The history of organized golf in the America’s is fuzzy as regards its first mentions in Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia. While there was no specific discussion about golf matches played in those cities, advertisements in the newspapers and other notices indeed referred to specific Golf Clubs.
The Charleston City Gazette of October 13, 1795, included the notice that “The anniversary of the Golf Club will be held on Saturday next, at the Club House, Harleston’s Green where members are requested to attend at one o’clock.” Another advertisement on October 12, 1797, referred to the organization as the “South Carolina Golf Club”.
Regarding a Golf Club in Savannah, there is a formal invitation dated December 1811 saying, “The honor of Miss Eliza Johnson’s presence is requested to a ball to be given by the members of the Golf Club in this city, at the Exchange on Tuesday evening, the 13th at 7 o’clock”. Later newspaper ads in the “Daily Republican” referred to meetings of the Savannah Golf Club, the last mention on January 7, 1820.
Much earlier, the first recorded play in America was in 1650 but the game played then likely was “Kolf” by the Dutch settlers at Fort Orange (near the present city of Albany, NY) as more likely than the Scottish game of golf. By 1659, fines were levied for playing in the streets due to the danger to property and residents.
The Royal Montreal Golf Club (Canada) was instituted in 1873 with the encouragement of Scottish born and elite player Alexander Dennistoun, and is the earliest and longest continuously active club in North America, though the club’s location changed two times, moving from Fletcher’s field in downtown Montreal to Dixie in the parish of Dorval in 1896, and then to its current location in Ile-Bizard in 1959.
The topic of “What is the Oldest Continually Operated Golf Club in the US?” is the focus of the following PDFs and includes Dorset Field Club, Foxburg Country Club, and St. Andrews Golf Club.
It should be noted that there were well established American “Country clubs” pre-1900 that had activities including sports play, but that did not have golf courses until sometime after their original formation.
However, there was well documented golf at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia where Oakhurst Links was laid out in 1884 on the property of Russell w. Montague. The course was allowed to revert to pasture in 1912 but was revived in 1994 and makes claim to the oldest existing club in the US but fails on the specific definition of “continuously operated”. Likewise, in 1885, Sarasota, Florida was promoted in Scotland by the Florida Mortgage and Investment Company and John Hamilton Gillespie, a Scottish aristocrat, lawyer and member of the Queen’s Bodyguard for Scotland established a 12-hole course in town. Unfortunately, both these clubs had disappeared a short time later.
But in the years that followed, three other clubs were established, and they all still exist. This is their story as presented in alphabetical order (with numerous photos and expansion of the summaries below in the PDF). Also included is an article about firsthand hickory play at Foxburg and the museum on its premises.
The history of the Dorset Field Club:
A group of a dozen Troy men began the pilgrimage in 1881, bringing their fishing tackle, hiking gear and shinny clubs. Shinny was an American version of shinty, a Scottish game that resembled street hockey. One summer, attorney George Harrison brought a cleek he had obtained on a trip to Scotland, and the men passed the golf club from hand to hand, propelling a homemade ball across the pastures into a tomato can sunken in the earth. The golfing seed had been planted. Harrington bought a house on Church Street in Dorset and in his shop began to experiment with the manufacture of golf clubs. He fashioned heads from a variety of woods and created hand-forged irons for his friends, eventually creating several sets that were employed during the summers. Several holes were outlined in 1884, though every year the layout expanded and changed. Finally, on Sunday, September 12, 1886, Harrington plotted a 1,892-yard, nine-hole course across the pastures of the Edgerton, Holley and Sykes farms; and although just a small portion of that course is part of the Dorset Field Club’s land today, legend claims that the course and its offspring have been in continual use ever since.
