Newport Country Club

Clubhouse, circa 2010
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Club information
41°27′43″N71°20′49″W / 41.462°N 71.347°W /41.462; -71.347
Coordinates	41°27′43″N71°20′49″W / 41.462°N 71.347°W /41.462; -71.347
Location	Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.
Elevation	10–50 feet (3–15 m)
Established	1893; 133 years ago (1893)
Type	Private
Total holes	18
Events hosted	U.S. Open (1895) U.S. Amateur (1895, 1995) U.S. Women's Open (2006) U.S. Senior Open (2024)
Designed by	William "Willie" Davis (1894, 1899) A. W. Tillinghast(1923)[1]
Par	70
Length	7,075 yards (6,469 m)
Course rating	75.4
Slope rating	135[2]
Clubhouse, ca. 1897

Newport Country Club is a historic privategolf club inNewport, Rhode Island, US. Founded in 1893, it hosted both the firstU.S. Amateur Championship and thefirstU.S. Open in 1895.

Theodore Havemeyer, a wealthy sportsman whose family owned theAmerican Sugar Company, played the game of golf on a trip to Pau in the south ofFrance 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 thesummer colony's social elite, men such asJohn Jacob Astor IV,Perry Belmont, andCornelius Vanderbilt II – to purchase the 140-acre (0.57 km²) Rocky Farm property for $80,000 and establish the golf club in 1893.^[3]

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.^[4]

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 atNew York City's Calumet Club with representatives from four other clubs:Saint Andrew's Golf Club inHastings-on-Hudson, NY;Shinnecock Hills Golf Club inSouthampton onLong Island, New York;The Country Club inBrookline, MA; and theChicago Golf Club.^[5] These clubs agreed to form the Amateur Golf Association, the forerunner of theUnited States Golf Association (USGA).

In October 1895, Newport Country Club hosted both the firstU.S. Amateur and thefirstU.S. Open. To this day, the U.S. Amateur champion is awarded the Havemeyer Trophy.^[5][3]

In celebration of the centennial of those first two USGA events, the club hosted the U.S. Amateur in 1995,^[6] won by defending championTiger Woods.^[7][8] Eleven years later, it was the site of theU.S. Women's Open in2006, won byAnnika Sörenstam in an 18-holeplayoff.^[9][10][11] Newport was set to host the 41stU.S. Senior Open inJune 2020, but theCOVID-19 pandemic cancelled all age-specific tournaments on the USGA calendar. The event was deferred to2024,^[1][5] and weather during the final round postponed the conclusion until Monday, extended with a playoff betweenRichard Bland andHiroyuki Fujita, won by Bland on the fourth extra hole.

Whitney Warren designed the classic,Beaux Arts style clubhouse on a largely barren farm overlookingBrenton Point 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 overlooksBailey's Beach and completed in 1900, hostedMichelle Wie for the week of the 2006 U.S. Women's Open.

The original nine-hole course was designed in 1894 byWilliam "Willie" Davis,^[1] the club's first professional, and later expanded to 18 holes in 1899, again by Davis.^[12] This second nine was long thought to be designed byDonald 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 asWinged Foot,Baltusrol,Bethpage Black, and theSan 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.

Source^[2]

Notable former members include:

• John Jacob Astor IV, American businessman^[13]
• Oliver Belmont, American politician^[13]
• Perry Belmont, American politician and diplomat^[13]
• Robert Goelet, American heir, businessman and yachtsman^[13]
• Theodore Havemeyer, American businessman^[13]
• James Stillman, American businessman^[13]
• Cornelius Vanderbilt II, American businessman^[13]

• Brenton Point

• U.S. Open (golf) venues
• 1893 establishments in Rhode Island
• Buildings and structures in Newport, Rhode Island
• Golf clubs and courses designed by A. W. Tillinghast
• Golf clubs and courses designed by William Davis (golfer)
• Golf clubs and courses in Rhode Island
• Sports venues completed in 1893
• Tourist attractions in Newport, Rhode Island
• Warren and Wetmore buildings

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