Butler County Country Club
now known as
Hamilton Elks Golf Club
Hamilton Elks Country Club
Hamilton Elks Lodge 93 purchased the Butler County Country Club in 1932 and renamed it the Elks Country Club. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported on April 21st, 1932, "Grand Lodge must approve before Hamilton Elks take over golf course". The purchase of the 157 acre property “including the golf course, clubhouse and various other buildings, will not be more than $38,000”. Approval from the Elks Grand Lodge was received, and on June 9th, 1932, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported a special dispatch. "Hamilton, Ohio, June 8th- Today the Hamilton Lodge No. 93, B.P.O. Elks, officially became owner of the Butler County Country Club properties, an eighteen-hole golf course, clubhouse and auxiliary buildings, located on the Middletown Pike five miles north of Hamilton. The last details of the purchase were completed, and management changed hands this morning. The first tournament event will find Hamilton Elks hosts to Richmond, Ind., Elks here June 25."
The Hamilton Evening Journal reported in an article from 1932, “Turn Back Pages of History To Trace Romance Of Butler County Country Club”, the history of the club including the “almost unanimously approved” vote by members of the Butler County Country Club to sell to Hamilton Elks Lodge 93. Although the reasons for the club to sell have not yet been discovered, the United States was three years into the great depression, this most likely provided the motivation. Whatever the reason, the club was sold, and ownership transferred to the Hamilton Elks.
On Tuesday March 7th, 1963 the Hamilton Daily News reported "Elks Country Club is destroyed by fire... Loss may reach $250,000". The original clubhouse, designed by Frederick G. Mueller and built in 1915, was destroyed by fire, the building was a total loss. On March 30th, 1961, the Dayton Daily News reported the Hamilton Elks announced they had approved plans to build a new clubhouse, completed in 1963, it was built in "roughly" the same spot as the old clubhouse.
The Elks 100th Anniversary Yearbook, published in 1988, traces the lineage of the golf professionals starting with John Buchanan, the last golf pro of the Butler County Country Club, through 1985 with Bob Maujer. No mention was made regarding the architects of the golf course, although it describes Father and Son, John, and Al Chamberlain, “who started in 1924 and constructed the last 9 holes on the course in 1926”. In September of 1968, Al suffered a heart attack and retired the following year. The house behind the pool, still standing, and built in 1951, was the residence of the Chamberlain family until Al retired in 1969. On June 4th, 1969, the Elks proclaimed it was "Al Chamberlain Day", the lodge honored him with a dinner and presented him with a “small pension”. Al died in February of 1979, there was a plaque on the first hole of the Red Course that honored the Chamberlains, it disappeared during the renovation of that tee box in the late fall of 2019, its location is unknown.
The layout of the nine hole golf course, designed in 1914 by George Dow, was dramatically changed in 1923 by William C. Jackson when he redesigned the original nine hole course and expanded the facility to eighteen holes. Since then, the golf course hole layout remains unchanged since the dedication in 1926. Newspapers from 1930 through 1948 reported that six of the greens were rebuilt, these included holes 1, 5, 6, 11, 12, and 16. Other changes included the resizing or elimination of sand traps and bunkers, along with tree planting and removal. Described by many, the worst change occurred around 1968 on the seventh hole, now number seven on the red course. The seventh hole was a short, risk reward par four that had two sand traps, or waste areas, guarding the front of the green. They were removed and replaced with two concrete ponds. Renovations to this hole began in 2021 and included the removal of both ponds and fairway bunkers, bringing back the risk reward drivable par 4.
In 1995, an additional nine hole course was opened to accommodate the needs of the club, designed by architect Dr. Michael Hurdzan, the Elks Country Club became a 27 hole facility. This presented a slight issue in deciding how to name the courses, so it was decided, following the patriotism of the Elks, that each of the nine hole courses would be named after a color of the flag. The front nine became the Red Course, the back nine became the White Course, and the new nine holes became the Blue Course. During this time, the facility changed its name to the Hamilton Elks Golf Club and began adding the names of the architects to the scorecard, According to many members, this was the first time they heard the name Donald Ross mentioned with the history of the golf course. An architect had never been named on a scorecard before 1995 but it has been on every scorecard since.
