The Meadow Club

Southampton, Long Island, New York

Village of Southampton, New York, United States · Members club

No. 4, World's Greatest Grass Clubs

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No. 4, World's Greatest Grass Clubs

The largest private grass court facility in the world by court count.

Scores out of 10: Surface Excellence 9, Historical Pedigree 9, Tournament Credentials 8, Scale & Facilities 10, Prestige & Exclusivity 10, Ecosystem Contribution 7.

See the World's Greatest Grass Clubs

Grass laid out so that it reads less as a facility than as a landscape.

Location: Southampton, New York, near the Atlantic shore
Founded: 1887
Grass courts: 36, within gardens laid out in 1902
On the grass: The Meadow Club Invitation, 1888 to 1973
Visitors: Members, by invitation; all-white dress
Season: Members
Address: 555 First Neck Lane, Village of Southampton, New York, 11968, United States

Why it is special

The Meadow Club is the centrepiece of the grass-court culture of the Hamptons, the summer communities at the eastern end of Long Island. Founded in 1887, it keeps thirty-six grass courts about two hundred yards from the ocean, linked to the clubhouse by gardens of clipped privet hedges and hydrangeas first planted in 1902.

Its Invitation tournament ran from 1888 to 1973. Laurie Doherty, in 1903, was the only non-American to win the men’s title until the mid-1940s; after the war it was won by Pancho Segura, Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle, Tony Roche and Rod Laver.

The scale reflects the wealth of the membership and a conviction that grass is not a sporting preference but a statement of what kind of club this is. Nearby, smaller clubs such as Buckskill in East Hampton keep the same tradition on a more modest scale.

Champions here, 1957 to 1967

Year	Men's singles
1957	Whitney Reed
1958	Ham Richardson
1959	Ian Vermaak
1960	Rod Laver
1961	Allen E. Fox
1962	Fred Stolle
1964	Gene Scott
1965	Chuck McKinley
1966	Tony Roche
1967	Owen Davidson

Every champion on the roll: Southampton (Meadow Club)

About the club

Founded in 1887, The Meadow Club of Southampton is a private tennis club in the Village of Southampton, New York, set on more than eighteen acres. Its 36 grass courts are linked to the clubhouse and dining rooms by gardens. Tennis on grass is the focus of the club, and the gardens form the setting between the courts and the club buildings.

More grass tennis in New York

The Meadow Club of Southampton is one of 22 clubs in the Grass Court Atlas for the United States. The nearest other grass court club listed is Buckskill Tennis Club (18 km).

Official website: The Meadow Club of Southampton