The Country Club of Birmingham (West)

The Country Club of Birmingham was founded in 1898, moving two years after its inauguration to Lakeview then on to its current location at Mountain Brook in the mid-1920s, when Donald Ross was engaged to set out two 18-hole courses for the club membership.

Robert Trent Jones Sr. since modified the West in the 1950s before Pete Dye was called in to make further alterations in the mid-1980s. The work was actually carried out by his son P.B. Dye but not everybody was satisfied with the result of his efforts.

Pete Dye finally appeared in 2009 to carry out a further renovation so it’s certainly true to say that the style of today’s course is more modern than classic. Holes 15 and 16, which were created by Trent Jones, remain in place, but much of his penal bunkering has been removed.

Measuring 7,226 yards in the modern era, the West course plays more than 500 yards longer than its older sibling and is rated as a much tougher test of golf. Noteworthy holes include the par fives at the 4th and 10th and the formidable 431-yard closing hole.

Michael McCoy won the 2013 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship here on the West course. His 8&6 win margin was the third highest since the Mid-Amateur went to a 36-hole final in 2001.