Burlington Country Club

The Burlington Country Club was formed in 1924. Led by Charles L. Woodbury, the founders bought about 150 acres from the New York publisher Henry Holt, land surrounding his Fairholt estate on the hill southeast of downtown Burlington. Club historian Ken Merritt has written that the club's predecessor was Waubanakee Golf Club, a nine-hole course in South Burlington organized in 1897, and that the sale of its property in 1926 helped finance the new club.

The club hired Donald Ross, who worked with his associate Walter B. Hatch. On September 27, 1924 the Burlington Free Press reported that Ross and Hatch "have already done their work on the grounds" and that their representative, Harold Haskin, was in charge of executing the plans. That week about 20 men with teams and scrapers were at work on the first nine, and the plan was to build its greens that fall and seed the fairways in the spring. The paper described the plan. The clubhouse would stand on the hill at the north end of the property facing south, the course would start west of it, and the 9th would finish in front of it. The other nine would circle the Holt residence and end before the clubhouse. The club still quotes Hatch: "I have never seen a better site for a country club."

In January 1925 the club put Ross's map of the course on display at the Chamber of Commerce. The Free Press gave its length as 6,341 yards and its boundaries as Spear Street on the east, Prospect Street on the west, Proctor Avenue on the south and University of Vermont land on the north, and said the map "was drawn by Donald J. Ross, golf architect, assisted by Walter B. Hatch." The plan itself, signed "Donald J. Ross, Golf Architect, Walter B. Hatch, Associate" and dated 1924, survives. Its card gives 3,193 yards out and 3,148 in. No account of the opening day has been found, but the course hosted the Vermont Amateur in 1929. No source records Ross returning after construction.

Holes to Know

From the Black tees our card measures 6,471 yards to a par of 71, 36 out and 35 in, with eleven par 4s, four par 3s and three par 5s. Two of the par 5s, the 5th and 7th, come on the front nine with a par 4 between them. The back nine opens with a par 3 and saves its only par 5 for the 18th. In his American Private Golf Club Guide, Daniel Wexler described the routing as "both nines forming counter-clockwise circles, in nearly concentric rings save for three holes (and a crossover) in the southwest corner."

The 186-yard 3rd from the Black tees, stroke index 15, plays across a pond that fills the ground about 115 to 150 yards short of the green. The green is deeper than it is wide, with one bunker on the left and two on the right. Denison calls it a downhill hole with a severe slope at the back of the green.

The 382-yard 4th from the Black tees, stroke index 11, runs straight between woods on the left and a pond that meets the right edge of the fairway about 140 yards short of the green and follows it to the putting surface. A single bunker guards the green's left side. Wexler listed it among the course's most interesting holes.

The 562-yard 7th from the Black tees is the longest hole and stroke index 1. It bends gently right. Its sand is mostly in the last 70 yards: bunkers left and right of the approach, one beside the green on the left and two at its front right, where the small green narrows to a neck at the front left.

The 325-yard 11th from the Black tees, stroke index 8, is the shortest par 4. It turns left around a bunker about 105 yards short of the green, with woods all down the left. A small pond sits in front of the green's right half. The oval green has a long bunker down its left side.

The 416-yard 15th from the Black tees, stroke index 14, is played down a tree-lined corridor. A pond runs along the left for the last 100 yards and wraps the left side of the green. Wexler called it the hole "which features a final lakeside green."

Ross's Design Here

The routing is the clearest link to Ross. Golf Course Architecture reported in 2020 that it remains the same as his 1924 layout. The 1924 newspaper description of a front nine starting west of the clubhouse and a second nine circling the Holt house matches the double loop Wexler describes. The club says it is the only Ross course believed to be built as two counter-clockwise concentric nines.

Ross's 1924 card puts the short holes at the 3rd, 8th, 10th and 14th, the same numbers as today's par 3s. Ross's longest holes were the 7th at 518 yards, the 5th at 489 and the 13th at 466. The 7th is still the longest hole, but the 13th is now a 410-yard par 4 from the Black tees, and the 18th, 440 yards on Ross's card, is now a 511-yard par 5, longer than the 490-yard 5th. Ross's total of 6,341 yards compares with 6,471 from today's Black tees.

The ponds that shape the 3rd, 4th, 11th and 15th sit along what Wexler calls the property's western boundary. No source found says whether they were there in 1924 or were added later, so they are described here as features of the course today. The bunkers on every hole were rebuilt from 2019 to look like Ross's. Robert McNeil said the work drew on "old pictures of the property and some original Ross designs."

Historical Significance

Burlington is the only Ross course in Vermont. Top100 calls it the only 18-hole course Ross designed in the state. Ross's 1930 booklet of his courses lists it with 18 holes, and a 2024 resolution of the Vermont General Assembly calls it the oldest golf course in Chittenden County.

It has been one of the state's main championship venues. Burlington-area businessmen started the Vermont Open in 1940, and the first one was played here and won by Mike Turnesa with 284. The club credits its professional Charles MacAndrew with organising it. The Vermont Amateur has been played here 16 times, from 1929 to 2024: in 1929, 1933, 1937, 1940, 1947, 1950, 1955, 1958, 1962, 1969, 1973, 1979, 1990, 2003, 2014 and in the centennial year of 2024. The legislature's resolution counts 14 Vermont Women's Amateurs at the club. In September 2026 it hosted the Vermont Senior Amateur.

