Athens Country Club

Athens Country Club was founded in 1921 by a group of Athens citizens with the purpose of "promoting social intercourse and athletic sports." The club secured its property in the early spring of 1921, incorporated, and raised money by selling bonds. Through that summer members played over a temporary six-hole layout while a nine-hole course was built. George Sargent, the professional at Scioto Country Club in Columbus, designed it, and the work was directed by J. Halliday Cline, a founding member, and L. Oliver Gutman, a local landscape architect. Sargent had won the 1909 U.S. Open, and he was president of the PGA of America from 1921 to 1926. Ground was broken for a clubhouse designed by the Columbus firm of Stribling and Lum in September 1921, and the club held its gala opening in June 1922, when it had 191 members.

Donald Ross came four years later, to remodel a course that already existed. In 1925 the board of trustees set out to "modernize" the course and engaged Donald Ross and Associates. Over the next two years the course was rebuilt to Ross's plans. Two holes were abandoned and replaced, and two new tees and two new greens were built. The club's history dates the completion of the work to 1928. The routing still follows Sargent's plan in broad strokes. The club says Ross substantially altered at least five of the nine holes, and that after later changes only the 1st and 9th remain as Sargent designed them. No published source records whether Ross visited Athens or which of his associates carried out the work.

Holes to Know

From the White/Blue tees the nine measures 3,123 yards. On the men's card it is par 36, with par 4s at the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 7th and 9th, par 5s at the 2nd and 6th, and par 3s at the 5th and 8th. The women's card from the same tees is par 38 and plays the 3rd and 9th as par 5s.

The 509-yard 2nd from the White/Blue tees is the longest hole on the course. It bends left about 220 yards from the tee, between a row of pines on the right and woods on the left, and its only bunker sits about 20 yards short of the green at the front left.

The 408-yard 3rd from the White/Blue tees is stroke index 1 on the men's card. foreTee's course description calls it the signature hole and describes an elevated tee and green. Today a brush-filled channel runs down the left from about 115 to 175 yards, the hole turns left about 230 yards out, and the green has no bunkers.

The 115-yard 5th from the White/Blue tees is the shortest hole and has the smallest green in our mapping. The tee shot carries a pond that ends about 40 yards short of the green, and two bunkers sit side by side across the front.

The 188-yard 8th from the White/Blue tees is the longer of the two par 3s. A pond runs along the right from about 115 to 45 yards short of the green, and a single bunker guards the green's right side.

The 373-yard 9th from the White/Blue tees closes the round. With the 1st, it is one of the two holes the club says are unchanged from Sargent's design. It runs dead straight between trees to an oval green with one bunker off the back left.

Ross's Design Here

The club's account identifies Ross's work by subtraction. It names the holes he did not change, the 1st and 9th, but not which two holes were abandoned, which tees and greens are his, or which holes he redesigned. No published source ties a feature on today's course to Ross by hole, so what follows describes the course as it is.

The 2nd through 8th, the holes that include Ross's work, take the course out through wooded ground and back. Three of them bend left: the 2nd and 3rd, which share a corner of the property where the 3rd tee sits just behind the 2nd green, and the short par-4 4th. The par 3s, the 5th and 8th, both play over or beside water today, and the 7th runs alongside a pond on its right. Bunkering is sparse. The 3rd green has none, the 2nd and 8th one each, and the 5th has a pair across its front. The greens are small: the mapped greens average about 3,400 square feet, and the 5th's is about 1,500. The club describes the course as sloped, with tight fairways that reward correct placement and greens that "run fast and true."

The 1st and 9th, Sargent's holes, frame the round from the clubhouse side. The 1st runs out with three bunkers around its green, and the 9th comes home straight.

Historical Significance

In Ross's record, Athens is a remodel of another professional's nine-hole course rather than a design of his own, and the club's account is the main documentation of it. No ranking of the course was found.

