Knickerbocker incorporated in late 1914 and moved quickly to commission Donald Ross for an 18-hole plan straddling Knickerbocker Road. The first nine holes, on the east side, opened on July 4, 1915; the second nine, routed on newly acquired land west of the road, opened in December 1915. That sequencing—first east, then west—set a pattern the club would soon consolidate further west.
By the mid-1920s the trustees pursued additional land and a third nine to alleviate shortcomings in the first-built side and to strengthen tournament credentials. In 1924 the club hired Herbert Strong to design the new nine; those holes opened in 1928 and were admired enough that the club soon designated the west-side 18 the primary course for formal competitions and handicapping. Strong’s work comprised present-day holes 2–9 plus 13 and 14, integrated with surviving Ross holes to create today’s composite.
The course’s early profile was high: after refinancing and clubhouse improvements, Knickerbocker hosted the inaugural New Jersey State Open in May 1921, an early endorsement of the course’s competitive test. Economic pressures in the 1930s led the club to abandon and later sell most of the east-side nine; the modern practice grounds and racquets facilities occupy part of that tract.
Evolution continued. In 1973 Geoffrey Cornish “repositioned and remodeled” six greens, establishing the modern green sites that would later be refined. In 2007–08 (completed early 2009) Ron Forse led a restoration in which every bunker was rebuilt and several greens were expanded to recapture original perimeter and interest. A century after it first hosted the State Open, Knickerbocker staged the 100th NJSGA Open in 2020, a symmetry the state association itself celebrated.
Since 2020, the club has pursued a rolling master plan under Jaeger Kovich and superintendent Kyle Hillegass, emphasizing firmer surfaces, expanded short-cut approaches, selective tree removal to restore internal vistas, and targeted bunker and mowing-line adjustments, all with the stated goal of letting the ground game and Golden Age contours reassert themselves. The course now operates with roughly 30 acres of fairway and six acres of greens and approaches, a notable expansion from pre-plan conditions.
Unique Design Characteristics
Because today’s course is a Ross-Strong amalgam, distinct signatures are legible at specific holes. On the current 17th, a Ross par-3 “volcano” green presents a raised, boldly pitched target; the hole’s green-up demand is accentuated by fast, closely mown approaches reintroduced under the current plan. The current 12th—originally a Ross hole—still plays across a brook in the landing area, with water guarding the left of the present green; the club’s published history notes that the original fourth played to a green left of today’s pond, with today’s twelfth green occupying what was Ross’s old fifth green site, illustrating how the club’s internal recombination altered but did not erase Ross’s strategy.
Strong’s imprint is clearest on the front-nine stretch from 2 through 9 and at 13–14. At 6, Strong’s par-3 features an elevated target with a pronounced left-side “catcher’s-mitt” contour; current clearing has revealed the green’s daring interior slope from multiple vantage points. At 14, a cape-like tee shot tempts players to shave an angle over heavily bunkered ground on the left; the hole’s horseshoe bunker with an interior grass mound has been restored, sharpening the second-shot decision to approach along a firming short-cut apron. These features align with Strong’s known taste for dramatic, course-defining hazards while dovetailing with Ross’s more elastic green-to-surround tie-ins elsewhere on the course.
Other sites where period intent is plainly visible include the perched fifth green (now revealed by clearing), the seventh with a pronounced false front feeding tightly mown entry, and the west-side corridors where tree work has reopened interior vistas between 7–11, restoring width-and-angle questions that had narrowed over time.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s New Jersey work, Knickerbocker is significant as a 1915-vintage design adapted in real time to land assembly and later integrated with Herbert Strong’s high-profile third nine. Few Ross sites in the state evolved so transparently around a two-architect composite while maintaining continuity of play across more than a century on the west-side routing; Knickerbocker’s history of east-side abandonment and west-side consolidation provides a clear case study in how interwar finances and property constraints shaped metropolitan courses. Its championship pedigree—first NJ State Open (1921) and 100th NJ State Open (2020)—gives it a bookended position in the state’s competitive history. The club’s own narrative and independent course-ranking outlets have repeatedly noted its standing among Golfweek’s Top 200 Classic Courses, including No. 169 in 2019, situating Knickerbocker among recognized pre-1960 American courses.
Current Condition / Integrity
By the club’s account and the state association’s centennial history, eight Ross holes remain in today’s 18—1, 10, 11, 12, and 15–18—with Strong responsible for 2–9 and 13–14; the present 12th integrates a Ross corridor with a re-sited green relative to 1915, a change memorialized in the club’s routing history. Cornish’s 1973 work on six greens fixed several modern sites that Forse later expanded at the edges, and Forse’s 2007–09 project rebuilt every bunker, employing forms compatible with the period aesthetic. The Kovich/Hillegass era has emphasized tree removal, mowing-line recapture, approach expansion, and selective bunker restoration (e.g., the horseshoe at 14), all pushing play closer to the ground and reinforcing the course’s mixed Ross-Strong identity rather than favoring one author over the other. The routing west of Knickerbocker Road remains in place; east-side holes are gone save for practice use. Overall, integrity is hybrid: the corridors and several green sites retain Ross or Strong DNA, modified by Cornish and Forse interventions, with current work focused on reclaiming historical intent within modern conditioning.
Sources & Notes
New Jersey State Golf Association (NJ Golf), “Celebrating the Centennial Open: Knickerbocker Country Club,” July 12, 2020. Detailed club history with dates of the first and second nines (July and December 1915), the Strong third nine (opened 1928), identification of present-day Strong holes (2–9, 13–14) and Ross holes (1, 10, 11, 12, 15–18), the 1973 Geoffrey Cornish green work, the 2007–09 Ron Forse restoration (all bunkers rebuilt; several greens expanded), and the 1921 and 2020 NJSGA Opens.
Knickerbocker Country Club – Official Site, “Golf” and “History” pages. Confirms Ross as original architect, subsequent input by Herbert Strong, the 2007/08 Forse restoration, private membership and facilities, and general course positioning. Also notes ranking among Golfweek’s Top 200 Classic Courses.
Golf Course Industry, Guy Cipriano, “Continuous motion,” Oct. 4, 2024 (updated Oct. 22, 2024). Interviews with superintendent Kyle Hillegass describing the ongoing master plan with architect Jaeger Kovich, tree removal between holes 7–11, expansion of fairway/approach acreage (≈30/6 acres), and hole-specific notes: Ross “volcano” 17th, Strong’s 6th (“catcher’s-mitt” green), cape-style tee shot and restored horseshoe bunker at 14, perched 5th and 7th false front.
Michigan State University – Cornish Archive, “Geoffrey Cornish’s Remodeled Course Designs (by Location).” Documents 1973 work at Knickerbocker.
Golfweek / America’s Golf Archives compendium of 2019 Golfweek Top 200 Classic Courses. Lists Knickerbocker CC at No. 169. (Used to corroborate ranking cited by club and NJGOLF.)
Top100GolfCourses.com, “Knickerbocker Country Club.” Provides secondary overview acknowledging Ross (1914/15) with subsequent modification by Strong and later restoration by Forse; includes general yardage and architectural attributions. (Used cautiously as a secondary synthesis.)