Our History

1915 - 1925
In the fall of 1915, a passionate group of Rochester golfers leased 100 acres of land from Mayo Clinic physicians E.S. Judd and D.C. Balfour. The Club was incorporated in 1916 and enjoyed steady growth. Eventually, it was time for a change. By 1925, the members had a new vision: an updated course worthy of their love for the game. What they needed was the right architect. As it so happened, a Mayo Clinic physician married the daughter of A.W. Tillinghast, one of the most celebrated golf course designers of his era. He agreed to redesign the course and, in 1925, the new design featuring his signature style opened for play. Read more about the club's founding.

 

1945
Being located in the same town as the world-renowned Mayo Clinic had its advantages, including attracting notable celebrities and golfers. In 1945, while he was here seeking treatment on his shoulder, professional golfer Byron Nelson agreed to participate in an exhibition match. The club billed it simply as the "Greatest Exhibition Ever Played." Partnering with a local pro, Nelson put on a clinic of his own. His shot-making was precise, his short game surgical, and by the time the round was over, he and his partner had bested their competitors with Nelson shattering the then course record with a 66. Read more from the Rochester Post Bulletin on the "Greatest Exhibition Ever Played."

1945 - 2016
As the post-war era brought new prosperity to Rochester, the club grew alongside it. The pool was added in the fifties, giving families a gathering place beyond the fairways and cementing RGCC as a true community hub. Irrigation systems modernized the course, ensuring the conditions members had come to expect season after season. By the latter half of the century, Rochester Golf & Country Club had become exactly what its founders had envisioned: not just a place to play golf, but a place to belong to a great community.



2019
When RGCC marked its 100th year in 2016, the club didn't simply celebrate its history; it invested in its future. A new practice facility broke ground, the pool was redone, the clubhouse remodeled, a fitness center added, and more. But the crown jewel was the golf course itself. Under the direction of renowned architect Tom Doak, the original Tillinghast design was painstakingly restored to its full glory. The course welcomed members back in 2019 to immediate acclaim, from the membership and golf world alike.

The Man Who Planted a Legacy Some members leave their mark on the scoreboard. Walter D. "Pop" Shelden, MD left his on the landscape itself. One of the club's original members, Pop was inspired by a beautiful pine-lined course he'd played in Texarkana and came home with an idea. In the early 1930s, he spent ten dollars on 5,000 pine seedlings and started a modest nursery at the southwest corner of the course. What began as a passion project grew into something extraordinary. Over the next fifteen years, more than 30,000 trees were transplanted across the grounds, shaping the character and beauty of the course for generations to come. Pop never saw the project through to its finish. But his vision took root in every sense of the word, and stood for nearly a century. When Tom Doak's restoration began in 2017, most of Pop's beloved pines had to come down, but longtime members still remember the corridors of foliage he shaped with his trees.