Fort Smith Tees Up on 102-year Old Course

For the Fort Smith Country Club, the name might be deceiving.

When a golfer visits the Fort Smith Country Club for the first time, they might be expecting a fancy clubhouse with Cadillacs, Mercedes and BMWs in the parking lot.

Instead, pickup trucks and SUVs share the small lot with a Dairy Freeze.

It may not be much, but don’t tell that to the ole faithfuls who golf there every week. Some golfers, well into their 90s, go there because it’s a part of their history. After all, the 9-hole course, built in 1904, is the second oldest public golf course west of the Mississippi that is located on its original site, as recognized by the U.S. Golf Association.

But three years ago the country club was in major debt, and the course was in such bad shape that three greens had no grass at all and no golf carts were in working condition, said Chris Boze, who operates the course on a lease agreement.

“At this point, the financial part of it is just trying to keep the doors open,” he said. But Boze is determined to turn things around.

Boze started as manager of the course in 2003, then took over as owner this year. Since then, revenue has increased 30 percent and membership has risen from 12 to 50. He’s made improvements to the course and added a new cart fleet.

“We definitely have intentions of making improvements. It’s just going to take a lot of time,” Boze said. “We’re heading in the right direction.”

The course may not be as appealing to the eye as others, but it’s the history Boze plans to tap into to get his share of the $60 billion U.S. golf industry.

In 1904, Scotsman Alexander Findlay was commissioned by wealthy Fort Smith businessmen to build a golf course in the bustling river city. Findlay was a world-renowned course designer who had more than 120 golf courses from the Bahamas to Canada under his belt.

The course consisted of sand greens and had a large clubhouse with a wrap-around porch, a caddy shack and a ball room with a bar. And going right through the middle of it was a streetcar.

The country club, located in north Fort Smith, even attracted professional athletes. Boze said he’s heard from old timers that Babe Ruth and other New York Yankees baseball players golfed there while in town to play exhibition games at Andrews Field. Also known to play the course in the 1920s was Horton Smith, who later became the first Masters Tournament champion in 1934.

The slow decline of the country club started in the 1920s when the clubhouse burned down, Boze said. Then in 1926, some members decided to build a bigger 18-hole course, thus creating Hardscrabble Country Club, which emerged as Fort Smith’s elite course.

Shortly after, the Fort Smith Country Club was sold to United Commercial Travelers and became the U.C.T. Country Club.

In the 1930s, the highway department built U.S. Highway 64 (Midland Boulevard) right in the middle of the course, making golfers hit over the highway and then walk across to the holes.

In the ’50s, a new owner switched the name back to Fort Smith Country Club and he also moved the rest of the holes south of the highway. Rose Lawn Cemetery expanded south to cover up the old course.

The country club has changed very little since then. The course covers 37 acres, just a few acres shy of what it was originally. And many of those who walked it back then are still enjoying it today.