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.
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 the same time that designers such as Tillinghast and Ross were contributing to one for golf courses in this country. And it is often reported that Wendehack, who also oversaw some architectural alterations on the iconic, Tudor Revival clubhouse at Baltusrol Golf Club, designed and built more clubhouses during that era than any other architect in the land.
In addition to being a highly skilled designer, Wendehack distinguished himself as the leading authority on clubhouse architecture, writing the definitive book on the subject, Golf and Country Clubs, and contributing articles on that discipline to such notable publications as Architectural Forum. In those pieces, he shared his philosophies on clubhouse design and thoughts on the history of that discipline and work that others had produced in that realm. He opined on the importance of location, for example, and that of human traffic flow with regards to the positioning of, say, the locker room vis a vis the pro shop and making sure that golfers enjoyed fairly easy access from the building to the first and 10th tees as well as the ninth and 18th greens. Wendehack liked a good grill room, too, largely for the comfort and camaraderie it promoted. And while it is not clear whether he was much of a golfer, he frequently praised the sport for the way it contributed to one’s mental and physical health. To him, the clubhouse was a key part of that experience.
One of his more provocative beliefs was that there were only two distinctly American forms of architecture – the skyscraper and the clubhouse for modern golf and country clubs – due to other building types and styles evolving from European design.
For all those things, Wendehack came to be regarded as the Tillinghast of clubhouse architecture, and that seems an entirely appropriate designation considering how stellar Wendehack’s work in that realm truly was – and how closely associated the two men are for all they did at Winged Foot.
It is also important to note that Wendehack, who favored Tudor Revival, Colonial and Spanish Revival styles, also designed a number of private homes during his career. And many of those have been named to National and State Registers of Historic Places.
When it comes to evaluating Wendehack’s work, I do so as a golfer, not a critic of architecture. And I consider the clubhouses he designed and built at Mountain Ridge and Winged Foot to be two of my favorites.
Biographical information on Wendehack is somewhat sketchy. Some reports have him being born in 1884, and others a year later. He has been described as a native of New York City and also Montclair, New Jersey. It is generally agreed that in his late teens, he took a job in New York City with the architect Donn Barber, who was one of the first Americans ever to graduate from the hallowed Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. According to a 2019 article in Met Golfer magazine, Wendehack left Barber’s firm after nine years to travel to Europe and undertake “his own study tour, taking in the baronial country homes of England, the sumptuous chateaux of France and the Palladian perfections of Italy.”
Upon his return, the architect hung out his own shingle, with offices in New York City and Montclair.
When it comes to evaluating Wendehack’s work, I do so as a golfer, not a critic of architecture. And I consider the clubhouses he designed and built at Mountain Ridge and Winged Foot to be two of my favorites.
True to form, Wendehack got the location exactly right at Mountain Ridge. The stately Tudor Revival edifice with the brick-and-fieldstone exterior and steep-sloped slate roofs sits on the highest point of the property. The sweeping views – from the expansive dining room and bar inside and the flagstone terrace outside – make it a very pleasing place to enjoy a pre-round bite to eat or a proper beverage when play is done.
The clubhouse at Winged Foot may be even better. It, too, is crafted in the Tudor style and features a steep slate roof as well as stone that was quarried from club grounds during course construction. And though it is not perched on a promontory like that at Mountain Ridge, the building nonetheless offers very pleasing panoramas of both the East and West Courses. It is also visible from many parts of the golf course and lends a certain Old World elegance to the round as well as a reminder of what a special place Winged Foot is.
In addition to the vistas, I appreciate how deftly Wendehack situated the pro shop, so it is just outside the two-level locker room. It is also right off the entrance road, so golfers can easily drop off and pick up their clubs after games.
Wendehack also crafted a brilliant grill room, with its long wooden bar that not only serves as a watering hole for club members and their guests but also as a halfway house for golfers on the East literally coming through the structure to get from the 10th green to the 11th tee – and those moving from the ninth green to the 10th tee on the West passing right by it. The wood tables and walls – and the plaques celebrating the winners of top club events – only contribute to the aura for those who assemble there for food and drink before and after games. So does the fireplace. It’s a place so well steeped in golf, and in golf history. Every time I am there, I cannot help but recall Ben Crenshaw’s line about the grill room at Winged Foot being the hardest bunker to get out of in golf.
I never want to leave there, either. Or Mountain Ridge, for that matter.