nassau's Golf Professional, finishes 22^nd at the U.S. Open.

The 1901 U.S. Open was held at Myopia Hunt Club in Massachusetts.  Willie Anderson won the first of his four U.S. Open titles.  Alex Smith was runner up. Alex's brother, Willie Smith came in third.

Nassau hosts its first of five Women's Met Golf Championships.  Genevieve Hecker took the win, with Nassau member Ruth Underhill the runner-up.

Genvieve Hecker played out of Apawamis. She was an accomplished amateur golfer, and won the Women's National Golf Tournament in 1901 and 1902.  Hecker also published the first book written exclusively for women golfers, Golf for Women.

The Metropolitan Golf Association considers a new system in team scoring.

In February of 1901 the MGA had under consideration using the Nassau system of scoring that was derived the prior year at Nassau Country Club.  In the New York Daily Tribune, February 11, 1901, the President of NCC made the following remarks.  "The trouble with the old method is that it fails to adjust itself to a team which may include one or two weak members.  Its unfairness rests in the fact that a good team may be beaten if one of its players ‘falls down.' The article went on to report, "The Nassau scheme, on the other hand, has been given a fair trial, and has proved the most satisfactory yet devised.  It is this that is proposed for the metropolitan matches.  The movement to secure its adoption has only just been started, but it is already arousing keen interest among local golf players, who promise to give the idea a thorough test in next seasons' matches.

The Tribune on April 28, 1901 reported the following.  "The Nassau Country Club never did a more popular thing than when it introduced its series of afternoon matches last fall.  To-day the ‘Nassau system' is known wherever golf is played, and even the Metropolitan Golf Association has put its official sanction on the method."

Nassau's Findlay Douglas wins the Metropolitan Championship at Apawamis

There was a big field reported at the Apawamis Club as Findlay Douglas defeated Seeley for Met honors by 11 up and 10 to play.  

Walter J. Travis

Laurie Auchterlonie

Alex Smith seated outside the pro shop.

L to R:  His assistants Fred Low, Dick

Clarkson and Jim Maiden.

Letter from NCC to Teddy Roosevelt

1903

Nassau hosts the U.S. Amateur won by Walter J. Travis.

September 1 – 5, 1903, The field included defending champion, Louis N. James and former champions Findlay Douglas (1898) and Walter J. Travis (1900, 1901), and Eben M. Byers, finalist in the previous year and future winner in 1906.  Both soon to be famed golf course architects, Devereux Emmett and A.W. Tillinghast were competing that day, as well as a number of NCC members (aside from Findlay Douglas) such as Howard F. Whitney, W.L. Hicks, John B.C. Tappan, and Jerry Travers.  It was Travis and Byers but honors went to Travis in the end.

Immediately after the 1903 U.S. Amateur, The Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society came to the U.S. to tour and challenge the All-American teams.  They faced defeat at the Nassau Country Club.

The September 8, 1903 edition of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on the Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society challenge at Nassau Country Club.  "American Golfers Beat English Team – The All-America golf team, picked from the leading competitors in the late amateur championship, defeated the Oxford-Cambridge golfers yesterday in a spirited team match on the links of the Nassau Country Club.  The Americans won by the narrow margin of one point, scoring five points to four.  … The defeat is the first that the Englishmen have encountered in their string of matches against American teams."  They also reported that, "George T. Brokaw made the most remarkable finish of the day.  His opponent was J.T. Bramston and the latter led by five holes at the close of the morning play.  Brokaw succeeded by sterling golf in finishing even on the thirty-sixth hole and two extra ones had to be played to determine the winner, and Brokaw won by a single hole.  Walter J. Travis beat the English captain, John L. Low, by 7 up and 6 to play."

Jerome Travers

1905

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Jerry Travers

Willie Smith (left) – Alex Smith (right)

Jerome Travers

1907

Nassau hosts the Met Amateur  -  Jerry D. Travers took the win.

1909

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Fred Herreshoff

Frederick Herreshoff was an American amateur golfer.  At the age of 16, he reached the final match of the 1904 U.S. Amateur.  Born in Brooklyn, he graduated from Yale University in 1909.  In 1904 he was runner-up at the U.S. Amateur in Baltusrol, losing to Chandler Egan.  He was partnered with George Low in a four-ball tournament in 1905 at Fox Hills and tied for first place with Alex Smith and C.A. Dunning.  In the 1911 U.S. Amateur Herreshoff won the semi-finalist match against Chick Evans, but lost to Harold Hilton in the final match.

Frank Doubleday, Nassau Country Club member, originates the first "goat Competition" at his club.  The Goat Tournament format would be popularized throughout the country over the next 30 years.

In 1909 member Frank N. Doubleday devised a golf competition for the membership which was called the Goat Tournament.  The idea took on quickly and before long the Club sent the following notice to its members.  "The attention of the members is called to a season's golf competition for which a prize has been provided.  The competition will be called the Goat Match.  Tiffany and Co. have made up pocket pieces on which is inscribed on one side the figure of a "Goat Rampant" and on the opposite side, the member's name.  Members entering the competition will purchase one of the pocket pieces and will then be eligible to challenge any other entrant at terms mutually agreeable, the loser surrenders his ‘goat' to the winner.  It is then up to the player who has lost his goat to make some form of match by which he can recover it."  It was further explained that "A score sheet will be posted in the café on which players will mark up their wins and losses, so that the location of each goat may be known. … The competition will close on St. Goatherd's Day, when all ties will be played off, prizes awarded, and the goats' returned to their original owners to be again played for the following year."

The only players one can challenge are those who have a goat coin in their possession.   Players are not required to accept a challenge more than once a week. Matches are off handicap. When a player loses his goat, he may challenge another player to try to get that player's goat. If he loses and does not have a goat to give to the winner, he must buy a "kid" from the club's professional and give up the kid. The winner is the player holding the most goats at the end of the season.

Jim Maiden

1911

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:

Oswald Kirby

Oswald Kirby, from Englewood, N.J., won his first New Jersey Amateur at Atlantic City Country Club, in total he won three.  He was also a three-time winner of the Met Amateur.  Kirby was one of six golfers listed as ‘scratch' handicap in the first UGA annual handicap report in 1912.  Kirby not only won the 1911 Nassau Invitational, he came back to win in 1916.

Golf course expanded to 6,283 yard, par is 75, with 7 par 5's.

Fred Herreshoff

President William H. Taft

1913

At the Club's annual meeting, the President reported that an additional 9 acres of land was purchased.  The land would be used to extend the course.

