Westwood Country Club of St. Louis

The Westwood Country Club of St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri was founded in October, 1907 . At the time, St. Louis was the third-largest city in the United States, and the founders felt a Jewish country club was a necessary feature of the city. The land chosen was the former estate of George Meyer and consisted of 93 acres. The Club president, David Sommers, and the Board of Governors contracted with well-known golf architect Tom Bendelow to design their new course. The course opened in April 1908 with 147 members. Over the next several years the membership grew and had approximately 400 members by the early 1920's. By 1921, the Glendale location had grown and was now a thriving suburb. The membership began to consider a move to a more central location. After examining parcels of land from Manchester Road on the South to Olive Street Road on the North, they settled on 7 parcels near Ballas Road on Conway Road.

Originally, The New facilities consisted of a large clubhouse, designed by Maritz and Young, six tennis courts, a riding stable and a 27-hole golf course designed by Harold Paddock, who later designed many golf courses in northeastern Ohio. However, by early 1931, with the depression in full swing, the club abandoned 9 holes, they they kept the land within the club grounds. In 1937, golf architect Albert Tillinghast was brought in to make changes to the course to assist with a reduction in course maintenance.

On May 28, 1944, the club suffered a devastating fire that destroyed much of the second floor of the clubhouse. With the war effort underway, a shortage of materials existed and the club was not able to rebuild until 1950.

Since that time, the club has prospered and today is recognized as one of four principal country clubs in the metropolitan area. The clubhouse was thoroughly remodeled in 1994-95, the golf course has been redesigned and rebuilt over the past decade, the tennis facility currently consists of nine clay and three Har-Tru courts, and the swimming complex was completely rebuilt and expanded in 2003. Although the membership currently does not favor holding major golf tournaments at the club, the 1952 Western Open, won by Lloyd Mangram, was held at Westwood.

In 2006, the club had approximately 700 members. Westwood prides itself on being a generational family club as opposed to a business or corporate club. All classes of members have the same privileges and there are no social memberships. Conducting business on club premises is strongly discouraged, and, in keeping with traditional fine club policy, it is against club rules for any money to change hands on club premises. For the past 98 years, the club's members have played a prominent role in the life of the St. Louis business, educational and cultural communities.

See also

• Jewish history in Saint Louis