In 1892, the in Downers Grove, Illinois was selected by Charles Blair MacDonald. MacDonald built a nine-hole course that expanded to 18 holes in 1893, making the Downers Grove Golf Club the site of the first 18-hole golf course in America.
It was the first golf club in the United States to accept female members, and among the first golf clubs worldwide. Shinnecock Hills is also home to the United States oldest golf clubhouse. The Chicago Golf Club is the oldest 18-hole course in the United States. The course was originally only nine holes, but it was increased to 18 in 1893.
The 18 holes were redesigned in 1895 and moved to a location in Wheaton, making it the second oldest 18-hole course still existing in the United States, next to Shinnecock. All 18 holes, sadly, are no longer accessible.
While The Country Club was founded in 1882, it was initially an equestrian and social club; golf was not introduced until 1893 and a small six-hole course was laid out. The following year, The Country Club became one of the founders of the United States Golf Association and in 1895, the club built its current golf course.
The Chicago Golf Club opens the United States' first 18-hole golf course on the site of the present-day Downers Grove Golf Course. The Chicago Golf Club moved to its current location in 1895.
The first golf course in the United States was Oakhurst Links, built in 1884 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. It was originally a six hole track which was later expanded to nine holes. Oakhurst was the first course and golf club in the United States.
Foxburg Country Club, established in 1887, is the oldest golf course in continuous use in the United States. It is located in Foxburg, Clarion County, Pennsylvania, United States of America, approximately 55 miles (89 km) north of Pittsburgh on a hill rising about 300 feet above the Allegheny River.
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club This is the oldest extant course in North America which has 18 holes. The initial course of 12 holes was designed by Willie Davis from the Royal Montreal Club and opened in summer 1891. In 1894, Willie Dunn himself added 6 more holes to make it an 18-hole course.
The Beginning When Russell Montague of West Virginia learned of the sport that was so popular in Scotland and where he studied in Great Britain, he was intrigued. With the help of some local friends and neighbors, he built the first golf course in the United States on his Sulphur Springs property.
The Van Cortlandt Golf CourseThe Van Cortlandt Golf Course opened on July 6, 1895, as the first public municipal golf course in the United States.
St AndrewsIn 1764, the golfers at St Andrews decided to combine the first four short holes into two, to produce a round of 18 holes, though it was still 10 holes of which 8 were played twice. Thus was born the 18-hole round, though it would be hundred years before there were eighteen holes and other courses followed suit.
In December 1650, the settlers of Fort Orange (near present-day Albany, New York) played the first recorded round of kolf (golf) in America. The Dutch settlers played kolf year round. During the spring, summer and fall it was played in fields. In the winter it was played on ice with the same rules.
Weequahic Golf CourseWeequahic Golf Course (pronounced we-QWAY-ik) is an 18-hole public course located in the Dayton section of Newark, New Jersey. Designed in 1913 by George Low, it is the oldest public golf course in New Jersey.
Because the Presidio course was temporarily converted back into a practice drill field during the Spanish-American War, Del Monte Golf Course holds the distinction of being the oldest golf course in continuous operation west of the Mississippi River.
The first ever 18-hole course was constructed at St Andrews in 1764, establishing the now recognised standard for the game.
Linville Golf Club, built in 1895, is said to be our state's oldest course.
Chicago Golf Club was founded by renowned course designer, 1895 U.S. Amateur Champion and World Golf Hall of Fame member Charles Blair Macdonald, who was born in Canada in 1856 and grew up in Chicago. At 16 years-old CB Macdonald was sent overseas to study in St. Andrews, Scotland.
The World’s Fair of 1893 attracted 28 million people to Chicago from all over the world. Among these attendees were many with Scottish, Irish and British heritage who were already familiar with the game of golf and eager to become golf professionals or club makers.
In 1921, golf course architect Seth Raynor was hired by Chicago Golf Club to renovate the course. Raynor trained as a civil engineer at Princeton University and was a long-time protégé of CB Macdonald.
The first tee is directly in front of the clubhouse. It provides a memorable first experience that you’re following in the same footsteps as Charles Blair MacDonald, Bobby Jones, Harry Vardon and all the greats since the late 1800s.
Consider the Foxburg Golf Club (Pennsylvania), and The Oakhurst Golf Club (West Virginia). Both Foxburg and Oakhurst had records of playable courses in 1884. The Foxburg, however, was a private course on private property that only had eight holes when it was created.
St Andrew’s Golf Club (New York) also deserves mention because it is among the oldest golf courses with continuous use today. The golf club proudly acknowledges more than 125 years of continuous course play and can attribute continuous play on the current course back to 1897 — although the club itself has been notably active since 1888. Shortly after the opening of St Andrew’s course in 1897, the Savannah Golf Club responded with a course that has been in use since 1899. Although there are some discrepancies about what makes a golf course old, the oldest golf courses or clubs in the United States are all worth visiting if the opportunity arises. They are all an important piece of history and loved by their communities.
Originally, the Quogue was an 18-hole course. In 1938, however, three holes were lost to a natural disaster. Now, only nine holes remain of the original 18 from 1887. Those nine holes are among the oldest in the United States golf course history.
The course was originally only nine holes, but it was increased to 18 in 1893. The 18 holes were redesigned in 1895 and moved to a location in Wheaton, making it the second oldest 18-hole course still existing in the United States, next to Shinnecock. All 18 holes, sadly, are no longer accessible.
