Newport Country Club, is a historic private
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
club in the
northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
, located in
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...
. Founded in 1893, it hosted both the first
U.S. Amateur Championship and the
first
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
U.S. Open in 1895.
History
Theodore Havemeyer
Theodore Augustus Havemeyer (May 17, 1839 – April 26, 1897) was an American businessman who was the first president of the U.S. Golf Association and co-founder of the Newport Country Club, host to both the first U.S. Amateur and the first U.S. ...
, a wealthy sportsman whose family owned the
American Sugar Company, played the game of golf on a trip to Pau in the south of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
in 1889 and returned to his summer home in Newport excited about its future. In 1890, he and his friends rented some property on the old Castle Hill Farm and played golf on a primitive course. He convinced a few pals from the
summer colony's social elite, men such as
John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American business magnate, real estate developer, investor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family. He died in the sink ...
,
Perry Belmont
Perry Belmont (December 28, 1851 – May 25, 1947) was an American politician and diplomat. He served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1881 to 1888.
Early life and education
Belmont was born on December 28, 1851, in New York ...
, and - to purchase the Rocky Farm property for
$80,000 and establish the golf club in 1893.
At the time of the club's founding, Newport was at the peak of its prestige as the favorite summer colony of America's wealthy elite. The city had thus established one of America's earliest golf clubs since the sport was played almost exclusively by the rich when it was first introduced to the United States. The primitive course that they played upon in 1890 was bought roughly thirty years later and is now the site of seven holes (2–8) of the front nine.
Tournaments
Anxious to host national competitions, Havemeyer invited the country's best amateurs to his new course for a championship in 1894. That December, Havemeyer held a meeting at
New York City's Calumet Club with representatives from four other clubs: St. Andrew's Golf Club in
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the town of Greenburgh in the state of New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of midtown Manha ...
;
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
on
Long Island, New York
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...
;
The Country Club
The Country Club, located in Brookline, Massachusetts, is the oldest golf-oriented country club in the United States. (The Philadelphia Cricket Club, founded in 1854, was the first country club for any sport.) It holds an important place in ...
in
Brookline, MA
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːs ...
; and the
Chicago Golf Club
Chicago Golf Club is a private golf club in the central United States, located in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago. The oldest 18-hole course in North America, it was one of the five founding clubs of the United States Golf Association ...
.
These clubs agreed to form the Amateur Golf Association, the forerunner of the
United States Golf Association
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 ...
(USGA).
In October 1895, Newport Country Club hosted both the first
U.S. Amateur Championship and the
first
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
U.S. Open. To this day, the U.S. Amateur champion is awarded the Havemeyer Trophy.
In celebration of the centennial of those first two USGA events, the club hosted the U.S. Amateur in 1995, won by defending champion Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records.
*
*
* Woods is widely regarded as ...
. Eleven years later, it was the site of the 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 ...
in 2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
, won by Annika Sörenstam
Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (; born 9 October 1970) is a Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 intern ...
in an 18-hole In 2017, the USGA announced Newport will host the 41st U.S. Senior Open
The U.S. Senior Open is one of the five major championships in senior golf, introduced in 1980. It is administered by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and is recognized as a major championship by both the PGA Tour Champions and the Eu ...
in June 2020 but after a pandemic cancelled all age-specific tournaments on the USGA calendar, the event was deferred to 2024.[
]
Clubhouse
Whitney Warren
Whitney Warren (January 29, 1864 – January 24, 1943) was an American Beaux-Arts architect who founded, with Charles Delevan Wetmore, Warren and Wetmore in New York City, one of the most prolific and successful architectural practices in the ...
designed the classic, Beaux Arts style clubhouse on a largely barren farm overlooking Brenton Point
Brenton Point State Park is a public recreation area occupying at the southwestern tip of Aquidneck Island in the town of Newport, Rhode Island. The state park offers wide vistas of the Atlantic Ocean where it meets Narragansett Bay. The park ...
in 1895. It went under extensive renovation by Kirby Perkins Construction in 2005.
Warren's only other major Newport project at the time was a home for his sister, Edith, High Tide. This mansion, which overlooks Bailey's Beach
Bailey's Beach (officially named as and owned by the Spouting Rock Beach Association) is a private beach and club in Newport, Rhode Island, United States.
History
According to the ''Providence Journal'', Bailey's Beach in Newport Rhode Island was ...
and completed in 1900, and hosted Michelle Wie
Michelle Sung Wie West (; born October 11, 1989) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. At age 10, she became the youngest player to qualify for a USGA amateur championship. Wie also became the youngest winner of the U.S ...
for the week of the 2006 U.S. Women's Open.
Course
The original nine-hole course was designed in 1894 by William "Willie" Davis,[ the club's first professional, and later expanded to 18 holes in 1899, again by Davis.] This second nine was long thought to be designed by Donald Ross, but a recent discovery (2013) of an original scorecard (1899) refuted this. This information is in the recently written club history.
A. W. Tillinghast, famous for such designs as Winged Foot, Baltusrol, Bethpage Black
The Bethpage Black Course is a public golf course at Bethpage State Park on Long Island, New York. The course was designed by Joseph H. Burbeck and was assited by noted golf architect A. W. Tillinghast. It is the most difficult of Bethpage's f ...
, and the San Francisco Golf Club, was hired in 1923 to remodel the course layout. Since 1995, restoration on some of the course has been completed by Ron Forse.
Scorecard
[
]
References
See also
*Brenton Point
Brenton Point State Park is a public recreation area occupying at the southwestern tip of Aquidneck Island in the town of Newport, Rhode Island. The state park offers wide vistas of the Atlantic Ocean where it meets Narragansett Bay. The park ...
{{U.S. Open golf venues
1893 establishments in Rhode Island
Buildings and structures in Newport, Rhode Island
Golf clubs and courses in Rhode Island
Golf clubs and courses designed by A. W. Tillinghast
Sports venues completed in 1893
Tourist attractions in Newport, Rhode Island
U.S. Open (golf) venues
Golf clubs and courses designed by William Davis (golfer)