With the new Clubhouse finished in 1910, the Club took focus on the golf course.  There were various improvements made by the Course Design committees, but it was time to look for more professional improvements.  With the purchase of the an additional 9 acres, the Club hired Seth Raynor  to make extensive renovations and to extend the course to 6500 yards, making it one of the longest courses in the country.

Nassau hosts the Women's Metropolitan Tournament.  Marion Hollins defeated Georgianna M. Bishop to win the title.

Katherine Harley (left) and Elaine Rosenthal (right)

Curtis Cup

1915

May 18, 1915 – President Woodrow Wilson was elected Honorary Member.

On May 18, 1915 the Brooklyn Eagle reported:  "President Wilson is now a member of Nassau Country Club.  Article also mentioned that Charles E. Hughes was also an honorary member.

In 1916, President Wilson faced against Charles Evans Hughes in the presidential election. Wilson was on the golf course when news was rushed to the president that he had carried California and his re-election was assured. Wilson smiled and continued on with his game.  While he was president, Wilson played more than 1,200 rounds of golf.

Among all the accomplishments and interests associated with Charles Evans Hughes , golf found a place in his busy life.  Hughes was a native of Glen Falls.  While playing as a guest in a foursome at Glen Falls Country Club in August of 1919, a 35-handicap brought Hughes' golf score down to the lowest net score.  He enjoyed the game, and played with great attention, thinking out each shot. 

Hughes wrote a letter (April 15, 1941) to the Club's superintendent Harry L. Hedger, expressing his sentiments of recalling "a very vivid memory of the Nassau links."

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Philip Carter

June 19, 1915, Philip Carter defeated Gardiner White on the nineteenth green in the final round.

Nassau Country Club's Women's Invitational Tournament.  Mrs. H.C. Phipps took the title.

The first, and only, Women's Invitational ran from September 23 through September 24.

"The list of competitions includes six one day tournaments, the women's Metropolitan championship at Sleepy Hollow, the Eastern championship and Griscom cup matches at Philadelphia, and a two day tournament at the Nassau Country Club.  The tournament at Nassau is an innovation and the details and conditions of play have not yet been determined upon."  The Sun, March 24, 1915 called the two day tournament at NCC "an innovation."  It further reported in the September 23, 1915 edition that, "A total of fifty-eight entries have been received for the invitation golf tournament for women which will begin to-morrow at the Nassau Country Club.  The most prominent names on the list are those of Miss Lilliam B. Hyde, holder of the women's metropolitan championship; Miss Marion Hollis and Miss Georgianna Bishop, former holders of the same title."

Hyde withdrew due to illness, and Hollins had been ill for several days before the tournament.  Georgianna Bishop, former National Champion, lost to Phipps by 2 and 1.  Phipps qualified in the National at Nassau in 1914, losing to Elaine Rosenthal in the first round.  She also qualified in 1923, where Bishop took revenge winning by 1 up.

Left to right – E.S. Willard, W.A.W. Stewart, Mrs. E.S. Willard, D.A. Loring, Jr., A.C. Sumner, waiting for start of play at Piping Rock Club.

Finish of Williams-Maiden match at eighteen hole, Nassau.  Maiden is standing near cup.

20 year old Gene Sarazen, 1922

1918

Golfers of Nassau Country Club and the nation come to the aid of the European victims of the first World War.

The USGA's Liberty Tournaments in 1917 and 1918 raised more than $1 million and generated widespread publicity for war relief efforts during World War I. The USGA also requested that clubs waive dues for enlisted members in the armed services.  They urged them to participate in victory gardens, growing vegetables and raising farm animals on their grounds to assist the ongoing food shortage.  They also asked that they participate in coal conservation by closing their clubhouses from December through April.  This resulted in the saving of 100,000 tons of coal.

Nassau Country Club complied and participated in all recommendations of the USGA and found other ways to support their country as well as the European countries devastated by the war.

On October 30, 1918 the Garden City Golf Club and Nassau Country Club got a chance to subscribe to the Belgian Relief Fund with a match at Garden City, 30 players on each side, with the entrance fee being donated to the Belgian Relief Fund. On November 4, Nassau's own competition for the Fund took place, raising $287.

The Belgian Relief Fund was not the only charitable war effort. At a meeting of the Governors of March 12, 1915, the Secretary of NCC read a letter from member Charles A. Coffin about a "plan on foot to raise money through the different clubs toward the relief of sufferers in Europe on account of the war." The Governors appointed Coffin chairman of a committee "to take up the matter on the part of the Club."

In late April, three Nassau members, Frederick B. Pratt, Francis L. Hine and Howard W. Maxwell sent a letter to the membership asking that they "cordially endorse the purposes of the Refugees Relief Fund as herein explained and invite you to give it your support by such subscription, payable monthly, as you are disposed to make, but in no case to exceed $3.00 per month ... This appeal is being sent to members of clubs in the principal cities of the country."  The appeal concluded with the following, ‘'All subscriptions made to this fund will be devoted to actual relief, without deduction for administration expense. These expenses have been subscribed by individual donors."  Among the select few on the General Committee of the Refugees Relief Fund. which had its headquarters at 30 Church St., New York, were Nassau members Anton G. Hodenpyl and Paul D. Cravath.

In May of 1918 the Board authorized the House Committee to "make as moderate a charge as possible upon those members who entertained the French Blue Devils at the Club.  The French veterans traveled to the U.S. and New York City to inspire Americans to participate in the Liberty Loan Drive.

John M. Ward

Prohibition was on its way.

1920

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Tommy Armour

Tommy Armour takes his first win at the Nassau Invitational. He was the first golfer to represent both Britain and the U.S. in his international playing career. He won 21 professional tournaments from 1925 through 1935 including the 1927 U.S. Open, the 1929 Western Open, the 1930 PGA Championship and the 1931 British Open.

Golf Course Architect Devereux Emmet was hired, making some minor changes to the golf course.

A mixed foursome at medal play handicap was held at NCC on Sept. 12, 1920.

Mrs. Charles M. Fox paired with Gardiner White and won.  Bobby Jones and Miss Alexa Stirling had the best low gross of the day.  The event included leading women players both from the U.S. and England following the recent National Amateur Golf Championship.  Some of the pairs included Miss Marion Hollins and H.F. Whitney.  Roger Wethered, the English player with Mrs. C.B. Smithers, Lord Charles Hope of England and Miss Mildred Caverly, and British amateur champ Cyril Tolley partnering with Mrs. J.E. Davis.

Exhibition match at NCC.  Walter Hagen and Nassau Pro Jim Maiden defeat Harry Vardon and Ted Ray..

August 1920,  NCC elected Lord Northcliffe, an Englishman and publishing tycoon, an honorary membership at the Club. 

