Country Club of Fairfield

The Country Club of Fairfield opened for play in 1921 and many reckon it’s one of Seth Raynor’s finest designs despite modifications by A.W. Tillinghast in 1939 and Robert Trent Jones Snr. in 1960.

Flat, windy, exposed and somewhat links-like in nature, Fairfield affords dramatic views, lightning-fast greens and polished conditioning.

Perhaps the best person to comment on The Country Club of Fairfield is author and sportswriter Dan Jenkins, so we’ll give you an excerpt from his controversial book, The Money-Whipped Steer-Job Three-Jack Give-Up Artist.

“I know about Seth Raynor because I like to read golf history. I like golf history, as a matter of fact, better than any other kind of history, including wars I've heard of.

Other than Ben Crenshaw, who lives in the past and wishes his balls were gutta-percha, nobody else on the tour can jack with me on golf history. Ask me who was runner-up to Bobby Jones in the 1926 U.S. Open at Scioto and I'll hit you with Joe Turnesa. Ask me where Johnny Revolta won the 1935 PGA and I'll hit you with Twin Hills in Oklahoma City. Or ask me who Seth Raynor was and I'll tell you he was a man who got his start working with Charles Blair Macdonald, the legendary architect who designed the National Golf Links and everything else out on Long Island except the stock portfolios.

To me, Seth Raynor's best work is the Country Club of Fairfield in Connecticut. I once did an outing up there for socialites. It's short but covered up with charm. But you can't join Fairfield, I hear, unless you've got a photo of your granddaddy sitting on Queen Victoria's knee.”