The earliest golf at Agawam Hunt dated to 1895, when a 9-hole course by Willie Park Jr. served the club’s original grounds. Agawam Hunt In 1917 the club acquired the lease to Metacomet’s Rumford course, which stood on adjoining property across the Ten Mile River; Metacomet decamped soon after.
Donald Ross was then engaged to create a full-scale 18, and in 1920 he laid out Agawam’s first comprehensive 18-hole course on this Rumford site. Club records and later summaries consistently date the plan and build to 1920.
The club’s own chronology documents a significant governance decision in 1963 to lengthen the course by 200 yards, expand three par-5s and four par-3s, and raise total par to 71; this same action reconfigured the club’s “famous” 14th into today’s 3rd, a notable routing change that altered Ross’s numbering and sequencing. Agawam Hunt In 1964, municipal takings removed 27 acres that contained the 5th, 12th and 13th holes; with proceeds from the taking Agawam bought six acres to the south and retained Geoffrey S. Cornish to redesign several holes and add the present 7th and 15th on the new Brandt parcel—direct interventions that replaced portions of Ross’s work and introduced two non-Ross holes to the card.
At the turn of the twenty-first century, the club adopted a master plan led by Gil Hanse and, since 2018, in partnership with Ian Andrew, with the explicit goal of “restoring the course to its Donald Ross roots” while accommodating modern play and the property’s post-1960s footprint. Agawam Hunt The club also established a conservation partnership with The Nature Conservancy to protect internal open space (“inside 11”), a land-use decision that influences where and how Ross features can be recovered.
On Ross’s intent: While no Ross letter is quoted in club publications, the 1920 commission followed Agawam’s acquisition of a larger Rumford tract; the stated aim was a true 18-hole course on this terrain, supplanting the earlier nine. The club’s history page frames Ross’s 1920 work as the first “full size 18 hole course,” which—taken with the 1917–19 land transition—supports the inference that Ross’s brief was to expand, rationalize, and consolidate golf on the Rumford property into a cohesive 18.
Unique Design Characteristics
The present routing still bears a Ross-era signature in how it uses the Ten Mile River corridor. Holes 8 through 14 occupy a separate paddock south of the river, linked to the clubhouse side by corridor holes at 7 and 15. That broken-parcel rhythm—crossing to a self-contained run of seven holes before returning—remains one of Agawam’s most distinctive walk patterns and a likely vestige of Ross’s adaptation to the site’s divided acreage, even though the specific 7th and 15th corridors are Cornish replacements.
Several green complexes exhibit the steep back-to-front tilts and abrupt fall-offs characteristic of Ross’s Rumford work, especially on the inner-property par-3s and short par-4s. Contemporary hole descriptions and player reports note, for example, the eleventh’s two-tier target with strong back-to-front pitch and penal misses into sharp side drop-offs; the ninth’s uphill approach to a heavily canted surface; and the sixteenth’s elevated par-3 green encircled by bunkers—all traits long associated with Agawam’s Ross heritage.
The 15th, situated on the added Brandt acreage, is a dogleg-left par-4 with a pond guarding the shortcut—a modern strategic wrinkle that differs from Ross’s typical water use at Agawam and signals Cornish’s 1960s authorship. It also functions today as a return corridor from the southern paddock, a role driven by the 1964 land loss rather than Ross’s original flow.
Agawam’s par-3 8th (the first hole encountered after crossing the road to the “outer seven”) is a compact shot across open ground to a green that falls hard from back to front; while the surrounding landscaping has evolved, the hole’s ask—precise distance control to an exposed target—echoes the Ross par-3 idiom found elsewhere on the property.
Bunker work since 2018 under the Hanse/Andrew plan has aimed to recapture scale and restore short-grass surrounds around selected greens, replacing steep sand-faced edges with grass-faced cuts and re-establishing approach widths. Superintendent updates from 2021 document these changes at the opening stretch, including re-shaped fairway bunkers and added approaches on Holes 1–2 to revive ground-game options Ross favored on this site.
Best surviving Ross examples. The inner-property 9–11 run preserves the look and tempo most often attributed to the 1920 design: a rising, exacting short two-shotter (9), followed by a dogleg-right mid-length two-shotter fringed by fairway bunkers (10), and an uphill par-3 with severe tilt and unforgiving surrounds (11). Even after later refinements, these holes retain corridors and green personalities that match period descriptions of how Agawam tested placement and recovery rather than merely length.
Historical Significance
Agawam Hunt’s 1920 Ross course formed part of a dense Providence-area cluster of Ross commissions (notably Wannamoisett and, later, the new Metacomet), and it exemplified his ability to extract strategy from modest, divided acreage near an urban core. The current parcel still totals roughly ninety to 130 acres depending on counted buffers, and the south-of-river “paddock” segment underscores that the Rumford site never offered the contiguous sweep of land available to some contemporaneous Ross projects.
Competitive history at Agawam is long. The Tri-State Matches (Massachusetts-Rhode Island-Connecticut) trace their origin to 1907 at Agawam Hunt, reflecting the club’s early regional stature before the Ross expansion. MASSGOLF In the modern era the course has hosted USGA qualifying (including as a named 2020 U.S. Open local qualifying site), U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifying (2024), and a steady rotation of Rhode Island Golf Association events, reinforcing its continuing tournament relevance.
The New England Golf Association also placed the New England Women’s Amateur here in 1997 and again in 2021, a nod to both history and recent course work.
Rankings ebb with conditioning and renovation cycles, but contemporary listings place Agawam among Rhode Island’s better private-club tests while acknowledging its constrained property and evolving architecture; these assessments typically mention Ross’s 1920 authorship, Cornish’s 1960s edits, and current restorative intent.
