41 One of Inwood’s goals has been to remove obstruction to views along the perimeter shrunk. The course went from playing firm and emphasising the ground game to playing soft and stressing the aerial approach. All the changes happened over time and, as such, the loss of Inwood’s original character took place incrementally and was not noticeable as it was happening. The result was a mediocre golf course that felt generic in its presentation. It might have been difficult to play, but was uninteresting with not much variety in how one might have approached the golf course. The first seeds of reclaiming Inwood were a 1997 bunker renovation undertaken by Tom Doak. While the restyling and restoration of bunkers were a vast improvement, it wasn’t enough to recapture the character of the golf course. In 2004, under a new green committee, the first order of business was to develop an overall vision of the golf course where none had existed previously. We considered: “What is the personality of our golf course? Who are we designing it for? What is special and unique about our course that we want to emphasise?” This was a collaborative process among several members of the green committee from which the guiding principles were established. They outlined that the golf course needed to be more fun for the members of every skill level, that we were going to emphasise the links-like nature of the original design and its wonderful views, and embrace the surrounding wetlands and our proximity to JFK airport. Also, we wanted to emphasise the course’s quirky, light-hearted, elegant Photo: Inwood Country Club Bill Reekie and Johnny Farrell both included Inwood among their top ten courses for Metropolitan Golfer magazine in 1926
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