Berkshire Country Club

Berkshire Country Club is a private, member-owned club at 1637 Bernville Road in Bern Township, just north of Reading, Pennsylvania, beside the Schuylkill River. Membership is by invitation: a candidate is proposed by a member and needs two further references. The course is Willie Park Jr.'s, planned in 1916 and opened as a full 18 in 1923. It plays to par 71 and about 6,400 yards from the Blue tees, with four shorter sets. Most holes lie on the clubhouse side of Bernville Road, which is Route 183; the 11th through 14th sit across it, reached by a tunnel opened in 1985. The ground does most of the work. A bluff runs through the front nine and holes climb, drop and cross it; an old quarry lies between the 6th and 9th; and the short 8th ends in a field of small bunkers short of a green set in a bowl. The greens are steeply sloped and often tiered, and old hardwoods and evergreens line many fairways. Donald Ross's drawings, by the Ross Society's account, were the basis for four holes around 1921; in 1929 he re-sited the 3rd's tee and green. Practice facilities include a two-ended, 300-yard range with grass tees and target greens, and a short-game area with a bunker. Away from the course the club has several dining rooms, a 25-metre pool, and three hard tennis courts, two of them lined for pickleball. Albright College's men's and women's golf teams play out of the club.