In 2023, members of the Needham Golf Club celebrated 100 years of teeing off in town. In addition to holding parties and tournaments, including one with hickory-shafted clubs from early in the past century, the club commissioned a history.
“Needham Golf Club, A Century Later” was written by Stephen Theall, a member of the club since 1979. “We wrote it with the intention of it being available to members,” Theall said. “I wanted to make our membership aware of the special history of the club.”
Although the clubhouse is on land owned by the membership, the 54 acres of fairways and greens are on land leased from the town. “We appreciate our relationship with Needham and we believe that we have been very good stewards of the land,” Theall said.
The book outlines the club’s creation and its achievements, both on and off the fairways, and the challenges it has faced in its first 100 years. There was a caddy strike in the 1970s and the club’s liquor license was revoked in the ’80s. Caddies were eventually replaced with carts, and before the liquor license was restored, a beer machine mysteriously appeared in the clubhouse.
Club members voted against admitting Japanese-Americans during World War II, and over the years women had to fight for equal access to tee times and club privileges. The battle for gender equality ended in the 1990s, and Theall reports that women’s golf programs are flourishing.
“It’s a gem of a nine-hole course,” Theall wrote. “It was designed by Wayne Stiles who was a noted golf course architect of the 1920s.”
“It’s not the hardest course but it’s a good challenge,” Theall said. The nine holes are characterized by narrow fairways and fast greens. There are two par 3s and two par 5s.
The book shows that the club fosters long-term commitments from the golf professionals it employs. “There have only been five green superintendents in 100 years,” Theall said. Theall was not of those five, but he is a past club president and was superintendent of Needham schools from 1999-2006.
The current green superintendent, Tim Hood, has led the club in becoming one of 14 clubs in the state to attain Audubon Sanctuary status. Poison ivy is eaten by goats instead of being attacked with chemicals. The property protects pollinators, uses bats to eat mosquitos, and a new, computerized $1.3 million irrigation system cuts down on water usage.
“It’s not your typical country club,” Theall said. “The membership has lots of occupations and trades. There to play golf, not to be elitist.”
In 2007, the golf club negotiated a contentious 20-year lease with the town. All leases prior to the current one were for only 10 years. The club insisted that a 20-year lease was needed so it could pay for construction of a new clubhouse. The lease requires the club to pay the town about $200,000 each year to lease the land. The lease also requires that the membership is at least 90% from Needham, and the club must allow Needham High School golf teams to use the facility as their home course. Also, the course must be open to all Needhamites at various times during the week.
Beyond the lease requirements, the golf club contributes to scholarships for Needham students, donates to local charities and allows the town to use the newly renovated clubhouse for voters in Precincts E and H.
Theall said a full membership costs $6,500 a year. There is a four-year waiting list.
The lease comes up for renewal in 2027, and the town will be faced once again with a choice of what to do with this large open space.
Although the book is not for sale, Theall donated copies to the Needham Free Public Library. Copies can be obtained by contacting the club’s general manager, Geoffrey Piva.
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