In 2026, Belle Meade Country Club will mark its 125th anniversary. Founded in 1901, the Club emerged at a time when golf was still a novelty to most Americans, yet rapidly gaining fashion. Nashville was a city on the rise economically and socially, yet it lacked a premier golf course. Prominent Nashvillians envisioned a country club with a golf course to rival those of Scotland. They gathered at the Maxwell House Hotel to form the “Nashville Golf and Country Club,” dedicated to “golfing, tennis, hunting, cross-country riding, shooting, and other out-of-doors sports and social pleasures.” Soon after, the club leased land near West End and Bowling Avenue, erected a clubhouse, and laid out a nine-hole course. The Club expanded and prospered on West End during its first decade, but opportunity soon beckoned. Belle Meade Farm—a massive estate of eight square miles, nationally renowned for breeding thoroughbred horses—was being sold and divided. Its vast acreage would eventually contain the City of Belle Meade, Percy Warner Park, Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, residential neighborhoods, and the present site of Belle Meade Country Club. A land company headed by former U.S. Senator Luke Lea envisioned an upscale residential community and he recognized the prestige a golf course would bring. Lea offered to donate 144 pristine acres along Richland Creek to the Nashville Golf and Country Club, provided it agreed to relocate, to build a new clubhouse, and to establish an eighteen-hole course. On June 10, 1914, members voted in favor. Some were skeptical—the site seemed remote from the city, reached only by muddy unpaved roads, and it lacked a water line—but the project advanced. English golf professional Herbert H. Barker prepared the initial routing, while Scottish pro George Livingstone, who had arrived from North Berwick in 1912, directed construction beginning in 1915. He oversaw crews shaping fairways, clearing rocks, and planting trees. A Dutch Colonial–style clubhouse, designed by architect E. E. Dougherty, soon rose beside the course. Members celebrated the grand opening on May 4, 1916, and five years later, in June 1921, the Club officially changed its name to reflect its new location: Belle Meade Country Club.
© Belle Meade Historical Committee, 2025
Electronic Devices Policy – Talking on cell phone prohibited. Texting, checking e-mails, viewing pictures, watching videos (ear plugs only), video games (no sound) are acceptable. Electronic devices must be set on silent or vibrate. Smoking is prohibited throughout the Clubhouse. Except as otherwise provided in the Clubhouse section, blue jeans and denim are not appropriate in the Clubhouse except when in transit to or from the locker rooms. Spandex bottoms or leggings are inappropriate unless worn under skirts, skorts, or dresses. Fitness attire may only be worn in or while in transit to the Wellness Center and locker rooms. For gentlemen, shirts should have a traditional collar and are to be tucked in. Gentlemen should remove hats before entering the Clubhouse. Ripped or frayed attire and baseball or stocking caps are considered inappropriate in all areas of the Clubhouse. For special dining events like Easter, Mother's Day, and Thanksgiving, we require gentlemen aged 12 and over to wear a jacket. Unless otherwise specified, children under 18 are welcome in the Clubhouse if accompanied by an adult. Members are responsible for ensuring that children are respectful of the needs of those around them and refrain from running, yelling, or creating distracting behavior.
Since 1901, Belle Meade Country Club has been one of the finest and most esteemed clubs in the United States. The Club has thrived for over a century thanks in large part to the respect and decorum demonstrated by members and their families toward other members, the administration, and the staff. This respect and decorum is a hallmark of Belle Meade Country Club. The Club has evolved over the years into a multi-generational family club that offers first-class dining, engaging programming and events, and a multitude of sporting activities. As the Club has grown, its operations have become more complex, and the interests of its members more varied and diverse. For the Club to continue to thrive, it is therefore incumbent on each member to act in accordance with the longstanding standards and expectations of our shared community, the foremost of which is to treat Club members, guests, employees and staff with grace and respect. At heart, this means that all members and their families and guests are expected to dress and behave in a manner that embodies the community of respect and decorum that has been a hallmark of our Club since its founding. While we cannot prescribe specific rules of decorum for all situations, the following sets forth certain specific expectations of dress, behavior and decorum at the Club.