[Brock Peyer]

My wife, daughter and I spent the weekend on Tybee Island, near Savannah, GA.  On the way out there we drove by Savannah Golf Club and the sign on the gate had a date of 1794 on it.  I drove back towards the clubhouse, I didn't get out of my vehicle because there was alot of action going on and I was dressed for the beach.  I didn't get to see too much but my curiosity is peaked.  What can you guys tell me about it?  I would bet that it is very hard to get on.

[Brad Klein]

Brock, you should note that any golf club is hard to get on when you arrive in beach wear.

I don't know what your range of experience is with private clubs versus public courses. I doubt Savannah GC is any more or less exclusive than other clubs. Normally, it helps knowing a member, or writing a nice letter on letterhead to the pro, or havng a letter of introduction from your own club's pro or general manager. Alternatively, I I have occasionally found begging to be an effective strategy, esp. if you arrive on a Monday, go to the pro shop, get down on your hands and knees to genuflect and then buy a few shirts.

Savannah GC is nominally a Donald Ross course, though I didn't see much if anything of his legacy when I ws there in 1999. I does have some really cool Civil War-remnant bunkers and trenches on the front nine, though.

[Brock Peyer]

I didn't plan on trying to play it when we happened across it, I didn't know that it was even there, this weekend was the first trip since my honeymoon that I traveled without my sticks.  But it is good to plan for future trips down that way.

Thanks for the tips on trying to get on.  In my years of working at Cape Fear Country Club (established in 1896) we typically didn't welcome strangers on the grounds let along in beachwear.  Past experience tells me that a place that old isn't going to let anyone off the street on the course.

[CHrisB]

The CC of Charleston has a similar date, 1792, on its signs and logo. Golf was played both in Charleston and Savannah from the late 1790's to around 1825, before essentially vanishing from the area until the early 20th century (Tom Bendelow designed the next course, now NLE, at the CCofC in 1901, and the current Raynor course dates from 1922; Savannah CC is Ross, 1927).

The Dorset Field Club (1886) in Vermont and the St. Andrews Golf Club in New York (1888 ) get credit for being the first US golf clubs, but golf arrived on the southeast coast almost 100 years before.

[Brock Peyer]

Chris, that was the info that I was looking for, the date on the gate just wasn't matching up with what I had read about the first organized clubs in the country.

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