Stockbridge Golf Club

In 1895, Joseph H. Choate Jr. and Eliot Tuckerman founded the Stockbridge Golf Club, making it one of the first 100 golf clubs in the U.S. Three holes were initially laid out in a meadow east of Church Street, followed by 9 more to the west, all sited on flat land and gently rolling hills along the Housatonic River. Three additional holes were also constructed before 1900 on a third adjacent property, at which time the course was further developed into an 18-hole layout and formally incorporated. The land for this expansion was a combination of several different properties which were donated by local landowners or leased by the Laurel Hill Association, an agreement still in place today. With additional land purchased in the early 1930s, the course was altered and then expanded, reopening for play in 1934. Today, the course remains relatively unchanged from the 1930s design, with minor renovations to refine contours and the installation of an irrigation system in 1994. In 1897, the club hosted the first Stockbridge Golf Club Men's Invitational, and since 1927 it has also held an annual Women's Invitational Tournament - in both cases some of the earliest and longest running amateur competitions for golf.