Trump National Golf Club Westchester

Trump National Golf Club Westchester
Club information
Coordinates 41°08′46″N 73°50′00″W / 41.14611°N 73.83333°W / 41.14611; -73.83333Coordinates: 41°08′46″N 73°50′00″W / 41.14611°N 73.83333°W / 41.14611; -73.83333
Location Briarcliff Manor, New York
Established 1922
Type Private
Owned by The Trump Organization
Total holes 18
Website Official website
Designed by Jim Fazio
Par 72
Length 7200

Trump National Golf Club Westchester is a private golf club in Briarcliff Manor, New York. Owned by Donald Trump, a businessman and President-elect of the United States, the 140-acre (57 ha) course has eighteen holes, with a 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m2) clubhouse. Founded in 1922 as Briarcliff Country Club, it later operated as Briar Hills Country Club and Briar Hall Golf and Country Club before Trump's purchase of the property in 1996. Trump renamed the club to match his other golf properties, and after its county, Westchester. He had the clubhouse and course rebuilt for its 2002 reopening; the course was designed by Jim Fazio.

History

Briar Hills pool, c. 1940

The club had its origins around 1895, with Briarcliff founder Walter W. Law's private nine-hole course on his estate, which became available to Briarcliff Lodge guests, and was then known as the Briarcliff Golf Club. In 1922, Devereux Emmet designed a course across the street with eighteen holes, and thus Briarcliff Country Club was founded that year.[1][2](p84) The name was changed in 1927 to avoid confusion, to Briar Hills Country Club.[2](p84)[3] Briar Hills opened in May 1929 with a new clubhouse; construction began in May 1928 and utilized local stones for the building's exterior. The interior was noted for its design and spaciousness.[4] In 1936, A. W. Tillinghast redesigned the course.[5] In 1948, Henry Law's son Theodore sold the club to local businessmen who renamed it Briar Hall Golf and Country Club.[3] The 1964 Metropolitan Open was hosted at Briar Hall; Jack Patroni won the championship.[6] In 1980, ownership of the club changed hands again.[3]

Henry Law, a son of village founder Walter W. Law, was among Briar Hill's founders.[7](p80) Among the club's directors were Henry Law and his son Theodore Gilman Law;[7](p80) Gene Sarazen was the club's golf professional in 1923-24,[3] followed by 1952 PGA Champion Jim Turnesa.[8]

Trump's purchase and redevelopment

At the time of Briar Hall's 1996 sale, the club had an 18-hole, 6,313 yards (5,773 m) golf course and 78,782 square feet (7,319 m2) clubhouse, seven tennis courts, an in-ground swimming pool, pro shop, maintenance building, and pool house.[1] Briar Hall had been taken over by the Marine Midland Bank, which then sold the property to Trump.[9] Trump bought Briar Hall Country Club for $7.5 million[10] in the foreclosure in December 1996[11] and ran the club until 1999, until he closed the property to begin its redevelopment.[12] The first general manager of the club, Chief Operating Officer Carolyn Kepcher, later became co-host on Trump's television show The Apprentice.[13] She was fired from the show and management position in August 2006.[14]

On March 16, 1999, Briarcliff was operating its mayoral election, and incumbent mayor Keith Austin ran unopposed. Write-ins supporting lawyer Richard Mattiaccio prompted a conflict involving hundreds of residents, which led to one arrest. The event took place near the polls at the Village Hall; Mattiaccio had gained supporters by criticizing Austin's weak opposition to Trump's club reconstruction plans. Many residents believed a large project would congest streets with construction vehicles and rip up the landscape.[11] In redesigning the club and its course, Trump hired golf course architect Jim Fazio, brother of Tom Fazio in the same profession.[15] Around the same time, the workmen resodded a village soccer field and assisted in constructing a new veterans' memorial in Briarcliff.[12] He also had the current 75,000-square-foot (7,000 m2) white clapboard and fieldstone clubhouse[16] built on the property.[10] At one time, due to residents' criticism, the clubhouse was reduced to 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2), eliminating guest rooms and special event halls. It was designed by Robert Lamb Hart Planners & Architects, and included three stories with lockers, a 150-seat restaurant, and top-floor lounge.[17] Other difficulties with the club's plans arose; the village planning board recognized villager concerns over golf tournaments, membership requirements, and pesticide use. And at the time of the club's reconstruction, Trump had three other golf clubs planned, including one in Seven Springs, an area within three towns which would require approval from all three, and one in the French Hill section of Yorktown.[16] Trump later dropped all of the plans, calling Westchester County "the toughest place to build on the planet".[16]

