Metairie Country Club

Metairie Country Club dates back to 1922 and the course is an original Seth Raynor design. Changes have been made to the layout down the years but there’s still plenty of Golden Age character to be savored here.

In The American Private Golf Club Guide, author Daniel Wexler writes: “significant changes have been made over 80+ years, thus while Raynor’s original corridors of play remain pretty well intact, today’s golf course can only tangentially claim him as a designer.

Indeed, only a handful of green complexes retain much of his original stylings, with the road hole 9th perhaps being the most obvious. Water comes significantly into play on six occasions but the course’s one genuine standout is the dry, 438-yard 16th, which ranks amongst the toughest par fours in the area.”

Brian Silva provided us with the following information in January 2021 when he told us of his recent involvement at Metairie, presenting a masterplan to the club:

“The design is credited originally to Seth Raynor, though there is uncertainty whether or not he ever visited the site. He had a local fellow come up to Long Island for two months so that he could teach him how to ‘design and build a course’ and it was built by this person. Early aerial photos don't reveal a typical ‘Raynor look’.

In its location, Metairie was subjected to frequent and devastating flooding. So, in the early 2000s, they undertook a very ambitious renovation that trucked in hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of fill to ‘raise’ the course. If there was any original Raynor left then it was buried in the name of drainage during this very noble project.

While the goal of the finished product was to up the Raynor content, there was general agreement that there was a lack of visible Raynor character to the course. So, a couple of years ago – stimulated by the desire to further improve drainage – the club decided to go at it again, with the goal of increasing their vintage look and characteristics of play.”

A. Bush contacted us in January 2021, stating; “the young fella that learned from Raynor and built the original course, was Joseph Bartholomew. I think it is time he receives the proper credit he is due.”

Silva’s project involved the introduction of new green complexes and bunkers, along with the addition of more than fifteen acres of short cut grass areas. Many of the famous templateholes are now on display, including Biarritz, Leven and Redan on the front nine and Eden, Cape and Maiden on the back nine.

New irrigation and drainage systems were also installed during the upgrade.