Dorset Field Club

About the club

Dorset Field Club, founded in 1886, boasts itself to be the oldest continuously operated golf club in the United States. (Though a few other courses also make that claim, we won't get into that argument.) For years, it was a nine-hole course, but in 1999, the major project to make the course 18 holes was completed by Vermont designer Steve Durkee. Don’t let the yardage on the card fool you, Dorset is plenty of a test. Several tight landing areas, beautiful yet penal fescue and quick, undulating greens that keep you thinking are a few features that will make you forget the course is 6,240 yards. Of all the holes, No. 16 will likely be the one you’ll play in your head over and over again on your drive home. The lone par 5 on the back nine features a 90-degree dogleg and a green surrounded by picturesque birches. The risk-reward opportunity here could leave you trying to cut across the hole, over a deep, waterless hazard, or dutifully playing around the corner, wondering if you could’ve gotten home in two. You’ll find Dorset in perpetually excellent condition, and throughout the round, your eyes will be pulled upwards to take in the mountain views that surround the course.