40 DANIEL FRIEDMAN INSIGHT Inwood Country Club has a storied background, dating back to its founding in 1901. Located on the south shore of Long Island, New York, Inwood sits along the tidal estuary of Jamaica Bay with views of the Manhattan skyline. Today, Inwood is primarily known for its Golden Age golf tournament history, which includes Bobby Jones’ first major victory at the 1923 US Open and Walter Hagen’s first PGA championship in 1921. At that time, Inwood was considered one of the top golf courses in the United States. And as recently as the 1960s, Inwood was in Golf Digest’s Top 50 golf courses. However, for the past 60 years, Inwood’s reputation has declined. Now, after a 20-year mission to re-establish the elements that made up its original personality and character, Inwood is ready to reclaim its place among American golf course royalty. Inwood was laid out as a nine-hole course in 1901 by Dr William Exton and Arthur Thatcher and was expanded to 18 by Edward Eriksen in 1906. In 1912, the club hired the highly regarded Englishman Herbert Strong as head professional. Strong, whose other work includes Canterbury, Engineers, Metropolis and Saucon Valley, promptly redesigned the course, resulting in the routing that you largely see today. In 1926 Jack Mackie added two new holes along the wetlands with the routing and layout unchanged from that time. The golf course occupies a lowland setting, adjacent to the bay and wetlands on 11 holes with views of the wetlands from all 18. Photography from the 1920s shows a sandy, unmanicured, rough, beachy landscape. Natural and genuine, Inwood reflected its topography and setting along the waterway. With a clear view of New York City, Inwood later came by expansive views of Idlewild, now JFK International Airport. Unfortunately, over the past 80 years, something went askew. Inwood intentionally made changes, and some occurred naturally that, when taken altogether, led to an outcome where Inwood’s personality and special attributes were unrecognisable. The specific changes were many, including the planting of 1,200 trees, cutting rough to a penal length, adding asphalt cart paths, and watering and fertilising the grass to a lush, dark green colour. Bunkers had also become manicured, fairways had narrowed and greens had A team at Inwood CC in New York has spent the last 20 years trying to make up for the previous 80 years of change that had slowly eroded the character of its Herbert Strong-designed course. Taking time to recapture character
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