WGCC originated in 1893–94 on a Rosslyn site with a nine-hole course by Alexander R. Campbell; that lease ended in 1906. In 1908 the membership reorganized as Washington Country Club after purchasing 74.7 acres from Rear Admiral Presley M. Rixey on what is today the Arlington site. Rixey and his laborers laid out a stop-gap nine in 1908–09 and a second nine followed in 1909–10. Around this time, Donald Ross was hired to redesign the course, a commission the club’s own history places “about 1910,” with a colorful (and oft-retold) choice between a “deluxe or not so deluxe” option that the fledgling club declined on cost grounds.
In 1919 the club purchased an adjoining 47-acre tract (the Grunwell parcel) and resolved to expand and reorganize the course. Walter Travis provided an initial redesign; Hugh Wilson and William Flynn then modified and executed the plan, completing the expanded 18 in 1922. Club history states that holes 1, 2, 3 and 18 on today’s course are Ross survivors from the earlier layout, with the balance substantially re-imagined by Wilson/Flynn.
WGCC’s 20th-century course chronology included a 1936 clubhouse fire (rebuilt in 1937) and a 1958 program by Findlay & Loving that made “significant changes to certain golf holes.” In 2018–20, the club executed a whole-course renovation led by Renaissance Golf Design (Tom Doak; Eric Iverson, project lead): every green, tee and bunker was rebuilt, the property was re-grassed, and selective routing fixes addressed problematic holes; the course reopened in 2019 with follow-on finishing in 2020.
One agronomic milestone with national implications occurred on WGCC turf in 1919, when club member and USDA scientist Dr. C. V. Piper, with Russell Oakley, identified disease-resistant “Washington Bent” on the old 4th green—work that helped spur the USGA’s Green Section.
Unique Design Characteristics (course-specific)
Compact, vertical topography used as defense. The Arlington property is small and steep; Iverson described it as “short, very sporty,” with “pretty severe topography” that makes the course play longer than its yardage. The routing works across slopes and into gullies, frequently demanding uphill or canted-lie approaches where holding line and spin is more decisive than raw distance.
Surviving Ross stretch at 1–3 and 18. The club identifies these as Ross holes. Hole 1 sets the tone with a climb into a perched, modest green; 2 and 3 continue across the first ridge system, both forcing angle control into small targets; 18 returns to the clubhouse with the same scale and simple ground-set that typified Ross’s early work on this site. While Wilson/Flynn and later remodelers have affected bunkering and edges, the spatial bones and green pads on these four holes keep the early-1910s character legible.
Wilson/Flynn expansions expressed in sequencing and green style. After the 1919–22 expansion, longer, diagonal-bunker par-4s and more elastic green sizes appear on the new acreage, a contrast the 2018–20 work acknowledged. Iverson’s team used historic photos and aerials of Flynn’s course as a first reference when rebuilding greens and bunkers, tuning placements where later alterations made strict restoration impossible.
Renovated bunkering and resurfaced greens. The Renaissance project rebuilt all bunkers and greens and re-grassed the property, with limited routing adjustments “to remedy… the former par-five 15th,” and added length where feasible. The renewed front-edge defenses and firmer, faster surfaces sharpen the false-front and fall-away behaviors that already existed on the steepest sites, especially where Ross/Wilson-era green pads are perched above approach grade.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s body of work, WGCC is a Washington-area example of an early Ross redesign that later became a collaboration-by-succession: Ross’s c.1910 work established the framework on the Rixey tract, and Wilson/Flynn’s 1922 expansion converted the property into a durable championship-caliber 18 without erasing every Ross element. It is also a site of agronomic significance: the 1919 Washington Bent discovery by Piper & Oakley took place on a WGCC green and contributed to the formation of the USGA Green Section—a rare case where a Ross course intersects directly with turf science history.
