Phoenix Country Club

Phoenix Country Club
Club information
Location 2901 N 7th St
Phoenix, Arizona 85014
Established October 25, 1900
Type Private
Total holes 18
Tournaments hosted Phoenix Open
(1932, 1933, 1935, 1939-1954, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974-1986)
Western Open
(1941, 1942)
Website phoenixcountryclub.com
Designed by Harry Collis,
Tom Lehman, and
John Fought[1]
Par 71[1]
Length 6,764 yd (6,185 m)[1]
Course rating 72.4[1]
Slope rating 129[1]
Course record 61 - Johnny Miller (1970, 1975),
Homero Blancas (1972),
Ben Crenshaw (1979),
Don Pooley (1986)[2]

Phoenix Country Club is a country club located in Phoenix, Arizona. The club was founded in 1900 and was moved to its current location in 1921.[3] Golf Connoisseur Magazine rated Phoenix Country Club among top 100 Most Prestigious Private Clubs in America in 2006. The Club was chosen for the “ultimate mix of course, history, membership, tradition and class.” In 2009 and again in 2014, Phoenix Country Club was selected by its peers as a Platinum Club of America. The original golf course designed by Harry Collis was redesigned by Tom Lehman and John Fought in 2002.[4]

History

Original 1920 site plan for Phoenix Country Club created by Lloyd Wright
The veranda on the front of the original clubhouse facing southwest, 1921.
A local formalwear advertisement for the occasion of the 1921 inaugural ball

Phoenix Country Club was officially incorporated on November 25, 1900 by a 12-member board including Webster Street, Chief Justice of the Arizona Territorial Supreme Court; and Dwight B. Heard, president of the Arizona Cotton Association.[5] On October 29, 1919, the club voted to purchase a 160-acre tract of land at 7th Street and Thomas Road for the construction of a new club with and 18-hole golf course, tennis grounds, and a club house. This new property was to become the current location for the club.[6] The land was purchased for $56,000.

Golf course designer Harry Collis, of the Flossmoor Country Club in Chicago was hired to design the layout for the new course in 1920. Los Angeles-based Landscape Architect Lloyd Wright designed the landscape gardening plans for the course.[7] A former employee of the landscape architectural firm of Olmsted Brothers, Wright was the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and was noted for his landscape design of the Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, and later became a production designer for Paramount Studios.[8] To fund the construction of the new $200,000 club facilities, 52 homesites were incorporated into the plans for the new location and are known as "Country Club Estates."[9]

The new club opened on October 27, 1921. A white tie ball celebrating the opening of the new club was held on October 28 and was restricted to membership. The following day, the golf course was inaugurated with a men's golf tournament alongside a bridge tournament for female members. The original clubhouse was of brick, painted white, with red tile roofing. It was of the Spanish Colonial style of architecture, the main portion of the structure facing a southwesterly direction. From this main portion were two wings, on at each end extending in northeasterly and southeasterly directions, respectively.[10]

The building featured a main reception hall, ballroom, and banquet hall; men's and women's locker facilites and showers; a men's grill room; a dining room; large ornamented tile fireplaces; french foors; and verandas where afternoon tea was commonly served. Also featured were a swimming pool and four tennis courts. The entire structure was designed by Phoenix architectural firm Lescher & Kibbey.[10]

On September 12, 1922, the body of Phoenix Country Club secretary Guy N. Dernier was found, strangled to death and cast into the Arizona Canal. No water was found in his lungs during the autopsy meaning that he had been strangled before he was disposed of in the canal. In his Dodge automobile, parked along the canal bank, were his eyeglasses, watch, purse and articles of clothing. Found among his personal effects was a diary implicating twenty two society women in both Phoenix and Los Angeles with whom he had carried out affairs. Many of the women had compensated him for their liaisons, one paying him $600. Of the twenty two women all were married but one, a widow. Dernier had been an employee of Montgomery Ward in Chicago and came to Phoenix in 1917 for treatment for tuberculosis. He was a members of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.[11] It was the opinion of the police that one of the twenty one husbands of the women with whom Dernier had had an affair was the murderer.[12]

Following the opening of their new club, Phoenix Country Club became the seat of leadership for the Border States Tennis Association, a member of the United States Lawn Tennis Association with members in Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora, and Texas. The president and treasurer of the association were members Dwight B. Heard and Mrs. Ernest W. Lewis, respectively.[13] The Phoenix Open was first hosted at Phoenix Country Club in 1932 but was discontinued after the 1935 tournament. The rebirth of the Phoenix Open came in 1939 when member Bob Goldwater, Sr. convinced fellow Thunderbirds to help run the event. The Thunderbirds, a prominent civic organization in Phoenix, were not as enthusiastic about running the event as he was, leaving Goldwater, Sr. to do most of the work in getting a golf open started.[14] Beginning in 1955, the Arizona Country Club alternated as event host with Phoenix Country Club; this arrangement lasted until Phoenix Country Club took The Arizona Country Club's turn in 1975 and became the event's permanent home again.[15]

