Thank you for your feedback!

Club History

Organized in 1896 by John O. Enders, J.C. Sterling, Emerson Taylor and Frank Cooley, The Hartford Golf Club celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1996.

The Hartford Golf Club's first location was on a property east of Prospect Avenue. Today, Elizabeth Park incorporates the original site of the Club where an old barn stood as a makeshift Clubhouse and nine holes of golf ‘required agility and nerve, as you had to climb post and rail fences and dodge cows.’

In 1900, The Hartford Golf Club expanded, merging with the disbanded Hartford Lawn Club. The Lawn Club, founded in 1888, had several tennis courts on Lafayette Street just behind where the old State Library now stands.

Soon after the merger, the first formal HGC Clubhouse and eighteen-hole golf course were built on Huntington Avenue between Asylum and Albany Avenues. This Clubhouse was destroyed by fire in 1908. A new structure was built which included bowling alleys and sleeping accommodations for members.

The Club evolved, for a time, into a young men's Club with card playing at night and three or four dances a year. In 1928, four squash courts were built and our first paddle (platform) tennis court debuted in 1940.

In 1955, it was determined that the Clubhouse had to be completely rebuilt or abandoned. By vote of the membership, construction of the existing Clubhouse was approved and the move to the present Club property was made - relocating all activities to the northern side of Albany Avenue. Five new golf holes were also built and incorporated into the existing course, and additional nine new holes were built west of the Clubhouse bringing the Club total to 27 holes of championship quality golf.

The Hartford Golf Club, with its varied and unique facilities, had in its time: trap shooting, polo, croquet, curling, bowling on the green, cards, ice skating, sledding, tobogganing, squash, golf, tennis, swimming, sailing, and paddle (platform) tennis. The Club has enlarged the golf and tennis pro shops, built more paddle and tennis courts, enlarged the swimming area and parking facilities, constructed a state-of-the-art grounds building, and expanded the patio to incorporate a panoramic view of the grounds.

The bowling alleys, brought from the old Clubhouse, are still going strong. The squash courts, also brought over from the old Clubhouse, were renovated in 1995 to meet international squash court standards, expand the viewing gallery, and improve the pro shop. Two major Clubhouse renovations, one completed in 1990 and the other in 2007, enabled the Club to provide one of the area's finest private recreational facilities.  The golf course completed a major renovation in 2017.

These comprehensive programs, the excellent physical facilities, and the dedicated service of our outstanding staff allow the Club to continue its long-standing record of excellence.