Kittansett Club - Massachusetts, U.S.A.
The Kittansett Club
lies across from Cape Cod on the mainland side of
Buzzard's Bay, ten miles northeast of New Bedford.
Laid out on a hook of ground where English settlers
landed in 1639, the course has a links-like feel
because of the views across the sea grasses and the
sandy coast but is routed through scrub oak. Built
in 1922, Kittansett was designed on paper by the
great architect William Flynn, but the course's
design also owes a great deal to the owner of the
property, Fred Hood, who closely supervised the
construction. One of the interesting features Hood
was responsible for was grassing over rock
formations and piles of debris to form mounds. Many
of the original design features were lost over the
years, so the club hired architect Gil Hanse to
carry out a restoration. Hanseremoved hundreds of
trees that had covered over the original mounds,
rebuilt the bunkers to their original large size,
and opened up the dramatic view across Buzzard's Bay
from the 16th green.
Newport Country Club - Rhode Island, U.S.A.
Newport Golf Club
was founded in 1893 by Theodore A. Havemeyer-the
"Sugar King"-head of American Sugar Refining
Company and one of the founders of the United
States Golf Association. When the club opened on
July 4, 1893, the cream of American society was
on hand, with more than 300 members of the
Social Register present. On October 2, 1895,
Newport held the first USGA-sponsored Amateur
Championship, won by Charles Blair Macdonald.
Two days later, it hosted the first U.S. Open,
won by Horace Rawlins, but the Amateur was
considered a bigger deal in those days. In 1995,
the U.S. Amateur returned to what is now Newport
Country Club for its centennial, with Tiger
Woods winning the Havemeyer Cup that is still
awarded to the Amateur champion. The original Newport course was laid out on
Rocky Hill Farm by the Scottish pro Willie Davis,
with more work done by Donald Ross in 1915. The
current course, however, is the creation of A.W
Tillinghast, who redesigned nine of the existing
holes and added nine new ones in 1923-24. The
clubhouse, overlooking Hazard's Beach and opened in
1895, was designed by the young Whitney Warren in
the French beaux-arts style. Warren later founded
the firm of Warren & Wetmore, which designed New
York's Grand Central Station.
Kittansett Club and Newport
Country Club, U.S.A.