Oakhurst: The Birth and Rebirth of America’s First Golf Course | Walker Books

Discover Oakhurst: America's First Golf Course Reborn

Golf arrived in America in 1884, when five leisure-minded neighbors in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, helped a Harvard-educated lawyer named Russell Montague lay out a nine-hole course. They played for pleasure, unaware that their simple greens would mark the origin story of a national pastime.

Oakhurst documents this early chapter with color, detail, and context. It traces the course from its brief first life—fifteen years of quiet play—to its miraculous rebirth a century later. The authors weave in the evolving equipment, the birth of course design, and the memorable matches that locals once doubted would ever appeal to Americans. Feel the hush of dawn on the greens and the weight of a hickory shaft in your hands, as the past meets the present. Walker Books presents this narrative, blending founder voices with the broader arc of golf history.

What makes this story compelling

• The land once hosted America’s first nine-hole course, quietly growing into legend.
• A restoration led by Sam Snead and Lewis Keller, with Bob Cupp guiding the rediscovery of dorman t holes.
• Players today observe nineteenth-century rules and can only use period gear such as gutta-percha balls and hickory shafts.

What you might experience on a visit

• A chance to step back in time on a historic layout in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
• Opportunities to imagine early matches and hear stories that shaped American golf culture.
• A thoughtfully preserved setting where the pace and feel echo the sport’s roots.

Beyond the greens, the book blends colorful founder stories with a broader look at how golf evolved—from equipment to design—and why the simple pleasures of early play still resonate with today’s enthusiasts. It offers a nostalgic, Americana-driven narrative that invites readers to explore a sport’s origins without prescriptive promises—only the possibilities of connection and curiosity.