Knoll's Club (West Course)
Parsippany, NJ (NYC Metro area)
Architect - Charles Banks, restored by George Bahto
Par 70
'08 Fees: $67 weekdays, $86 weekends, includes mandatory cart
A worthy alternative to Bethpage Black
By Jay Flemma, GolfChannel.com
Posted: July 21, 2008
While public golfers everywhere celebrate the restoration of fabled Bethpage Black to conditions deserving of a venerable classic, another restoration of equal historical import is finishing in the shadow of the George Washington Bridge in Parsippany, N.J.
George Bahto, an expert in the designs of Seth Raynor’s protégé, Charles Banks, anticipates completing most work at The Knoll Club’s West Course, by this spring. When he’s finished, not only will The Knoll showcase many holes made famous at Raynor and Macdonald’s National Golf Links of America, but it can claim as spectacular and unlikely a return to glory as Bethpage Black.
Built in 1930 by thirty millionaires, the Great Depression devastated the club. What cost the founders $2,000,000 to build was sold only seven years later as a distressed property for $110,000. After changing hands several times, the club was finally bought by the Town of Parsippany.
Years of indifference had triggered decay. Some fairways moved over thirty yards from their originally planned corridors, changing the strategic requirements of the hole or removing them entirely. Bunkers, deemed “out of play” off the tee because of technological advances in equipment, were filled in. The course looked completely unrecognizable as the work of Charles Banks with one exception; nobody changed the greens. Their fiendishly intricate internal contours - worthy of mention beside mighty Winged Foot or Oakmont - remained unspoiled, a miracle that persevered during the long period of doldrums.
Bahto was an unlikely hero. Part hard-boiled, no nonsense, Navy airman, part pragmatic dry cleaning business owner, nothing outwardly indicates a gift for golf course architecture, but his passion for The Knoll spurred him to accurately restore the course to the specifications found in the oldest known aerial photos from the 1930’s; there are no modifications or “enhancements.” “We put it back as it was built” Bahto says firmly. “I guard the original design of these greens with my life.”
The greens are a priceless part of the region’s golf heritage. The Knoll showcases many designs found at both National and Shinnecock, including, for the par-3s, a Redan, a Short, a Biarritz and an Eden. There are also replicas of the Road Hole, a “Double Plateau” green with vicious swales and three tiers, and a Punchbowl, among others.
“It’s another miracle for Tri-State area public golfers” agrees one NYC public player. “It’s nearly impossible for public golfers to play a Macdonald, Raynor or Banks course, so Bahto’s providing a timeless gift to all New York golfers.”
The Knoll Country Club - West Course
Knoll and Greenbank Roads
Parsippany, NJ
973.263.7110
www.knollcc.com