The interesting thing about the WPA work done here was that Albert Warren "Tillie" Tillinghast helped design some of the work done. The story I heard was his daughter and son-in-law lived in Rochester and in lieu of fees, or maybe in addition to, family got a membership. It's a good story.
Tillinghast was one of the most prolific architects in the history of golf; he worked on no fewer than 265 different courses. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2014 and was inducted in July 2015.