Park Country Club history

In 1911, son-in-law Stephens bought the family property and armed with Myers’ vision and John Nolan’s landscape design, Myers Park soon took shape as a neighborhood in harmony with nature.

In 1915, Stephens announced the addition of a private club and a nine-hole golf course that would take advantage of the lush surroundings.

The delicate nature of establishing a course in an urban area was evident as early as 1916, when several holes at Forest Park had to be moved to "eliminate friction between residents of this section and the golf players."

And by 1920, there were an estimated 5,000 golfers per week teeing off at Van Cortlandt.

By 1921, the Club opened on its permanent site with 350 members and plans for an 18-hole course designed by renowned Donald Ross.

Land from Marine Cemetery, a nineteenth–century burial site for the Marine Hospital Quarantine in Tompkinsville, was added to the park in 1924.

Clearview Park and Golf Course in Queens was founded in 1925 as the Clearview Golf and Yacht Club, an exclusive retreat for notable New Yorkers such as the renowned New York State Governor Alfred E. Smith.

The East Course at Five Farms, designed by A. W. Tillinghast, officially opened in September of 1926 and was instantly recognized as a masterpiece of golf course architecture.

By 1927, increased interest in golf encouraged the acquisition of additional ground to provide three more holes, but the addition of the extra holes to make a nine hole course did not satisfy the enthusiasm of the golfers for better facilities.

In December, 1928, the Park Club opened its new brick and stone English Gothic clubhouse on property in Williamsville.

Taking advantage of the economic downturn, on June 25, 1931, the City of New York purchased the Clearview Golf and Yacht Club for $940,000, about half the asking price.

The new “in-town” Clubhouse was formally opened on April 1, 1932.

The Kissena Golf Course opened in 1935.

The course in Pelham Bay was renovated in 1936 as part of a WPA–funded project, and the adjacent Split Rock course was opened then.

And in 1945, famed golfer Byron Nelson began his 11-tournament winning streak at the Club’s Charlotte Open, emblazing Myers Park and its Clubhouse on the map.

Robert Critchell was hired as architect and by mid-1947 a new Clubhouse was built.

Despite weathering two World Wars, a Great Depression, a 1954 name change, many renovations, and Hurricane Hugo which claimed 900 of the campus’ trees, Myers Park Country Club remains as graceful as it is strong and a beacon of what determination and passion can create.

The Club’s swim complex was first built circa 1960.

The Roland Park Golf Course was officially closed in 1962 when all of the property on the west side of Falls Road was sold.

South Shore Golf Course in Staten Island was acquired by the City in 1966.

Parks hosted a series of tournaments at Van Cortlandt Park in 1974, when over 700,000 rounds of golf were played at the course.

The Club expanded its racquets program and added paddle tennis courts to the Roland Park campus in 1976.

Until 1984, Parks managed the course and the adjoining restaurant.

Renovations began some thirty years later, and the current facility, consisting of three independent pools, opened at Five Farms in 1996.

The John Muir Benefit Golf Tournament began in 1997 and its proceeds go towards the continued care of Van Cortlandt Park.

Beginning in 1999, Clearview Golf Course received a sophisticated irrigation system designed to combat erosion and improve course conditions.

In 2001, a fire damaged the house, but the tragedy provided an opportunity to return the building to its original state.

New tennis courts, also at Five Farms, debuted in 2007.

2008 also saw the construction of a new Golf Shop adjacent to the Clubhouse, allowing the old Golf Shop to be transformed into the Fitness Center.