Essex Golf & Country Club
Essex Golf & Country Club is a private, 18-hole championship golf course located in LaSalle, Ontario, south of Windsor.
The club was established in 1902 under the name of Oak Ridge Golf Club, and from that date until 1910 played over a 3400 yard nine-hole course on the Farwell Farm in Sandwich. Mr. George Mair, the club's founder, was President. In the fall of 1910 the club purchased the Colonel Alan Prince Farm in the town of Sandwich on Center Road, now Prince Road at its intersection with College Avenue, not far from the Ambassador Bridge linking Windsor and Detroit. The property consisted of 40 acres (160,000 m2) of land and a nine-hole golf course was constructed in 1911. During construction, members were invited to play at the Walkerville Country Club, which started out as a tennis club, situated at the present site of Walkerville Collegiate in the Town of Walkerville (now part of Windsor) founded in 1890 by the distiller Hiram Walker. Mr. Hiram W Walker, a nephew of Hiram Walker and Mayor of Walkerville, became a member of Essex in 1914.
The Oak Ridge Golf Club merged with the Walkerville Club and the name was changed to the "Essex County Golf & Country Club." The nine-hole course was open for play in the spring of 1912 and was in use until the fall of 1914 when, additional land having been procured, an 18-hole course was built. During 1917 more land was purchased and the course was remodeled under the direction of Detroit golf course professional Ernest Way to make a longer 18-hole 5,705-yard (5,217 m) course. The growth of the community resulted in the club losing its country club character, and the decision was made to relocate to a more rural setting. In the mid-1920s 126 acres (0.51 km2) of wooded farm land was purchased in the Town of LaSalle. (Additional land was acquired along the north and south borders in the 1960s and 1970s to bring the total average to approximately 138 acres). The services of the legendary golf course architect, Donald J. Ross was retained and construction of a 6,525-yard (5,966 m) course was commenced in 1928. Construction was supervised by John Gray who, like Ross, was a native born Scotsman. Mr. Gray, who had been a greenskeeper at the Prince Road course, remained so at the new course until his death in 1958 at age 73. Gray's advice was sought by many because of his expertise. He was a charter member of the United States National Greenskeepers Association when the organization was formed in Toledo, Ohio in 1926.
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