Dornick Hills Golf & Country Club

Overview: Dornick Hills Golf & Country Club is Perry Maxwell's foundational Ardmore design, built on the former dairy-farm land he owned north of town. The private 18-hole course is a par-70 layout of about 6,600 yards, shaped by natural ground, rolling fairways and Maxwell's early preference for strategic angles rather than artificial spectacle. The course's identity is inseparable from its origins: Maxwell learned by working the land himself, clearing brush, moving stones and letting the property determine the line of play.

History: Maxwell began with a small personal course on the farm and expanded it into a golf and country club in 1913-14. The clubhouse and full course were developed during 1914, and the National Register records the formal opening of Dornick Hills Country Club on June 17, 1915. The layout became the first course in Maxwell's long Oklahoma design career and later hosted the Ardmore Open and the 1954 LPGA Ardmore Open. It remains a living example of the naturalistic principles that shaped his later work at Twin Hills and Southern Hills.

Did You Know? Dornick Hills was Oklahoma's first golf course with Bermuda grass greens and the first Oklahoma club affiliated with the USGA, according to the course's historical profile. Its name comes from a Scottish word associated with small stones, a fitting reference to the rocks Maxwell and his family cleared from the original fairways.