Inverness Club is a private

golf club A golf club is a club used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a club head. Wood (golf), Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; iron (golf), irons, the most versatile class ...

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. Opened in 1903, the club has hosted four U.S. Opens, two

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...

s, two NCAA Men's Championships, and the

Solheim Cup The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian-American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving force beh ...

. Inverness is the only club to have hosted the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, U.S. Senior Open, and U.S. Junior Amateur Championships. From 1935 to 1954, it also hosted the

Inverness Invitational Four-Ball The Inverness Invitational Four-Ball was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 1935 to 1953. It was played at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Format The tournament featured an unusual team round robin format. From 1935 to 1951, the field co ...

Byron Nelson John Byron Nelson Jr. (February 4, 1912 – September 26, 2006) was an American professional golfer between 1935 and 1946, widely considered one of the greatest golfers of all time. Nelson and two other legendary champions of the time, Ben Hog ...

served as the club's head golf professional from 1940 to 1944 and considered it his "home course." S.P. Jermain, the club's founder and first Board President, was credited with conceiving the idea for the Ryder Cup. The championship course was designed by architect Donald Ross. Inverness Club is set to host the 2027

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open, one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the Chevron Championship, Women's PGA Championship, W ...

and the 2029 U.S. Amateur.

History

Inverness was founded in 1903, when many of Toledo's wealthiest citizens purchased a parcel of land and built a nine-hole golf course. The course was eventually expanded to 18 holes. In 1916, the club hired Donald Ross to construct a championship-caliber golf course, which was finished by the end of 1918. In his unpublished book, ''Golf Has Never Failed Me'', Ross discussed the design of Inverness and only six other courses, out of the hundreds he designed. Before 1920 in the United States, golf professionals were prohibited from entering the clubhouse, as they were once seen as little more than servants to their patron members of the country club. As professional golf tournaments began to appear in the early part of the 20th century, the visiting pros were treated the same as the home pros. By 1920, attitudes had begun to change. Sylvanus Pierre Jermain, considered "the father of public golf in Toledo", lobbied the

USGA The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

and the members of Inverness to agree to allowing all players, including pros, into the clubhouse at the upcoming 1920 U.S. Open. Both parties agreed, and Inverness thus became the first golf club in the U.S. to allow pros in the clubhouse. As a gift for the boldness and generosity Inverness had shown,

Walter Hagen Walter Charles Hagen (December 21, 1892 – October 6, 1969) was an American professional golfer and a major figure in golf in the first half of the 20th century. His tally of 11 professional majors is third behind Jack Nicklaus (18) and Tiger ...

gathered other professional golfers when the U.S. Open returned to Inverness in 1931 so that a gift could be purchased for the club.A Paradigm Shift in Golf History – USGA
/ref> Together they purchased a grandfather clock for the club house which is still housed there today. On the brass plate of the clock, this inscription was written: :God measures men by what they are :Not by what they in wealth possess :This vibrant message chimes afar :The voice of Inverness

was the head professional at Inverness Club from 1940 to 1944. He considered Inverness his home course and credits his time there for his record breaking performance, winning 18 of 35 PGA tournaments including 11 in a row, in 1945.

Lloyd Gullickson Lloyd F. Gullickson (March 23, 1899 – May 7, 1982) was an American professional golfer who played in the early-to-mid 20th century. As an amateur he won the 1917 and 1918 Chicago Amateur Championships, on both occasions using borrowed clubs. He ...

became the head professional at Inverness Club, succeeding Nelson. Gullickson remained at Inverness as the head professional until his retirement in 1965. Herman Lang, who was the first assistant to Nelson in 1941, was the head pro from 1966-1980. In preparation for championships, the course has been renovated four times. In 2016, Inverness Club engaged golf course architect, Andrew Green, who carefully researched original drawings and historic photography to restore the artistry of Donald Ross's design. In addition, Green modernized tee boxes and bunkering systems that are fitting to today's championship courses. Green's design has restored Ross’s classic championship design, with Inverness Club now playing over 7,700 yards. Inverness was ranked #47 on Golfweek Magazine's America's Top 200 Classic Courses and #88 by Golf Digest.

Scorecard

Tournaments

Winners of major tournaments held at Inverness Club include: ;U.S. Open *

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

– Ted Ray *

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

– Billy Burke (holds records: winning score 589, 144 holes) *

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

– Dick Mayer *

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

–

Hale Irwin Hale S. Irwin (born June 3, 1945) is an American professional golfer. He was one of the world's leading golfers from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. He is one of the few players in history to win three U.S. Opens, becoming the oldest ever U.S. Op ...

;U.S. Amateur *1973 –

Craig Stadler Craig Robert Stadler (born June 2, 1953) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level, including one major championship, the 1982 Masters Tournament. Early life Stadler was bo ...

;PGA Championship *

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

–

Bob Tway Robert Raymond Tway IV (born May 4, 1959) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments including eight PGA Tour victories. He spent 25 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking in 1986–87. Early life Tway w ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

–

Paul Azinger Paul William Azinger (born January 6, 1960) is an American professional golfer and TV golf He won twelve times on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 1993 PGA Championship. He spent almost 300 weeks in the top-10 of the Official ...

;U.S. Senior Open *2003 –

Bruce Lietzke Bruce Alan Lietzke (July 18, 1951 – July 28, 2018) was an American professional golfer who won 13 tournaments on the PGA Tour between 1977 and 1994, including two victories in the Canadian Open. His best finish in a major championship was ...

*2011 –

Olin Browne Olin Douglas Browne (born May 22, 1959) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and now plays on the PGA Tour Champions. Browne was born in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Holderness School in Plymouth, N.H. in 1977. H ...

U.S. Junior Amateur *2019 –

Preston Summerhays Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

;Solheim Cup *

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

– Europe ;Future championships *2027

*2029

U.S. Amateur The United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August ov ...

The club also hosted the NCAA Men's Golf Championship in 1944 and 2009.

References

External links

Inverness Club
{{Solheim Cup venues, state=collapsed Sports in Toledo, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Lucas County, Ohio Golf clubs and courses in Ohio Golf clubs and courses designed by Donald Ross Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Tourist attractions in Toledo, Ohio Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Solheim Cup venues Sports venues completed in 1903 1903 establishments in Ohio Golf clubs and courses on the National Register of Historic Places