Northcliffe owned the Times, Mail and Mirror (of London) and an immense sixty plus other publications.  He had played at Nassau in October 1913 as a guest of Colonel William Hester of Nassau.  That afternoon he played with his good friend Frank N. Doubleday.

Northcliffe suggested to Harry Vardon in 1912 that he set sail to America on the maiden voyage of the Titanic that April, bringing promotion to the tour by coming to the states on the largest, fastest ship that was "unsinkable." Vardon had been feeling ill and was concerned that he may once again suffer another recurrence of tuberculosis as it happened in 1903.  He asked Northcliffe if the tour could be postponed until 1913.  As history wrote, the Titanic was not invincible, and on that maiden voyage more than 1,500 lives were lost.  Had Vardon taken that voyage, he would have most likely not survived to  win his sixth British Open in 1914, nor would have been his participation in the 1920 U.S. Tour played at Nassau. In 1913 Northcliffe financed the U.S. tour of Harry Vardon and Ted Ray. These tours began an international movement that ultimately led to the creation of the Walker Cup in 1922.

Gardiner White

1922

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  A.C. Gregson

Gregson played out of Belleclaire Country Club in Bayside, L.I.  He went on to win the Invitational again in 1923. 

Exhibition match between Alexa Stirling and Glenna Collett played at Nassau Country Club, June 1, 1922.

Alexa Stirling, then 24 years old, had won the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1916, 1919, and 1920, three years in succession (championship not played in 1917 and 1918 during the outbreak of World War I). She had grown up as friends of both Bobby Jones and Perry Adair in Atlanta; they all had shared the same golf teacher, Stewart Maiden.

In 1917, Stirling had toured the eastern United States with Jones, Adair and Elaine Rosenthal (from Chicago), playing exhibition matches and raising $150,000 for the Red Cross. Earlier in 1922, Stirling had won the Women's Metropolitan Amateur.

Then only 19 days short of her 19th birthday she would  win the U.S. Women's Amateur in September winning a record six American titles. Stirling defeated Collett by 3 and 2; her superior short game was the key factor in her victory.  A large gallery watched the match and the event raised what the Glen Cove Echo described as a "generous sum" for the benefit of the Radcliffe College Endowment Fund.

They went head to head again, this time in the 1925 U.S. Women' Amateur, and in the 36 final hole Collett beat Stirling by 9 and 8.

November 1922 the Board requested that the Nassau Development Company purchase 22 acres adjoining the Club's current location.

The purchase of what was then called the Smith property was to be bought at no more than $2,500 per acre and increased the club's acreage to 138.  The Directors authorized the Golf Committee to employ Herbert Strong as golf architect through to December 31, 1923.

Herbert Bertram Strong was an English professional golfer and an organizer and founding member of the PGA of America.  He later became a successful golf course architect. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1905.  Strong was appointed as the first Secretary-Treasurer of the PGA of America in 1916.

Bobby Jones with Calamity Jane Putter

 James Maiden

Bobby Jones wins U.S. Open at Inwood

1923 issue of the Metropolitan Golfer

1924

The Nassau Invitational was not played from 1924 through 1926.

Before becoming the 1926 Heavyweight boxing champion when he beat Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney played golf at Nassau with member Harold Henry "Had" Will.

Glen Cove put on a fair that year, and they brought in New York Gene Tunney to give a boxing exhibition.  He played golf at NCC as a guest of golf enthusiast member H. H. Will. Born as James Joseph Tunney, his boxing career spanned 1915 to 1928, holding world heavyweight titles from 1926 to 1928.  Known as "The Long Count Fight, his win for the title over Jack Dempsey (twice) was one of the most famous fights in boxing history.  Early in his career he lost only one fight out of 68.  He was the U.S. Expeditionary Forces champion while serving in the Marine Corps and retired as Captain after the war.  He received the Navy Commendation Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal and theWorld War II Victory Medal. 

In 1928 the U.S. Marine Corp presented a challenge cup to the Corps of Royal Marines Football teams.  They named the trophy the "Tunney Cup" in his honor.

In April 1924 Nassau elected the Hon. Calvin Coolidge to Honorary membership.

Although Calvin Coolidge enjoyed the game of golf, he felt it a bit expensive.  There are several humorous stories about his playing.  Once he came to the course ready to play in an old pair of pants, a white canvas hat and a pair of gym sneakers.  On another day he had a poor swing that broke the hickory shaft of his club and asked the pro he was playing with, "Freddy, that can be fixed, can't it?"  Our 30^th U.S. President did have a sense of humor of his own.  One evening at a formal dinner a lady sitting nearby told him that her friends had bet her that she couldn't get him to say more than two words.  He replied, "You lose."

In June 1924, Richard Tufts visited Nassau as the guest of Miss A. Vail.

He was the grandson of James Walker Tufts, the founder of Pinehurst.  Richard was 35 years old and he was charged with running the club, and for building 40 new holes. He was an active participant in the USGA, and served on more committees than any other.  He became the USGA president from 1956-57, and wrote the book, Principles Behind The Rules of Golf.

In September 1924, Charles Evans, Jr. came to play at Nassau.

Evans, Jr. was the guest of Malcom Fay.  He had played a few days earlier on the American team in the Walker Cup matches at Garden City Golf Club.  The American team took the win.  In 1916 Evans won the U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur – the first to win both championships in the same year.

Bobby Jones (right) after defeating

Watts Gunn in the 1925 U.S. Amateur.

Major General Robert Lee Bullard

1926

In July 1926 Nassau elected Robert T. Jones, Jr. to Honorary membership.

In 1926, Jones was eliminated by a young Scottish golfer, Andrew Jamieson, in the sixth round of the British Amateur.

In the Walker Cup that followed Jones and his protégé, Watts Gunn, defeated Jamieson and the great Cyril Tolley in the foursomes by 4 and 3, then in the singles, Jones defeated Tolley by 12 and 11.

Cyril Tolley, English amateur golfer, won a number of big golfing titles in the 1920s.

Jones went on to win the British Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.

A commemorative plaque now marks the spot - "R. T. Jones, Jr., The Open Championship, 25th June,1926." The mashie iron is a treasured memento in the Royal Lytham and St. Annes clubhouse.

Bobby Jones went on to win the U. S. Open in 1926, the first time any player had won the British and U. S. Opens in one year -- the U.S. Open was played July 6 through 8, two days after Nassau Country Club elected him to Honorary membership.

In July 1926 Nassau elected Jess W. Sweester to Honorary membership.

Jess Sweetser had won the British Amateur, the first native born American to do so, and at the time was suffering from the flu, an injured knee and a wrist sprained during his semifinal match. He went on to win both his matches in the Walker Cup. Returning home, Sweetser had to be carried off the boat in an ambulance and it was more than a year before he could play tournament golf again.

