In this region rich in grapevines, Forestville is home to a gem of a golf course that has aged like a fine wine: the Tri-County Country Club.

This weekend, the Tri-County Country Club celebrated its 100th anniversary with its members and chose an event with a Roaring Twenties theme. The course has been open for a century now and there are many reasons why it has been able to stay open for so long.

“To have a 100-year-old golf course is a truly remarkable achievement,” said Daniel Rettig, head professional at Tri-County Country Club, of the club’s centennial. “Over the years, many golf courses have opened and closed. The fact that we are now in one location is a testament to the fact that we have a truly unmatched loyalty and family feeling here at the club that has held the structure together.”

“I think the golf course speaks for itself when you’re there, the facility – we lost our clubhouse last year – but people have stepped up to help us find some sort of interim solution and have embraced a lot of what we’re doing this year,” Rettig continued. “In those 100 years, a lot of courses have come and gone, and for one of the ones that has survived to be one is a testament to the golf course itself.”

The view from the tee box on No. 9. PJ photo by Christian Storms

TCCC has had ups and downs over the years, receiving help from AW Tillinghast (designer of Bethpage Black) in August 1935 and weathering a fire that destroyed the clubhouse a year ago. Today the course is one of the top rated courses in the area. The course is a semi-private club that grants privileges to its members, but is still affordable while still offering championship quality.

“I think we’re conscious of our location, we’re in a rural area and we try to keep the prices as consistent and reasonable as possible,” Rettig explained. “We have a lot of players that come here because of the affordability, whether it’s the membership or the daily fee. The membership here is very affordable, there’s no initiation fee, there’s no waiting list right now, but we understand that not everyone can do that. So to try to get people to play here and use this facility and not waste time, we try to keep everything affordable. … There are a lot of golf courses that are $80 to $100 in price, I would prefer not to be that high just because I want people to be able to come here and play, I don’t want to put everyone else off the course.”

In addition to hosting club events and tournaments from across the region, TCCC has also been able to attract golfers to high-profile tournaments, such as the Buffalo District Golf Association Qualifying Tournament last month and the High School Championships earlier this season.

“Other than the general charity outings,” Rettig said of the tournaments at the club, “… Even the Buffalo District comes here several times, the UnderArmour Junior Tour kids’ events that they have there. We try to support as much as we can, while not forgetting that our members want to play too. The Buffalo District events are special to us because they prove we’re on the right track here. A lot of our people who come here once or twice a year to play travel from Niagara Falls, Canada, Pennsylvania. We have a lot of people who come here to try this golf course, and they make special arrangements for that. I would love to have more WNY PGA Tour events here, but I think if we can get those people to come back, they’ll see what we have to offer in terms of the quality of the golf course.”

The par-72 course features 14 par-4 holes and a pair of par-3 and par-5 holes, all with unique views that require good strategy from each of the four tees. In the final qualifier, only two golfers reached an even score and both scored a 72. These two golfers happened to represent TCCC, with both Daniel Weimer and Lewis Markham reaching the even score in the lead with a score of 72.

Pictured is the view from the back of the green on No. 2 at Tri-County Country Club in Forestville. PJ photo by Christian Storms

While the front 9 holes are shorter than the back, measuring 3,063 yards from the tips, each hole presents a unique challenge en route to the green, all uniquely shaped. The back 9 holes are longer at 3,482 yards from the tips, giving a total length of 6,545 yards and receiving a rating of 73.1 and a slope grade of 139. From the white side, the course is 6,319 yards long at 71.9 and 135 yards, the hybrid tees are 5,622 yards long at 68.3 and 128 yards, the gold tees are 5,310 yards long at 66.6 and 119 yards, the red tees are 4,786 yards long at 64.9 and 121 yards.

“Tri-County is an interesting golf course,” Rettig said of the course’s difficulty. “It’s definitely not flat. When you look at it, there’s a hill everywhere, a side hill, you have greens that are pretty difficult at times, you have greens that are very fast, there are certain spots you can miss and spots where you’re safe even if you don’t hit the green. In short, we’ve had a lot of great players from Tri-County, and that goes back to Cindy Miller, her son Jamie and Danny Wimer playing college golf. Of the six players we brought to the qualifying tournament, four qualified for the Buffalo District Individual Championship at Park Country Club. When you get used to playing on a relatively difficult golf course, you get better. A lot of our players, when they go somewhere else, talk about how much easier this course is, but we like that. We like the challenge of being able to play a challenging round of golf every day and not get bored on our course.”

A course can be designed in many different ways, but what sets TCCC apart from the crowd is the care and beauty of the design. Superintendent Peter Gilray has long been responsible for keeping the course in pristine condition.

“A lot of that goes to our superintendent Peter Gilray,” Rettig said of the credit for the quality of the course. “Peter has been here for over 30 years, he has family ties to this area, so if there’s anyone other than me that wants this golf course to survive and grow and be everything it can be, it’s Peter. He’s been the one constant of this facility, if you think about a 100-year-old golf course, it’s been here for almost a third of its life. When he took over, we had no irrigation, we had no water on the fairways, he basically took this club to the next level in terms of quality, consistency and daily playability. We were able to really make something special out of this plan that we had.”

Given the positive reviews and quality of Tri-County Country Club, a visitor would expect to have to pay a hefty fee to play the course, but that is not the case. During the week, it costs $55 to play 18 holes with a cart, $33 to walk all day, and for seniors/military/member guests, it is $49 with a cart.

Tri-County Country Club has established itself as one of the region’s premier golf destinations and is now looking forward to the next 100 years.

“I just think we want to constantly improve this golf course for the people who have played it, we’re constantly trying to do things,” Rettig explained. “The clubhouse project we’re working on now is in the final stages of planning and we’re going to build everything responsibly. I hope people take advantage of the fact that this place is on the rise. I think this is a facility that will grow with the times and we’re going to try to future-proof it in the future. We’re preparing this place for the next 100 years.”