Deepdale Golf Club is a private golf club in

Manhasset, New York Manhasset is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), New York. It is considered the anchor communi ...

, just east of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on Long Island.

Early years

The club was founded by

William K. Vanderbilt II William Kissam Vanderbilt II (October 26, 1878 – January 8, 1944) was an American motor racing enthusiast and yachtsman, and a member of the prominent Vanderbilt family. Early life He was born on October 26, 1878, in New York City, the second ...

in 1924, using part of his Deepdale summer estate at Lake Success.

Charles B. Macdonald Charles Blair Macdonald (November 14, 1855 – April 21, 1939) was a major figure in early American golf. He built the first 18-hole course in the United States, was a driving force in the founding of the United States Golf Association, won the f ...

designed the course, assisted by

Seth Raynor Seth Jagger Raynor (May 7, 1874 – January 23, 1926) was an American golf course architect and engineer. He designed approximately 85 golf courses in about 13 years, his first in 1914, at age 40. His mentor was Charles Blair Macdonald, the creat ...

. The Deepdale Golf Club was incorporated on 26 October 1924 as a private club with a strictly limited membership. Noted members in the past included the

Duke of Windsor Duke of Windsor was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 8 March 1937 for the former monarch Edward VIII, following his abdication on 11 December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a ...

and President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

. In the 1950s suburbs began to be built in the region, and in 1954 the

Long Island Expressway Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mensur ...

was built, cutting through the north end of the course. The club bought the nearby

Joseph Peter Grace, Sr. Joseph Peter Grace Sr. (June 9, 1872 – July 15, 1950) was an American businessman, polo player, and owner of Thoroughbred horses in the sport of steeplechase racing. Early life Grace was born on June 9, 1872, in Great Neck, New York. He was th ...

estate and had a new course designed by

Dick Wilson Dick Wilson (July 30, 1916 – November 18, 2007) was an American actor who was best known as grocery store manager Mr. George Whipple in more than 500 Charmin bathroom tissue television commercials (1965–89, 1999–2000). Biography Dick W ...

. The Grace mansion was used as the clubhouse.

1955 Calcutta scandal

The prestigious club was the location of the 1955 Deepdale Calcutta handicapping scandal. A

Calcutta auction A Calcutta auction is an open auction held in conjunction with a golf tournament, horse race or similar contest with multiple entrants. It is popular in backgammon, the Melbourne Cup, and college basketball pools during March Madness. Culcutta a ...

, named after the

Royal Calcutta Turf Club The Royal Calcutta Turf Club (RCTC) is a horse racing organisation which was founded in 1847 in Calcutta, British India (now Kolkata). Horse events and sports were initially organised for the British cavalry at Akra before they were moved to the ...

, is a form of betting in which the competitors in tournament are auctioned off to bidders in a pool. The "owners" of the winning team split their portion of the pool with the players. Calcuttas were often rigged, with golfers faking their handicaps or accepting bribes to lose. In 1955 two three-handicap golfers entered an amateur tournament at Deepdale. They gave their handicaps as 17 and 18, scored a net 58-57 and won by five strokes. They and the syndicate that backed them each won $16,000 from a $45,000 pool. The scandal emerged after one of the players admitted what he had done in a letter to the President of the club, and the story reached the newspapers. As a result of the scandal, the

United States Golf Association The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

formally outlawed Calcuttas.

Course today

The course today is from its longest tees. Walking is allowed. It has a par value of 70, a rating of 72.6 and a slope of 135. Some celebrity players have included

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

Tom Brokaw Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American retired network television journalist and author. He first served as the co-anchor of ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anchor and managing editor of '' ...

and

Sean Connery Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...

. More recent members include

Sidney Poitier Sidney Poitier ( ; February 20, 1927 – January 6, 2022) was an American actor, film director, and diplomat. In 1964, he was the first black actor and first Bahamian to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He received two competitive ...

Tiki Barber Atiim Kiambu "Tiki" Barber (; born April 7, 1975) is an American former football running back who played for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons. He played college football for the University of Virginia. B ...

and

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

. As of 2006 the course was rated 36 in the list of America's "100 Most Prestigious Golf Clubs" published by Golf Connoisseur magazine. In March 2006 it was reported that the village of North Hills, an extremely wealthy community, was looking into using eminent domain laws to condemn the club and convert it to a semi-public course for use by local residents. Given the wealth of the village residents and the wealth of the club members, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the contest as "a battle of Goliath against Goliath."

References

Citations Sources * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deepdale Golf Club North Hills, New York Golf clubs and courses in New York (state) Golf clubs and courses designed by Charles B. Macdonald 1924 establishments in New York (state) Sports venues in Nassau County, New York