Elyria - Ohio - USA

The original 9-hole course at Elyria Country Club opened for play in 1905, established by executives from the Worthington Ball Company of Elyria to promote their business. Just a couple of years prior, the firm had purchased patents from Hunt Manufacturing in Massachusetts, one of which was for the production of a Haskell ball called “Bounding Billy”.

Twenty years after its formation, the club acquired additional land along the Black River, allowing it to call in William Flynn from Ardmore, Pennsylvania to fashion a new 18-hole layout on a 161-acre site. The new course was inaugurated on 4th July, 1926 and the first foursome used gold-plated golf balls, courtesy of the Worthington Ball Company, of course.

Built during the Golden Age of golf course design, Elyria is wonderful, tree-lined track which measures 6,750 yards from the championship tees, with water coming into play on half the holes. It’s a remarkable example of Flynn’s ability to design natural looking courses that still challenge golfers after almost a hundred years of operation.