The Country Club was founded in Glenville, Ohio, near Lake Erie in 1889.
More than 130 years later, it remains true to its founders’ purpose – providing a country retreat for elite Cleveland families. Samuel Mather introduced golf to the Club in 1895; shortly thereafter, a 9-hole course was created, which was expanded to 18 holes in 1913. The members took to the sport in earnest, playing an important role in the development of golf in America. Coburn Haskell had a profound influence on golf and golf architecture with his invention of the rubber-wound “Haskell” golf ball, which flew straighter and longer than gutta percha golf balls. The impact of the industrialization of the Glenville neighborhood and the increased distance of the golf ball required the Club to abandon its Glenville property and relocate to its current location in Pepper Pike.
William Flynn was engaged in 1928 to design a modern, what he called “scientific,” golf course for The Country Club. The firm of Toomey and Flynn was hired to construct the course according to the detailed plans developed by Flynn. In addition to being one of America’s finest golf architects, Flynn was also a leading expert on agronomic practices for golf and golf course construction. Flynn’s local design work at Pepper Pike Club and Elyria Country Club, in addition to his design and construction efforts at Merion Golf Club, Pine Valley Golf Club, The Cascades, Kittansett Club, The Country Club in Brookline, and many other nationally recognized designs, were factors in his selection.
The Country Club is one of the finest examples of realizing the full potential of the natural features of the grounds for golf. Flynn was one of the finest routers of golf courses in America and was particularly adept at utilizing interesting playing angles and creating site-specific unique holes such as the world-class holes twelve, fifteen, and eighteen at Country. This lay of the land style of architecture results in a distinctive and well-regarded design from the outset. Opened for play in 1930, the Club was awarded the US Amateur, the premier golf event of its era, a mere five years later. That 1935 US Amateur was won by Lawson Little, who for the second year in a row, won both the British and American Amateur championships. Coincidentally, Little won the 1934 US Amateur at the other Country Club in Brookline, which was mostly designed by William Flynn. I imagine Little developed a fondness for Flynn courses. The Country Club has also hosted the 1934 NCAA Championship and, more recently, the 2012 US Women’s Amateur.
The Restoration of The Country Club
Over time, some of the playing angles and strategic shot demands have been lost due to tree proliferation, fairway shifts, bunker additions, and alterations, and lost green space. Bunkers, like most components of a golf course, have a limited life span. The Country Club governance committees recognized that the bunkers needed to be rebuilt so I was contacted to provide a historical perspective. I am a member of the Archives Committee at Merion Golf Club specializing in golf course architecture, one of the founders of the USGA Golf Architecture Archive, and an expert on William Flynn (co-authored, along with Tom Paul, The Nature Faker, a 2,548-page book on Flynn). I have had the honor to provide historical restoration research and consultations for a number of important clubs including Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, Merion Golf Club, Philadelphia Country Club, The Cascades Golf Course, Huntingdon Valley Country Club, Springdale Golf Club (Princeton University), Blair Academy Golf Course, and others. I was asked to take a look at the planning, construction, and evolution of the course with specific regard to the bunkers, which had reached the end of their lifespan. Country member Mike Gleason and I worked together to prepare a hole-by-hole evolution report showing what was planned by Flynn, what was built by Toomey and Flynn, and the architectural changes which took place over time.
From that exercise, it was evident that additional issues, beyond bunker restoration, should be addressed for a comprehensive and accurate historical restoration. These elements include green expansion, adjusting fairway lines, improving drainage, regressing of fairways, and tree management. Extensive tree plantings and the alterations made by Club golf professional Billy Burke in the mid-1930s, which included bunker additions, were targeted for removal. For a time, elevating tee boxes for visibility was in vogue. These alterations to the landscape were removed with a number of tees restored to the natural grade.
In moving the 18th green to lengthen the hole according to Flynn’s initial plan, the short game practice area was sacrificed and had to be moved. The Club determined to relocate their platform tennis facility next to their tennis facility so that ground and more was repurposed for an expanded practice facility designed by Gil Hanse.
