| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Mission Hills, Kansas |
| Established | 1896 |
| Type | Private |
| Owned by | Kansas City Golf Club |
| Operated by | Kansas City Golf Club |
| Total holes | 18 |
| Designed by | A. W. Tillinghast/Robert Trent Jones |
The Kansas City Country Club, founded in 1896, is a country club in Mission Hills, Kansas, USA, an affluent suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. It is the club for which the Country Club District and the Country Club Plaza of Kansas City are named. The club claims to be the third oldest country club west of the Mississippi River.[1]
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The club has its roots in an informal golf course in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri. In 1896, Hugh C. Ward, Charles Fessenden Morse, Jefferson Brumback, H. L. Harmon, A. W. Childs, C. J. Hubbard, J. E. Logan, Gardiner Lathrop, St. Clair Street, Ford Harvey, E. H. Chapman, E. S. Washburn, and W. B. Clarke incorporated the Kansas City Country Club[2] and leased a pasture at what today is Loose Park in the Sunset Hill neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri. The tract of land belonged to Ward's father Seth E. Ward, a pioneer who made his fortune outfitting settlers on the Oregon Trail.
In 1907, J.C. Nichols began buying land surrounding the course to develop the Country Club District, and later to develop the Country Club Plaza. In 1925, the club moved its course a mile west to the banks of Brush Creek in Mission Hills. The club's former grounds then became Loose Park. The three J.C. Nichols Clubs became the most socially desirable in the Kansas City Metropolitan area with Kansas City Country Club being first, followed by Mission Hills followed by Indian Hills.
The course was designed by A.W. Tillinghast and later redesigned by Robert Trent Jones.[3]
The club's most famous player is Tom Watson, whose father, Ray Watson, still holds the amateur record of 64 for the course. Tom Watson holds the professional record of 60. The course par is 70. [4]
In 1991, Watson resigned after the club declined the application of H&R Block founder Henry Bloch, allegedly because Bloch was Jewish. Watson's then-wife was Jewish.[5] The club finally did change its policy to permit Jews to become members, and Watson rejoined.