The Fourth of July is all about fireworks, parades, and cookouts, but for civic-minded golfers, it’s a great time to honor our nation’s birth at a star-spangled course with ties to the Revolutionary War
Baker Hill
Newbury, N.H.
The “Live Free or Die” state’s top track is Baker Hill, a private club with a rugged Rees Jones-designed course that overlooks Mt. Sunapee and other New England peaks. The club occupies the farm of Benjamin Baker (1717–1799), who served in the 1st New Hampshire Regiment in the Revolutionary War and fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill.
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Hominy Hill
Colts Neck, N.J.
Situated near the site of the Battle of Monmouth, where the Continental Army led by George Washington successfully attacked the rear column of the British Army, Hominy Hill is a traditional parkland design by Robert Trent Jones that dates to 1964. This big-shouldered layout, the star venue among the Monmouth County Parks System’s golf courses, is ranked among the state’s finest public courses.
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Musgrove Mill
Clinton, S.C.
Tucked away in South Carolina’s Piedmont region 90 miles from Charlotte, the peaceful, housing-free golf sanctuary at this club’s heavily wooded course, designed by Arnold Palmer, sits adjacent to a state park that commemorates the Battle of Musgrove Mill (1780), where outnumbered Patriot forces defeated Loyalist troops by luring them into a trap.
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Newport News Golf Club at Deer Run
Newport News, Va.
This 36-hole public complex is a short drive from Colonial Williamsburg, the restored 18th century Virginia capital, and a mere two miles from Yorktown, where a protracted siege by French-American forces in 1781 effectively ended British military operations in America. Both the original Cardinal and championship-caliber Deer Run courses at Newport News are among the best public-access venues in the Tidewater region.
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Patriots Point Links
Mount Pleasant, S.C.
Laid out directly on Charleston Harbor near the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, this breezy, links-style course by Willard Byrd, offering panoramic views of the sea and city, attracts locals and visitors alike. Historians believe failed British efforts to claim this major seaport during the Siege of Charleston in 1776 pushed the Revolutionary War’s focus to the north for the next few years.
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Penn Oaks Country Club
West Chester, Pa.
This historic club, which dates to the pre-colonial era when King Charles II bestowed the parcel of land to William Penn, is located a few miles north of the Delaware state line near the site of the Battle of Brandywine (1777) at Chadds Ford. Here the British defeated the Americans, forcing George Washington and his army to withdraw to Philadelphia.
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Saratoga Spa Golf Club
Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
The Battle of Saratoga (1777) is considered the tipping point of the Revolutionary War because the British Army’s surrender encouraged France to join the conflict. Not far from the battle site and just minutes from the historic Saratoga Race Course is a beautiful state park with a walkable, well-kept course framed by tall, majestic pines. In addition to the championship course, there’s also a nine-hole par-three course at the complex.
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Stow Acres
Stow, Mass.
This excellent 36-hole public facility 25 miles from Boston is located near the site of the 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord, a clash of arms that marked the first military engagements of the Revolutionary War. The North and South courses at Stow Acres, laid out by Geoffrey Cornish, offer a diverse array of challenges and are anchored by a renovated antique Victorian clubhouse.
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Ticonderoga Country Club
Ticonderoga, N.Y.
One of the most inviting and historic golf courses in upstate New York’s Adirondack Mountains, Ticonderoga CC, its rolling fairways nestled in a valley, features a lovely 6,217-yard layout designed in 1932 by Seymour Dunn, a former head pro at Royal County Down. Nearby Fort Ticonderoga, a heavily fortified defense near the southern end of Lake Champlain, was a prized strategic possession for both the colonials and the British.
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Trenton Country Club
West Trenton, N.J.
Steeped in time-honored tradition, this venerable south Jersey club, founded in 1897, lists Astor (1901) and Rockefeller (1911) among its early guests. At the wintry Battle of Trenton (1776), the day after Washington crossed the Delaware River, the sudden and unexpected victory by the Patriots over a garrison of Hessian mercenaries signaled a pivotal change in the war’s fortunes.
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