St. Petersburg Country Club’s course opened for
play in 1924. Its architect was Herbert Strong,
a golf professional who had arrived in the US
from his native England in 1905. Mr. Strong has
more than 20 course designs to his credit,
including Canterbury CC in Cleveland, Engineers
on Long Island the original course at Saucon
Valley in Pennsylvania. Other Florida designs
include Vero Beach CC and the Ocean Course at
the Ponte Vedra Beach Club.
The historic course hosted the St. Pete Open, a
regular stop on the PGA tour, twelve times, the
last in 1964. Its full length at that time,
approximately 6600 yards, was about the norm
for tour courses of the day. St. Pete Open
winners on this course include Sam Snead, Cary
Middlecoff and Raymond Floyd, who won for the
first time here in 1963.