The Saint Andrew’s Golf Club was founded when Scottish sportsman John Reid gathered his friends at a pasture in Yonkers, New York, on February 22, 1888, for what became the first official round of golf in the United States. Armed with a handful of clubs and balls imported from his homeland (and perhaps a wee dram to fight the February chill?) Reid roughed out a three-hole course and thus made history in the rolling hills of Westchester.
Reid and his buddies dubbed themselves “The Apple Tree Gang” to memorialize the tree located at the subsequent apple orchard course site where the gentlemen hung their coats and wicker decanters of whisky. A few months later, on November 14, 1888 at a formal meeting at Reid’s home, The Saint Andrew’s Golf Club was founded.
After a re-location or two, Reid’s legacy lives on at The Saint Andrew’s Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, which claims with some great justification to being America’s oldest enduring golf club.
“The finest thing The Saint Andrew’s Golf Club did in starting the game of golf was...that they started it right, with the right traditions,” said legendary champion Bobby Jones.Saint Andrew’s has a rich history, including it's role as a founding member of the United States Golf Association (USGA) in December 1894. The club also hosted the first unofficial U.S. Amateur as well as the first “open” championship.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo
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