Golf began informally in 1896 when a dozen players laid out a makeshift course on a cow pasture along Elm Street, and the Springfield Golf Club was formally organized on March 15, 1897; by 1900 the course had expanded from nine holes to eighteen. The 18-hole championship layout is widely credited to Donald Ross and dated to about 1921, though documentary proof of Ross's fieldwork is not firmly established. Geoffrey Cornish carried out a significant remodel in 1985.