Washtenaw Golf Club Once Had 27 Holes

Washtenaw Golf Club Once Had 27 Holes

Over the years, I’ve learned a lot about the history of my home course — Washtenaw Golf Club. As a history teacher, I enjoy digging through the past of my 123 year old home club.

I did not know until tonight that it once had 27 holes.

According to an article from the Detroit Free Press, in 1923 Washtenaw had both a nine hole and an eighteen-hole course.

Washtenaw Country Club, out Ypsilanti way, has both the old nine-hole course and the new 18 in use. The old nine, now in its twenty fifth year, making it the oldest course in the district now in use, is a favorite with women golfers of all clubs in this district.

Based on some other material I’ve read, I am convinced that holes on the original nine were incorporated at some point into the current eighteen. Early descriptions of the first and fourth hole having water in front of the tee perfectly describe the current tenth and thirteenth. The nines were switched sometime in the 1950s. I’m still looking for documentation to confirm that.

An article I found from 1944 describes a player — Paul Hayward — having made a hole-in-one on the 161 yard par 3 third. That’s the current twelfth. A 1964 Detroit Free Press on a hole in one describes the same hole (based on yardage) as being the twelfth.

This article first appeared on GolfBlogger.Com.