Westwood Country Club

Coordinates: 38°38′36″N 90°26′11″W / 38.64333°N 90.43639°W / 38.64333; -90.43639 Westwood Country Club is a country club in Westwood, Missouri, in central St. Louis County, Missouri.

Westwood Country Club is one of the top two elite St. Louis area country clubs, being the historically Jewish counterpart to the WASP St. Louis Country Club, and, with Old Warson Country Club and Bellerive Country Club, one of the "big four" elite St. Louis clubs.[1] Membership is about 650 families, mostly (although no longer entirely) Jewish.[2]

The par-72 18-hole golf course was designed by Harold Paddock and built in 1928.[3][4] The course was more recently renovated under the direction of golf architect Keith Foster.[5][6] There are four Har-Tru and six Deco Turf tennis courts and an Olympic-size swimming pool.

The club was founded in 1907 specifically to provide a Jewish country club for the St. Louis area, and was first built in the town of Glendale. By 1927 many of the members' households had moved westward to the Central West End and the towns of Clayton and Ladue, so farmland was purchased in what is now Westwood and a new club built, with the course designed by Paddock and the clubhouse by the firm of Maritz and Young. There were, at that time, also riding stables.

“ We do not participate in things like [disclosing the slope rating of the golf course], because Westwood is a very, very private club. I don’t think the members would want their club featured with any type of prominence. It’s just not consistent with who we are. ”
— Tony D’Errico (General Manager & Chief Operating Officer, Westwood Country Club)[1]

The club maintains a low public profile (there is no sign at the entrance, and the address was unpublished until recently) and a refined ambiance; conducting business on the premises is frowned upon, and money never changes hands between members and staff. Membership criteria remains rather selective, favoring successive generations of families. The club does not now tend to favor hosting large golf tournaments, although the 1952 Western Open and 1939 Women's Western Open were held there.

The club was ranked 29th in the 2012 Platinum Clubs of America list of top full-service country clubs,[7][8] although it fell out of the top 150 (with revised criteria) in the 2014 list.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 Jeannette Cooperman (July 31, 2006). "Dinner at the Club, Darling?". St. Louis. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  2. ↑ Ellen Futterman (July 23, 2014). "Anti-Semitic vandalism discovered at country club golf course". St. Louis Jewish Light. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Westwood Country Club - Championship Course". Golf Advisor. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Westwood Country Club - Westwood Course". GolfNow. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Westwood Country Club". Golf Course Ranking. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  6. ↑ Keith Foster. "Partial List of Completed Renovation Programs". Kieth Foster, Golf Architect. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Platinum Clubs of America 2012". Club Leaders Forum. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  8. ↑ Joe Barks (July 16, 2014). "Singular Purpose". Club & Resort Business. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Platinum Clubs of America 2014" (PDF). Club Essential. Retrieved September 4, 2015.

External links

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