BCC History- On April 7th, 1925, the decision was officially made to start a golf course, the Battenkill Country Club, at our present location. A group of local residents, only a few of which had actually played golf before, were eager to start a golf course. After the idea was discussed in early 1925 at winter parties (parties to sit in front of the fire place and “drink a toast to summer”), an initial informal meeting of 20 people took place on March 23, 1925 to discuss the possibility of a golf course. The meeting was held at the offices of Tabor and Baldwin at 9 Hill Street in Greenwich and committees were formed to raise money and to choose a site for the course. The second meeting took place at the same location on April 7th. At this meeting, the motion was passed that a membership corporation be organized and that the required number of signatures be obtained. A board of directors was elected at the meeting and the group chose our current land for the golf course, which was the Stevens and Thompson paper company property, known as the Tefft and later the Bossom farm at Middle Falls. This land was selected because it could be turned into a golf course for only $1,500 and could be leased from the paper company (for only $108 that first year). The second choice of land was “the Stewart farm off Center Falls road”, but that would have required $3000 to turn into a golf course, plus the purchase price of the land. William R. Hills, a pro at McGregor in Saratoga, assisted with the inspection of these two potential locations.
53 charter members joined after that April 7th meeting, each paying a $50 donation/initiation charge, and they quickly got to work on the course. Amazingly, the course opened for play just over one month later in mid-May (more BCC history to come on the construction of the course). The season ended with 101 members, including 45 women, with membership dues priced at $15 for men and $5 for women. Here is the list of those members and the officers elected at the April 7th meeting. We are very thankful to this group of men and women for getting us where we are today, 100 years later!
BCC History Part 2- Opening day in Battenkill Country Club history came on May 16th, 1925, just a little over a month after choosing the land for the golf course. During that time, Edward Jones, who was the superintendent at Stevens and Thompson paper company, was hired as greenskeeper. Mr. Jones hired Obie Brundage (pictured), a major figure in the history of the Battenkill Country Club, to assist with building the course, and Mr. Brundage stayed on as a worker and superintendent until 1972. The property was farm land in 1925, with a barn where our clubhouse stands (pictured), and another barn and orchard by the present 4th tee (once the season began this barn was bombarded with golf balls by people trying to hit over it). Wire fence surrounded the property to contain the few roaming cows, so one of Mr. Brundage’s first tasks was getting rid of the fence, which he did by attaching a rope or chain to his Model T Ford and pulling it down. On one particular day, mill workers were offered a day’s wages to come help out with a pick or shovel, and the first sand traps were built that day. The course featured dirt putting greens to start the season, with the Greenwich Journal saying that “it will be necessary to use the greens without grass this summer but they are quite smooth”.
The layout of the course was similar to today’s layout, but was a much shorter par 31 course. A quote from Mr. Jones- “labor was plentiful and in a short time we had nine holes much as they are today but with a lot of swamp and a house and barn at the lower end. We bought a tractor and a mower and had a flat boat with a pump and fire hose to pump water from the river to the greens. It took only a short time to get the greens ready and what a lot of players showed up!”
As we celebrate the club’s 100th birthday, it is still remarkable that the course was open for play less than 2 months after the initial meeting was held to discuss starting a golf course. We look forward to celebrating our 100-year history and some of the significant figures in the club’s history throughout this season.
The barn where the original clubhouse stood-
Obie Brundage, our longtime superintendent.