Golf arrived in America in the 1880s, brought by Scottish and British immigrants who carved rough layouts into pastures, farmland, and coastal dunes. Remarkably, many of those original courses are still in operation. Some have hosted U.S. Opens and produced legends. Others remain quiet nine-hole tracks where you can walk on for under $30. All of them offer a direct connection to the earliest days of American golf.

Before the boom: the 1880s pioneers

The debate over which American golf course is truly the “oldest” depends on how you define it. Several claim the title based on different criteria: oldest club, oldest course in continuous use, or oldest incorporated club.

Dorset Field Club (1886) in Dorset, Vermont is one of the strongest contenders. Originally called Dorset Golf Links, the course was laid out in 1886 by summer residents who played across roads, through swamps, and amid apple orchards. It operated as a nine-hole course for over a century before expanding to 18 holes in 1999. Dorset Field Club is private, so access requires a member invitation, but the course has been in continuous operation for nearly 140 years. View Dorset Field Club on FairwayDB.

Foxburg Country Club (1887) in Foxburg, Pennsylvania holds the distinction of being the oldest golf course in continuous use in the United States, according to the USGA. Joseph Mickle Fox, who learned the game from Old Tom Morris at St. Andrews in Scotland, provided the land rent-free in 1887. The course was expanded to nine holes in 1888 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. It is open to the public and also houses the American Golf Hall of Fame, a small museum with a collection of pre-1900 golf artifacts. Foxburg is one of the few courses on this list where anyone can simply show up and play.

The Saint Andrew’s Golf Club (1888) in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York was founded by John Reid, a Scottish immigrant who set up three holes in a cow pasture in Yonkers. The club moved several times before settling at its current location in 1897. In 1894, Saint Andrew’s was one of five charter clubs that formed the United States Golf Association. Jack Nicklaus redesigned the course in 1983. It remains a private club.

Middlesboro Country Club (1889) in Middlesboro, Kentucky has confirmed golfing activity dating to 1889, making it the oldest continuously played course in the country by the USGA’s reckoning. British developers who came to the Cumberland Mountains region seeking iron ore brought the game with them. In 1889, 30 men and women paid $2 annual dues to play. The club nearly died out after the local economic boom collapsed in 1893, but it was reorganized in 1921 and has been operating since. Today it is a public nine-hole course where green fees are low and the pace is unhurried.

The 1890s: golf takes hold

The 1890s saw golf spread rapidly across the Northeast and into the Midwest. Five clubs from this era went on to found the USGA in 1894, and their courses still stand.

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (1891) in Southampton, New York is the oldest incorporated golf club in the country. William K. Vanderbilt and a group of wealthy New Yorkers purchased 80 acres for $2,500, and Willie Davis designed the original 12-hole layout with help from over 100 members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation. The clubhouse, designed by the firm of McKim, Mead and White in 1892, is believed to be the oldest golf clubhouse in the United States. Shinnecock has hosted five U.S. Opens. It is a private club.

Chicago Golf Club (1892) in Wheaton, Illinois holds the title of the first 18-hole golf course in North America. Charles Blair Macdonald, the driving force behind the club, built an initial nine holes in Downers Grove in 1892 before purchasing 200 acres in Wheaton in 1894 for the full 18-hole layout. The club was another USGA founding member and has hosted numerous national championships. It is private.

The Country Club (1893) in Brookline, Massachusetts was founded as a social club in 1882, but golf did not arrive until 1893 when three members laid out the first six holes. Scottish professional Willie Campbell expanded the course and served as the club’s first pro. The Country Club is best known for the 1913 U.S. Open, where 20-year-old amateur Francis Ouimet defeated British stars Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in a playoff, a victory widely credited with popularizing golf in America. The club has hosted 17 USGA national championships, more than nearly any other venue. It is private.

Newport Country Club (1893) in Newport, Rhode Island was established by Theodore Havemeyer, who discovered golf while traveling in France and convinced members of Newport’s summer social elite to purchase 140 acres for $80,000. The club hosted both the first U.S. Amateur and the first U.S. Open in 1895, and Havemeyer became the USGA’s first president. Newport is private.

Tacoma Country & Golf Club (1894) in Lakewood, Washington was the first golf course in the western United States outside a military reservation. Sixteen British expats working for an English trading firm founded the club in November 1894. Alexander Baillie, the club’s first president, shipped 30 sets of Forgan golf clubs and 25 dozen gutta-percha balls from Scotland to get things started. The club relocated to its current property on American Lake in 1904. It is private.

The first public courses

The courses above are almost all private clubs. But the late 1890s also produced the first courses where ordinary golfers could play without a membership.

Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course (1895) in the Bronx, New York is the oldest public golf course in America. Members of the Mosholu Golf Club petitioned the New York City parks commissioner to build a course, and T. McClure Peters constructed nine holes north of Van Cortlandt Lake for a total cost of $624.80. The course hosted the country’s first public golf tournament in 1896. Over the decades, players like Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, and Jackie Robinson have teed it up at Van Cortlandt. It still operates as an 18-hole municipal course, open to anyone willing to pay the city’s green fee.

Waumbek Golf Club (1895) in Jefferson, New Hampshire was originally part of the Hotel Waumbek, one of the state’s grand resort hotels. Scottish professional Willie Norton designed the first nine holes in 1895, and Arthur Fenn expanded the course to 18 holes by 1898. After a period of closure following 2022, the course was renovated under new ownership and reopened with two new holes and improved conditioning. Waumbek is open to the public, and the views of the Presidential Range make it one of the more scenic rounds in New England.

Beaver Meadow Golf Course (1896) in Concord, New Hampshire was built by Scottish pro Willie Campbell (the same man who worked at The Country Club in Brookline). The original nine-hole course was a private club that later moved across the Merrimack River to become the Concord Country Club. The City of Concord took over the old course and has operated it as a municipal facility ever since. Geoffrey Cornish redesigned the course and added nine holes in 1968, bringing it to its current 18-hole layout. Green fees are reasonable, and the course is open to all.

Out west: early golf beyond the Mississippi

Golf’s westward expansion lagged behind the Northeast by about a decade, but a few early courses have endured.

Forest Dale Golf Course (1906) in Salt Lake City, Utah is the oldest golf course in the state. Built in 1906 as the Salt Lake Country Club, the course was sold to the city in the 1930s and has operated as a public nine-hole layout ever since. Several of the original tabletop greens survive, demanding accuracy on approach shots. At economy pricing, Forest Dale is one of the most affordable rounds on this list and one of the most accessible pieces of American golf history.

Playing a piece of history

If you want to play a course that predates 1900, your best options are the public and municipal courses. Van Cortlandt Park, Middlesboro Country Club, Beaver Meadow, Waumbek, and Foxburg Country Club are all open to the public and charge modest green fees. Forest Dale in Salt Lake City extends that window to 1906. The private clubs on this list require either a membership or a member’s invitation, though some occasionally open for charity events or USGA qualifiers.

Every state has its own golf history worth exploring. Browse your state’s courses on FairwayDB to find the courses near you with the longest track records.