Club History

According to Alan Forbes’ Sport in Norfolk County, Norfolk Golf Club was launched in Islington around 1893, close to its present site.

The course was laid out on some 70 aces of pasture land in the Islington section of Westwood, MA, owned by the heirs of Benjamin Weatherbee. Mr. Forbes notes that “a long bench served as the clubhouse.” There is an anecdote that during a match held on these pastures a cow swallowed up one of the player’s golf balls. The player hit the cow with his club until she gave up the ball whereupon his opponent claimed that each whack counted as a penalty stroke against his score. Only at Norfolk!

The Norfolk Golf Club was formally organized in the early summer of 1896 at the home of Charles W. Wolcott on Court Street in Dedham. The Honorable Winston Warren presided and was elected the club’s first president.

The Honorable Secretary of The Country Club invited Norfolk Golf Club to a meeting at the Exchange Club in Boston on December 11, 1902 to form an association of Massachusetts Golf Clubs. Officers were elected and it was voted that an association be formed of clubs belonging to the United States Golf Association (USGA) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A constitution and by-laws were drawn up and Norfolk was voted to be admitted to the association as a charter member of the now Massachusetts Golf Association (MGA). Norfolk Golf Club received its charter and was incorporated in the Town of Westwood on June 12, 1913. A deed found at the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds dated August 7, 1913, indicates that Clinton P. Baker of Dedham, for one dollar and other valuable considerations paid by Norfolk Golf Club, conveyed to the club the parcel of land known as the Weatherbee Farm (43.95 acres). On January 7, 1922, the Dedham Transcript ran an article on the plans to build a new clubhouse. That building burnt to the ground in July of 1988.

Norfolk has had its share of fine golfers over the years. Even those who impersonate golfers enjoy Norfolk. New members have been attracted by its unique reputation of friendliness, camaraderie, and informality. May the spirit and traditions that have guided and enriched Norfolk Golf Club since 1896 live on.