The Myopia Club, regarded by some historians as being the oldest country club, was founded in the 1870s by four brothers with poor vision: Gordon, Charles, Morton, and Frederick Prince. At first it was a neighborhood boys club devoted to boating and tennis, based on the shores of Wedge Pond in Winchester, Massachusetts

Winchester, Massachusetts

Winchester is a town located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, eight miles north of Boston. With its agricultural roots having mostly disappeared, it is now an affluent suburb...

. Later the members' interests turned to riding and foxhunting, and the club moved to another site in Winchester, on Mystic Lake, where it became formally incorporated in 1879.

Several Myopia Club members were interested in moving the club closer to Boston, and this led to the founding of The Country Club

The Country Club

The Country Club, located in Brookline, Massachusetts, is one of the oldest country club in the United States. It holds an important place in golf history, as it is one of the five charter clubs that founded the United States Golf Association, and has hosted numerous USGA tournaments including the...

 in Brookline, Massachusetts

Brookline, Massachusetts

Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...

 in 1882. But fox hunting proved impossible in Brookline, so those most interested in this activity founded the Myopia Hunt Club

Myopia Hunt Club

Myopia Hunt Club is a foxhunting and private country club at 435 Bay Road in South Hamilton, Massachusetts founded in 1882 by J. Murray Forbes. The name "Myopia" is due to some of its founding members having come from the Myopia Club in Winchester, Massachusetts, which had been founded by four...

 in Hamilton, Massachusetts

Hamilton, Massachusetts

Hamilton is a town located in the eastern central portion of Essex County in eastern Massachusetts. It is primarily a suburban bedroom community, most commonly known for its equestrian estates...

.

The Mystic Lake site became known as "Myopia Hill". The Winchester Country Club was founded there in 1902, and it still occupies the site.http://www.winchestercc.org/club/scripts/public/public.asp