The caddies fight back: Two lawsuits filed last year against Hudson National Golf Club for alleged disability discrimination and employment violations work their way through state and federal court.

One lawsuit lists bizarre allegations of a dead goose on a doorstep, the mysterious death of a staff member, and alleged over-serving of alcohol to club members.

HNGC is a golfer’s paradise overlooking the Hudson River/ Photo: Anonymous

Even before it opened its fairways to golfers in 1996, the Hudson National Golf Club (HNGC) had developed a tense and sometimes contentious relationship with the village of Croton-on-Hudson. Things started off well enough. When ground was broken on the Tom Fazio designed course in 1994, Croton’s then mayor, Robert Elliott, hailed the project—which came after more than one failure to build a golf course on this historic property over the previous decades—as “not only a model in terms of how to build with minimal impact to the environment but how a developer can work with the community.”

But two years later, Croton’s Planning Board and Water Control Commission were dealing with a host of environmental issues caused by construction of the course, including drainage of sediment into the adjacent Brinton Brook Audubon Sanctuary, diversion of water from the then new Croton Arboretum, and damage to at least one archaeological site.

(During these debates between the club and Croton governmental bodies, the club was fiercely defended by Linda Whitehead, our current village attorney, whose law firm then represented HNGC.)

By the time the Planning Board gave final approval for the club to open, it had attached 38 conditions to its decision, with serious consequences for any violations. Over the years since, environmentalists and conservationists have had to fight occasional battles with the club, including over recurrent water access issues.

The most recent fight, of course, was over HNGC’s proposal to install a large solar array on 15 acres of its property, which would have required the clear cutting of hundreds of trees and possible water runoff issues for adjoining homeowners. Despite support from a number of village officials, opponents of the project were able to mount an effective campaign against it; and when Croton’s Conservation Advisory Council gave the whole idea a thumbs down, it was just a matter of weeks before the developers of the solar array withdrew their application for approval.

All of these events, which involve the relationship of HNGC with its neighbors in Croton, have taken place more or less in the public eye. But two lawsuits filed last year against HNGC by former caddies, which have received little local publicity or attention, may provide some glimpses of what goes on behind the gates of this very private golf club. Since attorneys for both the caddies and the club declined to discuss the allegations in any detail, what follows relies on what is in the public court records for the two cases. Readers should be advised that unless and until the claims are adjudicated and proven in court, they should be considered to be unproven allegations at this time.

Let’s start with the federal case, which involves the employment conditions of the caddies and reflects the issues in a number of other lawsuits working their way through the courts.