The tournament was moved in 1987 to its current home, the Stadium Course at TPC of Scottsdale, northeast of downtown Phoenix.[14] During its time as host of the Phoenix Open, the club hosted such notable golfers as Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gene Littler, Johnny Miller, Miller Barber, Ben Crenshaw, Hal Sutton, and many others.[16] The club also hosted the Western Open in 1941 and 1942.[17]

In 1961, a new contemporary clubhouse designed by the architectural firm Edward L. Varney & Associates was constructed adjacent to the old clubhouse at a cost of $1,000,000. The new clubhouse is 68,000 square feet in size and features a second floor with 35 guest rooms, larger kitchen and dining facilities and larger locker room facilities. A new swimming pool and seven additional tennis courts were also constructed. The original clubhouse was demolished soon after the completion of the new clubhouse and was replaced with a new terrace. The 1961 clubhouse continues to serve as the clubhouse for Phoenix Country Club.[18]

In 2002, the 80-year-old Collis course was redesigned by Tom Lehman and John Faught.[19]

Notable Members

Notable current and former members Include:

Historic Residences

Of the 52 homesites in Country Club Estates, 48 are still single family homes. Many of those 48 homes were constructed prior to World War II and are therefore eligible for historic registration. Of 48 homes, 2 are listed on the national register of historic places.[9]

[24] Name on the Register[25] Image Date listed[26] Location Architect Description
21 Bennitt Mansion
Bennitt Mansion
August 12, 2009
(#09000609)
 126 E. County Club Dr.
33°28′52″N 112°03′29″W / 33.480994°N 112.058186°W / 33.480994; -112.058186 (Bennitt Mansion)		 Herbert Harmon Green Spanish Colonial Revival mansion built in 1925
50 Craig Mansion
Craig Mansion
August 18, 1992
(#92001013)
 131 E. Country Club Dr.
33°28′48″N 112°03′25″W / 33.48°N 112.056944°W / 33.48; -112.056944 (Craig Mansion)		 Fitzhugh & Byron Spanish Colonial Revival mansion built in 1928

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 http://www.phoenixcountryclub.com/club/scripts/library/view_document.asp?GRP=14417&NS=PG&APP=80&DN=LAYOUT
  2. ↑ https://wmphoenixopen.com/spectator-info/statistics-and-records-book/statistics-and-records-book-attendance-history/
  3. ↑ Arizona Republic, October 1, 1921
  4. ↑ http://www.phoenixcountryclub.com/club/scripts/public/public.asp?GRP=14415&NS=PUBLIC
  5. ↑ Arizona Republic, November 27, 1900
  6. ↑ Arizona Republic, October 30, 1919
  7. ↑ Von Breton, Harriette. (1974) Lloyd Wright, architect: 20th century architecture in an organic expostion, volume 6, p24
  8. ↑ Arizona Republic, January 14, 1920
  9. 1 2 Arizona Republic, May 19, 1920
  10. 1 2 3 4 Arizona Republic, October 27, 1921
  11. ↑ Arizona Republic, September 16, 1922
  12. ↑ Chicago Tribune, October 6, 1922
  13. 1 2 3 Wright & Ditson (1921) Wright & Ditson's Officially Adopted Lawn Tennis Guide p190
  14. 1 2 https://wmphoenixopen.com/spectator-info/tournament-history/
  15. ↑ http://www.azcountryclub.com/Golf-(1).aspx
  16. 1 2 http://www.phoenixcountryclub.com/club/scripts/library/view_document.asp?GRP=..&NS=PUBLIC&APP=80&DN=HISTORY
  17. ↑ http://golfblogger.com/tag/phoenix-open/
  18. ↑ Arizona Republic, October 22, 1959
  19. ↑ http://www.phoenixcountryclub.com/club/scripts/library/view_document.asp?GRP=14417&NS=PG&APP=80&DN=LAYOUT
  20. 1 2 Davis, Michael. (1974) Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street
  21. ↑ Arizona Republic, January 23, 1920
  22. ↑ Bohn, Michael K. (2007) Money Golf: 600 Years of Bettin' on Birdies
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 http://archive.azcentral.com/news/articles/2007/07/18/20070718mensgrill-ON.html
  24. ↑ Numbers represent an ordering by significant words. Various colorings, defined here, differentiate National Historic Landmarks and historic districts from other NRHP buildings, structures, sites or objects.
  25. ↑ National Park Service (2008-04-24). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  26. ↑ The eight-digit number below each date is the number assigned to each location in the National Register Information System database, which can be viewed by clicking the number.
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