1928

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Max Kaesche

Nassau hosts its first of seven Long Island Amateur Championships. George Voigt defeated E.H. Driggs, Jr.

In November 1928 Nassau elected the Honorable Herbert Hoover to Honorary membership.

Hoover had little to no interest in golf.  He enjoyed fishing.  Nonetheless he was extended the Honorary membership.

1930

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Gardiner White

Gardiner White won the New York metropolitan amateur title in 1911 and captured many other amateur titles over the next 40 years. When he was 58, he finished only six strokes behind the winner of the Garden City (L.I.) invitation, an event he had won seven times.

MacDonald Smith played at Nassau in 1930 just after he got back from the British Open (finishing second to Bobby Jones).  At that time he was pro at Lakeville in Great Neck).

MacDonald Smith was one of the Smith brothers from Scotland, brother to Alex and Willie.  Smith is regarded as one of the best golfers of all time who never won a major championship. He won 25 official events on the PGA Tour, and placed in the top ten of major championships a total of 17 times.

1932

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Eddie Driggs

Jones Visits Nassau

Charles Brett, former caddie and later the NCC greens superintendent back in the early days recalled another of Bobby Jones' visit to NCC.  It was June of 1932 and Brett caddied for Jones.  In the morning he played nine holes with George Dawson, a good amateur, Victor East and Milton Reach.  After lunch he played 18 holes that afternoon."  Brett could even recall his scores, "I remember Jones' scores, even par on the day. He had 35 in the morning, 70 for eighteen in the afternoon. What impressed Brett the most was the smoothness of his swing.  It appeared as though he could deliver as much power as he wanted at any time… It's difficult to remember particular shots, because they were all so great, all well - so mechanical. His control was impressive. High, low, draw, fade, or any combination of these, he had them all. … The only shots l can picture were the mistakes he made. He made just two all day - on the 13th and 17th. He misjudged his approaches and was short in sand. Both times he just strolled into the bunker and blasted the ball out as easily as if he were throwing it out.  He holed both putts.

Charlie Brett recalled, "During the round, he (Jones) and Victor East talked about extra clubs, mostly woods, that Jones had in his bag. I gathered these were prototypes for new clubs which Spalding planned to put on the market, and Jones, a Spalding consultant, was testing them. … Afterward, I helped them with a ball test. The test was blind, the balls only being marked A, B, or C. Jones hit them out from the first tee (at that time in the area of the present practice tee). I was picking up the balls, telling Jones and East which went farthest, by how much, and so on. … Jones presented me with a ball, which he autographed for me, as a souvenir of the day. He was such a gentleman. The ball is now in the Calamity Jane House. Jones's signature has faded with the years. but you can still see the impression his driver made on the ball, right on the word ‘Spalding.'  He hit that hard."

Also in the Calamity Jane House is one of the later Spalding reproductions of Calamity Jane. (Spalding first made these in 1931.) Nassau member Henry Shepherd donated the club for the purpose. Originally, the putter had one of the early, yellow steel shafts. To make it as authentic as possible, Nassau's long time clubmaker Ralph Panetta reshafted it with a hickory shaft, regripped the club with an old hand wrapped Leather grip and applied three whippings to match the original Calamity Jane.

Babe Ruth visited NCC in 1932. 

Ruth played with Fred Hann, Willie Knott and David Knott.  As with baseball, Babe Ruth was a leftie. Greens Superintendent, Charlie Brett, a caddie at the time, recalled, "What an eye that man had!  After they had finished playing on the 18^th hole, he threw a ball up in the air on the first tee, and hit it baseball style with his putter.  He caught the ball solidly, hitting it 135 to 140 yards."

Babe Ruth was one of the greatest American sports heroes of all time.  He broke countless batting records during his twenty-two year baseball career.  He was a big man with an even bigger personality.  Ruth played with the Red Sox and the NY Yankees.  He was a hero to many – both young and old.

Eddie Driggs

1934

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner: Gardiner White

Gardiner W. White, an outstanding amateur golfer in the metropolitan area, won the New York Metropolitan Amateur title in 1911 and captured many other amateur titles over the next 40 years. When he was 58, he finished only six strokes behind the winner of the Garden City (L.I.) Invitation, an event he had won seven times previously.

1936

Nassau Invitational Best Ball Winners:  Charles Sheldon, Kenneth R. Sheldon

Charles Sheldon, from Siwanoy, was an avid golfer. He won the Westchester Amateur Golf Championship in 1933.

Henry Picoli

1938

Nassau Invitational Best Ball Winners:  T.F. Scholl, Trumbull Richard

The field consisted of forty-seven teams.  In the final T.F. Scholl and Trumbull Richard dropped the first hole to Picoli'.  At the 17^th, Stockhausen and Picoli faltered and lost the hole and the match, 3 and 1.

Thomas Francis Scholl, Jr.  was a member of Nassau Country Club 1938 to 1942.  He lived in Locust Valley, NY and was a stockbroker partner in Scholl & Levin.  During World War II he served in the Army Air Corps in both the Pacific and Europe.

Trumbull Richard's interest in sports grew while at Princeton, where he played tennis and golf in addition to squash. After graduation, he worked in business before joining the Navy in 1942. He became a lieutenant serving in anti-submarine warfare in both the Atlantic and Pacific.

Frank Strafaci

1941

The U.S. entered World War II in December, with the Club's focus on creating ways to assist the country and keeping the club in workable condition through the tough years ahead.

Bobby Jones (right) after defeating

Watts Gunn in the 1925 U.S. Amateur.

1951

James Maiden, former Golf Professional at Nassau, was elected an Honorary member at the Club's annual meeting on October 14, 1951.

1957

The Met Amateur is held at Nassau and won by Paul Kelly.  Kelly won again in 1959.

Paul Kelly won the Westchester County Golf Association Amateur Championship in 1954, and the Ike Championship in 1959.  He hailed from Sleepy Hollow.

1962

The Met Open is held at Nassau and won by Miller Barber.

Miller Westford Barber, Jr. was a professional golfer most known for his wins on the PGA Tour in the 1960s and 70s.  He continued with great success on the Senior PGA Tour in the 1980s.  He never won a major championship but came close at the U.S. Open in Houston in 1969.  He also reached the final round of the Masters Tournament in 1969, and that same year played on the Ryder Cup team.

Robert W. Gardner

1965

Nassau hosts the Long Island Amateur Championship, won by John Baldwin.

