Tiger Woods is getting into the golf course renovation business on Long Island, and the club he’s helping revive has quite an interesting history.
Woods announced this week that his golf course design company, TGR Design, is teaming up with The Armchair Collective to transform the Tam O’Shanter Country Club in Brookville, New York. The 148-acre property, closed since 2021, will become an exclusive private golf destination featuring a completely redesigned 18-hole course.
However, while that is all very exciting, the club’s history does have one rather interesting footnote.
Back in 2012, Tam O’Shanter made headlines after a former employee accused the club of hiring strippers and prostitutes to entertain members during golf outings.
Tiger Woods’ New Golf Course Was Once At The Center Of A Scandal
According to a 2012 New York Post report, former Tam O’Shanter bartender Justin Williams said the club held men-only outings every August with about 100 to 150 members and guests.
Nothing terribly unusual about that, right?
Well, Williams claimed that strippers were stationed around the golf course while members played. Prostitutes also allegedly entertained members in the clubhouse’s locker rooms, showers and massage areas.
Employees were also allegedly told not to inform members’ wives about the situation and were banned from using their phones to take pictures.
On top of that, Williams claimed the golf course owner replaced high-quality alcoholic drinks with cheaper products but kept charging higher prices. Oh, the humanity!
Tiger Woods Plans To Give The Former Tam O’Shanter Club A New Life
Golf Course Architecture reports that the new development in Brookville, New York, will include extensive practice facilities, a golf performance center, a clubhouse and cottages for members. The development will also include a 20,000-square-foot putting green inspired by the famous Himalayas putting green at St Andrews.
“The opportunity to create a new golf experience in the heart of Long Island’s Gold Coast, a region steeped in rich history, is tremendously exciting for our team,” Tiger Woods said about the project. “This region has an extraordinary golf course architecture tradition, and we look forward to contributing to that legacy with a course that players can enjoy for generations.”
Other developers had previously purchased the property hoping to build luxury homes, but those plans fell apart after arsenic was discovered in the soil. The Armchair Collective bought the property in September and expects construction on Tiger Woods’ new course to begin in 2027. The new club’s name and design renderings are also expected to be revealed next year.
Hopefully, this time around, the biggest controversy will be limited to someone cheating on their scorecard.