A current renovation plan involves tree removal and the rebuilding of bunkers and tee boxes. A 1938 aerial photo is currently the oldest known picture of the golf course, it shows a mostly tree free, open golf course, with more bunkers than today's course. This photo was the catalyst for the renovation plan to restore the golf course back to its original "Donald Ross" design, this though is not possible as Donald Ross was not the architect who designed the golf course. Donald Ross did not design or build the 9 hole course or 18 hole golf course, nor was it a new course in 1925 as formerly listed in the Donald Ross Society List of Golf Courses. The Butler County Country Club 18 hole golf course, purchased by the Hamilton Elks in 1932, began as a nine hole course, laid-out by architect George C. Dow in 1914, and expanded to eighteen holes in 1923 by W.C. Jackson. The eighteen hole course was dedicated on Memorial Day in 1926. These are the facts, and they are well documented in the newspapers, this is the golf course known as the Hamilton Elks Golf Club Red and the White courses.
The Hamilton Elks Golf Club fallaciously claim, and promote, that Donald Ross designed their golf course, even after being told by the Donald Ross Society that it is not a Ross course. They have no documentation or proof; they simply claim it, while proclaiming all the evidence is false. After numerous conversations with Mr. Jan Ludwig, Secretary of the Donald Ross Society, no meeting minutes, drawings, correspondence, or newspaper reports have been discovered that state Donald Ross was onsite or designed the golf course. I was told the same when I visited the archives, they had no documents that supported the claim. This matches accounts described in an interview of architect Tim Liddy by NGCOA Mid-Atlantic. Mr. Liddy confirmed that he could not locate any documents connecting Donald Ross, while planning a renovation that ultimately did not take place.
The source of the claim appears to be an entry in Donald Ross and Associates 1930 sales booklet. This booklet, or sales pamphlet, was one source used to identify courses for The Donald Ross Society. The Donald Ross Society Course Listing formerly named the "Hamilton Elks Country Club (OKA Butler County Country Club)", as being included in the 1930 book, they have since retracted that entry. The problem is neither of those names are listed in the 1930 book. Furthermore, no one has been able to locate any documents by Donald J. Ross and Associates that identifies either of those names.
In 1981, The Golf Course by Geoffrey Cornish and Ronald E. Whitten was published. This was another source that the Donald Ross Society used to identify courses. Neither the Hamilton Elks Country Club nor the Butler County Country Club are listed in that book. The Golf Course lists: "Hamilton County GC – Ohio - Tom Bendelow", "Hamilton CC - Ohio - Donald Ross", Hamilton Muni - Ohio - William H. Diddel (1958), and Butler County GC - Ohio - Tom Bendelow (1909). These are the only Ohio listings that have the name Hamilton or Butler used in the name of a golf course.
The Golf Course identifies a Thomas Bendelow golf course, in Ohio, as "Butler County GC (9)". This remains a mystery, as in 1909 a Butler County GC cannot be identified. Extensive newspaper searches have not revealed any information. This could be related to the 1908 article but there is a discrepancy with the architect and year. Another source identifies Butler County Golf Club, in Cincinnati Ohio, in 1906, directly above it is the Butler Country Club, Butler, Pennsylvania 1906. Regardless, 1906 or 1909 does not align with the history of the Butler County Country Club as it only existed from 1914 to 1932.
In 1989, The Donald Ross Society was created. On the Donald Ross Society List of Golf Courses page, it is stated: “The original list was taken from the pages of The Golf Course by Geoffrey Cornish and Ron Whitten. The Ross courses on that list were contacted by Pete and surveyed as to their Ross heritage and supporting documents". I have asked and cannot identify anyone at the Hamilton Elks Golf Club who recall being contacted to discuss the Ross heritage and supporting documents. To reiterate, neither the Butler County Country Club nor the Hamilton Elks Country Club are listed in The Golf Course, therefore I cannot find a reason anyone would have been contacted.
Without newspaper reports, sketches, designs, or correspondence that connect Donald Ross to the Butler County Country Club, Donald Ross cannot be verified as being the designer or architect of the Butler County Country Club. What the newspapers have reported, numerous times, is the architect of the original nine hole golf course for the Butler County Country Club was George C. Dow and the architect of the eighteen hole golf course built from 1923 to 1926 was W.C. Jackson. The Butler County Country Club and the Hamilton Country Club named in the 1930 booklet were two different facilities, separated by approximately 19 miles.
Further information regarding the lack of a Donald Ross connection and the decision to remove the course from the Donald Ross Society Course Listing, can be found on the Donald Ross Myth page.
