Allegheny Country Club

Allegheny Country Club was founded in 1895 in Allegheny City, today Pittsburgh's North Side, where the members laid out six holes over the winter of 1894-95; the club's centennial history credits Sam Tucker with that first design, and the course reached nine holes by the end of 1896. The club soon outgrew the site and bought about 150 acres off Blackburn Road in Sewickley Heights, known as the Dairy Farm or McKean Tract. The new course there, an 18-hole layout by Tom Bendelow, opened for play in May 1902.

Donald Ross's work at Allegheny began nine years later. Richard E. Spatz's history of the club, published for its centenary in 1995, says that beginning in 1911 the club "began a long relationship" with Ross, who "was consulted on a number of occasions to revise or change the course." His work was reported in American Golfer in January 1914 and June 1915, in Golf in June 1915 and in the Boston Globe in March 1915. Ross's own 1930 booklet lists Allegheny as 18 holes remodeled, and the Donald Ross Society's 2018 listing dates that remodel 1911-24. Top100GolfCourses and ForeTee both date a full Ross redesign to 1923, and Spatz's book includes drawings of the course in 1906, 1924 and 1994.

The course grew as the club bought land. The Childs property, bought in 1915, made room for what are now the 6th, 7th and 8th, which Spatz says Ross designed. The Sutton property, bought in 1922, made room for the 10th and 11th. An earlier Donald Ross Society listing records three holes remodeled in 1933. During World War II, with many members in service, the club closed its back nine. A Pinehurst Outlook item of November 6, 1945 lists Allegheny among Ross's current remodeling jobs, and Spatz records that in 1946 the back seven holes were redeveloped and the layouts of the 14th through 17th were finalized. Top100GolfCourses describes this as Ross returning toward the end of his career to bring the back nine back. Ed Seay remodeled the course in 1975, and Gil Hanse is now restoring it.

Holes to Know

From the Black tees the men's card is par 70 and 6,625 yards: 35 and 3,095 yards out, 35 and 3,530 yards in. There are four par 3s (the 3rd, 8th, 13th and 15th) and two par 5s (the 6th and 10th), and the back nine opens with the 606-yard 10th. On the women's card the 16th is a par 5 and the course is par 71.

The 373-yard 1st from the Black tees starts beside the clubhouse and pool, with a drive and tree line down the right. It drifts left and then bends gently right about 225 yards out, between a chain of bunkers on the left and four on the right. The green is longer than wide, about 28 yards deep and 19 across, and has five bunkers around it.

The 219-yard 3rd from the Black tees is the longest par 3 and plays downhill from a tee beside a road. The fairway starts about 110 yards out. A long curving bunker wraps the front right and right side of the green, with others at its front left, its left side and behind it. The green slopes from right to left.

The 437-yard 9th from the Black tees, stroke index 2 on the men's card, runs straight and uphill with trees and a road down the right. A row of three bunkers angles into the left half of the fairway about 50 yards short of a green that is deeper than wide.

The 606-yard 10th from the Black tees, the longest hole, turns right about 285 yards out around a cluster of five bunkers in the right half of the fairway. Two more bunkers sit about 100 and 85 yards short of the green, and two guard its front.

The 446-yard 16th from the Black tees is stroke index 1 on the men's card and climbs back toward the clubhouse. It bends gently right between two bunkers on the left and three on the right at about 240 to 275 yards, and its oval green has bunkers short left, short right, at the front left and behind it.

Ross's Design Here

The sources found do not say which greens or bunkers on the course today are Ross's own. What they do give is a map of which holes came from which period. Spatz writes that holes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 9 "remain essentially the same", which puts the course's opening holes and the climb home at the 9th among the oldest corridors on the property. The 6th, 7th and 8th were built on the Childs land after 1915 to Ross's design. The 10th and 11th followed the 1922 Sutton purchase. The 14th through 17th took their present form in 1946, when Ross was again working for the club.

Steve Kohler, writing on Golf Club Atlas in 2021, described the front nine as "a quirky, lay of the land routing" with a Golden Age feel and named the downhill 3rd, the short 7th "with wild green contours" and the uphill 9th as his favourite holes. He described the back nine as playing "into more open fields" and more heavily modified by Hanse. The aerials show the same contrast: tree-lined corridors and roads beside the 1st and 9th, open ground and fescue around the 10th and 16th.

Bunkering today is the product of Hanse's restoration, which has reworked the sand at the 3rd and elsewhere. The aerials show bunkers in groups rather than singly: a cluster of five at the corner of the 10th, a diagonal row of three short of the 9th green, five around the 1st green.

Historical Significance

Allegheny was one of the five founding clubs of the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association in 1899, with Edgewood, the Edgeworth Club, the Pittsburgh Golf Club and the Pittsburgh Field Club.

The course has held three USGA championships, all in women's golf. In the 1954 U.S. Women's Amateur, Barbara Romack beat Mickey Wright 4 and 2 in the 36-hole final. Rain pushed the afternoon round to the following day; Top100GolfCourses puts the elapsed time at 29 hours and 15 minutes, the longest final in USGA championships. Carol Semple Thompson, Allegheny's best-known member, won the 1990 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur on her home course, beating Page Marsh Lea 3 and 1, and in 2001 won the U.S. Senior Women's Amateur there, beating Anne Carr 1 up a few days after the September 11 attacks.