Reopening and further events

The first head golf professional was Frank Graniero.[9] The club's first nine holes opened on April 15, 2002, followed by the next nine on June 29, 2002. The club had a total cost of $30 million[3] or $40 million,[18] and was claimed to be the largest excavation project in Westchester County's history, with about 3,000,000-cubic-yard (2,300,000 m3) of earth moved. The thirteenth hole cost Trump $7 million, surrounded by an artificial 101-foot (31 m) black granite waterfall, which pumps 5,000 US gallons (18,900 l) a minute.[18]

A storm in June 2011 caused public utilities including the Briarcliff library, public pool, and playing fields to be flooded; the village claimed the nearby golf club's modifications to drainage systems were illegal and partially responsible for the flooding.[19] When President Obama was in Westchester in 2014, his staff attempted to schedule visits to local golf clubs including Trump National, none of which wanted to close their courses for the president to play. Trump replied to NBC 4 New York's report of the news with a widely circulated and publicized tweet—"If Obama resigns from office NOW, thereby doing a great service to the country—I will give him free lifetime golf at any one of my courses!"[20] In 2015, the club sued the town of Ossining to lower its worth from $13.5 million to $1.4 million in order to reduce property and school taxes; local residents complained because their own taxes would rise.[10] In 2016, the club revised its claims to $9 million, closer to the 2014 town estimate of $14.3 million.[21] Daniel Scavino, social media director for Trump's presidential campaign began working at Briar Hall Country Club as a caddie in 2009, while in high school. He was promoted several times, including to general manager of the club after Trump's purchase.[22][23] Trump's candidacy for the 2016 United States presidential election affected the club; Horace Greeley High School used the facility for its annual proms, which was protested by its students in late 2015 due to its connection to Trump as a political candidate.[24] The location for the 2016 prom has yet to be changed by student decision.[25] On June 7, 2016, Trump gave his nomination victory speech at the clubhouse; he had just won the Republican primaries.[26][27]

In July 2016, during Trump's presidential campaign, his opponent Hillary Clinton released a campaign video of one of the club's architects. The architect, Andrew Tesoro, described his dealings with the Trump Organization, where about a dozen employees met him at the finished clubhouse to negotiate reducing his fees. They pressured him into sending a reduced bill, of $50,000 instead of $140,000. After the organization failed to pay the bill, Tesoro met with Trump who convinced him to accept only $25,000 for his services. The Clinton campaign used the story as part of its effort to demonstrate that the Trump Organization harms small businesses.[28][29] Later during Trump's campaign, in September 2016, The Washington Post reported that a six-foot (1.8 m) painting of Trump may be on display at the club. Trump had purchased Michael Israel's work for $200,000 in 2007 through his charity, the Donald J. Trump Foundation. According to IRS regulations, the painting would have to be used for a charitable purpose, or donated to a charity, however Melania Trump had planned to hang it in the club's boardroom or conference room, and the artist later stated he believed it was at the clubhouse. Although the painting was purchased at a charity auction, where half of the Trump Foundation's check went to the charity, in September 2016 an IRS director deemed Trump to have violated IRS rules and President Barack Obama publicly criticized Trump's purchase.[30]

Current operations

In 2001, annual membership dues were stated to be $9,000 per member or $12,000 for a family, with an initial deposit of $250,000.[12] Before the 2008 recession, initiation fees were $100,000 to $150,000. As of late 2015, initiation fees were down to $50,000. Around that time, many new members were reportedly not charged an initiation fee or were no longer required by the club to fully pay it within five years. Annual dues were $19,400 a year.[31]

