Westwood Country Club is a

country club A country club is a privately-owned Club (organization), club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Ty ...

Westwood, Missouri Westwood is a village in west St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 316 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all land. Demographics 2020 census ...

, in central

St. Louis County, Missouri St. Louis County is located in eastern Missouri. It is bounded by the City of St. Louis and the Mississippi River to the east, the Missouri River to the north, and the Meramec River to the south. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1, ...

. Westwood Country Club is one of the "big four" elite St. Louis area

s, along with St. Louis Country Club, Old Warson Country Club, and

Bellerive Country Club Bellerive Country Club is a golf country club in the central United States, located in Town and Country, Missouri, a suburb west of St. Louis. With the Old Warson, Westwood, and St. Louis country clubs, it is considered one of the "big four" old ...

. Membership is about 650 families, mostly (although no longer entirely) Jewish. The par-72 18-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

was designed by Harold Paddock and built in 1928. The course was more recently renovated under the direction of golf architect Keith Foster. The club does not now tend to favor hosting large golf tournaments, although the 1952

Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the ye ...

and 1939 Women's Western Open were held there. There are four

Har-Tru A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis is played. Clay courts are built on a foundation of crushed stone, brick, shale, and other aggregate, with a thin layer of fine clay particles on top. Clay courts are ...

and six Deco Turf

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

s and an

Olympic-size swimming pool An Olympic-size swimming pool is a swimming pool which conforms to the regulations for length, breadth, and depth made by World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for swimming at the Summer Olympics and the swimming events at the World Aquatics Champions ...

. The club was founded in 1907 specifically to provide a Jewish country club for the St. Louis area, during a time when most country clubs excluded Jews from membership. It was first built in the town of Glendale. By 1927 many of the members' households had moved westward to the

Central West End The Central West End is a Neighborhoods of St. Louis, Missouri, neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, stretching from Midtown St. Louis, Midtown's western edge to Union Boulevard and bordering on Forest Park (St. Louis), Forest Park with its array ...

and the towns of Clayton and

Ladue Ladue is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 8,989. Ladue has the highest median household income of any city in Missouri with a population over 1,000. Ge ...

, so farmland was purchased in what is now Westwood and a new club built, with the course designed by Paddock and the clubhouse by the firm of Maritz and Young. There were, at that time, also riding stables. The club maintains a low public profile (there is no sign at the entrance, and the address was unpublished until recently) and a refined ambiance; conducting business on the premises is frowned upon. Membership criteria remains rather selective, favoring successive generations of families. The club was ranked 29th in the 2012 Platinum Clubs of America list of top full-service country clubs.

References

{{reflist

External links

Westwood Country Club website
Golf clubs and courses in Missouri 1907 establishments in Missouri Jewish clubs and societies Jews and Judaism in St. Louis Buildings and structures in St. Louis County, Missouri