WOODSTOCK, Vt. (WCAX) – These days, you can see almost every hole of Woodstock Country Club driving along South Street, but the course’s birthplace is just north of today’s track, in a now-wooded area on Mount Peg.
In 1895, Dr. Francis Harrington came from Boston to the Woodstock Inn for a two-week stay with his golf clubs looking to play – but there was a problem.
There really wasn’t anywhere nearby to play.
“He convinced the manager of the Inn, Arthur Wilder, to take him up into the cow pasture on top of the ridge and show him how you play the game,” local historian and former land surveyor Bob Holt said. “So they did that, and they soon developed quite a following of people that were interested in the game.”
From there, things moved pretty quickly.
“That fall, just a few months later, October of 1895, they founded the Woodstock Country Club,” Holt said.
The first holes were on that hillside cow pasture, using tomato cans as holes and livestock to cut the grass. At the start of the 20th century, the course moved down onto flatter ground. Wayne Stiles laid out the original 18-hole plan in the 1920s. A few different iterations later, and in 1963, renowned architect Robert Trent Jones designed the north-south layout that exists today.
“The Jones name in golf runs really deep, it’s definitely a draw for us as one of the oldest golf resorts in the country,” WCC director of golf Matt Closter said.
Woodstock is one of just two RTJ courses in the state of Vermont (he designed Sugarbush two years later). Jones played a part in designing some of the most iconic courses in the country, including Spyglass Hill, Congressional and the Olympic Club. He also redesigned the iconic 11th and 16th holes at Augusta National Golf Club. The full listing of his designs can be found here.
Among those that have spent time playing at WCC is Woodstock native Keegan Bradley. The 2011 PGA champion was around often in his childhood, hopping off the school bus and onto the course.
“The golf professional at the time, Jim Gunnare, used to have him hit balls from the roadside back into the range so they could pick up the range, and then Keegan would get to play the golf course,” Closter said. “I know this is a special place for Keegan as it is for all of us. And gosh, Woodstock just loves cheering for Keegan Bradley to see what he’s done.”
WCAX last chatted with Bradley during the 2024 Presidents Cup in nearby Montreal, where he reminisced about growing up just a few hours away:
Whether it’s the 2025 Ryder Cup captain learning the game, or a doctor on a two-week vacation itching to play, Woodstock Country Club has lived through three different centuries of golfers and counting.
