The Country Club of Buffalo

Golf at the Country Club of Buffalo dates back to 1894 when, according to history: “Club members placed an empty tomato can in the ground, and thus was born the first golf hole in Western New York.” The club moved to the city line at Main and Bailey in 1900 and Walter J. Travis updated the course in 1910 in readiness for the club’s hosting of the 1912 U.S. Open, won by John McDermott.

However, the golf course of the Country Club of Buffalo in play today is a unique 1926 Donald Ross creation that makes full use of the Onondaga Formation, a limestone escarpment that stretches from New York to Detroit. To make things even more interesting, Ross routed the course through and around an old limestone quarry.

Six holes are incorporated in the quarry and three holes are routed on the level below the escarpment and this gives Buffalo two discreet signature holes. The first of which is the one-shot pulpit 6th, a hole that will remain lodged in the memory forever. The offset green is perched on a high mound and you are faced with little margin for error with your tee shot. The second “signature” hole is the 415-yard 18th and it makes a fabulous finale with the home green wedged below a natural rock garden that leads all the way up to the clubhouse.

The Country Club of Buffalo played host to the 1931 US Women’s Amateur and the 1950 Curtis Cup, which the USA team won comfortably, beating Great Britain & Ireland 7½ 1½.