Like a fine wine

Among the region great for grapes is a gem of a golf course in Forestville that has aged like a fine wine, Tri-County Country Club.

A weekend ago, Tri-County Country Club celebrated its 100th birthday with its members, choosing a Roaring 20s themed event. Now open for a century the course has many reasons it has managed to be open for such a long time.

“To have a course that is 100 years old is a really remarkable achievement,” Tri-County Country Club Head Professional Daniel Rettig said about the club’s centennial. “There’s a lot of golf courses that have opened and closed over the years. So to be where we are in terms of our location, it just kind of proves that we have a loyalty that is really unmatched and a family feel out here at this club that has kept the fabric united.

“I think the golf course speaks for itself when you’re out there, the facility — we lost our clubhouse last year — but people have rallied around the fact that we’ve been able to do kind of a temporary solution and embraced a lot of what we’re doing this year,” Rettig continued. “There’s a lot of courses that have come and gone in those 100 years and to be one of the ones that has survived is a testament to the golf course itself.”

Pictured is the scenic green on the 415-yard par 4 on No. 17 at Tri-County Country Club in Forestville.
OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms

Having its ups and downs over the years, receiving help in August of 1935 from A.W. Tillinghast (designer of Bethpage Black), overcoming a fire that took the clubhouse a year ago, TCCC stands as one of the best rated courses in the region today. The course is a semi-private club that extends privileges to members, but is affordably priced while maintaining championship quality.

“I think we’re conscious of where we are in terms of our setting, we’re in a rural area, we try to keep the prices as consistent and reasonable as possible,” Rettig stated. “We have a lot of players that are out here because of the affordability, whether it’s membership or daily fee. Membership out here is very affordable, there is no initiation fee, there is no waitlist right now, but we understand everybody is not able to do that. So to try and keep people out here playing and get this facility used and not waste times, we try to keep everything affordable. … There are a lot of golf courses that are pricing themselves in that $80-100 range, I would prefer not to be up that high just because I want people to be able to come out and play, I don’t want to outprice everybody from the game.”

On top of hosting club events and tournaments from around the area, TCCC has been able to bring in golfers in high caliber tournaments such as the Buffalo District Golf Association Qualifier this past month and high school championships earlier this season.

“Outside of the general charity outings,” Rettig said about tournaments at the club. “… To even have the Buffalo District come out here multiple times, the UnderArmour Junior Tour kids events that are out there. We try to support as much as we can, while also keeping in mind that our members want to play as well. The Buffalo District events are something special to us, because it proves that we are on the right track here and a lot of our people that come out to play once or twice a year here they’re traveling from Niagara Falls, Canada, Pennsylvania, we’ve got a lot of people that come out and try this golf course and they make special arrangements to do it. I would love to get more WNY PGA Tour events out here, but I think that if we can keep these guys coming back they’ll see what we’re able to offer in terms of quality of the golf course.”

The par-72 course features 14 par 4s, and a pair of par 3 and 5 holes, all with unique views that require a good strategy from any of the four tee boxes. At the recent qualifier held, only two golfers broke even and they both shot a 72. Those two golfers happened to be representing TCCC with both Daniel Weimer and Lewis Markham shooting 72 to break even at the top.

The view of the green from the tee box on No. 4 that features three water hazards at Tri-County Country Club in Forestville.
OBSERVER Photo by Christian Storms

While the front 9 is shorter than the back, coming in at 3,063 yards from the tips, every hole presents its own unique challenge on the way to the green which are all uniquely shaped. Then the back is longer at 3,482 from the tips for a grand total of 6,545 and receives a 73.1 rating and 139 slope grade. From the white the course is 6,319 with 71.9 and 135, hybrid tees are 5,622 with 68.3 and 128 grades, gold tees are 5,310 at 66.6 and 119, then the red tees are 4,786 at 64.9 and 121.

“Tri-County is an interesting golf course,” Rettig said about the difficulty of the course. “It is definitely not flat, if you look at it everywhere you go there’s a hill, side hill, you’ve got greens that are pretty severe at times, you’ve got greens that are very quick, there are certain places to miss and places you’re safe even if you don’t hit the green. The long and the short of it is, we’ve had a lot of great players come out of Tri-County and that dates all the way back to Cindy Miller, her son, Jamie, Danny Wimer who played college golf. Of the six players we brought to the qualifier, four of them qualified for the Buffalo District Individual Championship at Park Country Club. If you get used to playing a relatively difficult golf course you’re going to get better. A lot of our players when they go somewhere else they talk about how much easier that place is, but we like that. We like the challenge, being able to play a challenging round of golf everyday and not get bored with our track.”

A course can be shaped in many different ways, but what separates TCCC from the pack is the maintenance and the 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 about 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 is anyone outside of myself that wants to see this golf course survive and grow and be everything it can be, it’s Peter. He has been the one constant of this facility, when you think about a golf course that’s 100 years old he has been here for almost a third of its life span. When he took over we didn’t have irrigation, we didn’t have water going to the fairways, he’s basically taken this club to the next level in terms of the quality and the consistency and the day-to-day playability. We’ve really been able to make something special out of this blueprint that we’ve had.”

With all of the positive reviews and the quality of Tri-County Country Club a visitor would expect 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 walking all day and for seniors/military/member’s guests it’s $49 with a cart.

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

“I just think that this golf course, for people that have played it, we’re constantly trying to improve it, we’re constantly trying to do things,” Rettig stated. “The clubhouse project we’re currently working on is in its final stages of planning and we’re going to be building everything responsibly. I hope people take advantage of the fact that this place is on the rise. I think this is a facility that grows with the times and we’re going to try and future-proof it as we go forward. We’re setting this place up for the next 100 years.”