Its best-known player was Clifton "Kiki" Price, who won four Vermont Amateurs (1933, 1937, 1941 and 1960) and, by the club's count, 20 club championships. The club's centennial announcement says Byron Nelson, Ken Venturi, Bobby Locke and Betsy Rawls all played here in its first fifty years.

Changes Since Ross

Fred Martell, superintendent for more than 30 years from 1976, installed new irrigation, converted the greens to bentgrass and, in the club's words, "reshaped key holes." The club does not say which holes he reshaped.

In the late 1990s Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry renovated the course. Golf Course News's February 1999 survey lists their Burlington renovation as opened in 1998, and Top100 calls it a comprehensive restoration. No source found describes what it changed in detail.

In September 2019 Robert McNeil of the Northeast Golf Company began rebuilding every bunker in a Ross style. The same project added subsurface drainage on the historically wet 7th, 8th, 9th and 18th holes, expanded the forward tees and ran a new main sewer line through four holes. A Golf Club Atlas post in January 2023 referred to the restoration work as recently completed.

Uncertainties

• Opening date: no report of the opening has been found. The Free Press shows construction of the first nine under way in fall 1924. The course hosted the 1929 Vermont Amateur, and Top100 says all 18 holes were in play by 1930. The year 1926 in our current data has no source.

• 1990s architect: Golf Course News's 1999 survey and Top100 credit Hurdzan and Fry, which this listing follows. One directory credits Geoffrey Cornish and Brian Silva with a 1998 restoration, but no other source supports it.

Sources & Notes

1. Burlington Free Press, "Workmen Busy on New Golf Grounds," Sept. 27, 1924, clipping posted by Sven Nilsen in the Golf Club Atlas thread "Reunderstanding Ross," https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?topic=65481.75 — construction start, Ross and Hatch's work on the grounds, Haskin, routing description.

2. Burlington Free Press, Jan. 27, 1925, clipping in the same thread, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?topic=65481.75 — map exhibited, 6,341 yards, boundaries, drawn by Ross assisted by Hatch.

3. Donald J. Ross and Walter B. Hatch, Burlington Country Club plan and card, 1924, image in the same thread, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?topic=65481.75 — hole yardages; the thread also gives the 1930 Ross booklet listing.

4. Burlington Country Club, Club History, https://www.burlingtoncountryclub.org/Default.aspx?p=dynamicmodule&pageid=464&ssid=100567&vnf=1 — Martell, MacAndrew and the 1940 Vermont Open, Kiki Price, historian Ken Merritt.

5. Burlington Country Club, Golf, https://www.burlingtoncountryclub.org/Default.aspx?p=dynamicmodule&pageid=471&ssid=100574&vnf=1 — course character, walking, golf programs.

6. Vermont Business Magazine (club release), "Burlington Country Club & Golf Course of Vermont celebrates its centennial," Apr. 10, 2024, https://vermontbiz.com/node/230040 — founders, Fairholt purchase, Hatch quotation, only Ross course in Vermont, concentric nines, notable visitors, 2024 Vermont Amateur.

7. Vermont General Assembly, S.C.R. 14, 2024, https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/Docs/RESOLUTN/SCR014/SCR014%20As%20Introduced.pdf — 150 acres from Holt, oldest course in Chittenden County, state amateur counts, pool, winter use.

8. Golf Course News, February 1999, p. 69, design and development survey, https://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/gcnew/article/1999feb.pdf — Hurdzan/Fry renovation at Burlington, opened 1998.

9. Golf Course Architecture, "McNeil plans to recapture Ross bunker style at Burlington CC," Jan. 7, 2020, https://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/content/PgrID/573/PageID/1/artmid/574/articleid/13623 — routing unchanged, bunker rebuild, drainage, tees, sewer line.

10. Top100GolfCourses, Burlington Country Club, https://www.top100golfcourses.com/golf-course/burlington-country-club — Hurdzan/Fry restoration; Daniel Wexler quotations on the routing and the 4th, 11th and 15th.

11. Ben Denison, review, Top100GolfCourses, https://www.top100golfcourses.com/golf-course/burlington-country-club/reviews/46067 — land and routing, the 3rd, 4th and 11th.

12. Times Argus, "Vermont Amateur past champions," 2023, https://www.timesargus.com/sports/local/vermont-amateur-past-champions/article_5ec09971-3823-5edf-aa38-617b32ade3a1.html — Vermont Amateur venues and Price's titles.

13. Wikipedia, "Vermont Open," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermont_Open — 1940 Vermont Open at Burlington CC, Mike Turnesa, 284.

14. Golf Club Atlas, "Waubanakee Golf Club," Ken Merritt, Jan. 8, 2023, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,71609.0.html — predecessor club and 1926 sale; reply on the completed restoration.

15. Vermont Business Magazine, "Burlington Country Club celebrates re-opening," 2010, https://vermontbiz.com/node/191104 — clubhouse renovation.

16. AmateurGolf.com, Vermont Senior Amateur Championship, https://www.amateurgolf.com/amateur-golf-tournaments/1083/vermont-senior-amateur-championship — 2026 championship at Burlington CC.