What is the oldest golf course you've played (in America)?

[Tom Buggy]

Dutcher GC in Pawling, NY, about 70 miles north of NYC on rte. 22.
Built in 1888 or 1890 (take your pick) by John Dutcher, it's considered to be the oldest 9 hole public course in the US.

Recent research (2020-2021) has established that there was not a Dutcher course until 1901.

[Dan_Callahan]

I think probably Shinnecock, although my scorecard there and Maidstone both say 1891?

Also, I played Newport the other day and was told the 10th green is the oldest continuously used green in the country?

[Peter Sayegh]

Lakewood Country Club in NJ or Anderson Country Club in SC.

[Mike Worth]

What is the criteria here? I couldn’t figure it out by going through older posts


Does the course played have to be in the same location as when the place was organized?  Or does it count if you played a Club that was organized in the 1880s but they are playing at a different location than when first organized?

[Anthony Gholz]

I just saw this post today.  I'll catch up someday.


They're probably covered elsewhere, but in North America I've played Niagara on the Lake and Point aux Barques (Michigan) both 9-holes and both claim 1896 (I think?) on the same site.  Over the pond I assume TOC is my oldest played and many others would be prior to 1896.


Anthony

[Tim Martin]

Dorset Field Club   1886
Quogue Field Club  1887
Shinnecock Hills     1891
Palmetto GC          1892
Merchantville CC    1892
Greenwich CC        1892
CC of Farmington   1892
Newport CC           1893
Ostego GC             1894
Fenwick GC            1894


I don’t know what’s required as far as continued operation but Oakhurst was closed from 1912 to 1994.

[Mike Worth]

Onteora - 1887
Kebo - 1888
Merchantville - 1892
Shinnecock - 1891
Atlantic City - 1897
Rock Island Arsenal - 1897
Taconic - 1896

[Jim Sherma]

Elkridge in Baltimore. Original 9 on site was Baltimore Golf Club - 1894. Elkridge Fox Hunt Club built 9 holes next door and then merged the two courses to make 18. Raynor redid the course in 1925 but some original Bendelow is there including the 1st hole and at least another green or so.

[Bill Seitz]

Victoria Club in Riverside, CA - 1903.  Pretty sure it's been redone a few times since then, but it was our home course during my senior year in college, and a couple guys on the team who were members used to say it was the oldest club west of the Mississippi still on its original land.  Not sure if that's true.

[Dan Boerger]

1895 - Sadaquada Golf Club, Whitesboro NY. 9 holes and I am an out-of-town member. Fun course.

[Greg Smith]

Monterey Country Club in Blue Ridge Summit, PA (1885).  It's a primitive, short 9-hole course that somehow has survived up until the present day -- in pretty much its original state.  I only live about 10 miles from there, on the Maryland side of the line.


The name sounds odd given the geographical location.  Actually it sits atop Monterey Pass, which was a key retreat route for Lee's Army of Northern Virginia following the battle of Gettysburg.  Practically right next door sits the Monterey Pass Civil War battlefield site (July 5, 1863).


"Country Club" is also a misnomer.  You just pony up your 10 bucks and play.


Also strange is that the major hazard/feature of the course is wetlands, which border almost one whole side of the property.  Pretty unusual to have high altitude bogs and such on top of mountain passes in these parts.  There are a few bunkers too, of course not excavated or maintained in any kind of aggressive fashion.

[Wade Whitehead]

Does anyone know the status of Oakhurst (WV)?  I played it once, see it mentioned in this thread many times, but haven't heard anything about it in at least a couple of years.

Their website is down and I can't find any mention of on the full Greenbrier site.

Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, and Trevino were "co-designing" a course up there, too.  Still a page on Nicklaus's site but I would bet nothing ever gets built.

WW

PS O/T, but also noticed that the Greenbrier (Nicklaus) is now a nine hole course.  Quite a fall for a layout that's hosting both the Solheim and Ryder Cups.

[Carl Johnson]

Course or Club?  I've played a number of times at Wee Burn Country Club in Darien, Conn., which dates from 1896.  But that's the club.  My recollection is that the current course is actually a few years younger.  They claim to have the first "island green."  It's not in a lake or pond, but surrounded by a steam (likely the "wee burn") which splits and goes around the green and then comes back together.  In any case, it's a very nice course.  Someone else mentioned Palmetto in S.C., dating from the 1890s.  I've played that one too.  Wild greens.

[Cal Seifert]

Kebo Valley 1888
quogue field club 1887
Goat Hill (Shelter Island CC) 1901

[Charles Lund]

Tacoma Country and Golf Club, which started in 1894.


Charles Lund

[Steve Lang]

   Ottawa PArk 1899 as 9 holes, originally cut out of forest land by the Dutch farmers...  later expanded to 18 in 1908...

[MCirba]

Rather than get into specifics regarding some of the courses, clubs, and dates mentioned so far, I will just say that every course below is dated from when golf first started at that site.   I see a number of others list the date of the club's origin and in some cases the club has moved at least once to new grounds during their history.   


Of the one's following, I'm still trying to verify the first one including having read the history book and doing extensive research.   The club dates golf being played there to 1886 based on the existence of a single map drawn many years later and the original was somehow lost while being copied for the centennial.   Newspaper accounts show the club actually being organized in 1896, not '86, but in the process of building a clubhouse which at least is suggestive of some growth and playing of the game there prior.  So, we'll leave it with an asterisk*.

