A New Location
When the town began to grow and lots of land on the course were sold for building purposes, it became necessary to think about changing the links to another locality and, as the club was growing fast and its members ambitious, it was voted in December of 1899 to move to the Vaille farm in North Lexington. A Grounds Committee was chosen to lay out links at an estimated cost of $750 -- Charles B. Davis was chairman and among others on the committee were F. Foster Sherburne and William W. Reed. A Building Committee was also appointed to build a clubhouse at a cost of $2,000. At first the land was leased. Later when the club bought the land and some additional land from George W. Taylor, it was helped materially by George O. Whiting, who took a large mortgage, for those days, on the property on favorable terms. On January 27, 1900, it was voted to incorporate as the Lexington Golf Club.
So much for the beginning of our club. Most of the present members know what has happened since 1900. The first Professional was Gilbert Nichols, brothers of Nichols who was afterwards at Belmont Springs Country Club. Some of us are alive who took lessons from Gilbert. The Club was a success from the start and has continued so for thirty-eight years.
Charles P. Nunn (1933)
Hole By Hole
The holes were named as follows:
| 1 |
The Pines, 260 yards |
| 2 |
The Orchard, 179 yards |
| 3 |
The Hazard, 174 yards |
| 4 |
The Basin, 222 yards |
| 5 |
The Stone Wall, 250 yards |
| 6 |
The Pasture, 297 yards |
| 7 |
The Hill, 254 yards |
| 8 |
The Stretch, 490 yards |
| 9 |
The Trough, 190 yards |
| Total |
2316 yards |
The Early Years
It is a far cry from the early days of our Lexington Golf Club to the facilities, which are available to the members of the club today. The club was started in 1895 in an old barn on the Munroe property near the present home of James Stuart Smith. The first president of the club was John B. Thomas, who continued in office for five to six years. The initiation fee for men was $5 and for women $2 and the annual dues were the same amounts.
From the barn the links extended up the hill over land owned by the Munroe and Tower families. The seventh tee was situated near where President Lyon Carter's home now is and the putting green for this hole was on the hill across Marrett Road. From this point, the course was back again over the same road and down the hill to the old barn on what was then known as Main Street.
As cows and horses were pastured on the land, it was necessary to fence the putting green with wire and posts. A ground rule was that a ball hitting a wire could be played over again. One rather amusing thing happened in regard to the Golf Course. The owners of the land complained that the players were annoying the horses and cows pastured on the links, so the Executive Committee requested the members of the club to be more careful of the animals when playing the course.
The players with the hard gutta balls and no matched set of clubs got as much fun from the game as they do nowadays and the competition was keen.