The course has a place in professional golf history out of proportion to its size. The club records that Walter Hagen played an exhibition here in 1925, shot 80 and called it "a sporty little course." Athens native Dow Finsterwald won the 1958 PGA Championship, and the city proclaimed September 25, 1958, Dow Finsterwald Day. The day's 18-hole exhibition at the club paired Arnold Palmer, the reigning Masters champion and Finsterwald's friend, with 18-year-old Jack Nicklaus of Columbus, against Finsterwald and Howard Baker Saunders, an amateur from Gallipolis. Palmer shot 62, breaking Finsterwald's course record of 63. Nicklaus and Finsterwald each shot 68 and Saunders 71, and Palmer and Nicklaus won the better-ball match. It was the first time Palmer and Nicklaus played together. The Athens Foundation and the Ohio Historical Society erected a state historical marker near the clubhouse in 2009, and the club says Nicklaus and Finsterwald attended its dedication.

The club also produced Bob Littler Jr., an Ohio Amateur champion, and Bob Littler was its professional from 1947 to 1978. Ohio University's men's and women's golf teams use it as their practice course.

Changes Since Ross

The club's course page says the course has undergone "many improvements" since Ross's work. foreTee's description, which follows the club's wording elsewhere, says later changes did not significantly alter the design: pine trees were planted in the 1950s to define the fairways, lakes were dug to drain swampy areas and supply water, and more recent work has mostly enlarged teeing areas. The pines and ponds that frame the course today date from that later period on this account. No architect is named for any work after Ross.

Off the course, the clubhouse was enlarged in the early 1950s and the mid-1970s, and on August 13, 1983, a fire destroyed it. A new clubhouse, close to the original in layout, was designed by Panich & Noel and dedicated on July 4, 1985. The swimming pool was added in 1965.

Uncertainties

• Ross's dates. The club's history says the work began in 1925, took two years and was completed in 1928; its course page says "improved by Ross in 1925-26." This listing follows the history page: 1925 to 1928.

• Extent of Ross's work. foreTee's version of the club text says four holes were redesigned besides the two replaced and that only the first and last were untouched by Ross. The club's current history says Ross substantially altered at least five holes and that only the 1st and 9th are unchanged from Sargent after later changes. This listing follows the club.

• Opening date. foreTee says the course first opened for play to members in May 1922; the club dates its gala opening to June 1922 and the course's construction to 1921.

Sources & Notes

1. Athens Country Club, "Our History," https://athenscc.com/history/ (read 2026-10-06). Founding, temporary six holes, Sargent, Cline and Gutman, clubhouse, June 1922 opening, 1925 Ross engagement and scope, completion 1928, holes 1 and 9, Hagen 1925, Finsterwald Day, Littler, clubhouse fire and 1985 building, pool.

2. Athens Country Club, "The Course," https://athenscc.com/golf-course/ (read 2026-10-06). Bent grass, "improved by Ross in 1925-26," tight fairways, fast greens, pines and irrigation ponds, winter closing.

3. foreTee, Athens Country Club course description, https://foretee.com/courses/ohio/athens/usa/athens-country-club/10756 (read 2026-10-06). May 1922 opening, signature 3rd, 1950s pines and lakes, enlarged tees.

4. Ohio History Connection, Remarkable Ohio marker 8-5, "Dow Finsterwald Day September 25, 1958" (2009), https://remarkableohio.org/marker/8-5-dow-finsterwald-day-september-25-1958/. The 1958 exhibition and scores.

5. PGA of America, Past Presidents, https://www.pga.org/history/past-presidents. Sargent, president 1921-1926; 1909 U.S. Open; Scioto.

6. Wikipedia, "George Sargent (golfer)," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Sargent_(golfer). Sargent's 1909 U.S. Open and Scioto post (corroboration).

7. Pete Nakos, "Golf Column: Ohio needs to invest more in its golf program," The Post (Athens), February 16, 2016, https://www.thepostathens.com/article/2016/02/golf-column-ohio-needs-to-invest-more-in-its-golf-program. Ohio University teams practise at the club.

8. Greens Visited course data: scorecard (White/Blue tees) and course-tour aerials from the Ohio Statewide Imagery Program. Hole yardages, pars, stroke indexes and what is on the ground today.