KDKA's Elite 18 series on western Pennsylvania's best holes featured the 3rd in 2024 and the rebuilt 12th in 2026.

Changes Since Ross

Ed Seay's 1975 remodel is the first recorded change after Ross; the sources found do not describe its scope. Gil Hanse's restoration has rebuilt bunkers and holes on the back nine. At the 3rd, head professional John Aber told KDKA in 2024 that a large tree to the right of the green and trees behind it are gone and that Hanse reworked the bunkering. In July 2026 KDKA reported that Hanse had rebuilt the 12th with a new green and more of a dogleg, removing the left fairway bunkers, so the green can no longer be seen from the tee. A Top100 reviewer in July 2026 noted extensive tree removal along the 17th and 18th. The routing of the back nine is the 1946 version, not Ross's prewar layout.

Uncertainties

• Start of Ross's work: the club's centennial history says 1911, and the Donald Ross Society dates the remodel 1911-24; the earlier listing said 1913, from a WPGA profile that could not be found. This listing follows 1911.

• Fowler and Alison: Top100GolfCourses says Herbert Fowler and C. H. Alison worked on the course about a decade after Ross and left before Ross finished; ForeTee says a "Robert Fowler" redesigned three holes in 1922. Neither names a primary source, and this listing does not credit them.

• Postwar work: Spatz dates the redevelopment of the back seven to 1946 and does not name the architect; Top100 says Ross returned after the war, and a November 1945 Pinehurst Outlook item lists Ross remodeling at Allegheny. This listing credits Ross with the work.

Sources & Notes

1. Greg Hohman, quoting Richard E. Spatz, The History of Allegheny Country Club: The First One Hundred Years (1995), and Steve Kohler's playing notes, "Allegheny CC - Sewickley, PA", Golf Club Atlas discussion group, July 2021, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,70043.0.html - 1895 founding and first course; 1902 Bendelow course; Ross from 1911; holes 1-4 and 9; Childs (1915) and Sutton (1922) properties; 1946 back seven; Kohler on the two nines and the 3rd, 7th, 9th and 16th.

2. Sven Nilsen, "Reunderstanding Ross", Golf Club Atlas discussion group, 2018, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,65481.25.html and https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,65481.125.html - 1914-15 press reports; 1930 Ross booklet; Donald Ross Society 1911-24 and 1933 listings; November 6, 1945 Pinehurst Outlook.

3. ForeTee, "Allegheny Country Club", https://foretee.com/courses/pennsylvania/sewickley/usa/allegheny-country-club/12362 - North Side site; 150-acre Dairy Farm or McKean Tract; May 1902 opening; 1923 Ross redesign; Seay 1975; Fowler claim.

4. Top100GolfCourses, "Allegheny Country Club", https://www.top100golfcourses.com/golf-course/allegheny - Bendelow 1902, Ross 1923, Seay and Hanse; Fowler and Alison claim; wartime closure and Ross's return; 1954 final's length; championships.

5. Top100GolfCourses reviews, https://www.top100golfcourses.com/golf-course/allegheny/reviews/cody-b-allegheny-country-club-2026-07-ab6f0fbb - July 2026: Hanse bunker and back-nine work, tree removal on the 17th and 18th, elevated 3rd tee, the 16th, fescue, walkability.

6. KDKA/CBS Pittsburgh, "Allegheny Country Club's 3rd hole has withstood the test of time | The Elite 18", July 11, 2024, https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/allegheny-country-club-3rd-hole-elite-18/ - 219 yards; green slope; trees removed; Hanse bunkering.

7. KDKA/CBS Pittsburgh, "Allegheny Country Club's 12th hole has been rebuilt and is more difficult now | The Elite 18", July 24, 2026, https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/allegheny-country-club-12th-hole-rebuilt-elite-18/ - Hanse rebuild of the 12th.

8. AmateurGolf.com, "1954 U.S. Women's Amateur Champion Barbara Romack passes away at 83", October 2016, https://amateurgolf.com/golf-tournament-news/17910/1954-U-S--Women-s-Amateur-Champion-Barbara-Romack-passes-away-at-83 - 1954 final, 4 and 2, rain delay.

9. Wikipedia results tables: U.S. Women's Amateur, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Women%27s_Amateur; U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Women%27s_Mid-Amateur; U.S. Senior Women's Amateur, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Senior_Women%27s_Amateur - 1954, 1990 and 2001 venues, winners, finalists and margins.

10. TribLive, "Western Pa. Golf Association celebrates 125th anniversary", https://mirror.triblive.com/sports/western-pa-golf-association-celebrates-125th-anniversary - five founding clubs of the WPGA.

11. Allegheny Country Club, https://www.alleghenycountryclub.com/ - address; club description.

12. Greens Visited scorecard, course-tour geometry (OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) and hole aerials (PEMA Orthoimagery 2021-23 via PASDA) - pars, yardages, stroke indexes, hole shapes, bunker positions.