Property

The club is located on about 140 acres (60 ha) adjacent to Briarcliff Manor's central business district[32] and in a residential area near Pace University's Briarcliff campus[33] off Pine Road.[9] The property contains "The Residences at Trump National Golf Club", a series of sixteen attached townhouses ranging in size from 3,100–3,400 square feet (290–320 m2) and which were designed by William Devereaux & Associates.[12] Plans exist for an additional 71 condominiums; the site was approved for 87 home sites in 1987.[34] The club also includes a member restaurant, which serves Kobe beef burgers, tuna flown in daily from Honolulu, and Trump Ice bottled water.[35]

Notable members

Current members include former Yankees manager Joe Torre, and actors Jack Nicholson and Clint Eastwood.[36] Visiting players include Ron Howard, Regis Philbin, and Bobby Bonilla, who came for the course's reopening in 2002. Other visitors include Michael Jordan,[37] Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Billy Crystal, who joined Trump and members Bill Clinton and Joe Torre for the 2008 Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation Golf Classic at the club.[38][39]

Former US President Bill Clinton has been a member of the club since May 2003. Donald Trump has said that he bought the club partly "because he knew Bill Clinton would need a place to play". Part of the Clintons' gift for Bill's 65th birthday was a round of golf at Trump National with Hillary and Chelsea Clinton.[40]

The golf club is Eric Trump's home course. He raises about $3 million each year in an event there for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Mariano Rivera, the New York Knicks, and the Rangers also run charity tournaments there.[41]