Dorset Field Club (VT) - 1886*
Foxburg (PA) - 1887
Ardsley (NY) - 1895
Atlantic City (NJ) - 1897
Audubon Park (LA) - 1898
Baltusrol (NJ) - 1895
Beacon Hill (NJ) - 1899
Bedford Springs (PA) - 1895
Breakers (FL) - 1897
Camden (SC) - 1899
Castine (ME) - 1897
Charlevoix (MI) - 1896
Clifton Park (MD) - 1898
Deal (NJ) - 1898
Dyker Beach (NY) - 1895
Equinox (VT) - 1896
Essex County (MA) - 1893
Fenwick (CT) - 1894
Forest Park (NY) - 1896
Franklin Park (MA) - 1890
Garden City (NY) - 1897
Hendricks Field (NJ) - 1897
Highland Links (MA) - 1898
Hollywood (NJ) - 1899
Kebo Valley (ME) - 1894
Lawrenceville (NJ) - 1894
Maidstone (NY) - 1896
Mingo Springs (ME) - 1899
Misquamicut (RI) - 1895
Mt. Washington (NH) - 1895
Myopia Hunt (MA) - 1894
Newport (RI) - 1893
Northampton (PA) - 1899
Northeast Harbor (ME) - 1895
Northland (MN) - 1899
Ottawa Park (OH) - 1899
Palmetto (SC) - 1892
Philly Cricket (St. Martins) (PA) - 1895
Pinehurst #1 (NC) - 1897
Plainfield (NJ) - 1898
Plainfield West (NJ) - 1898
Samoset (ME) - 1898
Schenley Park (PA) - 1897
Shinnecock Hills (NY) - 1891
Taconic (MA) - 1898
The Country Club (MA) - 1893
Trenton (NJ) - 1898
Van Cortlandt (NY) - 1895
Wannamoisett (RI) - 1899
Wyoming Valley (PA) - 1896

[Brad Tufts]

Does anyone know the status of Oakhurst (WV)?  I played it once, see it mentioned in this thread many times, but haven't heard anything about it in at least a couple of years.

Their website is down and I can't find any mention of on the full Greenbrier site.

Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, and Trevino were "co-designing" a course up there, too.  Still a page on Nicklaus's site but I would bet nothing ever gets built.

WW

PS O/T, but also noticed that the Greenbrier (Nicklaus) is now a nine hole course.  Quite a fall for a layout that's hosting both the Solheim and Ryder Cups.

Hi Wade...I drove over to Oakhurst in Fall 2018 after playing the Old White and it had tall grasses all over it, so it hadn't been touched in a while.  Rumor had it that the resort had bought it and was going to refurbish it, but I doubt much has happened since.

[Carl Johnson]

Does anyone know the status of Oakhurst (WV)?  I played it once, see it mentioned in this thread many times, but haven't heard anything about it in at least a couple of years.

Their website is down and I can't find any mention of on the full Greenbrier site.

Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, and Trevino were "co-designing" a course up there, too.  Still a page on Nicklaus's site but I would bet nothing ever gets built.

WW

PS O/T, but also noticed that the Greenbrier (Nicklaus) is now a nine hole course.  Quite a fall for a layout that's hosting both the Solheim and Ryder Cups.

Hi Wade...I drove over to Oakhurst in Fall 2018 after playing the Old White and it had tall grasses all over it, so it hadn't been touched in a while.  Rumor had it that the resort had bought it and was going to refurbish it, but I doubt much has happened since.

W.Va. Governor Jim Justice owns the Greenbrier Resort. Here's a link to his website (as governor).  So you can just contact him and ask what his intentions are.  https://governor.wv.gov/Pages/default.aspx  The worst that can happen is no reply.

[David Ober]

Redlands Country Club, probably? 1896?

[Kyle Harris]

My criteria for asking this question was *course* not *club*.

And by course I meant actual feature or features. Some renovations of the course that left older parts are fine.

It's like having that wing of the house with several renovations and additions - the floors may be a century older than the rest of the house.

I'll also have to rethink my own candidate but I'm pretty sure I've hit the 19th century in the past 15 years. Many of the posts are from around the time I played Palmetto (and started at Streamsong subsequently) in May 2011.

[David Ober]

My criteria for asking this question was *course* not *club*.

And by course I meant actual feature or features. Some renovations of the course that left older parts are fine.

It's like having that wing of the house with several renovations and additions - the floors may be a century older than the rest of the house.

I'll also have to rethink my own candidate but I'm pretty sure I've hit the 19th century in the past 15 years. Many of the posts are from around the time I played Palmetto (and started at Streamsong subsequently) in May 2011.

How old is Del Monte? They list 1897 for a 9-holer. Was it the same site as now?

[MCirba]

And by course I meant actual feature or features. Some renovations of the course that left older parts are fine.

It's like having that wing of the house with several renovations and additions - the floors may be a century older than the rest of the house.

Kyle,


Yes, I did get your gist.


A big part of what drives me to seek out really old courses is just that...the chance to see a piece of living history in the form of a feature or green or type of hole that may be seen as outdated or anachronistic or unfair in modern times but that has been retained and still works at some level in a modern context.


I'm pretty confident I could point those  out on most of the vintage courses I listed.

[Tim Leahy]

Victoria Club in Riverside, CA - 1903.  Pretty sure it's been redone a few times since then, but it was our home course during my senior year in college, and a couple guys on the team who were members used to say it was the oldest club west of the Mississippi still on its original land.  Not sure if that's true.

Old Del Monte in Monterey, CA advertises itself as the oldest course west of the Mississippi but I don't know if that is correct.

[Ryan Hillenbrand]

Palmetto, then


Normandie Golf Club - 1901 - also advertises itself as the oldest 18 hole course west of the Mississippi in its original location


Glen Echo CC - opened in 1901, 1 day after Normandie. Legend has it Normandie rushed its opening so it could one up its neighbor