Eau Claire Golf & Country Club

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our 125th Anniversary Party! 🎉

What an incredible day celebrating 125 years of Eau Claire Golf & Country Club. From poolside fun to an unforgettable fireworks show, it was the perfect way to kick off summer. 🌞🎇

We’re so grateful to our members for making this milestone celebration so special. Your enthusiasm, support, and sense of community are what make our Club such a wonderful place.

Here’s to 125 years of memories and many more to come!

A beautiful Mother’s Day at the Club 💐

Thank you for celebrating with us and helping to make the day so special 💓

Meet J. T. Barber: The Lumberman Who Led Our Club

As ECGCC celebrates 125 years, we’d like to introduce you to one of the Club’s first Presidents and Founders, James Tilley (J.T.) Barber.

In July of 1902, a handful of Eau Claire’s most prominent men gathered at the office of the Eau Claire National Bank for the election of the Country Club Officers. The Eau Claire Weekly Telegram reports the result in a single tidy sentence: “President, J. T. Barber; Vice-President, C. A. Chamberlin; Secretary and Treasurer, J. T. Joyce. The other directors are C. M. Buffington and T. F. Frawley.”

That same summer, a separate notice ran in the paper from the Minneapolis Lumberman announcing that “Col. James T. Barber was elected president” of the Northwestern Lumber Company. This would form the beginning of the partnership between the NWLC and the Club. This partnership would eventually become the Club’s 18-hole location in 1930.

Who was he?
Barber was a Massachusetts native who came to Eau Claire on December 1, 1886, joining the Northwestern Lumber Company as a bookkeeper. He worked his way up to Vice President by 1887 and to President in 1902, a role he held until his death in 1926. He also served on the boards of Eau Claire National Bank and the National Electric Manufacturing Company, married Petronilla Bellinger in 1889, and built the Tudor Revival home, designed by Minneapolis architect Harry Wild Jones, that still stands at 132 Marston Avenue.

The Club connection runs deeper than one election.
For a generation, ECGCC and Northwestern Lumber were nearly the same circle of men. Vice President C. A. Chamberlin was one of the Club’s 1899 founders. Director C. M. Buffington sat on the first golf committee. And founding member S. G. (Sumner) Moon was the son of Delos R. Moon, Sr., who in 1867 partnered with Gilbert Porter to launch the firm that became Northwestern Lumber. The same families who built the lumber industry built the Club.

When the Club outgrew its original nine holes between Chauncy and Margaret Streets, the sale of land from the NWLC made the 1930 expansion possible.

The News & Notes from 1929

Written as the club was preparing to open its brand-new 18-hole course, the bulletin communicates updates on course construction, tournament schedules and other news and notes from the time.

It’s a charming snapshot of an era, and it also points to pieces of golf history worth remembering. For instance, the term “tee box” is one we all use countless times, but why? The answer is sitting in plain sight, in the newsletter header below. A small wooden crate perched at the start of each hole, sometimes stenciled with the hole number and yardage.

The very first written rules of golf required that “your tee must be upon the ground.” In those days, the word “tee” didn’t mean a wooden tee, it meant the spot you played from, and the tiny heap of sand, soil, or turf you built up for your ball to rest.

Next time you tee it up, take a moment to appreciate that you’re playing a Tom Vardon design, using a wooden tee that replaced the messy, century-old ritual of wet sand and dirty hands.

And please, as Mr. Maloney asked so politely in 1929, replace your divots.

See you on the course!

A Hole-in-One Tradition Over 100 Years in the Making

Did you know that for over 100 years, clubs have reached out to companies to request celebratory mementos to reward golfers for an ace?
In 1928, after Club President Earl M. Hale made a hole-in-one at ECGCC, the Club Secretary issued formal letters to companies to document the accomplishment. As was the custom, Canada Dry enrolled him in their official “Hole-In-One Club” and shipped a 50-bottle trophy case to his door, encouraging a proper celebration. Lucky Strike Ci******es followed suit, sending a monogrammed glass humidor in recognition of the shot.

Companies like Titleist and TaylorMade continue to recognize hole-in-ones with commemorative items, typically requiring a simple submission of details. Our Club continues this tradition with our own Hole-In-One Club, recognizing members who card an ace.

We hope that you will all continue to enjoy these fun facts provided throughout the season!

Happy Easter from ECGCC! 🐣🌷 Thank you to those who came to celebrate with us.

We’re hoppin right into the golf season and look forward to seeing you all at the Club! 🐰⛳️

THEN & NOW: THE EVOLUTION OF OUR CLUBHOUSE
A Visual History · 1904–1960

We’d like to highlight the early journey of the clubhouse, long before the current space we occupy now. Thanks to photographs provided by the Chippewa Valley Museum, we can trace that journey in detail.

ERA ONE
1904 - A Grand Beginning

When the original clubhouse opened on the “golf links” in 1904, it made an immediate impression on the community. The building showcased a distinctive wide, low-slung silhouette with a sweeping hip roof, an open wraparound veranda supported by sturdy columns, and ornamental ironwork railing along the roofline.