The Foxburg Country Club:
Cricket matches between the English and the gentlemen of Philadelphia began in 1859, though it was the first tour abroad by an American team that brought Joseph Mickle Fox to the United Kingdom in 1884. Fox represented the Merion Cricket Club, and with the others landed in Liverpool on May 25. Of the 18 matches played it was the encounter on June 7 and 8 in Edinburgh, Scotland that changed American golf forever. After the game, Fox became fascinated with golf on St. Andrews links and found his way to the golf shop of Old Tom Morris. Morris was a deeply religious man and perhaps it was his knowledge that Fox was a descendant of the English family credited with founding the Quaker religion that enhanced the bond between the two. Old Tom quickly taught Fox the fundamentals of golf and sold him clubs and gutta percha balls to take back to America. When Joe Fox returned to the massive family estate in western Pennsylvania he was intent on establishing golf as a summer pastime. In 1885, he plotted a short three – hole course on the lawn and pasture outside his door and enticed villagers to join him. The layout was extended to five holes the next year, but the game proved so popular that more clubs were ordered from Scotland and Fox decided to provide a permanent home for the club. In 1887, five holes were installed on the current site and John Dunkle was hired for $15 a year to scythe the fairways. Greens were made of sand and quart tomato cans provided the holes…….
St. Andrew’s Golf Club:
Thanks to the work of GCS members Peter Landau and Brian Siplo, as well as their predecessors as historians and curators at the Club, St. Andrew’s history is well documented and preserved. And unlike Dorset and Foxburg, the supporting documentation of their legacy is clear and irrefutable. Though we revere John Reid as the father of golf in America and the founder of St. Andrew’s, the story begins with his friend and fellow native of Dunfermline, Scotland Robert Lockhart. Employed by Sweetser, Pembroke & Co., Lockhart made frequent trips to Scotland importing the fine linens manufactured there. He enjoyed procuring other items not previously available in America, and at one time in the mid-1880s he arrived at John Reid’s house with lawn tennis racquets and tennis balls. They built a grass court on Reid’s front lawn and established a tennis club, but the idea withered when Lockhart discovered the game had found its way to America a few years previous. but in the late summer of 1887, Lockhart arrived at the golf shop of Old Tom Morris where he would allow the St. Andrews professional to direct him in the
purchase of golf clubs and balls that were shipped back to America. Lockhart’s son Sydney vividly recalls the day they were delivered. “I remember distinctly the morning that they arrived and the fun we had opening the box. There were some highly polished woods and a few shiny irons, together with two dozen gutta percha golf balls all packed in sawdust. One by one my father took out the clubs and explained their uses.” The Lockharts lived on the outskirts of New York City and adjourned to what is now Riverside Drive on a bright Sunday morning for a demonstration. “Father teed up the first little white ball and, selecting one of the long wooden clubs, dispatched it down the meadow. He tried all the clubs, and then we boys were permitted to drive some balls too.” If Old Tom had informed Lockhart that Joseph Fox had been to see him three years earlier, perhaps the game would have gone no further. Instead, Lockhart turned the clubs over to Reid
who was determined to get others interested in the new activity. The first game of golf among Reid and his cronies occurred on February 22, 1888, in a cow pasture across the street from Reid’s home in Yonkers-on-the-Hudson. Reid and John B. Upham demonstrated while Henry Tallmadge and three others looked on—all were intrigued by the possibilities. Occasional forays resulted but it wasn’t until the fall that interest warranted the establishment of a formal organization. On Wednesday, November 14, 1888, Reid was joined by Tallmadge, Upham, Harry Holbrook and Kingman Putnam for a fivesome on the golf grounds before retiring to Reid’s house for the customary après golf activities. Reid was a Scot in every sense of the word and the appropriate dinner, libations and loudly sung Scottish ballads were part of every evening. But on this particular night, Reid had another item on his docket, even before dinner was served. Reid wished to
formalize their gathering by establishing what he believed was the first golf club in America. After Reid was unanimously elected president, Upham was chosen as secretary and treasurer, and in his hand the minute book was written. Eight tenets were entered that day, the last stating, “The meeting then adjourned and partook of a very enjoyable supper by the hospitality of Mr. Reid when the future prospects were discussed and long prosperity of the club was drunk.”….. (PDF- 8 pages below)