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The club opened on September 5th, 1896 as a 7-hole course, including the present diabolical 17th green. The primitive course layout was upgraded in 1928 by Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek to an 18-hole par 73 test. When the clubhouse was forced to move from South Street to its present location, the 2nd and 3rd holes were changed and the course became its current 6640 yard, par 71 design.
Taconic is a venerable golf course, having hosted numerous national and state championships. The U.S. Junior Amateur was held here in 1956, and Harlan Stevenson of California defeated Jack Rule, Jr. of Iowa 3 and 1. Of note, Rule beat 16-year-old Jack Nicklaus in the semifinals 1 up. The 1963 U.S. Women’s Women's Amateur was won by Anne Sander of Seattle, WA over 16-year-old Peggy Conley of Spokane, WA. More recently, in 1996, the U.S. Senior Amateur came to Taconic, and Gordon Brewer’s Brewer's par on the 18th hole beat Heyward Sullivan 2 up. National college championships have been held several times in Williamstown – - in 1999 Methodist College took home the division III national title with a team score of 1190 - Williams College came in 10th place with 1246 strokes. The Massachusetts Amateur was contested in July 2004, and won by Frank Vana with Williams College golfer Zach McArthur '05 as his caddy.
[[Image:Taconic_caddy.jpg|right|thumbnail|Frank Vana, 2004 Massachusetts Amateur champion, with caddy Zach McArthur on the 14th green.]]Williams College supports both men's and women's varsity golf teams - the women are a first year varsity program as of 2005, while the men have long been one of the best division III programs in the country. In the April 2005 District Shootout at Taconic, the Williams [[Men's Golf Team]] set a team single round scoring record of 289 counting a 70, 71, 71, and 77 as their best four scores. The course record from the back tees is 67 -- surprisingly high for a relatively short course that has seen hundreds of high quality players compete the past half century. Chad Collins of Methodist College in the 1999 Division III National Tournament shot a 66 included in his total winning score of even par 284, but several tee markers had been moved up from their normal back locations on that day.
Taconic is renowned as one of the most beautiful places in the world to play golf in the fall, as tees and greens throughout the course provide stunning vistas of the Berkshire Mountains. The long views on the course combine with the wonderful small-town atmosphere of the club itself, highlighted by a faded sign on the pro shop reading “No "No Preferred Lies, We Play Golf Here.†" Golfers at Taconic pride themselves on quick pace of play, and the compact routing allows singles and twosomes to often play 18 holes in closer to 2 hours than 4. Though the course is hilly, almost all golfers walk and carry their bag, so seeing 90 year-old members walk is not an uncommon sight.
Other unique oddities of Taconic include a mirror behind the 10th tee to see the blind fairway, a birdhouse labeled “Suggestion Box†"Suggestion Box" smack in the middle of the pond on the 4th hole, and the Latin phrase “medio "medio tutissimus ibis†ibis" written on the scorecard, translating to “safer "safer from the middle.â€"
== The Course ==