History

A Brief History of the Woodstock Golf Club

The Woodstock Golf Club, originally called the Woodstock Country Club, opened in the spring of 1929. The founders' short-lived vision of an 18-hole course, tennis courts, and a posh clubhouse succumbed to the Depression, but the club survived—the name was changed in 1980—and continues to thrive.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the town of Woodstock has been known as the Colony of the Arts. Fittingly, artists have played a prominent role in the life of the golf club since its inception. Among the local artists who were members of the club in the 1930s and beyond were the landscape painter John F. Carlson, who was a founder of the Woodstock Artists Association; the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and facetious " inventor" Rube Goldberg; the influential painter Charles Rosen, who was a vice president of the club in the early 1930s; and Anton Otto Fischer, a noted illustrator of books and magazines and a painter of landscapes and seascapes, whose works today grace the walls of the clubhouse.

The nine-hole course today makes the same roughly circular, counterclockwise sweep, with a back-and- forth jog in the middle, that it did in the beginning. Bounded by Route 375 (known in 1929 as the Kingston Road), Birch Lane, the Sawkill Creek, and Route 212, the course measures 5,456 yards and plays to a par 70 for 18 holes. According to available evidence, the competitive course record, shared by three golfers, is 63.

The scenic layout crosses and runs alongside the Sawkill. Golfers are challenged not only by the creek, which comes directly into play on the finishing hole, a long par 3, but also by rugged rock ledges, stately trees, and ponds that are home to waterfowl and native vegetation. The historic clubhouse, with its outdoor deck, overlooks the rushing Sawkill and offers a view of the first tee and fairway, making it a perfect place to relax, before or after a round of golf.

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The Woodstock Golf Club
Route 375 and 212 | P.O. Box 308| Woodstock, NY 12498
845-679-2914 | wgcd@aol.com |