By William Kelly
Golf came to Atlantic City by train. It came in over the rails that brought many thousands of tourists to Atlantic City daily. Many of the visitors had played golf in Philadelphia where the increasing popularity of the game spurred the construction of new golf courses and developed a new aspect of the sport called “resort golf.”
Atlantic City was at one time a sandbar barrier island known as Absecon Island, and used by farmers as a cattlepen before it was developed into a tourist destination when the trains started arriving in 1877. At the time Atlantic City offered fine beaches, a boardwalk and exceptional hotels. But Atlantic City, as of the summer of 1896, did not have a golf course.
Some people who had experienced the game at other resorts brought along their own golf equipment, but were left playing in the sand on the beach among the bathers. The lack of a facility to play golf, indeed the lack of a “country club” itself, was a matter thought best addressed by the city’s leading citizens with the establishment of a committee. Most were prosperous Atlantic City hotel owners.
This was before the era of public relations or promotion men, as they had to depend on their own ideas, and everyone seemed to have a different one. Someone mentioned a place where a new game called ‘golf ’ was played. It was noted that ‘people of affluence’ were taking up the game. After a long discussion, different plans were submitted and voted on.
The name Country Club of Atlantic City was chosen, and a plot of land in Northfield was selected forthe site, as it was easily accessible from the boardwalk hotels via trolley lines that ran from Atlantic City to Somers Point and Ocean City.
