The Gilded Age Origin of a Name
The Tuxedo Club made its mark in American—and world—culture before the first round was ever played in the rural Upstate town of Tuxedo, New York. In 1886, Pierre Lorillard IV, tobacco heir, racehorse luminary, and club founder, hosted an extravagant autumn ball at his new retreat in the Ramapo Mountains. Many of his well-heeled guests sported a new style in eveningwear: a shortened dinner jacket, lacking the long tail that had characterized formalwear, that had found favor in England some 20 years before.
Quickly spreading through Gilded Age Manhattan, the new fashion in formalwear was credited by the socialites to the place they first found it: Tuxedo.
Early Roots of American Golf
The spirit of innovation paired with elegance became the guiding star of the Tuxedo Club, from the ballroom to the golf course and on to the court tennis facility and the shores of Tuxedo Lake.
The Tuxedo Club adopted golf fairly early by U.S. standards, establishing a six-hole golf course in 1889, which had expanded to a nine-holer by 1892; recognizing the demand for a more robust facility, a full 18-hole course was soon built, making Tuxedo one of the first American clubs to fully embrace the game.
In 1894, the Tuxedo Club hosted America’s first organized inter-club team match—the trophy of which continues to serve as the prize of the U.S. Senior Open to this day.
A Course for the Modern Game
Today, the Tuxedo Club boasts an 18-hole championship routing, designed in 1957 by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. (celebrated for his work on Georgia’s Peachtree and Augusta National clubs). The Tuxedo course was refined by Jones’s son, Rees Jones, who worked to establish a modern course that remains true to the integrity and rhythm of his father’s original design, creating an ideal mix of tradition and challenging play.
The course has migrated a few times over the years, lying today some five miles from the main clubhouse, near the location of the Tuxedo Club’s famous tennis facility—designed by Warren and Wetmore of Grand Central Terminal fame—and pool.
You’ll find a great selection of Holderness and Bourne golf clothing in the Tuxedo Club Golf Shop, including styles that are at home on the links, as well as pieces designed to carry you to and from Tuxedo Park in style. We’re grateful for our longstanding relationship with the Tuxedo Club and the continued support of the team.
The Enduring Legacy
More than just a legendary spot in golf history, the Tuxedo Club is the birthplace of an enduring mode that speaks to the refinement of the Gilded Age. To walk the fairways at the Tuxedo Club is to experience the living history of golf in America—a venerated place where classic fashion never goes out of style.
