Devereux Emmet (December 11, 1861 – December 30, 1934) was a pioneering American golf course architect who, according to one source, designed more than 150 courses worldwide.[1]
Emmet graduated from Columbia University in 1883;[4] in 1889 he married Ella B. Smith in an elaborate wedding at her home in New York City.[5] Miss Smith, born in 1858, was the daughter of Judge J. Lawrence Smith and a niece of Alexander Turney Stewart. Ella's sister Elizabeth "Bessie" Springs Smith was the wife of architect Stanford White.[6] The couple had two children, Richard Smith Emmet (born October 1889) and Devereux Emmet, Jr. (born January 1897).[7]
Golf course design career
On a vacation in England he spent time with his friend, Charles B. Macdonald, who was measuring British golf courses in preparation for the design of the National Golf Links of America. Emmet's first design was Island Golf Links, a predecessor of Garden City Golf Club.[6] A friend of his remarked:
Emmet could not possibly conceive of any other use to which any given piece of real estate could be put except to lay out golf links on it.[2]
In 1924 he hired Alfred H. Tull as a design associate, and in 1929 made him a partner in the firm of Emmet, Emmet and Tull. The Tull-Emmet partnership continued until Emmet's death in 1934.[8]
Amateur golf
Emmet was a talented amateur golfer. He made the quarter-finals of the 1904 British Amateur and won the Bahamas Amateur at the age of 66.[6] In 1916, after he won the father-son tournament at Sleepy Hollow Country Club with Devereux Emmet, Jr., the United States Golf Association instituted the so-called architects rule that barred golf course architects from competing as amateurs in tournaments.[9]
18th hole (formerly the 17th) of the Blue Course of the Congressional Country Club
Emmet designed many of his courses in an era of wooden-shafted clubs. Because the holes are often short by current standards many of his designs have since been reworked.
Note: Dates indicate when the course opened. Note: This is a partial list, portions of which were taken from WorldGolf.[10]
Green Meadow Club, Rye, New York, 1917 - known today as Willow Ridge Country Club. The Green Meadow Golf Club was an offshoot of The Apawamis Club and formed in 1917 directly adjacent to Apawamis but with frontage on North Street. In fact, in 1927 the two clubs considered consolidating.[16][17]