John Baldwin was raised in Port Washington, NY and got the golf bug in the 1950s while caddying at the Plandome Country Club.  At 22 he won the Long Island Amateur hosted by Nassau Country Club, the 1967 New York State Amateur Championship (also hosted by Nassau Country Club), and the Met Amateur for a "triple crown" win.  He won the NYSGA 1991 Men's Mid-Amateur and the 2001 Men's Senior Amateur Championship.  Baldwin won the Long Island Amateur four times, the first in 1965 and the latest in 1996.  He is a two-time Met Am Champion in 1967 and 1990, the 1986 MGA (IKE) Stroke Play Champion and the MGA Player of the Year in both 1990 and 1991 and received the MGA's Distinguished Service Award in 2004.

In addition to his impressive golf career, Baldwin also served as the MGA President in 1993-1994, a member of the Long Island Golf Association's Executive Committee, Board member of the Long Island Caddie Scholarship Fund, as well as a member of the USGA Mid-Am Committee.

Baldwin also took five international wins at the 2002 British Senior Amateur Open, the 2005 and 2006 Irish Senior Amateur Open, and the 2007 and 2010 Welsh Senior Amateur Open.

George H. (Pete) Bostick, Jr. at NCC

George H. (Pete) Bostwick (left) in 1970 with Bob

 Hope and brother Jimmy Bostwickreceiving their trophies after they won the IKE Golf Tournament.

1969

Nassau hosts the Long Island Amateur Championship - Gene Francis Winner.

No one dominated the LIGA Amateur Championship like Gene Francis.  Beginning in 1962, Gene won the Amateur seven times, finished second four times and was the medallist on four occasions. In his career Gene also found time to win the Richardson Memorial and the Long Island Junior Championship.

1967 Bob Hope Classic – Tom Nieporte, Piping Rock Head Pro with Bob Hope and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

1979

PGA Championship hosted by Nassau Country Club.  – Jeff Steinberg Winner.

 Nassau Hosts a three-hole tournament.

The August, 1979 issue of the Club's newsletter, the Nassau News recorded a happening in the best, fun-filled tradition of the Club.  The Halfway House was the scene of a dinner party followed by a fantastic three hole tournament. Thirty-six of the Club's best golfers teed off at the 10th in a mixed Pinehurst.  Each golfer was only allowed one club (not a putter). For putting, the Committee left a broom on the 10th green, a croquet mallet on the eighth green, and a broken hockey stick on the ninth green. Eddie Doyle and Gisel Englat won with a gross of 39, equivalent to 199 for 18 holes! There also were prizes for most balls in the water and most sand shots. 'The nearest to the hole prize went to Jimmy Nick and his partner Concetta DiBartolomeo, who won a brand new Mercedes Benz donated by a local Match Box Car dealer. Concetta said that since Jimmy had done all the work she made him the sole owner of the yellow convertible!"

George Zahringer, III

1981

Practice area added to the Club.

In March 1981, member and Greens Chairman Jim Tingley proposed construction of a practice area on the site of the then first tee. Length would be anywhere from 95 yards to 100 yards if the Club were to extend the trap on the right side of the fairway. The recommendation, repositioning the first tee to the left of the tennis courts. The Club hired Rees Jones in November.  After reviewing the plans, Rees made his recommendations and in October of the following year the grounds crew had completed work on the new first tee.  Work on the practice range would begin in the Spring, 1983.   Rees said that he would prefer to keep the fifth hole.

Jones was impressed with the entire course. He said that the only thing that he might change would be to cut the hill on the first hole to eliminate the blind shots into the green.

Rees Jones has designed, renovated, or restored more than 260 golf courses in his career and has been awarded the Donald Ross Award, the Old Tom Morris Award and the Don A. Rossi Award.

1983

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Howard Pierson

Howard A. Pierson was from Rockland County.  He was inducted into the Manhattan College Hall of Fame.  He was also inducted into the Rockland County Hall of Fame and various other organizations in Rockland County.  He was considered one of their greatest athletes.  He held 2 titles in the USGA Amateur Championships, 4 in the USGA Public Links Championship (Medalist), 2 low amateur titles in the New York State open, 2 USGA Senior Open (Medalist).  He was also an Associate Member of the PGA Senior tour for four years, playing in 17 Senior Tour Events.  He also won the Metropolitan Amateur, the Beren County Open, the Metropolitan Senior Open, New Jersey Tournament of Championships, Metropolitan Tournament of Champions, Baltusrol Invitational, and was the New Jersey State Four Ball Champion.  Pierson's son, also named Howard, played in the 2005 Met Amateur against Ron Vannelli.

George Zahringer, III

1985

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  John T. French

John T. French also went on to win the NIT Senior Championship ten years later, in 1995.  He was a member of the Nassau Country Club from 1983 through 1989.

Jeffrey Cornish

1987

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Robert Van Norden

Robert Van Norden played out of Plandome Country Club. He was a Colgate University grad and received his Masters from Columbia.  After working five years as a broker and office manager he worked on the New York Stock Exchange floor for 25 years. 

Mike Giacini in 1977

1990

Mike Diffley wins the IKE followed by the Met Open in 1991.

Mike Diffley was the assistant pro at Nassau in 1983-1984.  He is a St. John's graduate and their only golfer elected in their Athletic Hall of Fame.  He has competed at both amateur and professional levels.  His wins include the 1976 Junior Champion, 1982 Big East Conference Champion, 1991 Metropolitan Open Champion, 1992 Westchester PGA Champion and the 2001 Metropolitan PGA Head Professional Champion.

John Baldwin

1992

The Met Open is held at Nassau and won by Mark Mielke.

Mielke won again in 2008 and in 2018 won the Met Senior Open.

John Lewis

1996

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner: 

Al Falussy

Al Falussy had a prolific career in the Met/LI section.  In 2002 he shot a course record of 67 in qualifying for the Walter Travis Memorial Tournament at the Garden City Golf Club.

Nassau Invitational Senior Tournament Winner:  Richard Kniffin

Dick Kniffin was a long time member of Nassau Country Club.

The Met Amateur was held at Nassau Country Club - won by Ken Bakst.

Ken Bakst is a champion amateur golfer.  He won the 1997 USGA Mid-Amateur.  In 2023 he won the 96^th MGA Senior Amateur. Bakst qualified and played in the 2014, 2021, and 2023 U.S. Senior Amateur.  He also played in the 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 British Senior Amateur as well as the U.S. Senior Open in 2023.

Ken Bakst is the Head Managing Member and founder of the Friar's Head Golf Club in Baiting Hollow.

Greg Rohlf

Bob Cupp

1998

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Edward Gibstein

Nassau Invitational Senior Tournament Winner:  Richard Suggs

Gary Player stayed with us at Nassau Country Club the year he won the Northville Invitational (Long Island Classic).  He came back to stay with us the following year, but did not take the title.

