Date: 6/18/25

188 Knickerbocker Road, Tenafly, NJ 07670. Phone: 201-568-1460; www.knickerbocker.cc.

Bill Hook, PGA head professional, whook@knickerbocker.cc.

8:15 – 9:00 am — Bag drop, locker room, coffee/tea service

8:45 – 10:15 am — Practice range, putting green.

10:30 – 11:30 am — Inside Presentations: MGWA member David Barrett, author of The Greatest U.S.

Opens; Jaeger Kovich, renovations architect, Proper Golf; Chuck Stogel, Rules of the Day.

Special Agenda: Dave Anderson Memorial Tribute, including discussion panel with moderator

MGWA president Hank Gola; KCC member Phil Fabrizio; MGWA members Mark Cannizzaro,

Martin Davis, Bill Pennington

11:30 – 12:30 pm — Luncheon, final practice time

12:45 pm — Assemble at carts, instructions, proceed to starting holes

1:00 pm — Shotgun golf

5:45 – 7:00 pm — Awards, refreshments

About the Club and Course:  “The year was 1914. Babe Ruth made his Major League debut, Charlie Chaplin his first film, sirloin steak was 26 cents a pound and a new car cost $550. In Tenafly, New Jersey, Malcom MacKay and a handful of friends had a vision – and that vision became Knickerbocker Country Club.”

Originally designed by Donald Ross, the first nine holes at Knickerbocker opened on July 4, 2015, and the second nine the following season. At one time, there was a third nine. The current 18 holes are a compilation. Subsequent architectural work is credited to Herbert Strong, Geoffrey Cornish, Ron Forse Design and, most recently, to Jaeger Kovich. The site, just over 10 miles from midtown Manhattan and occupying land both east and west of Knickerbocker Road, originally featured forest, wetlands and various estates. Bill Quirin, author of Golf Clubs of the MGA, has written: Knickerbocker is “deceptively difficult, the result of narrow fairways, sharp angles and small greens, The best-known hole is the par-4 12th which, ranging 400 to 434 yards, plays from an elevated tee into a wide fairway sliced across by a brook at the end of the drive zone. A large pond hugs the left side of the angled green.”

Knickerbocker has had just over a handful of head golf professionals through its 111 years. An accomplished competitor, Otto Greiner ran the golf shop for 32 years (1953-84). During his tenure he won the 1954 Met Open, 1956 New Jersey PGA, the inaugural Dodge Open in 1964 and played in 10 U.S. Opens. Sam Snead called Greiner “the boldest putter I’ve ever seen.” The first New Jersey Open was played over a “recently remodeled” Knickerbocker course in May 2021 with winner Peter O’Hara of Shackamaxon shooting 148 for 36 holes. Subsequent golf pros include Ed Whitman over 26 seasons and current golf director Bill Hook, who has been on site since 2011 and was the 2024 New Jersey Club Professional of the Year.

In addition to golf and first-class practice/learning facilities, KCC features racquet sports, swimming and an upgraded, multifunctional clubhouse.

The Current Course: There are four sets of tees, stretching from 5,790 yards to 6,726, with par at 72 for men and 74 for women. With four par-3s, there is one par-5 on the front nine and three par-5s on the back.

About Jaeger Kovich: Born and raised in New York City, Kovich worked for Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner before establishing Proper Golf, which is based in New Providence, NJ. Having played golf since he was a teenager, Kovich became fascinated with course and hole design, especially after the seventh hole debacle at Shinnecock Hills during the 2004 U.S. Open. A 2009 graduate of Hobart College in upstate New York, he wrote a thesis as a student analyzing architect A.W. Tillinghast’s design theory.

The list of courses on Kovich’s resume includes work at Old Sandwich in Massachusetts; Cedarbrook, Laurel Links and the Creek on Long Island; Streamsong Black in Florida; Ridgewood, Tavistock, Morris County, Canoe Brook and Suburban (host for the MGWA’s 2025 spring meeting) in New Jersey; the Patterson Club in Connecticut; Aronimink near Philadelphia; Yahnundasis (a Walter Travis original) in Utica, NY; and Fenway, Saint Andrews and Manhattan Woods in Westchester/Rockland, NY.

About Dave Anderson: Born May 6, 1929, in Troy, NY, David Poole Anderson was a decades-long member of both the Met Golf Writers Board of Directors and Knickerbocker Country Club, which is located not far from where he lived in Tenafly, NJ. He died on Oct. 4, 2018, at the age of 89. Newspapering was certainly in Anderson’s blood: his grandfather was publisher of the Troy Times and his father was the advertising director. Moving at an early age, Anderson grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, graduated in 1947 from Xavier High School in New York City and in 1951 from Holy Cross College.

Anderson worked for a variety of New York papers before joining the New York Times in 1966, where he acquired his own regular sports column in 1971. In the course of his career — he retired from the Times full time in 2007, although his last column ran in 2017 — he won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1981, one of only three sports columnists to win the prestigious award. The other two: fellow NY Times columnist Red Smith in 1976 and Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times in 1990. Anderson authored 21 books and more than 350 magazine articles.

Upon his passing, he donated his notes, papers, writings, books, memorabilia and other material to Knickerbocker CC, which has established a Dave Anderson Library at the club. The library and a special panel discussion about the life and times of Dave Anderson will be a featured part of our MGWA visit on June 18th.

Competition:   As always, everyone who wishes is invited to play golf, whether in competition or not. For those who choose to play in the competition, golfers must have USGA/GHIN indexes.

Better Ball Tournament:   The Quill & Tee Two-Person Better Ball Championship will take place for those who enter. Please form your own two-person teams, but if you need assistance in finding a partner, please indicate that on the registration form. Our prizes for the day include two-person team winners, plus nearest-to-the-pins at Holes No. 4 and 11 for which every golfer is eligible.

For the Q&T Better Ball, regular GHIN handicaps will be adjusted for the Knickerbocker tee boxes and computed at 85%.

PLEASE NOTE: The Met Golf Association has discontinued conducting a Better Ball competition, formerly known as the Met Net, for both men and women. Clubs, including Quill & Tee, previously conducted tournaments from which a two-person team would advance to the MGA competition. In its place, the MGA in 2025 is inaugurating the MGA/MetLife Doubles Championship, open to all members of MGA clubs, in men’s, women’s, mixed and seniors categories at an entry fee of $250 per twosome. Here is the URL link to information about the new MGA event: www.golfgenius.com/pages/5410907.  Unfortunately, this change means that our Q&T Better Ball winners will no longer advance to any MGA tournament.

Caddies:   Forecaddies will accompany each golf group at Knickerbocker. The minimum fee is $60 per golfer, payable in cash at the end of the round. A gratuity for good service is allowed.

Dress Code, Cellphones: Appropriate golf attire. Please do not wear hats indoors except locker rooms. No talking on cellphones except in the parking lot and locker rooms. Texting is OK, but please refrain from texting during the indoor meeting session.

You are welcome to use locker and shower facilities. Please tip the locker room attendant accordingly.

Directions: www.knickerbocker.cc/directions/

Entries:   MGWA entry is handled online via metgolfwriters.org. Fee for the day is $110. Questions about online entry should be addressed to Robin Sauerhaft, MGWA Client Administrator (914-347-4653; rsauerhaft@mgagolf.org). Entry deadline is 2:00 pm, Thursday, June 12th. No refunds after that date.

Cancellation Policy:  Please read the “MGWA Meeting/Outing Cancellation Policy” found under “Meeting and Outing Announcements” on our website (metgolfwriters.org).