Charles Blair Macdonald was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario to naturalized American parents. He grew up in Chicago. In 1872, he was sent to St. Andrews University, while there he took up playing golf with a vengeance. He returned to Chicago in 1874 becoming a stockbroker for the next 17 years.
In 1894, the Newport Country Club and Saint Andrew’s Golf Club held a “national championship” where he finished in second place. He founded the Chicago Golf Club where he helped build the nine hold rudimentary holes in Downers Grove, Illinois. That course comprised the first golf course west of the Allegheny Mountains. In 1893, he expanded the course to 18 holes, creating the first full-length course in the United States. He died in 1939, he was 83.
What you may not know about Charles is that he was a driving force in the founding of the United States Golf Association, winning the first U.S. Amateur championship and later building some of the most influential golf courses in the United States. He would collaborate on a number of courses over the years. Those include the Old White Course at The Greenbrier, the St. Louis Country Club, Shinnecock Hills, the Yale University golf course and the Mid Ocean Club in Bermuda, the Palm Beach Winder Golf Club just to name a few.
NW Arkansas, come for a visit, stay for a lifetime.
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