Baltimore Country Club: West Course

The younger of the two courses at BCC's Five Farms campus north of Baltimore, the West was laid out in 1962 by Washington, D.C. architect Edmund B. Ault after the club sold its original Roland Park property. It has been reworked twice in the modern era, by Bob Cupp and Tom Kite in 1990 and by Keith Foster in 2012, and serves as the members' everyday companion to the Tillinghast East.

Baltimore Country Club was founded in 1898 and originally played golf on the Roland Park property in northern Baltimore. In 1921 the club retained A.W. Tillinghast to design a new course on a larger farm parcel in what is now Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland; that course, known today as the East Course at Five Farms, opened in 1926 and went on to host the PGA Championship in 1928 and the U.S. Amateur in 1932. For several decades the club maintained both the downtown Roland Park course and the new Five Farms course, but by the late 1950s the Roland Park property had been outgrown and was sold. In 1962 the club opened a second 18 at Five Farms on adjacent acreage, giving Baltimore Country Club the East and West courses on one site. The West Course was designed by Washington, D.C.-area architect Edmund B. Ault. Ault's West Course was conceived as a strong companion to the Tillinghast East rather than a direct rival. Routed over rolling Baltimore County farmland, it measures approximately 6,844 yards to a par of 72 and emphasizes long par 4s, tree-lined corridors, and greens that fit the contours of the site. The West has been updated twice. In 1990 Bob Cupp, working with PGA Tour player and design collaborator Tom Kite, led a comprehensive renovation that modernized bunkering, greens, and drainage. In 2012 Keith Foster, known for his restoration work at classic American clubs, directed a further renovation focused on bunker restoration and playing-corridor refinement, in parallel with his contemporary work on the East Course. Today the East remains the championship course at Baltimore Country Club, while the West serves as the daily members' course and has its own strong local reputation, particularly after the Foster renovation.