History & Course Tour

Devereux Emmet, Course Architect

Devereux Emmet was born in Pelham, New York, on December 11, 1861, one of eight children of William Jenkins Emmet and Julia Colt Pierson.

Devereux Emmet was a pioneering American golf course architect who designed more than 150 courses worldwide. Devereux Emmet designed and built McGregor Links Country Club in 1921. Some of his designs included Congressional Country Club, Garden City Golf Club, Engineers Country Club and Bethpage State Park,

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. 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 "Architect’s Rule" that barred golf course architects from competing as amateurs in tournaments.

Course Tour

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Hole 1 / 460 yards

There is a long straight-away for a starter. It measures 460 yards. Nothing short of two real shots with wooden clubs will reach this green in two. The player in driving has the option of attempting a long carry, which if successful, will permit him to reach the green with a good brassie, or if playing more conservatively and reaching the green in three. The green is large and rolling and is backed by hillocks.
Hole 2 / 435 yards

This hole is somewhat similar to hole 1. Its green is backed by rising ground with big sand traps showing white on both sides. It is 435 yards long.
Hole 3 / 224 yards

The Sahara hole of the course is modeled after the famous Sahara of the Royal St. George’s Links at Sandwich England. It is 224 yards long and is one of the best holes at McGregor. The green can be reached by a regular whale of a drive, but nothing less is good enough. A player may reach safety by shooting either up a valley to the left or over a hill to the right. From either position he may reach the rather cupped green with a pitch. If he pitches too far he runs down a hill beyond.
Hole 4 / 292 yards

A typical drive and pitch hole of 292 yards. The tee is situated on high ground in a pretty grove of pines and oaks. The approach can be run up on to the green but the ball must be pitched and stopped short. There is a steep declivity into a big hollow back of the green, so that an overplay is severely penalized.
Hole 5 / 155 yards

An iron hole. A pear shaped green resting among natural sand hills and grassy hollows is located 155 yards from the tee. The natural contour of the surrounding and the tee are ideal. The tee is located on the high ground and every detail of the green can be plainly seen from it. The hills and hollows that surround the green make it just sufficiently visible for the player to have opportunity to size up the difficulties that confront him. Shorter players can easily reach the green with a spoon.
Hole 6 / 545 yards

A three shotter 545 yards long. Two fine wooden club shots will put the player on the elevated spot from which this green can be reached with a mashie in three. The green is unique in shape and surroundings. It is on top of a sharp rise of ground and is nestled among enormous natural sand traps and bunkers.
Hole 7 / 441 yards

A long two shot hole which has been pronounced the best on the course. It is 441 yards from tee to cup and is very difficult. The play, for the most part, being over a series of natural and bunkers and the fairway resembling an ocean ground swell.
Hole 8 / 442 yards

This hole, 442 yards long, has the same wonderful ground swell as hole 7. It is shaped slightly dog’s leg.
Hole 9 / 355 yards

The tee shot for this 355 yard hole offers a nice choice to the player. He may play safely to valley to the left or he may elect to carry an enormous sane expanse in front of the tee. The latter shot, if successful, will put him in a position to make short pitch and run shot to a plateau, on which is located the doubled decked green directly below the piazza of the club house. The player who elects to take the easier way to the left will have a blind second shot for the green. The ninth fairway abounds in wavy undulations similar to those which pass interest to the play on the sixth, seventh and eight holes.
Hole 10 / 357 yards

The hole runs off into a beautiful wild valley surround by grove of white pine and locust. The green surrounded by spreading pine is reached but a high iron second shot over a large sand bunker. There is a sharp drop amongst the pine trees behind it which provides a heavy penalty for too much distance. The hole is 357 yards long.
Hole 11 / 241 yards

This is another driver’s hole. It is 241 yards long, over a big carry to a green against a slope with a deep natural sand bunker on the left. By playing short to the right from the tree, the green may be reached with a pitch shot over another natural sand hill which is to the right and in front of the green.
Hole 12 / 460 yards

A great premium is put on placing the tee shot on this 460 yard hole. If one plays to the right over a sand trap, he reaches a spot from which he can see the flag and reach it with a fine brassie shot. Jim Barnes or Jock Hutchinson would probably make the green with a long iron. The green is large and being against a rise of ground, is ideally placed and shaped by nature for this kind of a hole.
Hole 13 / 108 yards

A mashie hole, 108 yards long. Played from a hill across a valley to a green perched on another hill among natural sand traps, the hole form the back tee will be found to be on dog the most testing mashie shots in this country.
Hole 14 / 378 yards

The tee shot is blind, except form the short course tee. The beautifully shaped green is visible for the next shot – a good mid-iron. The distance is 378 yards. The fairway of this long three shotter, skirts woodland of mingled white pine and white birch. It will take three splendid shots to reach the green and the second will have to be placed just about right to carry a diagonal gully were the fairway narrows considerably. In fact, the tee shot will have to be almost perfect in order to make the second any sort of success.
Hole 15 / 585 yards

The green is on two levels and calls for a running approach. There is a dip in the fairway in front of it and a distinct bank or terrace running up to it. The hole is 585 yards long.
Hole 16 / 377 yards

A 377 yard drive and iron hole. The green is on a natural plateau between large bunkers. It calls for a long drive and a well-played iron shot to make the par four. From the championship tee, this hole is trying test of par golf even for the experts.
Hole 17 / 434 yards

The Alps hole, 434 yards in length, is straight away over a very long carry. Easier and more safe shots may be made to the left. The second shot for the long hitter is a high long iron or spoon shot over a formidable hazard to a large hallowed green very much banked at the rear. The shorter players get on in three. For them the drive is to the left and the nest shot to the right in a small valley from which the green can be reached with a short mashie shot; or they may play in an iron to an area of fairway on top of a hill overlooking the putting green. This hole is very similar to the Alps at the National Links at Southampton Long island, which was modelled after the famous Seventeenth Hole at Prestwick, Ayrshire, Scotland.
Hole 18 / 146 yards

This mid-iron hole, 146 yards long. It extends through a peep hole in the white pines to a banked and extremely picturesque green, backed by white pine trees, which is situated just below the club house. The green is guarded in front and on the sides by natural sand hollows and traps. The flag may be placed so that the shot becomes a very difficult test of iron play. For the players of the short course, the hole, while not so difficult will require an accurate shot from the tee in order to hole out in par.