Golfers in Westchester and the surrounding area have a new 6,700-yard, par 71 golf course to enjoy.
The Summit Club at Armonk on Bedford Road, Route 22, was created from the former Brynwood Golf & Country Club course.
The Summit marked the official grand opening of its newly renovated golf course with a ribbon-cutting at noon on Saturday, followed by an afternoon of golfing by dozens of enthusiasts.
Temporary facilities are in place to provide the clubhouse services that golfers expect. The course renovations are part of a plan that includes a new clubhouse, extensive recreational and fitness amenities and 73 condominium units.
In September 2017, the North Castle’s planning board approved modifying the former Brynwood site to create a 130-acre golf course and a 26-acre residential parcel. In January 2019, the North Castle Town Board amended the zoning code to allow condominiums on the site.
At the grand opening, Jeffrey B. Mendell, a managing partner of The Summit Club at Armonk, told the Business Journal: “We’re working our way through the final approvals now with the Planning Board and the Town Board. I think we’ll be under construction next spring and it will take about five years to build it out completely.”
The Summit brought in golf course architect Rees Jones to handle the course renovation. Jones, who has designed more than 230 golf courses, is known in the trade as “The Open Doctor” because of his work redesigning courses for use in staging major events — including seven U.S. Open courses and nine PGA championship courses along with six Ryder Cup and two Walker Cup sites.
Mendell said that The Summit has a slightly different operating philosophy than some other clubs.
“We’re going to be a little bit friendlier, a little more fun and (offer) a little more of a casual, relaxed atmosphere,” Mendell said.
He noted that the golf industry has done better during the Covid-19 pandemic than some other sectors. He said The Summit Club at Armonk has been attracting members from Westchester, Fairfield, New York City and other nearby areas.
“Most clubs today are full, many with a waiting list. Many are raising their prices,” Mendell said. “Golf has proven to be the great pandemic sport because you’re outside and you’re away from people.”
Mendell, who has been involved in real estate development, construction and banking for about 30 years, said that he had his eye on the Brynwood property for a long time and had a vision from the beginning to seek a rezoning so that residences could be built.
“It’s a very nice lifestyle. It’s successful in many other places in the United States — Florida, Texas, Arizona, California,” he said about living in a golf course residence. “(At) most of the clubs in Westchester, you have great golf facilities and beautiful old clubhouses and certainly great golf courses but they don’t have residences. So you can’t live at your country club, with rare exceptions.
“It was my vision from the very beginning to create a residential country club community and do it at a really nice level,” he continued. “There will be six buildings with 12 or 13 units in a building. Every apartment will have what I call the ‘ocean view’ looking over the golf course with great sunsets. Units will be large so that when you move out of your house in the area you don’t feel like you’re downsizing and moving into a small two-bedroom apartment. You can downsize but upscale your lifestyle.”
Summit’s other managing partner, Christopher Schiavone, told the Business Journal: “We’re going to be more affordable than almost any other private club in the Westchester market and I think there’s a real demand for what we’re going to be offering. Things have changed in this industry and Covid has been one of the reasons. But you have a lot of younger people, a lot of families reassessing how they should spend their leisure time and a lot of them are picking the country club lifestyle.”
Schiavone said that a lot of people are looking for local leisure activities rather than dealing with issues involved in vacation travel.
“When you think about getting to an airport and rental cars and hotel rooms and all the things that people have become concerned about vis-a-vis health and hygiene … people are going to say, ‘Hey, for the cost of a family vacation to Disney World I can pretty much pay for a whole year of leisure time at a country club where there are so many things to do and it’s healthy and fun and safe,” Schiavone said.
