n  1888, on Washington's Birthday (February 22 to be exact), John Reid and some friends laid out three holes in an apple orchard to demonstrate a game of golf.  These friends became known as the "Apple Tree Gang." Six months later, Reid called his new venture St. Andrew's and formally organized it as a golf club by a written constitution on November 14, 1888. The name St. Andrews was a tribute to the first course in Scotland and it was distinguished from that club by the insertion of the apostrophe. The first links were six holes on a pasture behind the Talmadge residence on Palisades Avenue.

The players (shown above) were Harry Holbrook, Alexander P.W. Kinnan, John B. Upham and John Reid. The caddies were Warren and Fred Holbrook, sons of the player. Photograph by S. Hedding Finch.

Below is an excerpt from an article in Scribner's (1895) on Golf in America:

"The nurseries for golf in the United States are many and varied, and are increasing so fast that the tale outruns the telling. The first one, established at Yonkers on the Hudson, some five years ago, by Mr. John Reid (of course a Scotchman), bears the name of St. Andrews, in honor of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of the East Neuk of Fife, in the shadow of Auld Reekie, the clustering point for the great mass of golfing history and tradition. It is an inland course of stone-wall hazards, rocky pastures bordered by ploughed fields and woods, and is prolific in those little hollows known as cuppy lies; the Saw Mill River meanders in its front, and a fine view of the Palisades from its highest teeing ground makes it an attractive spot for tired city men to whom it is accessible for an afternoons sport."

More information about John Reid and his Scottish roots.

John Reid died in Yonkers on October 10, 1916.

Joan Jennings