From Lord Byron to Slamming Sammy, From hickory to graphite

Reading Country Club, located just east of the city of Reading in Berks County, Pa., is a pristine example of golf course architecture from the games “golden years.” Designed by Alexander Findlay, a Scotsman known as “The Father of American Golf”, the RCC layout remains a true shot-makers course that has challenged golfers from the era of hickory shafted niblicks to today’s titanium and graphite technological wonders. That the course record 63, shot by hall-of-fame golfer Sam Snead, has stood since 1949 is a testament to a venerable golf course that has resisted par for nearly 100 years.

 

          The club was chartered in Berks County, Pennsylvania, on June 6, 1922, as a not-for-profit corporation. The club purchased 237 acres of land, consisting of two farms and four additional tracts in Exeter Township. The golf course, consisting of nine holes, opened in 1923. A second nine, designed by Alex and his brother Fred, who established a flourishing course design business of his own, opened for play in 1925. The present clubhouse was completed in 1931.