Belle Meade Country Club

Belle Meade Country Club was founded in 1901 as the Nashville Golf and Country Club, formed at the Maxwell House Hotel, and first played a nine-hole course on leased land near West End and Bowling Avenue. At the club's 1911 annual meeting, president Frank O. Watts recommended moving to Belle Meade, the former thoroughbred farm west of the city that was then being divided and sold. The move took shape when a land company headed by former U.S. Senator Luke Lea offered the club 144 acres along Richland Creek, on condition that it relocate, build a new clubhouse and lay out an 18-hole course. Members voted to accept on June 10, 1914.

English professional Herbert H. Barker designed the new course. Robert G. Calton's book on Barker, as quoted on Golf Club Atlas, records that Barker signed a contract in October 1914 to design and lay out the course and was paid $223.75 for architectural services that December. The club's history credits Barker with the initial routing and Scottish professional George Livingstone, who had come from North Berwick in 1912, with directing construction from 1915. Members celebrated the opening on May 4, 1916.

Donald Ross came next. According to Calton, the club hired Ross in 1917 to complete the course. Ross first inspected it on June 16, 1917, and soon after submitted plans for added bunkers and other improvements, which were carried out over the following four to five years. Ross therefore visited the site and worked on Barker's layout rather than routing a new one. The club changed its name to Belle Meade Country Club in June 1921. Calton notes that the Nashville Tennessean credited the course to Barker in 1916, while The American Golfer's report on the 1921 Southern Amateur credited it to Ross. AmateurGolf.com's April 2024 report on the club's USGA championship awards gives the order this listing follows: Barker responsible for the original design, Ross completing it.

Robert Trent Jones Sr. remodeled the course in the early 1950s; the Robert Trent Jones Society dates the work to 1951. Top100GolfCourses records a further modernization by Gary Roger Baird in 1981. In 2003-04 Rees Jones, with Bryce Swanson as co-designer, rebuilt the entire course.

Holes to Know

From the Black tees (6,964 yards) the course is par 36 on each nine, 3,445 yards out and 3,519 in. There are four par 3s (the 2nd, 6th, 10th and 16th), ten par 4s and four par 5s (the 1st, 8th, 14th and 17th). It opens with a 509-yard par 5. From the 14th the card runs par 5, short par 4, short par 3 and the longest par 5, then a 478-yard par 4 to finish.

The 355-yard 4th from the Black tees, stroke index 13, is played across Richland Creek twice. The tees sit on one bank and the fairway on the other, and the creek runs under the line of play from about 110 to 200 yards, so the tee shot crosses it on a diagonal. The hole then turns left about 47 degrees roughly 251 yards out, the sharpest left-hand bend on the course, and the approach crosses the creek again to a green on the tee side, with a pond beyond. There are no fairway bunkers, and one bunker guards the front-left of a green about 31 yards deep and 20 wide.

The 536-yard 14th from the Black tees, stroke index 6, is a straight par 5 whose hazards gather near the green. After a bunker on the right at about 281 yards, a narrow ditch angles across the fairway at about 395 yards, and bunkers sit on the line about 70 and 45 yards short of the green. A pond lies along the left side of the green, and the rest of the sand around it is on the right.

The 302-yard 15th from the Black tees is the shortest par 4 on the card and stroke index 18. The tee shot crosses a channel of a pond at about 60 to 90 yards, with the pond along the left to about 175, and the hole bends right about 35 degrees roughly 209 yards out between fairway bunkers right and left. Its green, about 2,300 square feet, is the smallest on the course, with two bunkers short of it and a third along its left side.

The 158-yard 16th from the Black tees, stroke index 16, is the shortest par 3. Its green sits on a peninsula, with a pond in front and to the left and the creek off to the right; water covers the line from about 85 to 125 yards. Two bunkers sit to the right of a green about 34 yards deep, the deepest on the course.

Ross's Design Here

No Ross-built green, tee or bunker remains: the 2003-04 rebuild replaced all of them, and Rees Jones's firm describes the work as rebuilding the course using the Donald Ross bunker style. Calton's account says Ross's contribution was added bunkering and other improvements to Barker's course from 1917; the sources found do not say which holes he changed. The bunkering a player sees today is the 2003-04 version. In our mapping it numbers roughly 40 greenside and 35 fairway bunkers, with a front-left greenside bunker on 13 of the 18 holes. Six holes have no fairway bunker: the par 3s at the 2nd, 6th and 16th, and the 4th, 5th and 11th.

Water is the other constant. Top100GolfCourses says Richland Creek comes into play on seven holes and calls the dammed Belle Meade branch of the creek the course's main hazard. Our mapping finds water on seven holes: the 3rd, 4th, 6th and 7th on the front nine and the 14th, 15th and 16th on the back. The aerials show the creek along the left of the 3rd, the whole left side of the par-3 6th and the whole right side of the 7th, a dogleg right whose green, about 5,600 square feet, is the largest on the course.

Historical Significance

The Southern Amateur came to the club before the move: the Southern Golf Association held its first championship at the Nashville Golf and Country Club in 1902 and returned in 1911. At Belle Meade it was played in June 1921, when Perry Adair beat Jack Wenzler 8 and 7 in the final, and in June 1929, when Sam Perry beat J. C. LeBourgeouis Jr. 3 and 1. It returned to Belle Meade in 1939 and 1969.

