Last updated: September 17, 2020
Place
Winged Foot Golf Club
Photograph by Penelope S. Watson, Watson & Henry Associates, Courtesy of the NYSHPO
Quick Facts
Location:
851 Fenimore Road, Mamaroneck, New York
Significance:
ARCHITECTURE, ENTERTAINMENT/RECREATION, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Designation:
Listed in the National Register – Reference number 100004089
MANAGED BY:
Winged Foot Golf Club, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, occupies a roughly 280-acre site in the Mamaroneck area of Westchester County, New York. The golf course consists of two eighteen-hole golf courses, referred to as the East and West courses, which were laid out in four alternating loops to the designs of renowned golf course architect A.W. Tillinghast and opened informally in 1923.
Winged Foot Golf Club shares salient associations with the so-called “Golden Age” of American golf course design. Developed during the 1920s, the club boasts two 18-hole golf courses designed by Albert Warren Tillinghast (1876-1942), a seminal figure in American golf course design and the development of the strategic course type of which he was a pioneering figure. In addition to these two Tillinghast designed courses, which have been faithfully restored in recent years to a manner consistent with his original design intent, the club boasts an impressive stone and brick masonry Jacobethan Revival-style clubhouse designed by architect Clifford Charles Wendehack (1885-1948), the leading architectural designer of clubhouses in the United States and South America during the 1920s; Winged Foot is considered one of Wendehack’s most notable designs. The Tillinghast-designed courses were completed and opened to members in 1923, and the clubhouse was completed in 1925. Winged Foot Golf Club’s debut on the national scene occurred in 1929, when the United States Open Championship—the U.S. Open—was awarded to Winged Foot’s West Course.
Tillinghast was a seminal figure during the Golden Age of American golf course design in the first third of the twentieth century. His well-known innovations in the area of course design included the development, along with Donald Ross, of the “strategic” course concept, which revolutionized the game; prior to this time, courses had been laid out on the traditional and less flexible “penal” model. Tillinghast was among the first to see the golf course as a natural landscape, with the beauty of the course being of major importance to its overall quality. He was also one of the first Americans to become a first-ranked landscape architect in a profession previously dominated by designers from Great Britain. Tillinghast’s two courses for Winged Foot rank among his master works, along with his courses at Baltusrol in New Jersey and Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York.
Some of Tillinghast's innovations can be seen in his design of fairways, greens and bunkers. Tillinghast was adamantly against straight fairways: “Without a doubt one of the most certain earmarks of a modern golf course are twisting, irregular shaped fairways.” He believed that angled fairways provided more challenge and attractiveness, and made better use of the natural terrain. Tillinghast firmly believed it was the quality of the greens that made the course. One of his exceptional greens at Winged Foot is Hole 9 on the West course, of which the following has been written: “Despite the undulations in this green there are numerous pin positions, each presenting a different challenge for the player. From how to approach the green, to what portion to aim for, to using the ridge to aid in an attempt to have your shot end up close to the pin; this is an example of a Tillinghast green at its finest.” Reacting against the masses of indistinguishable bunkers found on earlier courses, Tillinghast instead used a small number of bunkers, and in more judicious fashion, and designed almost no two alike. He believed that bunkers should be “artistically dynamic in design and often accomplished this through the use of ‘finger-like’ protrusions into the bunker itself.” His bunkers are easy to get into, but hard to get out of, and often were constructed with a back side that rises up above the level of the surrounding fairway.
As the Winged Foot courses are deemed to be Tillinghast’s masterpiece, so the clubhouse, the architectural centerpiece of the club, is considered a preeminent work of its designer, architect Clifford C. Wendehack, an internationally acclaimed clubhouse architect who was widely active in this facet of architecture during the 1920s. The 1925 Jacobethan Revival-style clubhouse, a commodious one-and-a-half-story stone and brick clubhouse with slate roof that combines the visual allure of an English Tudor manor house with a crisp and efficient plan, resulting in a masterful manifestation of the building type that flourished in the early twentieth century.
Winged Foot Golf Club received national approbation just six years after completion, when it was selected to host the 1929 U.S. Open. Never before or since has a course so relatively new been selected to host such a prestigious national tournament, attesting to the immediately recognizable eminence of Tillinghast’s design. In addition to the 1929 Open, other notable national tournaments that have been held on the two courses over the years include the 1957 U.S. Women’s Open (East Course); the 1959 U.S. Men’s Open (West Course); the 1972 U.S. Women’s Open (East Course); the 1974 U.S. Men’s Open (West Course); the 1980 USGA Senior Open—the inauguration of that event (East Course); the 1984 U.S. Open (West Course); and the 2006 U.S. Open (West Course).
