Belmont began in 1908–09 when Willard E. Robinson acquired roughly ninety acres and laid out a nine-hole course. Robinson then added land across Winter Street, bringing the property to more than 200 acres—enough to commission Donald Ross to design an enlarged 18-hole course known as Belmont Springs Country Club. The club’s historical “Key Dates” places this sequence in 1909–1916, noting the land acquisitions and explicitly attributing the 18-hole design to Ross. Contemporary and retrospective accounts differ on the exact year the Ross 18 was implemented: a Boston media piece tied the layout to “1918,” while other golf references associate the completed course with events as early as 1916, when the U.S. Women’s Amateur was contested over “Belmont Springs.” What is consistent across sources is that Ross’s work transformed Robinson’s nine into a full 18 and fixed the routing in and around the lowlands east of the clubhouse.
The early decades were eventful. On December 31, 1917, the original clubhouse burned, but golf prospered: membership surged in 1919–20, and on July 30, 1920, a crowd estimated at 7,000 watched Harry Vardon and Ted Ray defeat Francis Ouimet and James Guilford in a 36-hole exhibition that crisscrossed Ross’s holes. In 1936, the property changed hands; Orrin Smith—long associated with Ross—remodeled the course (the club’s chronology does not record the exact year), and in 1967 the construction of Route 2 forced relocation or partial relocation of five holes (parts of 8–9 and holes 10–12) from the northerly portion into lowlands along Concord Avenue. Alfred H. Tull undertook a further remodel in 1969.
In 2005–06 the club closed for a comprehensive renovation led by architect Craig Schreiner. The project rebuilt all greens to USGA specifications, enlarged them to recover perimeter hole locations, renovated and repositioned bunkers with reference to historic photographs, added new tees to broaden set-up elasticity, and undertook significant recontouring and drainage in the “Valley Holes” (5–9) to better blend that corridor with the remainder of the course. This work coincided with a strategic decision to replace the prior “Vesper Velvet” strain with “Greenwich Velvet” on the rebuilt greens—an agronomic choice that, for a time, became a calling card of Belmont’s putting surfaces.
Belmont’s stature drew the PGA TOUR Champions’ Constellation Senior Players Championship in June 2015, won wire-to-wire by Bernhard Langer at 265 (−19). In 2022, the club undertook another period of closure to resurface all greens and renew bunkering under the supervision of architect Brian Silva; according to a Mass Golf report, the greens were converted from Greenwich Velvet to 007 creeping bentgrass.
Unique Design Characteristics
Even with later alterations, several elements at Belmont are traceable to Ross’s original intentions for this site. The routing uses the property’s modest relief to create variety at similar yardages, and the transition into the “Valley Holes” remains a defining sequence: Nos. 5–9 drop to lower ground, where drainage historically challenged turf and play but now, after the 2005–06 drainage and grading program, present firmer, faster conditions that restore intended ground options. The course’s identity has also long turned on its green complexes. The 2005 reconstruction sought to recover original perimeters and peripheral contours—an approach intended to reopen corner and back-shelf hole locations that had been lost as putting surfaces shrank—while preserving the interior movements that give approach play its bite. Independent observers noted that a majority of the greens following the work were “close-to-original” in size and character.
Hole-specific characteristics underscore this. The opener (No. 1, 447 yards/Black) has been widely recognized as a demanding first strike, setting the tone for a round that rewards controlled tee-ball placement and a precise approach into a well-defended surface. Belmont’s par-3s offer considerable range but skew long at championship markers—No. 5 (211 yards), No. 15 (228 yards), and the downhill long-iron at No. 3 (188 yards)—a distribution that, in concert with angled greens and flanking bunkers, asks for trajectory control. The par-5s, notably No. 9 (565 yards) turning for home out of the valley and No. 17 (501 yards), hinge on line-of-play choices from the tee; hole locations recovered on the rebuilt greens heighten the value of approaching from specific fairway halves. Mass Golf’s 2024 course profile further pointed to “blind tee shots, punch-bowl greens, and short holes up the hill” that survive from the old-school scheme—features consistent with what a player meets on Belmont’s hill-to-valley routing.
Among the clearest surviving examples of Ross’s hand are the platforms where the greens sit rather than the exact grass species atop them. While grass varieties have necessarily changed, the 2005–06 program’s enlargement of perimeters and the preservation of internal rolls allow the historic tactics—using the high and low sides of approach to access pins—to function much as intended, particularly at greens serving Nos. 2, 6, 7, and 13–14, where recovered corners and edges materially influence angle selection.
Historical Significance
Belmont is one of the Boston area’s early full-scale Ross commissions and, critically, a venue that immediately entered national conversation: the 1916 U.S. Women’s Amateur was played over Belmont Springs, confirming that by that date the course presented a suitable championship test. The club’s exhibition on July 30, 1920—Vardon & Ray versus Ouimet & Guilford before a reported 7,000 spectators—offered an extraordinary public validation of the site’s stature. In recent decades the course reentered the national spotlight by hosting the 2015 Constellation Senior Players Championship, a Champions Tour major, again demonstrating how the classic corridors adapt to modern tournament set-ups with length primarily added via tee construction rather than wholesale routing change. As a result, Belmont often appears in “Best in State” discussions; Top100 Golf Courses, for example, has included the course among Massachusetts’ ranked venues in recent cycles.
