When Ekwanok opened in 1900, it was one of only a handful of American courses planned by men with experience in championship golf. Each of the three founders, Edward Isham, James Taylor, and Clarence Clark, had Scottish connections to the game. They retained Walter Travis, then 2-time runner-up in the U.S. Amateur. He hired Scotsman John Duncan Dunn, whose father,Tom Dunn, had been a clubmaker and designer of 130 Scottish and English courses, and whose uncle Willie Dunn, Jr. had recently bought the Bridgeport Gun and Implement Company to manufacture golf clubs in the U.S. for the first time. The gently rolling farmland was considered ideal. Using the natural terrain, they laid out an inland course in the links style, just over 6,000 yards long. Naturally undulating fairways and a large sand pit allowed for spectacular hazards and a burn ( English for brook or creek) was utilized which came into play on many holes. The greens included both strong and subtle undulations, and the playing surfaces were finished with a six-ton steamroller, a relatively new innovation. The club hosted the first President’s Cup in 1900, at the time among the most prestigious American tournaments, and was the site of Francis Ouimet’s most cherished victory, the 1914 U.S. Amateur. The clubs he used are displayed in the Founders Room.
