The Connecticut Golf Club to Host Member/Guest Tournament
Posted on May. 31, 2026 / Subscribe 0
By: Kevin Collins
On Monday, June 8, The Connecticut Golf Club will open its doors to the MetGCSA’s Member/Guest Tournament, where Vincent Taylor II and his team are eager to showcase the course’s amazing layout and the work they’ve accomplished since Vincent’s arrival in 2023.
From a Par-3 in Indiana to Winged Foot in Westchester
Vincent’s path into golf began at age 11 on a modest par-3 course in Bloomington, IN. His father, Vincent Taylor Sr.—an attorney, entrepreneur, and owner of Taylor’s Par-3—ran his law office out of the clubhouse while the family operated the course together. His mom, Chris, was the law secretary and the president of the golf course.
“It was all hands-on deck,” Vincent said. “I worked outside on the golf course and inside in the clubhouse. That’s where I fell in love with the business.”
For years, Vincent split time between the golf course by day and managing a pizza shop at night. “The golf course didn’t bring in enough revenue to provide me with a future,” explained Vincent. “So in 2015, when I was 25 years old, I enrolled in Rutgers University’s two-year certificate program for a more formal education in turfgrass management.
“It was my first time on the East Coast,” he continued. “I loved New Jersey and I loved New York City. My sister, Courtney, lived in the City, which gave me a good excuse to take the train in. I spent many days exploring Manhattan and Brooklyn—Central Park, Chinatown, the World Trade Center. Some days it felt like I walked 12 miles. I loved the intensity and the frantic pace of the City.”
Vincent’s first internship came at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, NC. Eagle Point was then ranked among the top 100 courses in America. “When I interned there, the course had bentgrass greens and everything else was Bermuda. It’s not easy maintaining cool season grasses in a warm climate,” Vincent said, noting the greens have since been converted to Bermuda grass. “I was there for about nine months. It was a phenomenal learning experience. But Wilmington in the summer? That’s real heat.”
Learning at ‘the Foot’
After Rutgers, Vincent landed at Winged Foot Golf Club as a second assistant, working under longtime superintendent Stephen Rabideau. “I interviewed with Bill Cygan, who back then was one of Steve’s top assistants, and he hired me.” Vincent began work in the spring of 2016 in time for the restoration work on the famed West Course that began in the fall in preparation for the 2020 U.S. Open.
“I remember Steve and Gil Hanse pouring over old photos and drawings,” Vincent said. “Everything was about restoring the course’s original character.” Then came the pandemic-era U.S. Open in September 2020—a major championship unlike any other. “Everyone remembers it as the Covid Open,” Vincent said. “No spectators. Totally different atmosphere.”
When several senior assistants departed after the championship, Vincent stepped into a larger leadership role overseeing both the East and West Courses. “Steve trusted me,” he said. “He guided me, but he also gave me room to make decisions and grow.”
After eight seasons at Winged Foot, Vincent was ready to manage his own golf course.
Building Momentum in Connecticut
“I interviewed at The Connecticut Golf Club and they offered me the position as director of grounds,” said Vincent. He began there in October 2023, a timing he now calls ideal. “Starting in the fall gave me a chance to really learn the property,” he said. “We could put the course to bed properly and start planning immediately for spring.”
And there was plenty to tackle.
The rugged Easton property is visually striking but demanding to maintain, with dramatic elevation changes, rocky terrain, and 22 acres of fescue — much of it on steep slopes. Since arriving, Vincent has focused on one core philosophy: healthy turf and fast, firm playing conditions.
He’s introduced a more aggressive aerification program, increased rolling frequencies to maintain green speed and smoothness, and rebuilt three tee complexes in-house last fall using laser-guided grading equipment.
“A lot of the work here is hands-on,” Vincent said. “That’s the way I like it.”
More projects are already on the horizon, including future green reconstruction he hopes to complete in-house.
Family First
Away from the golf course, Vincent’s life changed in 2018 when he met his wife, Kimberly, an administrator and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The couple lives in Stamford with their three-year-old son, Jackson.
A Golf Club Built From Frustration
The story of The Connecticut Golf Club begins with billionaire real estate investor and philanthropist Lawrence Wien, whose holdings once included numerous prominent New York City properties, including the Empire State Building and the Plaza Hotel.
According to club lore, Wien was golfing at a country club not far from the future home of The Connecticut Golf Club, and he became so frustrated by the slow play and country club distractions that he walked off the course mid-round and decided to build a golf course of his own—one focused purely on golf.
He found rugged land in Easton that many believed was too severe for a course. Architect Geoffrey Cornish disagreed.
What followed was a massive construction effort unconstrained by today’s environmental considerations. Cornish oversaw the blasting of rock ledges, rerouting of streams, and had terrain reshaped on a scale unimaginable today. The result, completed in the late 1960s, was one of the Northeast’s most distinctive golf courses. Wien lived to enjoy the golf club he founded until he passed away in1988.
In the early 2000s, architect Brian Silva—one of Cornish’s original associates—was hired to oversee updates to the original design. Under his guidance, holes were lengthened, bunkers rebuilt, and green complexes were refined while preserving the original routing. More recently, the club retained Weiman Golf Design to renovate every bunker on the course using the Better Billy Bunker system.
Now, with Vincent continuing to refine conditioning and playability, the club enters another chapter. And on June 8, MetGCSA members will have the pleasure of seeing it firsthand.
Kevin Collins, a member of the Tee to Green Editorial Committee, is NE/Mid-Atlantic Territory Manager for Ocean Organics.
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