City of Bowling Green, OH
09/03/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/03/2024 06:40
Celebrating 100 years of the Bowling Green Country Club
This year the Bowling Green Country Club celebrates its 100th Birthday! From the first beginnings of the golf course in 1913/1914, the club has continued to connect people by offering great golfing activities and sports, as well as its weekly Thursday night games of pinochle. Community service clubs such as the Rotary Club and the BGSU Retirees Association also meet there. The modern clubhouse includes a beautiful dining room, cocktail lounge, kitchen, and social rooms as well as locker rooms, sauna, supply rooms and an office.
Early in the 20th century, the Wood County Fairgrounds were located in the area we now recognize as the Bowling Green City Park and the Bowling Green Country Club. Originally within the grounds of the County Fair was a racetrack and a large area for parking Model T cars. Within the racetrack itself was located a nine-hole golf course! This history is explained in a synopsis provided by Mr. Andrew Householder (Courtesy of Andrew Householder and the BGSU Center for Archival Collections):
In 1924 began the creation of what is now the Bowling Green Country Club by a group of Bowling Green business and community leaders. The club was proposed and started by Joe Eberly and C.G. Helby. Additional board members were William James, Art Lodge, Henry Murlin and Lynn Reiss.
At the time the club started, the 73 acres now used for the course (near the present City Park) was owned by the Wood County Fair Company, and there was a racetrack fenced in on both sides. Permission had to be obtained from the fair board to use the grounds, and the nine holes were located inside the racetrack. Additional land owned by the City of Bowling Green was leased to the golf course in 1929.
In the early 1920's, there was a Caddy Registration Shed on the southeast corner of the course at the corner of Conneaut Avenue and Fairview Avenue. In 1937, a new and larger clubhouse was constructed on the site of the present one. Several additions and improvements were made until it burned down on July 17, 1970. On August 15, 1971, the present clubhouse was opened - it had been constructed at a cost of slightly over $150,000.
The first club championships were held in 1925 and the men's champion was Wendell Reigle. The first women's champion was Marilyn Ziegler in 1951. And in those earlier days, golfers had to contend with the BGHS football stadium (located nearby) when teeing off on the finishing hole.
Householder also recalled that the Country Club was the place to be for a potluck dinner and celebration of the 4th of July. Thousands of people from all over northwest Ohio descended upon the course to watch the fireworks display.
In 1925, the course membership was 95 members. Today its numbers range from 125-150. In 1958, the club completed its layout for an 18-hole course, and this was redesigned in 1992 by David Pfaff. Other major improvements included the 1992 redesign and reconstruction of the clubhouse and then in 2022 another clubhouse renovation and the construction of the Outdoor Pavilion.
Local attorney Norm Geer, who joined the club when he was thirteen, stated "I love this course. I played thousands of rounds here." His childhood home was nearby at the corner of West Merry and Fairview Avenues. He and his school friends would "…walk across the path to the park and literally spend the summer on the course, playing golf, swimming in the quarry, and searching for stray golf balls in the water."
The BGCC has worked hard to transform itself from humble beginnings as a small toolhouse and caddy shed to its current beautiful building and manicured golf course. For more information, please visit this site: https://www.bgcountryclub.com/
The entire Bowling Green community and the Historic Preservation Commission are proud to recognize and celebrate our very own historic Bowling Green Country Club as the August "Site of the Month"!
(Submitted by the Historic Preservation Commission, with contributions by member Christina Tracy and her childen - Jack, Sam and Vivian - along with members John Sampen and Geoff Howes.)