In media

The club was shown on Trump's show The Apprentice, in season one's two-part finale for Bill Rancic's last challenge[42][43][44] and season 10's two-part finale for Clint Robertson's.[45]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Briar Hall Country Club goes on auction block". Real Estate Weekly. Hagedorn Publication. December 1, 1993. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Our Village: Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. 1902 to 1952. Historical Committee of the Semi–Centennial. 1952. OCLC 24569093.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Quirin, William L. (2004). "MCMA: the Metropolitan Club Managers Association". Q Publishing. p. 226. ISBN 1-931169-05-5. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Country Club To Open With Dinner-Dance" (PDF). Citizen-Sentinel. Ossining, New York. May 8, 1929. p. 10. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Tilly's Design Work". The Tillinghast Association. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Met Open Championship History". Metropolitan Golf Association. 2015. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  7. 1 2 Cheever, Mary (1990). The Changing Landscape: A History of Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough. West Kennebunk, Maine: Phoenix Publishing. ISBN 0-914659-49-9. LCCN 90045613. OCLC 22274920. OL 1884671M.
  8. ↑ "Jim Clark Meets Jim Turnesa In Ft. Wayne Playoff" (PDF). The Daily Argus. Mount Vernon, New York. August 25, 1952. p. 11. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Hlotyak, Elizabeth (September 25, 2000). "$100M Trump golf club under way in Briarcliff". Westchester County Business Journal. 39 (39). p. 11. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 McKay Wilson, David (September 4, 2015). "Trump seeks 90 percent tax cut at Westchester golf club". The Journal News. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
  11. 1 2 Leonard, Devin (April 5, 1999). "Trump's Garish Golf Course Plan Disrupts Quiet Westchester Town". Observer. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Brenner, Elsa (June 10, 2001). "In the Region/Westchester, Trump Takes a Golf Project From Rough to Fairway". The New York Times. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
  13. ↑ Stowe, Stacey (September 24, 2006). "Too Big for Your Boss". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Trump Fires 'Apprentice' Sidekick". San Francisco Chronicle. August 31, 2006. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  15. ↑ Noden, Merrell. "All in the Family". The Met Golfer. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  16. 1 2 3 McAleer Vizard, Mary (April 11, 1999). "In the Region/Westchester, Trump Pushes 2 Golf Projects Long in Negotiation". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  17. ↑ Prenon, Mary T. (March 2, 1998). "Trump Revises Golf Course Plans". Westchester County Business Journal. 37 (9). p. 13. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  18. 1 2 Kilgannon, Corey (June 30, 2002). "Development; The Course That Trump Built". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  19. ↑ Swaine, Jon (March 12, 2016). "How Trump's $50m Golf Club Became $1.4m When it Came Time to Pay Tax". The Guardian. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  20. ↑ Dienst, Jonathan (September 9, 2014). "President Obama Rejected From Top NY Golf Courses Over Labor Day Weekend: Sources". NBC New York. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  21. ↑ Ferran, Lee, Mosk, Matthew, Ross, Brian (May 18, 2016). "Donald Trump Still Claims Golf Course Worth Over $50M". ABC News. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  22. ↑ Moody, Chris (April 29, 2016). "How a Golf Caddie became Donald Trump's Campaign Confidant". CNN. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  23. ↑ Abel, Olivia J. (May 2009). "Playing the Trump Card". Hudson Valley Magazine. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  24. ↑ Lungariello, Mark (August 18, 2015). "Students: Dump Trump Golf Club as Prom Site". USA Today. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  25. ↑ Rappeport, Alan (August 19, 2015). "In Clintons' Town, a Call to Move a Prom Over Donald Trump's Politics". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  26. ↑ Deb, Sopan (June 8, 2016). "Trump delivers restrained victory speech with teleprompter". CBS News. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
  27. ↑ Parker, Ashley; Maggie, Haberman (June 8, 2016). "Donald Trump Softens His Tone, and the G.O.P. Hopes It Will Last". The New York Times. Retrieved September 19, 2016.
  28. ↑ Adams, Susan (July 13, 2016). "This Architect Says Trump Almost Destroyed His Business...". Forbes. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  29. ↑ Frizell, Sam (July 7, 2016). "How Hillary Clinton Is Hitting Donald Trump's Business Record on Two Fronts". Time. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  30. ↑ Fahrenthold, David A. (September 14, 2016). "Trump bought a 6-foot-tall portrait of himself with charity money. We may have found it.". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  31. ↑ Lungariello, Mark; Dougherty, Mike (July 8, 2015). "Trump Brand Could Face Backlash in Westchester". The Journal News. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  32. ↑ Brody, Loren (March 8, 1999). "Village still not satisfied with Briar Hall proposal". 38 (10). Westchester County Business Journal. p. 7. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  33. ↑ Wotapka, Dawn (January 7, 2011). "Pace's Suburban Campus Hits the Market". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  34. ↑ McAleer Vizard, Mary (January 23, 2000). "In the Region/Westchester, Approval Seems Near for a New Trump Golf Course". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  35. ↑ Kurtz, Andrea (2009). "The Nineteenth Hole". Hudson Valley Magazine. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  36. ↑ Leigh, Jeremy (2011). "Celebrity Golfers in the Hudson Valley: Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Mark Wahlberg, Vera Wang, and More". Westchester Magazine. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  37. ↑ "Trump: the Art of Golf". Westchester County Business Journal. August 5, 2002. p. 39.
  38. ↑ Fratti, Karen (March 7, 2016). "Who Will Michael Bloomberg Endorse For President? He's Not In The Running, But His Voice Still Matters". Romper. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  39. ↑ Barbaro, Michael; Chen, David W. (June 17, 2009). "For Bloomberg, Golf's a Foe With No Term Limits". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  40. ↑ Weinman, Sam (November 4, 2016). "Once upon a time, when Bill Clinton needed a golf haven, he turned to Donald Trump". Golf Digest. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  41. ↑ Doyle, Bill (March 12, 2015). "Lynch leaving The Haven for Trump National". Telegram. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  42. ↑ Stanley, Kathleen (April 7, 2005). "You're Hired!". Builder. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  43. ↑ "Down to the Wire". The Apprentice. Season 1. Episode 14. The GE Building, New York City. April 8, 2004. NBC.
  44. ↑ "Season Finale". The Apprentice. Season 1. Episode 15. The GE Building, New York City. April 15, 2004. NBC.
  45. ↑ Berman, Carol (December 9, 2010). "'The Apprentice' Season 10 Winner: Brandy Kuentzel is Hired". AOL. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
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Preceded by
Plainfield Country Club		 Host of the Metropolitan Open
1964 		Succeeded by
The Woodmere Club
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