Golf has been played in Monroe since 1922, but in 1899, Gilbert Hodges, who learned the game in New York, set up a make -shift course on his home farm east of Monroe. 

Friends soon lost interest and the field reverted back to the cows. Twenty-three years later Horace Merton Place, set out a five-hole course in the infield of the fairgrounds track. The land was leased and dues were paid. 

On Oct. 9, 1923, Place became the chairman of the first Monroe Golf Club that purchased 43 acres of the Fred Blumer farm south of the Milwaukee Road tracks and took an option on the Otto Blumer land to the south. The Blumer homestead is shown on the left. Harry Smead, a Chicago golf course designer laid out the links and the 34-par course was ready for play by Aug. 10, 1924. 

In 1963, members voted to purchase the Tom Keegan farm and by 1969, a new nine holes were added. In 1925, the first hole-in-one was recorded, appropriately by the founder, and “daddy of the Monroe Country Club,” Mert Place. The photo and information was submitted by the Green County Historical Society, with information from Monroe Times articles. The Historical Society is interested in other information about the early days of the Monroe Country Club. Contact Linda Lostetter at 608-325-9730 or lostetter68@gmail.com.

Note: A book about Dave Fahs has been located and will be donated to the Historical Society Museum by John Prien.