GOLF

History of La Belle Golf Club in Oconomowoc boasts two U.S. Open champions

Gary D'Amato
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
La Belle Golf Club in Occonomowoc recently unearthed a fascinating connection to the U.S. Open. Around the turn of the 20th century, two U.S. Open champions served as club pros – four-time winner Willie Anderson in 1900 and two-time winner Alex Smith in 1897 and 1898. La Belle is just down the road from Erin Hills, site of the 2017 U.S. Open. This photo shows an undated historical photo of the original clubhouse.

OCONOMOWOC – John Meunier was in his office about a month after he and three partners bought La Belle Golf Club in 2015 when a longtime member popped his head in and asked what it felt like to own a course with a U.S. Open cachet.

What?

The member told him four-time U.S. Open champion Willie Anderson was the club professional at La Belle around the turn of the century.

The 19th century, that is.

Meunier had his doubts. His parents were members at La Belle when it was a private club – it’s open to the public now – and he grew up playing the course, just 14 miles down the road from Erin Hills, site of the 117th U.S. Open next week. He never heard the name Willie Anderson.

“In the club’s centennial book (published in 1996), there’s not one mention of him,” he said.

Anderson, a Scot who won the U.S. Open in 1901, ’03, ’04 and ’05, is an important figure in the early history of golf in America and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. He’s still the only golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Open titles.

It seemed improbable that a man with such a resume had spent time as the pro at La Belle, nearly a half-day’s horse-and-buggy ride from Milwaukee when it opened in 1896. Back then it was a nine-hole course called Country Club of Oconomowoc.

Mike Kopacz, a club member, volunteered to do some digging.

“I’m a natural skeptic,” he said. “So I went to the Oconomowoc library and looked at microfiche. And there it was.”

Kopacz found this nugget in the Oconomowoc Republican, dated July 23, 1900:

“This afternoon at the Country Club there will be four events on the golf links that undoubtedly will attract visitors from about the surrounding country. These events will be a men’s and women’s driving contest; men’s and women’s approaching and holing out contest, men’s and women’s putting contest and an exhibition of driving, approaching and putting by golf instructor, Mr. W.L. Anderson.”

William Law Anderson.

Willie, for short.

Meunier called the United States Golf Association for confirmation. Two days later, the USGA got back to him: Yes, Willie Anderson was the club professional at La Belle for one year, in 1900.

“I thought I knew the history of the club, but in my wildest dreams I couldn’t have imagined this,” Meunier said. “How did we miss this?”

RELATED: Erin Hills hole-by-hole analysis

CHAT TRANSCRIPT: With golf writer Gary D'Amato

But the story gets even better. Meunier was playing golf one day when another member approached him and said, “John, I’ve got to tell you something. Another U.S. Open champion was the pro here.”

Alex Smith, also a Scot, was the pro at La Belle in 1897 and 1898. Kopacz found indisputable evidence in a national club directory from the time. Smith went on to win the U.S. Open twice – in 1906 and 1910 – and twice finished runner-up to his good friend, Anderson.

Professional golfers were vagabonds back then, bouncing from club to club. Anderson was listed as the pro at 10 different clubs over a 14-year span. He died of epilepsy four days after his 31st birthday. Smith died at 56 in 1930.

“They basically owned the U.S. Open from 1900 to 1910,” Meunier said. “They were like (Arnold) Palmer and (Jack) Nicklaus. We dubbed them the ‘La Belle Legends.’ ”

With the 117th U.S. Open just days away, La Belle’s little-known connection to the championship is generating interest.

“Fox Sports spent six hours (taping) here,” Meunier said. “It’s going to be part of their preview show. Twelve million people are going to see it.”

Meunier and his partners re-named the club’s bar “Willie’s Pub” and decorated the walls with historical artifacts and photos of Anderson and Smith.

A life-size photo of the two posing with other golfers and caddies looms over the bar. It was taken after a tournament held at La Belle in August 1900. Laurie Auchterlonie, who would go on to win the 1902 U.S. Open, was the champion. Anderson and Smith tied for second. Amazingly, three other U.S. Open champions were in the field: Willie Smith (1899), Fred Herd (1898) and James Foulis (1896).

It’s almost beyond belief that six of the first nine U.S. Open champions competed in a tournament at La Belle in the formative years of golf in America.

Meunier wonders what other secrets the club holds.

“It’s like peeling layers off an onion,” he said. “We keep finding out things we can’t believe.”

RELATED: Read Gary D'Amato's seven-part series, "The Making of Erin Hills"