Dallas Country Club

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Dallas Country Club is one of the oldest, most exclusive private country clubs in the city of Dallas. It is located in Highland Park on Beverley Drive.

It was established in 1896, purportedly by "by several men golfing on a cow patch in Oak Lawn." ^[1] Tom Bendelow designed the course. The first round of golf was played in 1912. ^[2]

Golfers from the club, along with those from several other area clubs, formed the Dallas District Golf Association in 1948. The organization was designed to promote the game and tournament play in the area.^[3]

The course was later renovated by designer Jay Morrish. It is a par 70, 6,266 yard course.

Dallas Country Club was ranked number 52 on the list of the state's best golf clubs, public and private, released in 2008.^[4]

[edit] Society Spot

The club, according to The Dallas Morning News, has been a staple of Highland Park's most exclusive social circuit for more than a century. A 1911 photograph shows the Dallas Shakespeare Society, the area's oldest literary organization, on the steps of the clubhouse, where it had held its annual meeting.^[5] Its membership roster has grown to more than 1,500, and it includes many of the city's most prominent business and civic leaders." ^[6]

[edit] Controversy

The exclusivity of the club, particularly its racial exclusivity, has long been a topic of debate in the community. This issue became a point of contention in local and national politics alike. One of the most recent controversies arose when Lynne Cheney was a guest at the club in 2007.^[7]^[8]

In an interview with The Dallas Morning News in 1986, Vincent Perini, president of the Dallas Bar Association characterized the district attorney's office staff as "a bunch of SMU frat rats who are, you know, putting in a little postgraduate work down there kicking [expletives deleted] before going on to the real world, the respectable world, the Dallas Country Club and the civil law firm," Perini said.

Norman Kinne, a prosecutor in the office responded, "I can't believe the elected president of the Dallas Bar Association, in one fell swoop, manages to insult Southern Methodist University, fraternities, the black race, the Dallas Country Club and all civil law firms."^[9]

The club eventually admitted its first Black member in 2007.