The Long Island Classic was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour, the PGA Tour-owned senior circuit for golfers ages 50-and-over. It was played for two decades, usually scheduled in June or July. The tournament was always played on Long Island, and it began in 1987.  At that time it was called the Northville Invitational and was not sanctioned by the Champions Tour. The tournament joined the senior tour the following year.  It was Gary Player who won the unsanctioned event.  Player was over 62 years old, making him the second-oldest winner in Champions Tour history.

George Zahringer

2000

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Austin Eaton

Austin Eaton wins the NIT. In 2004, he won the U.S. Mid-Amateur Golf Championship.  He played in the 2005 Masters Tournament at Augusta National.  He also played in numerous MGA events.  Eaton also played in the U.S. Seniors Open in 2021, 2022 and 2023.  He played in the U.S. Mid-Am Qualifying in 2021 and 2023.

Nassau Invitational Senior Tournament Winner:  Richard Hannington

The MGA IKE Championship is held at Nassau and won by Ken MacDonald.

MacDonald also won the Ike in 1999 at Hollywood. At 17 years of age, Ken MacDonald won the 1995 NJSGA Junior Championship.  In 1998, three years later, he followed with a win as the youngest NJSGA Open Champion.  Another 1995 win included the Metropolitan Golf Association Junior Championship.  MacDonald was named one of the 50 best golf-fitness trainers in 2020  by Golf Digest.

George Zahringer

2002

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Gregg Angelillo

New Jersey golfer, Gregg Angelillo, of Baltusrol Golf Club won the NJSGA Four-Ball Championship with Mike Deo.  He was a two-time club champion at Baltusrol in 2012 and 2016.   He also won the New Jersey Pre-Senior Championship in 2018, and qualified for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.  Angelillo is a top amateur who has played on multiple NJSGA Compher Cup and Stoddard Trophy teams.  He added two more wins to his 2018 New Jersey Pre-Senior Championship in 2021 and again in 2023.

Nassau Invitational Senior Tournament Winner:  James Graham

Jim Graham won the MGA Senior Amateur Championship and the MGA Senior Masters Tournament in 2019.

Andrew Svoboda

Ron Vannelli

2004

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Darren Crowe

Darren Crowe for the Golf Union of Ireland took the NIT win.  Also competing from Ireland was Shane Lowry.  He also played for the Irish Team in the 2023 Carey Cup.   In 2004 he was the reigning World Universities' Champion and won the 2024 10^th annual World University Games in Thailand. Crowe won the 2007 South of Ireland Championship. He would go on to win the 2009 Irish Open and in 2013 defeated #1 ranked Rory McIllroy at the World Match Play Championship.

Nassau Invitational Senior Tournament Winner:  Robert Navesky

Golf Course Architect Cynthia Dye McGarey hired to remodel bunkers, re-do driving range, build irrigation lake and remodel 3^rd and 4^th holes.

Cythnia Dye McGarey was the daughter of golf course architect Roy Anderson Dye. Her Uncle was golf course architect, Pete Dye. She was raised in the business and it was no surprise that in 1988 she became a consultant in the family business.

2006

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Adam Fuchs

Adam Fuchs was a student athlete from Binghamton with successes that impacted golf's top Division 1 programs in the Northeast.  He was a two-time team captain and graduated with multiple school records.  He turned pro in 2006 and played in the minor league golf tour with numerous top 10 wins.  In 2014 Fuchs went on to win the Jamaica Open.

Nassau Invitational Senior Tournament Winner:  Stephen Rose

Nassau hosts the Met Senior Open.  Bill Britton took the win.

Niall Kearney

Abbie Valentine

2008

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner: 

Hal Berman

Nassau Invitational Senior Tournament Winner: Bill Bartell

Bill Bartell, a scratch golfer from Seaford, considers the Bethpage Black Course his home turf. His caddie was his wife Meg O'Connor, now the COO of Nassau Country Club.

Bill has played in 5 USGA Championships, the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Mid-Amateur (twice) and U.S. Publinks.  He has also represented Long Island on the Stoddard CupTeam and is a past Richardson Invitational winner.

Nassau's Assistant Golf Pro, Mike Meehan, wins the Long Island Open at Bethpage.

Mike Meehan again won the Long Island Open in 2009 and 2012. In his golfing career he has played in numerous tournaments over his golfing career.  At one time Mike was the Club's Assistant Golf Pro, and is now the Head Professional at Old Westbury Golf & Country Club.

Paul Cutler

Ron Vannelli

Mike Ballo, Jr.

2010

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Joseph Saladino

Nassau Invitational Senior Tournament Winner:  Matthew Corrigan

U.S. Senior Open qualifier is held at Nassau Country Club, June 24, 2010.  Mike Diffley took the Medalist win, shooting a 69.

Mike Diffley was the assistant pro at Nassau in 1983-1984.  He is a St. John's graduate and their only golfer elected in their Athletic Hall of Fame.  He has competed at both amateur and professional levels. His wins include the 1976 Junior Championship, the 1982 Big East Conference Championship, the 1991 Metropolitan Open Championship, the IKE Tournament Championship, the 1992 Westchester PGA Championship, and the 2001 Metropolitan PGA Head Professional Championship. Mike is the current Golf Professional at Pelham Country Club (beginning in 1988).

Joseph Saladino

Stephen Rose

2012

Tom Marzolf of the Fazio Design Group was responsible for the renovation of the green complexes and practice area.

Max Buckley

Edward Gibstein

2014

Nassau hosted the U.S. Women's Amateur. Kristen Gillman took the win.

Kristen Gillman, winner of the Robert Cox Trophy, 2014 U.S. Women's Amateur at Nassau Country Club, Sunday, August 10, 2014.  Image:  USGA/Darren Carroll.

Sixteen-year-old Kristen Gillman of Austin, Texas rallied and birdied five of the final 10 holes to win the 2014 USGA Women's Amateur at Nassau Country Club. 

Nassau Country Club is the only club to host a major USGA tournament 100 years apart.  In 1914 Katherine Harley won the title of USGA Women's Amateur Championship at Nassau, and 100 years later in 2014 Kristen Gillman took the win on the NCC course.

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Jack Hume

Jack Hume won the Nassau Invitational, joining Ireland's Paul Cutler (2009), Niall Kearney (2007) and Darren Crowe (2004) on the list of former winners.

The Naas man, who was representing the Golfing Union of Ireland,  beat Garrett Engel from Woodmere Golf Club by 5 and 4 having seen off two-time winner Joe Saladino 2 and 1 in the semi-finals.

