The Old Nine

Called the “Dye Original,” Urbana Country Club has a unique place in the history of American golf. In the book, Pete Dye Golf Courses – Fifty Years of Visionary Design, the story begins in Urbana. “It is remarkable how life often turns on a whim, a chance encounter, a happenstance. If it was not for a timely automobile breakdown some ninety years ago, there would probably be no such thing as a Pete Dye golf course.” It was in 1922 that Paul F. (“Pink”) Dye’s car broke down in Pennsylvania and while waiting for repairs he played nine holes for the first time in his life. He returned to Urbana hooked on the game and along with several investors designed and built the first nine holes of Urbana Country Club on land owned by his wife. It was on this tract that Pink’s son Pete learned to play the game and tend the course.

During WWII, Pete served as the course superintendent. Always a champion of the golf course and a golfer in her own right, Elizabeth dreamed of the day a second nine holes would be built. She held to her dream and convinced her grandson, P.B. Dye to come finish his grandfather’s work.

The New Nine

In the fall of 1992 P.B. Dye had begged, borrowed, and stole enough equipment and manpower to begin construction of the second nine holes of the Dye Original. On August 27, 1993 a dedication ceremony was held at the rock garden, designed by P.B. Dye in memory of his grandfather, Paul F. Dye and grandmother, Elizabeth Dye. The new nine holes where officially open for play and the golf course that started 70 years earlier was complete.

The Urbana Country Club golf course remained a hidden jewel in west central Ohio until November, 2008 when its native son and former course superintendent Pete Dye was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Reports of the honor traveled throughout the world and the story always begins in Urbana.