ERA ONE - INTERIOR
1904 - The Main Reception Room

Inside, the Main Reception Room anchored the clubhouse with a commanding floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace, wood-paneled walls, and hardwood floors.

ERA TWO
Early 1900s - The Golf Grounds

A colorized postcard from the early 1900s captures the clubhouse from across the fairway, giving a sense of the expansive, open setting of the original course.

ERA THREE
1919 - A Regional Landmark

By 1919, postcards of the club were being printed and mailed across the region. The original 1904 structure remained largely unchanged.

ERA FOUR
1935 - A Club in Full Swing

Photographs from 1935 show automobiles lining the grounds and an American flag proudly flying.

ERA FIVE
1955–1960 - A Modern Transformation

By the mid-1950s, the clubhouse had been relocated to better suit the new 18-hole layout. The club showcased a modernized two-story structure with a crisp white exterior. Eau Claire had grown to a city of 38,000, and the new clubhouse reflected that civic ambition and optimism.

Gust Nickelson’s Role in Early Course Development

As Eau Claire Golf & Country Club expanded its golf course in the late 1920s, one name appears repeatedly in the historical records: Gustav “Gust” B. Nickelson, the Club’s first superintendent on record.

Nickelson, a Swedish immigrant living in St. Paul, Minnesota at the time, was hired by surveyor and course planner C. H. Ramsdell to oversee much of the early work required to shape the new golf course. Correspondence from 1929 shows Nickelson supervising grading across the property, directing labor crews, and overseeing the construction of greens and tees as the course began to take form.

Building putting greens at the time was a detailed process. After rough grading, layers of manure and clay topsoil were carefully placed before the greens were seeded. Letters from the period note that Nickelson had already completed five greens and tees and expected seeding to begin in mid-July, with the goal of establishing a healthy stand of grass before the following season.

Nickelson also helped coordinate key infrastructure for the course, including the placement of irrigation lines and water outlets so each green could be properly maintained. In addition to directing the construction work itself, he managed the crews working on the property and oversaw payroll for the laborers involved in the project.

While only fragments of his story remain in the Club’s records, the correspondence makes it clear that Gust Nickelson played a central role in the earliest stages of building our course, helping lay the foundation for the golf landscape that members enjoy today.

Jack Moon and the Early Development of the Club

Sumner G. “Jack” Moon was part of a generation that helped Eau Claire transition from a lumber town into a more diversified economy. While many heirs to the lumber industry left the area as timber supplies declined, Moon chose to stay and invest locally.

Through his family’s involvement with the Northwestern Lumber Company, Moon played a role in one of the region’s largest lumber operations. A March 5, 1929 letter between early organizers highlights Moon’s direct involvement in the development of the Club. The correspondence notes that the Northwestern Lumber Company, with Moon in leadership, agreed to subscribe $6,000 in stock to support the Club by transferring approximately 120 acres of land at $50 per acre. This land would become the Club’s current golf landscape.

The same letter also outlines early plans to raise $30,000 through member subscriptions to complete the project and notes that surveyor Mr. Ramsdell was preparing to begin work so the new course could be seeded in April of 1929, with the goal of having the 18-hole course ready for play in 1930.

Moon’s Georgian Revival home, built in 1904, still stands today and reflects the success of this transition from lumber wealth to new business investment.

Figures like Moon represent the entrepreneurial spirit that helped shape Eau Claire at the turn of the century and the same network of civic-minded leaders who helped establish institutions like Eau Claire Golf & Country Club.

Head Golf Professional L. J. Maloney


In 1928, Eau Claire Golf & Country Club recruited and hired L. J. Maloney as Head Golf Professional. A pivotal step during a transformative period in the Club’s history.

Prior to arriving in Eau Claire, Maloney served on the professional staff at White Bear Yacht Club under Head Professional Tom Vardon. During the mid-1920s, both L. J. and his brother Gerald worked as assistants in the Vardon operation, part of a respected apprenticeship system that emphasized instruction, tournament management, shop operations, and overall course oversight. The Vardon name carried considerable influence in early American golf, and Maloney’s training under Tom Vardon placed him within one of the most established professional lineages of the era.

Just one year after Maloney’s arrival, Tom Vardon was engaged to design the Club’s new 18-hole course. The existing professional relationship between our head professional and White Bear’s leadership created a natural and credible connection as the Club prepared to expand and elevate its facilities.

When the new 18 holes opened in 1930 and the Club transitioned to what became Riverside Golf Club, Maloney stayed on as the Head Professional for the now public 9-hole course.

The correspondence displayed here reflects more than a hiring process. These letters formalize Maloney’s role and outline the expectations of a head professional in the late 1920s, including compensation structure, seasonal terms, and operational responsibilities. They offer a tangible glimpse into the standards and structure that shaped the Club during this foundational era.