Current Condition / Integrity
Because of the 1964 land taking and subsequent Cornish rebuilds, today’s card includes at least two holes (7 and 15) that are not Ross originals, and three Ross holes (5, 12, 13) were lost outright. The renumbering that turned the old 14th into the present 3rd further disrupted Ross’s flow. What survives most clearly is a majority of the routing corridors on the clubhouse side (including 9–11) and the conceptual split to the southern paddock (8–14), although features within those corridors—bunkers, green pads and surrounds—have been altered across several campaigns. The club’s published history delineates these changes but does not quantify the exact percentage of Ross fabric still intact; a reasonable summary is that portions of the routing and several green sites survive, while edges and hazards have seen substantial intervention since 1963.
From roughly 2000 onward, the Hanse/Andrew master plan has sought to “transition the course into the shape that matches Donald Ross roots,” work documented in member communications and visible in on-course details: widened approaches, restored short grass around selected greens, and converted bunker faces to grass where appropriate to re-introduce running options. These steps have been implemented incrementally and continue “in progress.”
Current published yardage varies by tee set and source; tournament listings and public databases place Agawam around 6,000–6,300 yards, typically at par 70. This reflects both the property’s limits after the 1960s and the club’s choice to emphasize angles and green contours rather than sheer length—exactly the terrain-driven qualities that drew Ross here in 1920 and that the present plan is attempting to re-emphasize within the modern footprint.
Uncertainties & Disputed Points
Two aspects of the origin story appear in tension across sources. Club publications describe Ross’s 1920 work as Agawam’s first “full size 18,” whereas independent researchers have emphasized that the 1917–19 lease acquisition involved “revamping” and expansion of an existing 9 into an 18 on the Rumford ground. The difference is largely semantic—both point to a Ross-directed 18 on newly secured land by 1920—but the precise extent to which Ross re-used earlier Metacomet corridors before the 1960s changes is not fully documented in public records.
Likewise, while the club has stated a goal of restoring Ross elements, there is no public, hole-by-hole accounting of which greens still sit wholly on Ross’s 1920 pads and which have been materially moved or rebuilt since Cornish’s work; superintendent notes and player reports describe characteristics, but definitive as-built provenance would require archival plans and aerials not published online.
Sources & Notes
1. Agawam Hunt — Golf History (official club page). “First full size 18 hole course was designed by Donald James Ross in 1920… In 1963 the Board approved… The famous 14th hole was reconfigured to become the 3rd… In 1964 the City of East Providence requisitioned 27 acres… Geoffrey S. Cornish… added the 7th and 15th… Hanse plan… since 2018 continues to evolve in partnership with Ian Andrew.”
2. Agawam Hunt — Master Golf Plan (official club page). Notes the 1895 Willie Park Jr. nine, Ross’s 1920 18, and the ongoing Hanse/Andrew restoration framework; references conservation management of interior acreage.
3. Top100GolfCourses — Agawam Hunt profile. Confirms Ross’s 1920 18 “over the top of Metacomet’s original Rumford layout,” describes the south-of-river paddock (holes 8–14) and approximate property size/yardage.
4. GolfClubAtlas forum discussions (“Reunderstanding Ross”; “Willie Park Jr (Course Listings)”). Provide context on the 1917 lease of Metacomet land, the 1919–20 transition, and Ross’s involvement; useful for understanding pre-1920 site control and the narrative that Ross expanded a prior 9 into 18. (Secondary source; details should be cross-checked with club archives.)
5. USGA — 2020 U.S. Open Local Qualifying Sites (official). Lists Agawam Hunt Club, Rumford, R.I., among local qualifying venues (May 11 schedule), evidencing modern competitive use.
6. GolfNewsRI — “Agawam Hunt to Host U.S. Mid-Am Qualifier” (Feb. 5, 2024). Notes scheduled U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifying at Agawam on Aug. 20, 2024.
7. NEGA — 2021 Women’s Amateur announcement. Confirms Agawam’s hosting in 1997 and 2021; includes a concise historical note on the 1920 Ross build.
8. Mass Golf — Tri-State Matches history. Documents the 1907 matches at Agawam Hunt, situating the club’s early regional prominence.
9. Course characteristics & hole observations.
– Worldgolfer’s Golf Course Reviews (2016): Descriptions of the 9th (uphill par-4 with heavy back-to-front green), 10th (dogleg-right with flanking bunkers), and 11th (uphill par-3 with severe tilt and punishing left miss). (Anecdotal but specific; helpful for current features.)
– GolfNewsRI (2024 blog): Notes 15th as risk/reward dogleg left over a pond; 16th as par-3 to an elevated, trapped green; 18th with steep fairway drop.
10. Superintendent/club “Turftalk” update (July 24, 2021). Documents bunker conversions to grass-faced edges and added approaches on Holes 1–2 under the restoration program.
11. GolfLink (course card). Lists present par and yardage around 6,273 yards at par 70, reflecting current setup. (Public database; yardage may vary by tee/event.)
Disputed / Uncertain:
• Extent of pre-1920 work vs. 1920 “new 18”: Club history frames 1920 as first full 18; independent researchers emphasize a 1917–19 land/lease shift with Ross engaged to expand/revamp into 18 by 1920. Precise reuse of earlier corridors isn’t fully documented online.
• Exact percentage of surviving Ross features: Public sources identify holes lost (5,12,13), replacements (7,15), and a renumbered/reconfigured 3rd, but do not quantify remaining original greens/tees; definitive percentages would require archival plans/aerials beyond what the club publishes.