Tamarack Country Club plays a corporate round
Tamarack Country Club in Greenwich hosted six corporate golf outings last year and 10 corporate dinners. Club President Jeff Young said the events highlight what he termed “something unbelievable” about Tamarack.
“The service for corporate outings ”” from the golf course into the locker rooms and clubhouse ”” makes it very comfortable for everyone,” Young said. “The staff treats corporate outing visitors equal to members, with the same level of service and respect. They get lockers with their names on them.” In his 50s and shooting in the low 80s, Young keenly knows the greater golf universe ”” where members have been known to exist on a plane above visitors ”” calling the Tamarack treatment “something unbelievable.”
“This is just one of the things we do here that makes it so special,” he said.
Corporate and nonprofit dinners come with the same attention to detail and care as golf. Nonprofits account for the bulk of 220-attendee dinner events. Corporate dinners of the sort that highlight a solid year more typically attract about 150 persons.
When the 55,000-square-foot clubhouse was built and unveiled in July 2007, two full kitchens were included so private events could coincide with club activities without disrupting the flow in the kitchen. At 85 years old, this is the club”™s third complete clubhouse: fire felled the first in 1968 and then a planned demolition of the clubhouse that served Tamarack from 1968-2005 took down No. 2.
Young addressed the role of club General Manager Brian Gillespie in the event equation, saying, “Brian always says, ”˜Let me work with you.”™ Whatever it takes, Brian makes it easy and he makes it look effortless. He has a tremendous passion for this place.”
Gillespie joined Young to discuss Tamarack as a business destination and, as an hour-long interview played out, to share his enthusiasm for the club. He assumed the general manager role in October 2001.
“The staff is just amazing,” Gillespie said. “We try to do absolutely everything to make your visit memorable so you”™ll want to come back. We”™re very accommodating.”
Former New York Mets player Tim Teufel hosts his annual charity event at Tamarack and, for the past two years, so has the Fairfield County Sports Commission, along with eight other organizations last year.
Young has been president at Tamarack for a year. He admitted the nonpaying position takes time, but he enjoys it. “There is a really good group of people here,” he said, leading a tour of the deeply wood-paneled clubhouse. When not wearing the Tamarack presidency hat, Young, who lives in Greenwich, is president of International Technology Solutions Inc., based in White Plains, N.Y.
“I golf,” he said, citing the game”™s legendary restorative powers. But he has not created a golf widow, noting, “My wife and I golf together.” He also hosts a golf outing at the club annually for his daughter”™s skating team. “We all feel the joy here. It”™s a great place for golf, for dining. I can come here after a day”™s work and play golf or bring the whole family.”
Young”™s enthusiasm belies a change at Tamarack. “Before 2001, I think this was more of a golf club,” he said. “We wanted it to be more family friendly. It”™s the kind of club families want to come to for Friday night dinners.” He joined in 2000.
Warranted or not, country clubs 50 years ago sometimes bore reputations as boozy redoubts for aging men. Tamarack appears anything but and at times courts spa-dom. The clubhouse offers a workout room; there”™s a golf swing room; even an elaborate stretching machine. Services include massage. Children”™s activities include swimming and tennis teams, karaoke nights and movie screenings like “The Incredibles.”
A distinctive Tamarack draw is its Charles Banks-designed golf course, which remains faithful to Banks”™ 1929 design. Last year, six corporations used the course for outings.
The introductory view from the clubhouse out onto the course was cited in 2003 by The Golfer magazine as among the top 10 in the world. A 10-year plan was completed last year that witnessed construction of new greens, sand traps, green surrounds and tees. Gillespie hears reviews from those who golf as guests. “Everyone who plays it wants to come back and play it again,” he said. Big variations in pin placement across very large greens ”” a Banks hallmark ”” mean the course reinvents itself constantly.
Many holes bear distinctive names, none more memorable than a par-5 called Big Bertha. As for the club name, tamarack is an Algonquin word for a deciduous “evergreen” also called the larch. The address is 55 Locust Road.