The Oakhurst Golf Club also formed in 1884. Oakhurst claims to be “the first organized golf club in the United States.”. Remember, some golf clubs at that time were not exclusively golf clubs. Oakhurst is the oldest golf course still in use in the same location in the United States. Although the Oakhurst links make up one ...
Shortly after the opening of St Andrew’s course in 1897 , the Savannah Golf Club responded with a course that has been in use since 1899. Although there are some discrepancies about what makes a golf course old, the oldest golf courses or clubs in the United States are all worth visiting if the opportunity arises.
The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Quebec has a history of different locations. When the Royal Montreal first opened in 1873, it was a highly recognized club. It even received a Royal title from Queen Victoria.
The new Chicago Golf Club course hosted the 1897, 1900 and 1911 U.S. Opens, the 1897, 1905, 1909 and 1912 U.S. Amateurs and the 1903 U.S. Women’s Amateur. The Chicago Golf Club is still going strong today and considers itself the first 18-hole golf course in America.
However, these 9-holes were destroyed during the 1938 hurricane and were never rebuilt. 9. Saint Andrews Golf Club. Although this list shows otherwise, the Saint Andrews Golf Club claims it is the oldest golf club and has the oldest golf course in America.
The course slowly evolved over the years and today, there are 27 holes called the Clyde, Squirrel and Primrose nines.
Area: 61 acres (24.7 ha) photo source: Wikimedia Commons. The Foxburg Country Club is another golf club that’s brought up any time there is a discussion over which golf course is the oldest in America. The club’s founder was Joseph Mickle Fox, a descendant of the land and oil rich Fox family from Philadelphia.
Montegue had learned about golf in Scotland and decided to build his own golf course right outside of his home, which served as the Oakhurst Links Clubhouse for many years. The first competition at Oakhurst was held in 1888. Although Oakhurst is the oldest golf course, it has not been in continuous operation.
The Quogue Field Club is an old private golf course in New York, which dates back to 1901. However, the club was founded in 1887 , but they did not initially play golf. A rough 9-hole course was laid out in 1896 by RB Wilson, who has head pro at nearby Shinnecock Hills.
The Chicago Golf Club continued to play golf at the Downers Grove course until 1895, when it moved to a new course built again by MacDonald in nearby Wheaton, Illinois. After this, the golf course was passed around to different owners before it was purchased by the Downers Grove Park District in 1968.
St Andrews Golf Club. 1888 1897 1897. The St Andrews Golf Club is presently the oldest golf club documented to be in continuous existence in USA. It was started, as is widely known, by John Reid and four friends on three holes in an orchard on the outskirts of New York in November 1888 and nicknamed the Apple Tree Gang.
This is the oldest extant course in North America which has 18 holes. The initial course of 12 holes was designed by Willie Davis from the Royal Montreal Club and opened in summer 1891. In 1894, Willie Dunn himself added 6 more holes to make it an 18-hole course.
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club was founded in 1891, and has the oldest extant 18-hole golf course, as well as the oldest golf clubhouse, started in 1892 in America. It was also the first club in America to admit women, which it did from the start, and possibly the second in the world to do so, after Aldeburgh GC in England.
The present Savannah Golf Club and course was founded in 1899, apparently without knowledge of its ancestry at the time or for decades after, (much like Fraserburgh Golf Club ).
USGA. The US Golf Association was formed in 1894 and the Canadian Golf Association a year later in 1895. The founding members of the USGA were St Andrews Golf Club, The Country Club, the Chicago Golf Club, the Newport Golf Club and the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. The Country Club 1892 1893 1899.
The first golf course was a 9-hole layout on Fletcher’s Field, part of Mount Royal Park on the outskirts of Montreal but the club moved to Dixie in 1896 where it remained for over sixty years until it moved to its present site at Ile Bizard in 1959.
The Savannah Golf Club, in Georgia, USA can trace its origins back to 1794 and claim to be the oldest golf club in North America and USA, on a non-continuous basis. There is a note in 1796 of the club holding a ball and also a notice of the annual general meeting to be held 1st October 1796 being the anniversary of the club formation.
However, the 18-hole course is central to the game of golf and created changes to courses all over the world. It is based on developments at the Old Course at St Andrews.
Prominent among these is Royston, which recent research has shown should be added to this list. The Royston course was the first 18-hole course outside Scotland and was laid out by two Cambridge students, and, although it was abandoned in 1871, it was resurrected in 1892. By now, English golfers were of growing significance in golf.
The only early Scottish 18-hole course that would qualify for this list, of which no part is playable today, is Innerleven's Dubbieside course . Another early English course, had it survived is Coldham Common , at Cambridge, which was 9 holes in 1876 and 18 holes in 1887, though it was once accorded the title of the 'worst course' ever seen.
In 1855, the R&A minutes report that Daw Anderson added a second hole to the 7th High Hole. Two years later, following work by Allan Robertson, all the middle greens had two holes in time for play at the Spring Meeting.
The main influence in the spread of 18-hole courses seems to have been members of the R&A, who were also members of other clubs and who wanted the same rules and standard round as they had at St Andrews.
Forfar (1871) and Kingsdown (1880) were built as 18- hole courses. Royal Jersey (1878/1883) may have been, but it is not certain. All the other courses were increased from fewer holes requiring additional land to be acquired.