Club History
The original Overlake Golf Club opened in 1927. The architect for this 18-hole course, which had nothing to do with the current Overlake Golf & Country Club, was Frank James. James and his partner, William Henry Tucker, designed such early layouts as Olympia Country & Golf Club, Sand Point Country Club and Jackson Park Golf Course. Overlake was in full swing as a social and sporting scene for Eastsiders and Seattleites, many of whom arrived by small boat or ferry, until 1935, when the Great Depression forced the Club’s closure.
The two owners who bought the site following the original Club’s demise converted the course into pastureland for horses and Hereford Cattle. Norton Clapp then acquired the property. Clapp had known about the previous course, and met with some local men who wanted to create another golf club. In 1952, Clapp agreed that another private golf club was needed and, for a nominal fee, leased the 132-acre site to the newly formed Overlake Golf & Country Club. The Club’s founders hired A. Vernon Macan of Victoria to design a new layout. Macan routed the second course in virtually the opposite direction as the original layout, which had holes that primarily ran east and west. Macan’s design called for the new holes to go north and south, a move, which eliminated many of the arduous uphill walks found in the first course.
The new course at Overlake Golf & Country Club opened for play on June 27, 1953, a time when Bellevue had about a thousand inhabitants. Overlake’s course has been fine-tuned and improved over the years. A new 11,000 square foot clubhouse supplanted its original clubhouse, a small cottage augmented by an old barn for larger club functions, on July 30, 1960. Though that structure burned down in 1971, a replacement clubhouse was built and in 1993 it was torn down to make way for a new 30,000 square foot clubhouse. The club hosted many tournaments over its five decades, including two Ernst Championships hosted by Fred Couples in 1994 and 1995. Today over 900 members enjoy the immaculately maintained golf course, full service clubhouse, swimming and tennis facilities in a welcoming, family-oriented atmosphere.
