Essex County Club

Essex County Club, founded in 1893 north of Boston, is among the oldest clubs in the United States, its early grounds including a polo field and tennis courts alongside a nine-hole course. Donald Ross served as the club's golf professional in the early 1910s and personally directed the redesign and expansion to a full 18 holes, completed in 1917, work he reportedly gave more personal attention than almost any project outside Pinehurst. The club claims its third green, dating to 1893, as the oldest green in continuous use in America. Essex is inseparable from the Curtis sisters, Harriot and Margaret, who learned the game here, won multiple U.S. Women's Amateurs, and in 1932 donated the trophy for the Curtis Cup. The club hosted that biennial match in 1938 and again in 2010, cementing its place in the history of women's amateur golf.