WGCC’s competitive profile in the 1920s featured high-profile exhibitions—among them Gene Sarazen, Tommy Armour, Johnny Farrell, Bobby Jones and Watts Gunn—which the club documented during Dave Thomson’s early pro tenure. The club also has one of the longest presidential association lineages in American golf culture, from Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft (members by 1909) through the Harding-Coolidge era. While those are social-historical notes rather than architectural details, they explain the club’s widely used “Playground of Presidents” moniker and its visibility in the capital’s golf scene.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing integrity. The Wilson/Flynn (1922) routing remains the dominant skeleton, with Ross survivors at 1–3 and 18. The 2018–20 project did not attempt a strict restoration of any single era; instead, it re-built greens/tees/bunkers and made select routing fixes, referencing Flynn aerials/photos where practicable and preserving the recognizable Ross holes.
Greens & surrounds. All eighteen greens were reconstructed and re-grassed in 2018–20. On the steepest sites, front banks and fall-offs now play crisply; perimeter expansions and refined mow-lines have reopened edge hole locations and re-introduced the need to stay below the hole on canted interior slopes.
Bunkers & fairway lines. Rebuilt bunkers emphasize visibility and placement rather than sheer number; on Wilson/Flynn corridors they tend to cut diagonally into preferred lines, while on the four Ross holes they frame smaller entrances into perched greens. Width is constrained by property lines and topography, but the renovation broadened some landing areas to improve angle choice.
Yardage, par, and setup. The club’s history notes that the 2020 works expanded the tournament course beyond 6,400 yards; public scorecards typically list par 70 and ~6,100–6,300 yards for daily play.
Net integrity. WGCC today is a layered historical course: meaningful Ross DNA at four holes; a Wilson/Flynn routing and green-style leitmotif; mid-century Findlay & Loving edits; and a 2018–20 rebuild that sought coherence and fun rather than a single-era facsimile. The result is a compact, vertical, par-70 test whose architectural story can still be read on the ground.
Items well-supported by club documentation
Founding/relocations; Rixey tract purchase; c.1910 Ross redesign hiring and anecdotal “deluxe” option; 1919 land purchase; 1922 completion by Wilson/Flynn (after Travis’s initial concept); Ross survivors at 1, 2, 3, 18; Findlay & Loving changes in 1958; 2018–20 Doak/Renaissance rebuild; Washington Bent discovery (1919).
Items requiring primary-source verification or added specificity
Ross plan set and visit dates. The club history does not reproduce Ross drawings or letters. Confirmation of plan dates, staking notes, and green/bunker details would require Tufts Archives or club minutes.
Travis/Wilson/Flynn division of labor. The history credits Travis with an initial redesign and Wilson/Flynn with execution. Hole-by-hole attributions within the 1922 work would require architect files or aerial/time-series analysis.
1958 Findlay & Loving scope. The note of “significant changes” is not accompanied by a plan; contractor records or contemporary press would clarify which holes were altered.
Sources & Notes
Washington Golf & Country Club — “A Special History” (club PDF). Founding at Rosslyn; 1908 move to Rixey tract; c.1910 hiring of Donald Ross to redesign; 1919 acreage purchase; redesign sequence (Travis concept; Hugh Wilson & William Flynn execution, completed 1922); statement that Ross holes 1, 2, 3, 18 remain; 1958 Findlay & Loving changes; Washington Bent discovery (1919); 2018–20 Doak/Renaissance rebuild and tournament yardage “over 6,400.”
Golf Course Architecture (2018). Eric Iverson on the Renaissance project: full re-grassing; all new greens/tees/bunkers; reference to Flynn aerials/photos; routing fixes (including former par-5 15th); course plays longer than yardage on severe topography; reopening timeline.
C2 Limited (clubhouse/club history page). Notes 1936 fire/1937 rebuild, 1958 clubhouse, Findlay & Loving changes circa 1958, and Tom Doak completing the first major golf-course renovation since 1922 in 2020; situates WGCC as Virginia’s oldest club.
Arlington Public Library / Arlington Historical overviews. Early moves (Rosslyn to Rixey estate), 1908–20 tenancy and expansion context.
Top100GolfCourses profile. Secondary summary that aligns with club timeline (Ross origin; later Flynn; 2020 “re-imagining”). Use only to triangulate broader narrative.