Myopia Hunt Club
Entrance to Myopia Hunt Club
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| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Location |
South Hamilton, Massachusetts United States |
| Established | 1882 |
| Type | Private |
| Total holes | 18 |
| Website | Myopia Hunt Club |
| Designed by | Herbert C. Leeds |
| Par | 72 |
| Length | 6,539 yd (5,979 m) |
| Course rating | 69.4 |
| Slope rating | 120 |
Myopia Hunt Club is a foxhunting and private country club, located in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. The U.S. Open has been played at the Club four times—in 1898, 1901, 1905, and 1908.
Myopia Hunt Club was founded in 1882 by J. Murray Forbes. The golf course was designed and built by Herbert C. Leeds in 1894 and he continued working at the Club for over 30 years. Leeds tied for seventh place in the 1898 U.S. Open held at Myopia Hunt Club. His familiarity with the course was no doubt a factor in his ability to finish so high on the leaderboard in the tournament.
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 brothers with poor vision, or myopia. Today, the Myopia Hunt Club is a drag hunt, meaning that the hounds follow a laid scent rather than live fox.
When completed, Myopia Hunt Club measured 6,539 yards and Leeds made certain that golfers would encounter a multitude of challenging features, including tall mounds, deep bunkers, lightning-fast greens, blind shots requiring substantial carry, deep swales, punishing rough, plateaued greens, as well as a pond and paddock to avoid. So difficult was the course that in the 1901 U.S. Open not a single professional was able to break 80 in any round.
Myopia also features one of the oldest continually running polo fields in the nation. Gibney Field, formerly used as a pasture, was mowed and used for practice in the summer of 1888. That fall, Myopia held its first official match against the Dedham Polo and Country Club. In 1890, Myopia became one of seven charter members of the Polo Association, now the United States Polo Association. Of those seven original clubs, Myopia is one of two still in existence; Meadowbrook on Long Island is the other. It is the only one that still uses its original field.
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