Corpus Christi Country Club

Big-name architects have left their mark on Corpus Christi Country Club over the years. Fred Mcleaod, then the winter professional at Maryland's Columbia Country Club, built the course in 1909, followed by a redesign at the hands of John Bredemus in 1921 and a rare visit by Robert Trent Jones in the mid-1960s. This beautiful links-style course offers open fairways and undulating greens where stiff winds can interfere with drives and cause high shots to blow wildly off course.

When the 9-hole course originally opened on the high-toned North Beach, President William Howard Taft was in Texas to visit his brother, who owned a ranch across Nueces Bay. Taft participated in the opening ceremonies in front of the green wooden building which is distinguished by its white trim and veranda on all four sides.

The course fell victim to the 1919 hurricane, and club members didn't reorganize until 1921. John Bredemus came down from Del Rio after the completion of the San Felipe Springs Country Club and immediately put crewmen to work clearing and grading for $1.50 a day. The fairways and greens were fertilized with cottonseed meal, and the first shot was fired on Labor Day, 1922. At the time, this course on the Texas Riviera was considered one of the finest in the country.

At the end of the Depression, oil was discovered under the course and wells produced from 1936 to 1943, increasing revenues but creating some interesting man-made hazards in the layout. By 1938, the club expanded the course to 18 holes. The existing Robert Trent Jones design opened in 1963 on Everhart Road.

Getting there : Exit the Crosstown Expressway off of I-37 and head south to South Padre Island Dr. Continue south and exit Everhart, then proceed for 3.5 miles to the course. The clubhouse is on the left side of the road.