The Winged Foot Golf Club retains an important place in the history of American golf and its Golden Age. It remains among the rare resources which chronicle the work of both Tillinghast and Wendehack, two of the preeminent national figures in golf course and clubhouse design, whose philosophies were highly influential and came to shape the course of design during the 1920s. The two courses and clubhouse have been revered and admired since the time of their completion, and they offered themselves as the models for countless other clubs following their completion.
Winged Foot Golf Club shares salient associations with the so-called “Golden Age” of American golf course design. Developed during the 1920s, the club boasts two 18-hole golf courses designed by Albert Warren Tillinghast (1876-1942), a seminal figure in American golf course design and the development of the strategic course type of which he was a pioneering figure. In addition to these two Tillinghast designed courses, which have been faithfully restored in recent years to a manner consistent with his original design intent, the club boasts an impressive stone and brick masonry Jacobethan Revival-style clubhouse designed by architect Clifford Charles Wendehack (1885-1948), the leading architectural designer of clubhouses in the United States and South America during the 1920s; Winged Foot is considered one of Wendehack’s most notable designs. The Tillinghast-designed courses were completed and opened to members in 1923, and the clubhouse was completed in 1925. Winged Foot Golf Club’s debut on the national scene occurred in 1929, when the United States Open Championship—the U.S. Open—was awarded to Winged Foot’s West Course.
Tillinghast was a seminal figure during the Golden Age of American golf course design in the first third of the twentieth century. His well-known innovations in the area of course design included the development, along with Donald Ross, of the “strategic” course concept, which revolutionized the game; prior to this time, courses had been laid out on the traditional and less flexible “penal” model. Tillinghast was among the first to see the golf course as a natural landscape, with the beauty of the course being of major importance to its overall quality. He was also one of the first Americans to become a first-ranked landscape architect in a profession previously dominated by designers from Great Britain. Tillinghast’s two courses for Winged Foot rank among his master works, along with his courses at Baltusrol in New Jersey and Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York.
Some of Tillinghast's innovations can be seen in his design of fairways, greens and bunkers. Tillinghast was adamantly against straight fairways: “Without a doubt one of the most certain earmarks of a modern golf course are twisting, irregular shaped fairways.” He believed that angled fairways provided more challenge and attractiveness, and made better use of the natural terrain. Tillinghast firmly believed it was the quality of the greens that made the course. One of his exceptional greens at Winged Foot is Hole 9 on the West course, of which the following has been written: “Despite the undulations in this green there are numerous pin positions, each presenting a different challenge for the player. From how to approach the green, to what portion to aim for, to using the ridge to aid in an attempt to have your shot end up close to the pin; this is an example of a Tillinghast green at its finest.” Reacting against the masses of indistinguishable bunkers found on earlier courses, Tillinghast instead used a small number of bunkers, and in more judicious fashion, and designed almost no two alike. He believed that bunkers should be “artistically dynamic in design and often accomplished this through the use of ‘finger-like’ protrusions into the bunker itself.” His bunkers are easy to get into, but hard to get out of, and often were constructed with a back side that rises up above the level of the surrounding fairway.
As the Winged Foot courses are deemed to be Tillinghast’s masterpiece, so the clubhouse, the architectural centerpiece of the club, is considered a preeminent work of its designer, architect Clifford C. Wendehack, an internationally acclaimed clubhouse architect who was widely active in this facet of architecture during the 1920s. The 1925 Jacobethan Revival-style clubhouse, a commodious one-and-a-half-story stone and brick clubhouse with slate roof that combines the visual allure of an English Tudor manor house with a crisp and efficient plan, resulting in a masterful manifestation of the building type that flourished in the early twentieth century.
Winged Foot Golf Club received national approbation just six years after completion, when it was selected to host the 1929 U.S. Open. Never before or since has a course so relatively new been selected to host such a prestigious national tournament, attesting to the immediately recognizable eminence of Tillinghast’s design. In addition to the 1929 Open, other notable national tournaments that have been held on the two courses over the years include the 1957 U.S. Women’s Open (East Course); the 1959 U.S. Men’s Open (West Course); the 1972 U.S. Women’s Open (East Course); the 1974 U.S. Men’s Open (West Course); the 1980 USGA Senior Open—the inauguration of that event (East Course); the 1984 U.S. Open (West Course); and the 2006 U.S. Open (West Course).
The Winged Foot Golf Club retains an important place in the history of American golf and its Golden Age. It remains among the rare resources which chronicle the work of both Tillinghast and Wendehack, two of the preeminent national figures in golf course and clubhouse design, whose philosophies were highly influential and came to shape the course of design during the 1920s. The two courses and clubhouse have been revered and admired since the time of their completion, and they offered themselves as the models for countless other clubs following their completion.