CRAG BURN HISTORY
Summer Estate
In 1929, Frank H. Goodyear Jr., a prominent Buffalonian and his wife, Dorothy Knox, began construction on a summer estate in East Aurora called Crag Burn. The name gets its origins from the Scottish words "Crag,” meaning “top of the bluff,” and “Burn,” meaning “small stream,” an apt description of this beautiful property. An elaborate English Style house with more than 60 rooms was designed by John Russell Pope in collaboration with Frederick Law Olmstead and built on 113 acres on North Davis Road.
Across the road, 190 acres of grounds included magnificent stables, service buildings, polo fields, and bridle paths. Tragically, in 1930 Frank Goodyear Jr. died in a car crash before his Crag Burn estate was completed.
Across the road, 190 acres of grounds included magnificent stables, service buildings, polo fields, and bridle paths. Tragically, in 1930 Frank Goodyear Jr. died in a car crash before his Crag Burn estate was completed.
East Aurora - 1953, winners of the National 20-Goal Tournament. |
Built by Frank H. and Dorothy Knox Goodyear c. 1916-17 |
Blue & Gold
Coming from a family of equestrians, Seymour Knox II, Dorothy’s brother, raised trotter horses and had a very famous one named The Red Abbey. The horse’s racing colors were blue and gold, the colors of East Aurora, which became the team colors of the Buffalo Sabres under the Knox family’s ownership and the official colors of Crag Burn.
Advertisement sign for a Polo match including the Aurora team.. |
Tragedy In The Fields
In 1938 tragedy struck Crag Burn once again. Lieutenant Commander Frank Hawks, a famous speed flyer, often took people for plane rides in the area. Hawks was meeting with Dorothy’s brother-in-law, Hazard Campbell Sr., to seek funding for a small plane he had landed out on the polo fields. The pair went for a ride, but shortly after takeoff, the plane struck wires and crashed, killing both Hawks and Campbell. Some say the grass has never been the same color and that an outline of the crash site is still visible on the tenth hole today.
Photo taken of the plane crash on August 24th, 1938. |
From Pastures To Pars
By the late 1960s, the polo fields and bridle paths near the estate’s stable were seeing very little use. The horses had long been sold, and the fields had begun to return to nature. Dorothy Knox Goodyear’s son Bobby and son-in-law, Clint Wyckoff, had the idea to turn a 190-acre parcel into a golf course, a fitting use for the beautiful landscape and existing structures. Dorothy gave the property to the pair in 1969, and they hired prominent American golf course architect and family friend, Robert Trent Jones Sr., to design the course.
Bobby, his sister Dottie, her husband Clint, and their sons Peter, Ranny, and Kevin – all avid golfers – recruited friends and family to help fund the construction of a club where “a group of friends could play golf.” This integral group of early supporters, roughly 50 people in all, became the club’s founding members.
The group was adamant, after seeing other Robert Trent Jones designed courses, that the Crag Burn course would become the premier course in Western New York and that any real estate development would be secondary. Given the combination of heavily wooded sections and open fields, Mr. Jones was commissioned to build a course that would capitalize on the terrain of the property. The front nine would be a parks-style course and run through the wooded section. The back nine would have a more open, traditional feel of a links course. Seven ponds were dug to enhance the design with the soil providing topography for tees and greens.
Oakgrove Construction and Newgolf, Inc. began the construction of the golf course in 1970 and by May 1, 1972, Crag Burn welcomed its first foursome. That honor went to Ranny Wyckoff, Peter Wyckoff, David Smith, and Edwin Johnston. The greens hadn’t quite grown in fully as the first shot was hit by Peter Wyckoff, the club’s first treasurer. The foursome proceeded to have a great match and a wonderful time; Crag Burn had become exactly what its co-founders had imagined.
The clubhouse was fashioned from the original stable, immediately lending a sense of history to the new club. Many of the original details of the stable were kept, including the magnificent slate roof and horse stalls, which created unique alcoves for dining guests. The groom’s cottage for the stables became the pro shop.
Bobby, his sister Dottie, her husband Clint, and their sons Peter, Ranny, and Kevin – all avid golfers – recruited friends and family to help fund the construction of a club where “a group of friends could play golf.” This integral group of early supporters, roughly 50 people in all, became the club’s founding members.
The group was adamant, after seeing other Robert Trent Jones designed courses, that the Crag Burn course would become the premier course in Western New York and that any real estate development would be secondary. Given the combination of heavily wooded sections and open fields, Mr. Jones was commissioned to build a course that would capitalize on the terrain of the property. The front nine would be a parks-style course and run through the wooded section. The back nine would have a more open, traditional feel of a links course. Seven ponds were dug to enhance the design with the soil providing topography for tees and greens.
Oakgrove Construction and Newgolf, Inc. began the construction of the golf course in 1970 and by May 1, 1972, Crag Burn welcomed its first foursome. That honor went to Ranny Wyckoff, Peter Wyckoff, David Smith, and Edwin Johnston. The greens hadn’t quite grown in fully as the first shot was hit by Peter Wyckoff, the club’s first treasurer. The foursome proceeded to have a great match and a wonderful time; Crag Burn had become exactly what its co-founders had imagined.
The clubhouse was fashioned from the original stable, immediately lending a sense of history to the new club. Many of the original details of the stable were kept, including the magnificent slate roof and horse stalls, which created unique alcoves for dining guests. The groom’s cottage for the stables became the pro shop.
Aerial photo of the golf course under construction in 1970. |
Trouble Into Triumph
Although membership grew slowly throughout the 1970s, by 1981, the club was struggling financially so a group of members stepped in and formed a partnership of 27 limited partners and four general partners – Jay Wattles, Jim Smith, Barry Snyder, and Gary Grelick – called Crag Burn Associates. The group assumed control of Crag Burn, took over its operations, invested heavily and raised capital, re-financed the club, and put their focus on preserving first the course and then the buildings. They also brought the membership from about 150 members to nearly 250. By 1999, the club was back in sound financial shape, and the group had reached their goal of selling Crag Burn back to the membership for essentially the same price at which they purchased it.
Image of the famous turret clock located at the clubhouse. |
Crag Burn Today
Over the years, numerous course improvements have been made, some designed by Robert Trent Jones’ son Reese Jones, while maintaining the ingenuity and integrity of the original design. Today, Crag Burn reflects the original vision of its founders as a club that is simply a place where good friends can gather and play golf on one of the most challenging and beautiful courses designed.
A look across the back nine at Crag Burn. |
