Lancaster Country Club (Meadowcreek & Dogwood)

A hundred and twenty nine golfers were listed as members at the inaugural AGM of Lancaster Country Club in 1901 and they played back then on some rented fields that were fashioned into a rudimentary 9-hole layout. In fact, so basic was the course, original scorecards display hole names but no yardages or par figures for each hole.

By 1920, the club had moved to its present location, employing William Flynn to lay out a new 18-hole course. Flynn, who would later redesign the magnificent Shinnecock Hills course in 1937, had been the green keeper at Merion Cricket Club (as the golf club was known then) and his ten months at Lancaster would hold him in good stead for future designs that are compared favourably nowadays with the likes of Colt and MacKenzie courses.

In the modern era, Lancaster Country Club now has three 9-hole circuits (each with a par of 35) plus a 6-hole “Sunset Six” short course, designed by William and David Gordon in 1959.

The original Meadowcreek and Dogwood nines (known as the Old or Flynn course) combine to form the foremost 18-hole combination here at Lancaster Country Club. However, all three loops having been constructed on rolling terrain with a river flowing through the middle of the landscape, allowing water to come into play at no fewer than fifteen of the holes on the property. The third 9-hole circuit, called Highlands, is a standalone course.