Fore the Love of Golf: Part 3 - The Birth of Golf in Wenatchee, WA

Established in 1552, The Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland is considered the oldest golf course in the world.

I'm going to switch gears in this part of my golf series and share the history of the first golf course established in the Wenatchee area.

Not nearly as old as the Old Course at St. Andrews, Wenatchee Golf & Country Club was the first golf course founded and developed in this area of central Washington State. The year was 1923.  We are having our Centennial celebration this year with lots of special events.

The Wenatchee Golf & Country Club was established on September 7, 1923, by a group of local businessmen. This group was led by Rowland S. Ludington (1869 - 1927), a local attorney, W. M. Anderson, John A. Gellatly, Clyde Merchant, N. W. Moggs, and others. They held a series of meetings in 1923, culminating in the formation of the Wenatchee Golf and Country Club.

The course didn't open until August 30, 1924, though, because there was still a lot of work to be done. Land needed to be secured and an architect needed to be found.

After an extensive search, the committee settled on a 70-acre piece of ground in East Wenatchee. The parcel of land was described as nothing more than a bramble of sagebrush and sand dunes. This was the site for the construction of the first 9 holes of the new course. It was purchased for $10,000 from the owner D.J. Dyer. He was probably laughing all the way to the bank, thinking those businessmen had more money than sense buying his "wasteland."

In the meantime, there was a search going on for a course architect.  Surprisingly, they settled on William W. Baker who was a banker, not a course architect.  Baker was the President of Baker-Boyer National Bank in Walla Walla, Washington. He also happened to be the chairman of the Greens Committee of the Walla Walla Golf Club. When he was approached about the efforts to build a course in Wenatchee, he agreed to design the course and consult regarding maintenance.  He must have done a great job since the original design has changed little.  Historical documents indicate that Mr. Baker did not charge a fee for his involvement in developing the course.

In the year I was born  (1952), the club decided to double the fun and purchased the property across the road to the east to expand to 18 holes. In 1956, they hired A. Vernon Macan, a golf course architect from British Columbia, to lay out the second nine. The back nine opened for play in 1958.

The original clubhouse suffered a devastating fire in 1963 resulting in the loss of many documents and much memorabilia of its early history.  The clubhouse was rebuilt and underwent a major remodel a few years ago.

The Wenatchee Golf & Country Club is a fun and challenging course to play and when it comes to tournaments and other events, it is one of the best venues and values anywhere.  I've had many friends who play tournaments all over the state say the Wenatchee G&CC offers up the best events they've ever attended.

The picture to the right is my friend Mary and me at the 100-year Roaring 20's Happy Hour event after their annual Spring Fling women's tournament in May. Mary was dressed for the occasion but I had just come off the golf course. I threw some beads around my neck, put on a headband, and called it good.

Wenatchee Golf & Country Club is a private club. The only way to play there is as a member or as the guest of a member. There are other public options in Wenatchee now, however. I will be writing more about those in another edition of this series.

This is my third entry into the ActiveRain September Challenge, hosted by Dr. Paula McDonald and Kathy Streib, but I am enjoying writing the series and will probably continue to share more reviews of golf courses in central Washington and beyond.