Myopia Hunt Club

Entrance to Myopia Hunt Club

Myopia Hunt Club is a foxhunting and private country club, located at 435 Bay Road in South Hamilton, Massachusetts.

Introduction

It was founded in 1882 by J. Murray Forbes. The name "Myopia" is due to some of its founding members having come from the Myopia Club in Winchester, Massachusetts, which had been founded by four brothers with poor vision, or myopic.[1] Today, the Myopia Hunt Club is a drag hunt, meaning that the hounds follow a laid scent rather than live fox.

Polo

Myopia also boasts one of the oldest continually running polo fields in the nation. Gibney Field, formerly used as a pasture, was mowed and used for practice in the summer of 1888. That fall, Myopia held its first official match against the Dedham Polo and Country Club.,[2][3] In 1890, Myopia became one of seven charter members of the Polo Association, now the United States Polo Association. Of those seven original clubs, Myopia is one of two still in existence (Meadowbrook on Long Island is the other.) It is the only one that still uses its original field.[4]

Gibney Field is not, however, the oldest continuously used polo field in the nation. That honor goes to Aiken Polo Club's Whitney Field, which was first used for polo in a gala exhibition match in 1882. Aiken Polo Club joined the Polo Association in 1899.[5][6]

Polo is still played at Myopia throughout the summer season, from Memorial Day until Columbus Day. Sunday afternoon games at 3 PM are open to the public for a small fee.

Real tennis

In 1902 a real tennis court was opened at the Myopia Hunt Club, but has since been converted to other uses.[7]

Golf

This is the only course in the United States to have been listed by Golf Magazine as having two of the United States's top 100 signature holes, Myopia's fourth and ninth.[8]

The U.S. Open was held at the club in 1898, 1901, 1905, and 1908. The 72-hole winning score in 1901 by Willie Anderson, one of only four four-time champions, was 331, a record high that still stands today.[9] He defeated Alex Smith (golfer) in an 18-hole playoff, 85 to 86, his highest 18-hole score of the tournament.[10] Herbert Corey Leeds was the course designer.[11] The first nine was completed in 1896, but the second nine was not finished until 1901, so the 1898 U.S. Open was actually played over eight rounds of nine holes.

From 1995-2005, the course underwent a series of major improvements under the leadership of Club president Michael Greene. Greene, along with Captain of Golf Steve Warhover (and with the consent of the voting members of the club), lengthened the course with several new tees. These were installed on the 2nd, 4th, 7th, 10th, 11th, 15th, and 18th holes. In addition, many trees throughout the course were removed and replaced with traditional mounds, better fitting the historic design of Herbert Corey Leeds.

Myopia Hunt was the home course of the late novelist and golf writer John Updike.[12]

The holes on the course are all named on the scorecard, with most of the names pertaining to a geographic signifier on a particular hole:

1-- First, 2-- Lookout, 3-- Brae, 4-- Miles River, 5-- Lone Tree, 6-- Brook, 7-- Myopia, 8-- Prairie, 9-- Pond, 10—Alps, 11—Road, 12—Valley, 13—Hill, 14—Ridge, 15—Long, 16—Paddock, 17—West, 18—Home.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Moss, Richard J. (2001). Golf and the American country club. University of Illinois Press. p. 15.
  2. ↑ Sport in Norfolk County by Allan Forbes. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. 1938.
  3. ↑ American Polo by Newell Bent. The MacMillan Company, 1929.
  4. ↑ United States Polo Association Blue Book, 2013.
  5. ↑ Life and Sport in Aiken, by Harry Worcester Smith. Derrydale Press, New York. 1935.
  6. ↑ United States Polo Association Blue Book, 2013.
  7. ↑ Allison Danzig. "The Royal & Ancient Game of Tennis". Archived from the original on February 14, 2006. Retrieved April 24, 2006.
  8. ↑ Golf Online. "Myopia Hunt Club". Retrieved April 24, 2006.
  9. ↑ "U.S. Open Records". Retrieved September 1, 2009.
  10. ↑ "The Official Site of the U.S. Open". Retrieved September 1, 2009.
  11. ↑ GolfClubAtlas.com. "Myopia Hunt Club, MA, USA". Archived from the original on March 10, 2006. Retrieved April 24, 2006.
  12. ↑ John Updike, "The Yankee Golfer," Golf Dreams (N.Y., Knopf, 1996), p. 193.

Coordinates: 42°36′36″N 70°51′31″W / 42.61000°N 70.85861°W