When philanthropists/environmentalists Chris and Sharon Davis purchased the Garrison Golf Club in 1999, a grateful community drew a collective sigh of relief.
“The Garrison” boasts an 18-hole course on 300 acres along Route 9, overlooking the distant Hudson River. The property went through a series of private owners after its establishment in 1915 as Bill Brown”™s Fitness Farm. Most recently operated as a private club, the parcel went on the market in 1998 and was coveted by developers.
The Davises engaged Frank “Chip” Allemann to manage the project.
“I knew Sharon Davis in Hong Kong when I was working there in club and resort management in the l980s,” Allemann said. “Chris and Sharon invited me to look at the property. In l999 they bought it to ensure that the land was not developed insensitively.
“The financial objectives are modest,” the club manager said, adding that his mission was to run it as “a responsible business” and also to achieve broader goals to serve the community and the environment. Organic gardens provide produce for its two restaurants.
“We minimize use of chemicals and are experimenting with using compost tea,” he said.
Allemann acquired a second professional hat five years ago when the Davises bought the Highlands Country Club on Route 9D in Garrison and named him to also operate that club. The club was established as a private social/athletic center in 1898 by Samuel Sloan, William Osborn, J. P. Morgan, and Stuyvesant Fish.
Today the club operation leases the 53-acre property from The Open Space Institute. The club”™s nine-hole golf course is open to the public in the spring and the fall. Swimming and tennis facilities are limited to members. The Tavern Restaurant is open to the public all year.
Both clubs have their own irrigation systems from ponds that are spring and steam fed.
In addition to golf and dining facilities, Allemann oversees the hosting of weddings and special events at both clubs. The Garrison also has a spa and yoga center and serves as a small inn, with four rooms available for guests.
Allemann has an impressive international background. After graduation from the Friends School in his native Wilmington, Del., he attended the Lausanne Hotel School in Switzerland, then earned a master”™s degree in real estate development from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has worked in Europe and Asia for ClubCorp, Disney Development Co., Gary Players and the Interpacific Group. He is fluent in French and Spanish, adding, “My Cantonese is passable.”
The Garrison Golf Club has created a collaboration with Project Renewal, a non-profit organization that helps New York City”™s homeless renew their lives. Its Farm Renewal Program has 15 to 20 male participants who farm on club property, working with Graymoor”™s St. Christopher”™s Inn for other services and accommodations. Farm produce is sold to restaurants and also at a stand set up at Snake Hill Road and Route 9D by the Hudson Highlands Land Trust, chaired by Chris Davis.
Allemann has volunteered on the Philipstown Comprehensive Plan”™s special board. He is also board chairman of Glynwood, a non-profit organization in Cold Spring. Glynwood envisions a revitalization of rural communities in the Northeast.
Allemann takes his volunteer job as seriously as his general manager duties. “We aim to show ways that farming can be both economically productive and environmentally friendly,” he says. The farm has several unusual varieties of chickens, including Aroucama that produce blue/green eggs, pasture-based Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, Black Angus, rare breeds of cattle, and goats brought in for the purpose of controlling invasive unwanted brush.
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Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be e-mailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net.
