Brae Burn Country Club is a golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 course located in West Newton, Massachusetts

West Newton, Massachusetts

West Newton is a village of the City of Newton, Massachusetts and is one of the oldest of the thirteen Newton villages. The postal code 02465 roughly matches the village limits.-Location:...

. Designed by Donald Ross, Brae Burn has hosted seven USGA Championships, including the 1919 U.S Open, and 1928 U.S Amateur. Brae Burn is most noted for its diabolic greens, and classic layout.

History

Brae Burn Country Club is located in West Newton, at 326 Fuller St. The original six hole layout ran on both sides of Commonwealth Ave., using the founder’s home grounds and unoccupied land to lay out the course. The club was incorporated with a nine hole course in 1897, used until 1903 when construction on a new eighteen hole course was completed. It was on this layout that Brae Burn received much notoriety for its challenging layout, hosting the 1906 United States Women’s Amateur Champion, won by Harriot Curtis

Harriot Curtis

Harriot Sumner Curtis was an American amateur golfer and an early participant in the sport of skiing. From the Manchester, Massachusetts area, she was one of ten children. Her father was a colonel in the Union Army cavalry during the American Civil War...

, condoner of the Curtis Cup

Curtis Cup

The Curtis Cup is the best known team trophy for women amateur golfers, awarded in the biennial Curtis Cup Match . It is co-organised by the United States Golf Association and the Ladies Golf Union and is contested by teams representing the United States and "Great Britain and Ireland"...

. In 1912, Scotsman Donald Ross, underwent his first redesign of the original eighteen hole layout. Following the success of his restoration was Brae Burn’s second United States Golf Association

United States Golf Association

The United States Golf Association is the United States' national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the Rules of Golf. The USGA also provides a national handicap system...

 Championship, the 1919 United States Men’s Open Championship. The event was won by the formidable Sir Walter Hagen

Walter Hagen

Walter Charles Hagen was a major figure in golf in the first half of the 20th century. His tally of eleven professional majors is third behind Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods . He won the U.S. Open twice, and in 1922 he became the first native-born American to win the British Open, which he went on...

. In 1928 Donald Ross made a return visit to Brae Burn to revamp the course for the club’s hosting of the 1928 United States Men’s Amateur Championship. A modification of the eighteenth hole included a back tee, subsequently coined the “Jones Tee”, for eventual champion, Robert Tyre “Bobby” Jones Jr.

Bobby Jones (golfer)

Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones Jr. was an American amateur golfer, and a lawyer by profession. Jones was the most successful amateur golfer ever to compete on a national and international level...

Since 1928, the course has remained the same, only a few alterations to tee boxes and greens have been done. Brae Burn continued to host national championships, including the Curtis Cup in 1958 and 1970, and the U.S Women’s Amateur in 1975. In Brae Burn’s centennial year, 1997, the U.S Women’s Amateur returned, in which Italy’s first Amateur champion, Silvia Cavalieri, defeated Robin Burke of the United States, 5&4. Today Brae Burn is a member of both the USGA and the Massachusetts Golf Association, and actively participates as a host club for various MGA events.