Current Condition / Integrity
Belmont’s routing is a palimpsest: the skeletal framework of Ross’s 18 remains legible, but the course bears layers from Smith (mid-20th-century remodel), the Route 2 relocation in 1967 (affecting parts of holes 8–12), and Tull’s 1969 work. The 2005–06 renovation aimed explicitly to “restore Belmont to its historical Ross tradition,” rebuilding all greens, renovating bunkers with a historical eye, and, crucially for integrity, enlarging green footprints to recapture lost edges. Those steps improved the course’s ability to present Ross-like strategy even where precise original forms had been compromised. The “Valley Holes” (5–9), once plagued by drainage problems, were regraded to create firm surfaces that support the intended ground game through that corridor. Agronomically, the identity of the putting surfaces shifted twice in two decades: first to Greenwich Velvet during the 2005–06 works, then—per a 2024 report— to 007 creeping bent in 2022 alongside bunker work overseen by Brian Silva. These changes affect grass feel and speed but do not necessarily alter the underlaying contour.
On balance, Belmont today preserves a meaningful proportion of Ross’s strategic architecture at the scale of corridors, tee-shot options, and green-site platforms. The 1967 relocations inevitably altered certain sequences north of the clubhouse; however, by enlarging greens and repositioning bunkers within Rossian lines of play, the 2005–06 and 2022 campaigns reinforced the course’s historic character. A fuller integrity assessment would benefit from access to primary materials—Ross’s original plan, early ground photographs, and mid-century aerials—to test today’s green perimeters and bunker placements against the 1910s template. The club’s public history and external summaries do not reproduce these documents, so conclusions here remain partly inferential.
Sources & Notes
Belmont Country Club, “Club History – Key Dates.” Confirms Robinson’s 1909 nine; land expansion; Ross as designer of the 18-hole “Belmont Springs Country Club”; 1917 clubhouse fire; 1920 Vardon/Ray exhibition; 1967 Route 2 relocations; 1969 Alfred H. Tull remodel; 2005 renovation by Craig Schreiner; and 2015 Champions Tour major. Also lists major events hosted.
Belmont Country Club, “History of Belmont Country Club.” Narrative of the 2005–06 renovation objectives and the choice to rebuild greens and adopt Greenwich Velvet.
Belmont Country Club, “View Course / Scorecard.” Current par (71), yardages (6,855 yards from Black), tee/slope data, and the live scorecard link.
Top100GolfCourses.com, “Belmont Country Club (USA).” Overview of Schreiner’s 2005 works with specifics (greens rebuilt to USGA standards and enlarged; bunkers renovated and repositioned; drainage/pond work) and standing in state rankings.
Mass Golf (Aug. 12, 2024), “2024 U.S. Mid-Amateur Qualifying – Belmont Country Club.” Historical précis crediting Ross; description of surviving “old-school” features (“blind tee shots, punch-bowl greens, short holes up the hill”); notes 2022 green resurfacing and bunker work under Brian Silva; reports conversion from Greenwich Velvet to 007 creeping bent.
PGA TOUR Champions / GCSAA Tournament Fact Sheet & Event Records (June 2015). Confirms venue and dates of the Constellation Senior Players Championship; reinforces Belmont’s reputation for “Greenwich Velvet” greens at that time; documents Bernhard Langer’s winning total.
Belmont Citizen-Herald (Wicked Local), June 15, 2015. Local report on Langer’s victory at Belmont.
Telegram & Gazette (May 12, 2015), “Belmont worthy host for Champions major.” Media characterization calling the course a “1918 Donald Ross design” and noting the demanding opening hole.
GolfCompendium, “U.S. Women’s Amateur Winners and Sites (1895–present).” Lists 1916 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Belmont Springs Country Club.
GolfClubAtlas discussion (Photo Tour thread). Secondary, but offers contemporaneous observations that, post-2005, “13 close-to-original” greens were present and remarks on the restored green sizes; used cautiously to corroborate club/Top100 claims about intent and effect of the Schreiner work.
Uncertainties / Disputed Points Needing Primary Verification
Exact completion year of Ross’s 18. The club’s site documents the evolution (1909 nine holes; land added by 1916) and credits Ross with the 18-hole design, but does not state a single “opening” year for the full Ross course. Media and secondary references cite 1916 (tournament host) and 1918 (as design date).
Scope and year of Orrin Smith’s remodel. The club confirms Smith remodeled the course but “it is not known what year” in their chronology. Smith’s specific alterations—holes affected, bunkers or greens rebuilt—remain undocumented publicly.