In 1955 Belle Meade hosted the first U.S. Senior Amateur, in which John Wood Platt beat George Studinger 5 and 4 in the final. In June 1961 the club hosted the Women's Western Open, then an LPGA major, played at 6,615 yards and par 75; Mary Lena Faulk won at 290, six strokes ahead of Betsy Rawls.

The USGA has awarded Belle Meade the 2028 U.S. Senior Women's Amateur and the 2036 U.S. Senior Amateur, its second and third USGA championships. Rees Jones's project page records that Golf Digest ranked the redesign seventh among its Best New Remodels of 2005. Golf Digest ranks the course 14th in Tennessee in its 2025–26 state rankings. The club marks its 125th anniversary in 2026.

Changes Since Ross

Robert Trent Jones Sr.'s remodel, dated 1951 by the Robert Trent Jones Society, left the most visible single change: Top100GolfCourses credits that work with the peninsula green at the par-3 16th. Top100GolfCourses also records Gary Roger Baird's 1981 modernization; its scope is not described in the sources found.

The 2003-04 Rees Jones rebuild, with Bryce Swanson, was the most sweeping change. Rees Jones's page says the remodel focused on creating more variety; it produced all-new greens, tees and bunkers, regraded selected fairways and rerouted three holes. Ross's greens and bunkers did not survive it, and the sources do not name the three rerouted holes. The greens today are bentgrass and the fairways bermudagrass.

Uncertainties

• Attribution: the club's own 2025 history credits Barker's routing and Livingstone's construction and does not mention Ross; Calton says Ross completed the course from 1917, and AmateurGolf.com's 2024 report also has Ross completing it; GolfPass and Wikipedia name Ross as the original designer, and Top100GolfCourses calls it a Ross design from 1921. This listing follows Barker first, Ross completing.

• Rees Jones dates: AmateurGolf.com's 2024 report dates the renovation to 2003; Rees Jones's project page dates the redesign to 2004. This listing uses 2003-04.

Sources & Notes

1. Belle Meade Country Club (Belle Meade Historical Committee), "Belle Meade Country Club - Early History," Guest Information page, 2025, https://bellemeadecc.org/Guest_Information - 1901 founding and first site; Luke Lea's 144-acre offer and the June 10, 1914 vote; Barker's routing, Livingstone's construction from 1915; May 4, 1916 opening; June 1921 renaming; 125th anniversary; club facilities.

2. Ed Homsey, "Belle Meade Country Club, Nashville, TN," Golf Club Atlas discussion group, May 8, 2014, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,58482.0.html - quotes Robert G. Calton's book on H. H. Barker: Barker's October 1914 contract and fee; Ross hired in 1917, first inspection June 16, 1917, plans carried out over four to five years; the Tennessean and American Golfer attributions.

3. AmateurGolf.com Staff, "Pair of Senior Amateur events headed to Nashville's Belle Meade Country Club," April 30, 2024, https://www.amateurgolf.com/golf-tournament-news/31529/Pair-of-Senior-Amateur-events-headed-to-Belle-Meade - reports the USGA's awards and quotes USGA and club officials (the USGA's own release, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2024/04/pair-of-senior-amateur-championships-headed-to-belle-meade.html, returned 403 and was not read) - 1911 relocation recommendation; Barker original, Ross completing; RTJ in the 1950s; 2003 Rees Jones renovation; 1955 Senior Amateur final; 2028 and 2036 awards; members.

4. Rees Jones, Inc., "Belle Meade Country Club," https://reesjonesinc.com/courses/belle-meade-country-club/ - complete redesign (2004) with Bryce Swanson; scope; Donald Ross bunker style; Golf Digest Best New Remodel, seventh, 2005.

5. Top100GolfCourses, "Belle Meade Country Club," https://www.top100golfcourses.com/golf-course/belle-meade - RTJ Sr. early 1950s and the peninsula green at the 16th; Baird 1981; Richland Creek on seven holes; dammed Belle Meade branch.

6. Robert Trent Jones Society, chronological list of RTJ Sr. courses, https://www.roberttrentjonessociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/RTJ_Course_List.pdf - Belle Meade remodel, 1951.

7. Southern Golf Association, Southern Amateur past results, https://www.southerngolf.org/page/name/southern-amateur-past-results - 1902 and 1911 at Nashville Golf and Country Club; 1921 and 1929 finals at Belle Meade; 1939 and 1969 at Belle Meade.

8. Wikipedia, "1961 Women's Western Open," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Women%27s_Western_Open, and Golf Compendium, "Mary Lena Faulk," https://golfcompendium.com/2019/08/golfer-mary-lena-faulk.html - venue, dates, par, yardage and scores; major status.

9. GolfPass, "Belle Meade Country Club," https://www.golfpass.com/travel-advisor/courses/12610-belle-meade-country-club, and GolfNow, https://www.golfnow.com/courses/1036600-belle-meade-country-club-details - private access, turf, driving range.

10. Wikipedia, "Belle Meade, Tennessee," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Meade,_Tennessee - Lea's offer; 1916 relocation; fitness, tennis and pool.

11. Golf Digest, "Tennessee's best golf courses" (2025–26 state rankings), https://www.golfdigest.com/courses/guides/tennessee-best-golf-courses-rankings - Belle Meade ranked 14th.

12. Greens Visited scorecard, course-tour geometry (OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL) and hole aerials (TDOT Aerial Surveys / TNMap) - all hole pars, yardages, stroke indexes, shapes, hazards and green sizes.