Nassau Invitational Senior Tournament Winner:  Edward Gibstein

Edward Gibstein won the 1994 MGA Stroke Play Championship and was a semifinalist in the U.S.G.A. Mid-Amateur. In 2011 and 2012 he won the Long Island Amateur, also winning the 2012 Richardson Memorial Invitational. In 2019 he won the Long Island Senior Am.  Just prior to his 2014 Nassau Invitational Senior Tournament win, Gibstein won the Walter Travis Invitational Senior Flight.  In 2022 Gibstein was the Sr. Champion of the William Farrell Cup.

Darin Goldstein

2016

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Conor O'Rourke

Conor O'Rourke becomes the fifth Irish winner of the Nassau Invitational. He turned his focus to golf when he was awarded the Paddy Harrington Golf Scholarship in NUI Maynooth.  As an amateur he represented Leinster & Ireland at senior level winning 3 Men's Irish Home International titles.  He was a reserve on the Walker Cup panel that competed in LA Country Club and also won the prestigious St. Andrews Links Trophy in Scotland. O'Rourke has competed in numerous tours around the globe and has now turned professional.  In 2019 he played in the Europro Tour.  O'Rourke won the K Club Pro Am in 2020.

Trevor Randolph

2018

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  James Nicholas

Nicholas finished 8^th at the 2016-17 Cornell Invitational, 11th at the Princeton Invitational, and 3rd at the Yale Springtime Invitational. In 2023 Nicholas (from Deepdale) won the 99th Long Island Open Championship at the Huntington Crescent Club. After shooting 61 in round one and setting the course record, Nicholas followed with rounds of 71 and 67 to finish 11-under par.  He also won the Westchester Open a few weeks later.

Nassau Invitational Senior Tournament Winner:  John Appell

Nassau hosts the Long Island Open, with Andrew Svoboda taking the win.

Rowan Lester

Ron Vannelli

2020

The Nassau Invitational Tournament was canceled due to COVID.

2022

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner: Christian Cavaliere

Cavalier won All-State Honors as a sophomore, junior, and senior. He was the only golfer in Somers history to advance to state tournaments in each of his four seasons. Christian Cavalier won the Westchester Amateur Championship 4 years in a row.

Nassau Invitational Senior Tournament Winner:  Patrick Pierson

Patrick Pierson's resume includes the 2003 NY State Mid-Am, 2002 Rockland County Amateur, the Bergen County Amateur, and the 2009 New York City Amateur. In 2009 Pierson took his first win at the New York City Amateur.  In 2015 Patrick Pierson, 51-year-old Nyack resident captured the Senior Division of the Westchester Golf Association's Tournament of Champions. In 2023 Pierson, manager of Darlington Golf Course, became one of two golfers to claim medalist honors in the first qualifying round of the 89^th NJSGA Public Links Championship at Darlington. His father, Howie Pierson, was the first African American to win an MGA major title in 1980.  (Howard A. Pierson, 1980 Winner of the MGA Met Amateur Championship.  He competed in a number of USGA events, and won several titles.  Patrick followed in his father's footsteps with a love of the game).

Collin Dolph

Dylan Newman

      Tom Bendelow        Charles Millard Pratt

Harvey Murdock

T.A. Havemeyer, Sr.   T.A.Havemeyer, Jr.

1896
The Queens County Golf Club was incorporated.

Three additional holes were added to the golf course, 1,962 yards for the full nine-holes.  Members played two rounds for an 18-hole total.

The full nine-hole course was officially opened on Memorial Day 1896 at the same time the Queens County Golf Club was officially organized, but dry weather delayed use of the course and on July 4 the course was open just for that one day.

First Queens County Golf Club Championship held, with Percy Chubb taking the honors.

Percy Chubb was one of the founding members of the Queens County Golf Club.  Born in Australia he was the senior member of Chubb & Son, marine underwriters, Board Chairman of the Federal Insurance Company, and a sportsman – golfer and yachtsman. He was most often known for his cool headedness both in business and in his personal life.  During the War he was interviewed over the phone on his views on submarine attacks when suddenly he interrupted. "Sorry (he said), but it's getting deuced hot here." His home was burning.

1898

The Sun's December 25, 1898 edition reported, "To begin the new year the Queens County Golf Club will come into the possession of a new links, new clubhouse, and a new title, surely a triple distribution of holiday favors unusual and varied enough to satisfy every member.  The change of title is due to the creation of the Long Island County of Nassau on Jan 1, which has made the former name meaningless, while the enlarged scope of the club is hardly covered by the word golf.  In taking possession of the purchase of 105 acres, which extends from the Glen Cove station park, at Glen Cove, to the Locust Valley station, and starting work on the buildings, the members assert that their object will be to "cultivate old-fashioned comfort, hospitality, and good cheer, and, in the sports to be fostered, the club will be for the use and benefit of women as well as men. … Golf will continue to be the game in repute above all others at the Nassau Country Club, and it was the discontent with the former nine-hole course near the Sound that first brought into being the present ambitious undertakings. …"

QCGC Open Invitation Winner:  Walter J. Travis

Walter Travis wins the Invitational (repeating his triumph in 1899, 1902, 1908, 1910, and 1914).

Travis was an American amateur golfer during the early 1900s. He was also a noted golf journalist,  publisher, teacher, and golf course architect. Australian born, he first arrived in the States in 1886.  Ten years later, in 1896, while vacationing in England he bought his first set of golf clubs.  Two years after playing the game, he won the QCGC Open Invitational, and the rest was history.

Member, Findlay Douglas, won the U.S. Amateur at Morris County Golf Club.

Findlay Small Douglas was a member of Nassau Country Club for many years, beginning in 1901. Douglas had followed his oldest brother, Robert, and emigrated to the United States in 1897. He qualified for the U.S. Amateur within his first year in the U.S. but lost in the semifinal. He won the event a year later in 1898. He was the last Scotsman to win the U.S. Amateur until 2006. He made it to the final match in 1899 (lost to H.M. Harriman) and 1900 (lost to Walter Travis). He won the Metropolitan Amateur in 1901 and 1903, and finished 8^th in the U.S. Open in 1903.

Douglas gave 17 years of service to the Metropolitan Golf Association and served as President in 1922-24. In 1926 he served as Vice President of the United States Golf Association and later took the role of President  from 1929-30. In 1930 Douglas presented the U.S. Open and Amateur trophies to Bobby Jones, commemorating his Grand Slam.

Findlay Douglas won the U.S. Senior's Golf Association Championship in 1932, and served as their President from 1937 to 1941.  This organization and the event was to later become the U.S.G.A.'s Senior Amateur which began in 1955. 

Douglas won the USGA's Bob Jones Award in 1959, the USGA's highest honor.

