A DISTINGUISHED HISTORY
Where the Big AppleMeets the Gold Coast
Our unique Club lifestyle and never-met-a-stranger attitude has been legendary for generations, beginning with our founding in 1927. New York notables and national celebrities including Babe Ruth, Whitey Ford, Bob Hope, and governors Al Smith and Hugh Carey — to name just a few — have walked our fairways, chipped out of our bunkers, and enjoyed our signature North Hills hospitality in the Clubhouse.
NHCC’s enduring style and substance continue on today as vibrant as ever. We remain dedicated to maintaining and enhancing our engaging membership experience and warm, welcoming and friendly atmosphere for generations to come.
Welcome to North Hills Country Club, a spacious, relaxing and year-round retreat that entices you to enjoy Long Island life to its fullest through engaging experiences enjoyed with family, friends, and fellow Members.
Our Story
North Hills is founded on Long Island’s Gold Coast by former members of Bayside-based Belleclaire Country Club. Located in Douglaston, the North Hills course featured this elegant Spanish Mission-style clubhouse designed by celebrated golf architect Clifford C. Wendehack.
Many former members of Whitestone-based Clearview Golf and Yacht Club join North Hills after that club was purchased by The City of New York during The Great Depression.
Depicted here is a photo of four-term New York Governor and Presidential candidate Al Smith tallying his scorecard after a round at North Hills in 1930.
Babe Ruth frequents North Hills and is an honorary member. His golfing days at North Hills were captured in this “Ode to the Babe” penned in 2003 by a former caddie, Robert M. Guinessey (excerpted, click here to read full poem):
The North Hills Country Club near the Long Island Sound.
Was as beautiful a layout as could ere be found.
The caddy pen was like an oversized chicken coop.
It’s where all the guys sat while awaiting a loop.
Well, the Sultan of Swat’s bag brought the guys to their feet
For, to carry his bag was most surely a treat.
He was fun to be with, to listen to his chatter.
I can imagine what the Umps got when he was the batter.
I made one twenty-five per bag, and that wasn’t hay!
No sir, and caddying for Babe Ruth just made my day!
North Hills commissions Robert Trent Jones, Sr. to design a new course on the Allen-Boggs-Levitt estates in Manhasset. Club legend has it that an extension of the Vanderbilt Parkway ran through the land on which the course would be constructed. The automobile racecourse and later toll road was designed in the early 1900’s by railroad heir William K. Vanderbilt, II and was also known as Rumrunner’s Road given its use by bootleggers during Prohibition. The extension purportedly ran near the site of the 13th green and is commemorated by a signpost marking its significance to those who play the course today.
Depicted here is a scene from the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race. Photo courtesy of Garden City Village Archives.
Robert Trent Jones, Sr. surveys the new Manhasset property, and writes in a letter to NHCC’s President that the property’s "location and accessibility are unsurpassed in the metropolitan area. The natural flow of the land invites the creation of an exceptionally beautiful golf course.”
Construction of the course begins shortly thereafter. This is a photo of hole #1 under construction.
As his layout nears completion, Jones describes it in a March 30, 1961 letter to the membership:
“The sequence of the holes is such that no two succeeding holes are alike in either length or shot values. The long tees and the generously proportioned undulating greens with their varied pin positions offer endless combinations of dynamic playing conditions. The course provides a fair test of golf for everyone – fair pars for the experts and easy bogeys for the average player.”
The new Manhasset course opens for play to rave reviews from members and the press alike.
The Long Island Press, in a July 11, 1962 article, writes: “We had the privilege of touring new North Hills with the Eastern director of the United States Golf Association last weekend, and the disclosure was breathtaking. Jones had carved out one of his masterpieces.” Click here to read entire article.The Long Island Star-Journal writes in a July 6, 1966 article: “Relatively few are aware that the ‘Dr. Frankenstein’ and ‘Monster Maker’ of the bunkered world is not a great golfer, or golf president or even a tournament chairman.
He’s an architect, who created new North Hills CC, Manhasset. Robert Trent Jones is his name and the mere mention of the words ‘Trent Jones’ is sufficient to make even the most course-hardened pro golfer scowl. He describes North Hills as a true test of golf for both pro and weekender, the severity of the course depending on the placement of the tee markers and flags on the greens.”
In a review of top Long Island courses, The New York Times writes:
“Jones has gained worldwide popularity. North Hills is well aware of the Jones wizardry in carving out a magnificent course in 1962. North Hillsites are intrigued by Mr. Jones’ par-five first hole, a 90-degree dogleg that the pro, Joe Ennis, terms ‘intimidating.’ Ed (Whitey) Ford, the ex-Yankee pitcher and member of the Gold Coast Club, describes the first hole as ‘a strong candidate for being the toughest opening hole of any metropolitan course.’"
Click here to read entire article.
© 1977 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved. Used under license.
North Hills hosts the LPGA Western Union Classic. Pictured here are spectators watching the tee shot on North Hills’ opening hole during the tournament, which was won by LPGA Hall of Famer Judy Rankin.
NHCC hosts five “Ike” Championships, one of the metro area’s premier stroke-play amateur tournaments, and periodically hosts professional and amateur events sponsored by the Metropolitan Golf Association and others.
Pictured here are several North Hills members with legendary golf fanatic Bob Hope and former New York Governor Hugh Carey during the “Ike” held at North Hills circa 1980.
Rees Jones, Robert Trent’s son, updates the course. Newsday writes that Rees “is known as ‘the Open Doctor’ for having reshaped courses — notably Bethpage Black — to host the U.S. Open” and that North Hills “was reborn, with completely rehabilitated bunkers, subtle contouring and a new short game practice facility, all done with utmost care for his father's original design.”
© 2016 Newsday. All rights reserved. Used under license.
The Jones legacy continues at North Hills. The club recently became a proud member of the Robert Trent Jones Society and remains faithful to his original vision, while still managing to update the club’s grounds with modern conveniences. The course remains — as The Long Island Press first recognized — one of Robert Trent Jones’ masterpieces
