Newport Country Club

File:Weekend at Newport- Golfing. Mrs. Bradlee, Mrs. Kennedy, Ben Bradlee, President Kennedy. Newport, RI, Newport Country... - NARA - 194228.jpg

Theodore Havemeyer, 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 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, Perry Belmont, and Cornelius Vanderbilt II - to purchase the {{convert|140|acre|km2|adj=on}} Rocky Farm property for $80,000 and establish the golf club in 1893.{{Cite web|url=http://www.projo.com/golf/content/projo_20060627_history.524ce5d.html|title=Projo 20060627 History.524ce5d.HTML}}

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.[https://books.google.com/books?id=s10CAAAAIAAJ Harper's magazine, Volume 95 Harper's Magazine Co., 1897, pg. 706]

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: Saint Andrew's Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY; Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton on Long Island, New York; The Country Club in Brookline, MA; and the Chicago Golf Club.{{cite web|url=http://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2017/04/2020-u-s--senior-open-headed-to-historic-newport-country-club.html |publisher=United States Golf Association |title=U.S. Senior Open: Historic Newport Country Club to host in 2020 |date=April 25, 2017 |access-date=May 10, 2018}} These clubs agreed to form the Amateur Golf Association, the forerunner of the United States Golf Association (USGA).

In October 1895, Newport Country Club hosted both the first U.S. Amateur and the first 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,{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=J5hGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aPgMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5957%2C4040098 |work=The Day |location=(New London, Connecticut) |agency=Associated Press |last=Whitmire |first=Tim |title=Woods goes for 2nd title |date=August 22, 1995 |page=D1}} won by defending champion Tiger Woods.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3kZWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GOsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6713%2C7005346 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=Woods swings into title showdown at U.S. Amateur |date=August 27, 1995 |page=8E}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=30ZWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GOsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3944%2C7109395 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=Tiger wins golf crown |date=August 28, 1995 |page=2C}} Eleven years later, it was the site of the U.S. Women's Open in 2006, won by Annika Sörenstam in an 18-hole {{nowrap|playoff.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZF1WAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sfADAAAAIBAJ&pg=1905%2C728420|work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |last=Ferguson |first=Doug |title=It's not over yet: Sorenstam, Hurst face 18-hole playoff |date=July 3, 2006 |page=d1}}{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Y11WAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sfADAAAAIBAJ&pg=6433%2C800104|work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |last=Ferguson |first=Doug |title=Sorenstam wins in major fashion |date=July 4, 2006 |page=B1}}Richard J. Moss, Golf and the American country club: Sport and Society (University of Illinois Press, 2001), pg 39 [https://books.google.com/books?id=zG2OKE_9P40C]}} Newport was set to host the 41st U.S. Senior Open in June 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled all age-specific tournaments on the USGA calendar. The event was deferred to 2024, and weather during the final round postponed the conclusion until Monday, extended with a playoff between Richard Bland and Hiroyuki Fujita, won by Bland on the fourth extra hole.

Whitney Warren designed the classic, Beaux Arts style clubhouse on a largely barren farm overlooking Brenton 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 overlooks Bailey's Beach and completed in 1900, hosted Michelle Wie for the week of the 2006 U.S. Women's Open.

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.{{cite news|newspaper=New-York Daily Tribune|location=New York, New York|title=Golf at Apawamis, The Picturesque Course at Rye and Some of Its Attractive Features-Women An Important Factor in Club Life|date=September 15, 1901|page=4}} 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, 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.

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Notable former members include:

• John Jacob Astor IV, American businessman{{cite news |title=Newport Country Club Incorporated |newspaper=Lebanon Daily News |date=August 23, 1894 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/13272888}}
• Oliver Belmont, American politician
• Perry Belmont, American politician and diplomat
• Robert Goelet, American heir, businessman and yachtsman
• Theodore Havemeyer, American businessman
• James Stillman, American businessman
• Cornelius Vanderbilt II, American businessman

{{Portal|United States|Rhode Island}}

• Brenton Point

{{Newport, Rhode Island}}

{{U.S. Open golf venues}}

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Category:1893 establishments in Rhode Island

Category:Buildings and structures in Newport, Rhode Island

Category:Golf clubs and courses in Rhode Island

Category:Golf clubs and courses designed by A. W. Tillinghast

Category:Sports venues completed in 1893

Category:Tourist attractions in Newport, Rhode Island

Category:U.S. Open (golf) venues

Category:Golf clubs and courses designed by William Davis (golfer)