Brattleboro Country Club

Brattleboro Country Club traces its roots to 1914, when U.S. Open runner-up and PGA of America co-founder Tom McNamara designed the original nine-hole layout. Wayne Stiles completely redesigned the nine holes in 1930, and Vermont native Steve Durkee expanded the course to 18 holes in 2000 by adding a second nine while preserving all of Stiles' originals.

Brattleboro Country Club traces its golf heritage to an unlikely literary moment: golf was played in Dummerston, Vermont, as early as 1894, when resident Rudyard Kipling hosted his friend Arthur Conan Doyle for a round on a rudimentary course near his property. This earliest Vermont golf connection foreshadowed the eventual establishment of Brattleboro Country Club itself, which has served the Connecticut River valley community since its formal opening on July 1, 1914. A newspaper report called July 1, 1914, a "brilliant occasion" — the day Brattleboro Country Club opened for play. The nine-hole course was designed by Tom McNamara, a three-time U.S. Open runner-up who was one of the founding members of the PGA of America and among the respected figures in American golf of his era.

McNamara created a course of 2,754 yards on nine holes that suited the terrain near Brattleboro, using the natural features of the Connecticut River valley landscape to create a design with genuine golfing interest. The pre-history of golf in the Brattleboro area extends beyond the 1914 opening. A six-hole layout called the Wantastiquet Golf Club was established near the present site around 1899, though traces of that earlier venture eventually vanished. The Kipling-Doyle golf connection in Dummerston confirmed that the Brattleboro region was receptive to the sport well before the formal establishment of the country club. The great Francis Ouimet, the 1913 U.S. Open Champion who had electrified the nation with his victory over the English professionals Vardon and Ray, played at Brattleboro — one of the distinguished visitors whose presence attested to the club's reputation in the New England golf community. In 1930, designer Wayne Stiles — a prominent New England course architect of the era — redid all nine holes, updating the McNamara design with the sensibility of a more modern practitioner. Stiles' work updated the course while preserving the fundamental character of the Brattleboro setting. The most transformative moment in the club's course history came in 2000, when a full 18-hole layout opened. Native Vermont designer Steve Durkee created ten new holes and integrated them with eight of the surviving Stiles holes in a new routing, effectively creating a new course that combined the historical heritage of the original layout with modern design additions.

The 18-hole Brattleboro Country Club plays to approximately 6,000 yards, with a routing that takes full advantage of the varied terrain of the Brattleboro uplands. Today Brattleboro Country Club serves as the social and competitive golf center of southeastern Vermont, offering members a course with deep historical roots and connections to some of the most celebrated figures in the early history of American golf.