Lounging In The Genius Of Wendehack’s Clubhouses

As an aficionado of great golf course architecture, I always appreciate the opportunities I have to play the best layouts in the land and savor not only the sheer brilliance of the designs but also the talents of the men who laid them out. Like the East and West tracks at Winged Foot that A.W. Tillinghast fashioned in the early 1920s, and the gem that Donald Ross crafted shortly thereafter at the Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, New Jersey, just west of New York City.

C. C. Wendehack Photo: Courtesy USGA Museum

In recent years, I have become equally as intrigued with the majestic clubhouses at some of those places – and the artists who built them. Among the most notable was C.C. (for Clifford Charles) Wendehack, and his work – which includes Winged Foot and Mountain Ridge as well as Ridgewood and Forsgate Country Clubs in New Jersey and Bethpage on Long Island – is as highly regarded as the golf courses they overlook. In fact, critics often laud him for leading a Golden Age of clubhouse architecture in America at th...