Wahconah Country Club

Detailed description of Wahconah Country Club

Wahconah Country Club is a Semi-Private, 18 hole golf course located in Dalton, Massachusetts.

Wayne Stiles was the architect and he produced a plan for all 18 holes. The course first opened for play with nine of the planned 18 holes in the fall of 1929. Construction for the back nine commenced in October of 1959. Play on the back nine began during the summer of 1961.  Geoff Cornish was hired as the architect following the original routing plan of Wayne Stiles.

The front nine has open fairways with large greens that give way to panoramic views and inviting play. The back nine has narrower, tree-lined fairways and smaller greens.

Par for the course is 71. From the back tees, the course plays to 6,553 yards. From the forward tees, the course measures 5,431 yards and plays to a par of 73. The longest hole on the course is # 7, a par-5 that plays to 518 yards. The shortest hole on the course is # 6, a par-3 that plays to 170 yards from the back tees.

Watch out for # 14, a 515-yard par-5 challenge, and the #1 handicap hole on the course. The easiest hole at Wahconah Country Club is # 7, the 518 yard par-5.

The Bobby Jones Connection

On August 15, 1948, Bobby Jones’s played his last round of golf at Wahconah Country Club. He had just returned from Boston wherein he had received a diagnosis that he had a crippling spinal disease.  He met with his good friend and Wahconah Country Club member, Bill O’Connell, to play a four-ball match with Bruce Crane and Rankin Furey.  In recording this event, Rene Clarke rendered a water painting of the foursome on the 6th green that day.  The original painting and a letter from Bobby Jones indicating that “This was my last effort, sorry it was not a better one”, hangs in his room at the USGA’s Museum in Far Hills, NJ.  Per an agreement between the USGA and Bill O’Connell, Wahconah Country Club was allowed to make one copy of the painting and the letter for display in our Clubhouse.

Bobby Jones was a true amateur golfer who won 13 “major” tournaments between 1923 & 1930.  At that time the U.S. Amateur was considered a “major”.  He won it 6 times along with 4 U.S. Opens and 3 Open Championships.  In 1930, he won the Grand Slam by winning all four majors; the only golfer to ever do it in the same year.  In addition, Mr. Jones co-designed the Augusta National course with Alister MacKenzie, which opened in early 1933. He also founded the Masters Tournament, first played at Augusta in March 1934.  He is certainly one of the foremost icons of U.S. golf and we are proud to recognize that his “last effort” was played at Wahconah Country Club.

In 1948, Wahconah Country Club was a nine-hole golf course.  The current back nine had not been constructed as yet.  So Mr. Jones’s last hole was their current 9th hole.