Three different sites, surviving a hurricane, famous golf course designers, famous visitors, but more important ... a place for Corpus Christi families to feel at home for more than a century
Almost 60 years after the City of Corpus Christi was incorporated, the first Corpus Christi Country Club, a nine-hole design by Fred McLeod, was built on North Beach and opened in 1909. The ceremonial first tee shot was hit by President William Howard Taft, (see photo below) who was in town to visit his brother who owned a ranch just across the Nueces Bay.
The 1919 Florida Keys hurricane wiped out the course, just a little bit of the $22 million damage it wrought over a wide swath from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Bahamas, Florida, Texas and Mexico.
Rebirth Up River
The club was not reestablished until 1921 with an opening in 1922 on a location on Up River Road. John Bredemus designed a new nine-hole course and the first tee shot was fired on Labor Day 1922. At the time, this course on the Texas Riviera was considered to be one of the finest in the country. The course expanded to 18 holes by 1938. In addition, the club offered members a swimming pool, clubhouse and a pair of tennis courts.
In 1945, Byron Nelson (in photo at top of this page and right) won the Corpus Christi Open at the Club, No. 2 in his record 18 wins that year, although we were not part of the 11 straight "Lord Byron" won.
Moving to our present site
In 1963, the Club started moving to its current site on Everhart Road. At the time, the Club was on the outskirts of town, but now it's right in the middle of Corpus Christi.
"There was nothing out here," said longtime member Mark Steen. "Corn fields, crop dusters ... Saratoga was a two-lane highway."
The course at the new site was carved out of a cotton field by the well-known Robert Trent Jones Sr. and opened January of 1965.
The Club also had a Junior Olympic-size swimming pool, six tennis courts and expansive clubhouse with kitchen, dining, bar, teen room, card rooms, men’s & women’s locker rooms and a ballroom for events. The tennis pro shop at the time was a 10-foot-by -10-foot wooden structure that sat across from court No. 1 at the time.
The Club was built for $17 a square foot, which would now run somewhere between $200-$250 or more a square foot.
A number of high-profile events have been held at Corpus Christi Country Club including events on the: Texas PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Ben Hogan Tour, Tight Lies Tour and the Texas Golf Association. The July 4th Invitational was considered a premier amateur event and drew players from all over Texas and the U.S. The Invitational was played at Corpus Christi Country Club from 1934 through 1987.
Longtime members recently recalled memories of their time at the Club as it celebrated its centennial ... weddings, debutante balls, holiday celebrations and more.
"Everybody knows who everybody's kid is," said Diane DeCou, a Club board member. "My parents friends are still here. They'll text me to check on my parents."
Greens & Bunkers Chair Hamilton Rogers remembers how longtime golf pro Tommy Burke "took us under his wing and taught us everything he knew. Waiters treated us like their kids ... and we had the best hamburgers from Mrs. Blankenship."
"The best burgers in Corpus," said Morgan Spear, whose architectural company built the clubhouse almost 60 years ago.
In 2022, golf course architect Chet Williams was chosen to bring the course to modern standards by updating all greens, bunkers, fairways and some tee boxes with a slight reroute of the golf course. Mr. Williams was challenged to give the golf course more variety but still have the course match the lay of the coastal plain. The greens are Bermuda Tif-Eagle and the fairways are Bermuda Tif-Tuf. Both ultra dwarf grasses fit perfect into the coastal environment of South Texas. Phil Blackmar, Club member, five-time Tour winner and commentator of Golf Channel's Champions Tour coverage, hit the ceremonial first shot when the course reopened. (Blackmar is joined by Head Golf Pro Brent Blackburn in photo above left).
Also in 2022, the tennis facility went through a complete upgrade. All the tennis court lights were upgraded to LED, courts 4 through 10 were reconstructed and resurfaced, the fencing on all courts were converted to a black vinyl-coated fencing, shade structures were added to all courts along with Prestwick water cooler stations and benches. the reconstruction took two months under the direction of Gerry Maingot.
Plans are under way to build a new clubhouse.