The golf course and the main clubhouse have impressive views of New York Harbor, the Atlantic Ocean, and the New Jersey highlands.

[1] Richmond County Country Club was organized on April 18, 1888 by Clarence Whitman, W. Henry Motley, Adolph J. Outerbridge, Gugy M. Irving,[2] Wethered B. Thomas, and Eugene H.

For years Richmond County Hunt Club operated in close affiliation with RCCC sharing social activities and facilities.

[6] RCCC's original location was on the grounds of the former Vanderbilt estate, near Ocean Terrace and Little Clove Road on Staten Island, utilizing property that was owned by the Wittemann family.

This medal has been awarded every year to the winner of the RCCC club championship qualifier since 1895, and remains one of the oldest commemoratives used continuously in American golf.

Member and property owner George Cromwell allocated land that was north of Four Corners Road on which the club built a nine-hole golf course.

Three-quarters of a mile away is Midland Beach, in plain view from the clubhouse, and the trolley service has been thus proved excellent for members running down from Manhattan for an afternoon's outing on the links.

The 10th and 11th holes skirt the mapped right-of-way, but never built, portion of the Willowbrook Parkway which was cancelled in the 1970s due to its impact on the Greenbelt.

[14] In 1989, the State of New York substantiated its commitment to the Greenbelt by purchasing the golf course, and then gave RCCC a 99-year lease for the land at a cost of $1 annually.

The Staten Island Amateur was first played in 1899 and was conducted each year at either RCCC or Fox Hills Golf Club, which had opened in 1900.

[17] In 1897, George Cromwell, who would soon become Staten Island's first borough president, assisted with the club's purchase of an estate on Todt Hill that included a large stately home.

Mr. Alexander, who made money on Wall Street and through his railroad connections, lived with his family in the home from 1878 until his death in 1893 enjoying the views his property gave him of New York Harbor.

Americans had been introduced to the sport on Staten Island in the 1870s by Mary Ewing Outerbridge, a woman from a well known family in Bermuda, who had two brothers who were RCCC founders.

One of these brothers, Eugene Outerbridge, was part of a small group of men who came together to establish the United States Lawn Tennis Association in 1881.

But as the popularity of golf and tennis grew, and homes started to be built around Staten Island, fox hunting became impractical and was ceased in 1915.

The course has a number of elevation changes with the front 9 eventually working its way close to the top of Todt Hill, the highest point along the American Atlantic seaboard south of the State of Maine.

The rolling topography and the course's proximity to New York Harbor make for some interesting putting challenges - first time players of the course will claim that some putts defy gravity and break uphill.