Fairview Country Club

Detailed description of Fairview Country Club

Fairview Country Club, is a Private, 18 hole golf course located in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The present day Fairview golf course opened in 1968. It was designed by Robert Trent Jones. Fairview Country Club golf course is a par 72 layout that plays to 6,717 yards for a course rating of 73.0 and a slope rating of 131.

Fairview’s two nines offer a marked contrast to each other. To score well on the relatively short front nine one must avoid water which is very much in play on five of the first seven holes. Then the golfer must rely on length and accuracy to score well on the longer back nine.

#2 is a scenic par five cut through the woods. Two bunkers flank the fairway to the left at the top of a sharp fall-off into the woods. Few players go for the green in two because a large pond dominates the final 100 yards with just a narrow landing area to the right. The green is elevated beyond the water but falls off steeply toward a pond on the left.

#5 is a short par-five that features a divided fairway. A large pond on the left side of the fairway leaves a relatively narrow landing area to the right approaching the green.

The club was founded in 1904 on land leased from the Fairview Links in Bronxville, the nine-hole course that also spawned Siwanoy. The lease ended after the 1907 season so the club moved to a farm in Elmsford. Within a few years that land was needed by New York City for an aqueduct so the club moved 500 yards across the road. A huge English Tudor mansion with a great view across the Saw Mill River Valley became the clubhouse.

Fairview’s caddie ranks also included the Farrell brothers, Johnny and Jimmy (the former won the 1928 U.S. Open); the Creavy brothers, Bill and Tom (the latter claimed the 1931 PGA); and Tony Manero, winner of the 1936 U.S. Open.

The new 18-hole golf course, designed by Donald Ross, opened in 1912. It served until 1968, when, as a result of the commercialization of the Elmsford area and the development of Interstate 287, the club moved to its present site in Greenwich where Robert Trent Jones designed a new course.