Walter J. Travis

Ruth Underhill

Mrs. Katrina Tiffany carrying the American Flag

New York City suffragist parade.

Outing Magazine - September 1899

1900

January 1900 the Board of Directors approve the making of an application for the United States Golf Association membership.

Home of the Nassau Bet, J.B. Coles Tappan (lawyer, Club Captain, and Nassau Country Club member from 1896) devised this system of scoring in 1900, avoiding any great embarrassment to the losing team.  Also known as the $5 Nassau, or simply the Nassau, this system of betting is perhaps the most common bet in golf today.

John Butler Coles Tappan was a long-time and founding member of NCC and the Club Captain at the time.   In those early years it was not uncommon for players to win matches by a broad margin.  Tappan's  "Nassau" system of scoring was a  way in which the daily scores published in the newspapers were not as embarrassing for the losing end of that margin.  It also helped to keep the matches competitive.

The Nassau is simple; A player would receive one point for winning the most holes on the front nine, one point for the back nine, and a third point for winning the overall match.  The worst loss was 3-0. The Nassau Bet is sometimes referred to as the $2 Nassau.  It has been one of the most popular golf tournament formats and golf bets for almost 125 years and has been played universally. 

Golfer, Harry Vardon, was instrumental in developing golf in America during his tour in 1900.  He played here at Nassau with Ted Ray against Walter Hagen and the Club Pro, Jimmy Maiden.

Nasau hosts its first of eight Met Amateur Tournaments (1900, 1907, 1916, 1927, 1939, 1957, 1963, 1996).  Waler J. Travis took the win.

Genevieve Hecker

New York Tribune - February 1901 Issue

Findlay Douglas

1902

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Walter J. Travis

Played September 25 - 27, the tournament attracted a record 144 players.  Four silver cups were offered, but as the rain fell so did the players – as many as 75 tore up their score cards, with the qualifying round reduced from 36 to 18 holes. The New York Times told a rather humorous story that happened during the event. Veteran golfer George E. Armstrong, after driving a long ball, walked up to where he thought his ball lay.  The white object in view was hit by Armstrong, but in flew into a hundred pieces.  His partner said to him, "That was a mushroom, George, your ball is behind you!" In the end, rain and all, Travis came out with the win.

Alex Smith, Nassau's Golf Professional, finishes 18^th at the U.S.Open.

Scottish golf professional Laurie Auchterlonie, representing the Glen View Club, took the win at Garden City.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July, 1902

"Glen Cove. This fashionable colony has its usual number of visitors, despite the continued cool weather.  Golf on the Nassau Country Club course is still as popular as in former years and crowds of enthusiasts go over the links daily.  Tennis, sailing, and driving are the other out of door sports.  The golf course is said by those who know to be in the best condition possible, and the services of Alex Smith, one of the best professionals of the country, has been secured.  The house is under the stewardship of Murray, whose competent management is a source of satisfaction to the members.

Theodore Roosevelt elected Honorary member of Nassau Country Club.  July 1902.

President Roosevelt was not as much a fan of golf.  Golf historian, H.B. Martin said that Roosevelt tried golf on several occasions but he preferred boxing or tennis to "pussyfooting around a golf course."

The first tee opening day, 1903 National Amateur Championship at NCC.

Walter Travis, driving from the first tee at NCC,

1903 U.S. Amateur.

1904

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Jerry Travers

Nassau member Jerry Travers, age 17, wins the Nassau Invitational beating Findlay Douglas and Walter Travis. Three-time U.S. Amateur Champion Walter Travis lost to Travers in the final of the Invitational. He later remarked "There is no bitterness in such a defeat.  It is a match I shall always recall with pleasure."

Jerome Travers

1906

Alex  Smith wins the U.S. Open (his first of two) beating his younger brother, Willie by seven strokes.  (His second win was in 1910, when he was the Golf Pro at Wykagyl.)

Alex Smith sets a national record, shooting 66 at Nassau, the low score for any course over 6,000 yards.

Jerome D. Travers wins the Metropolitan Golf Association championship at St. Andrews Golf Club.

"Jerome D. Travers, of the Nassau Country Club, one of the youngest and best golfers in the country, won the Metropolitan Golf Association championship on the links of the St. Andrews Golf Club yesterday.  He defeated Eben M. Byers, of Pittsburg, who played as a member of the St. Andrews Golf Club, by 3 up and 1 to play.  The final round consisted of thirty-six holes, match play, the first tourn of the links being played in the forenoon, when Travers was 2 down.  The victory of Travers was the third for a Nassau Country Club representative, and the championship cup now becomes the permanent property of the club.  Findlay s. Douglas won the first two legs on the trophy for the club."  New-York Daily Tribune, May 27, 1906

1908

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Walter J. Travis

More than 80 golfers played, including two ex-National champions, Walter J. Travis of Garden City and Findlay S. Douglas.  Travis took the win.  Also competing that day was a finalist in the National Amateur in 1904, Fred Herreshoff. Fred would come back the next year in 1909 to take the Nassau Invitational title, and again in 1912.

After a brief illness, Mrs. Alexander Smith, wife of the Nassau Country Club professional, died at her home in Glen Cove yesterday.  The announcement of the sudden illness of his wife caused Mr. Smith to withdraw from the recent metropolitan open championship tournament."  New York Daily Tribune, October 1, 1908

Alex Smith leaves Nassau Country Club to become Wykagyl's Golf Professional in December of 1908.

"Although now at Wykagyl Country Club, the Nassau Country Club has still a friendly recollection of its former professional, Aleck Smith. He has received an invitation from H.L. Pratt, president of the Nassau Country Club, to attend the annual dinner next Saturday evening.  The members have arranged to give a testimonial to Smith as an appreciation of his services while with them."  The Sun, December 17, 1908.

Findlay Douglas and Fred Herreshoff at NCC.  

1910

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Walter J. Travis

March 1910, Findlay Douglas was elected Honorary member of Nassau Country Club.

Jim Maiden became the Golf Professional at Nassau (holding the position for 40 years).

Oswald Kirby

1912

Nassau Invitational Tournament Winner:  Fred Herreshoff

April 1912, President William H. Taft accepted Honorary membership at Nassau Country Club.

President Taft was the first President of the U.S. that took golf  seriously.  He was quoted a year after his election to Honorary membership at NCC, while at a golf dinner in New York City, making the following remarks. "The game's virtues include, first of all, self-restraint and call for mental discipline and ethical training.  It should be indulged in when the opportunity arises, as every man knows who has played the game that it rejuvenates and stretched the span of life." Taft also served as honorary chairman of the 1913 U.S. Open, when Francis Ouimet took the victory at the Brookline Country Club.