Congressional Country Club history

Armour won the 1927 United States Open at Oakmont while working at Congressional, and he won three majors in all, making him the bets player of CCC’s club pros.

He was a minor force on the pro circuit during the days of Gene Sarazen, Hagen, Craig Wood and Armour, winning nine times, including four tour events in a row in 1931.

Tommy’s 15-years-older brother Sandy served until 1935, when he was replaced by Roland MacKenzie, an outstanding amateur before turning pro.

Wilfred Hiram Cox was next in 1938 and for the next 31 years he “became Congressional,” as the club history says.

With service philosophies such as “Remember that other people’s pleasure is your business and take care of it well at all times,” Cox was considered one of the country’s top club pros and was “Pro of the Year” in the Middle Atlantic PGA Section in 1963.

In 1964, the entire membership and staff worked diligently to make the 1964 United States Open an unforgettable event.

The club’s history described him as genial—befitting a “Wiffy”—and noted that when Cox died in February 1969, “something of great value left our lives.”

Much of Cox’ philosophy was recorded in “The Wiffy Cox Story,” a 96-page, limited-edition, private printing that came out in 1970.

In 1976, the 58th PGA National Championship was played at Congressional which, due to the hard work, talent and esprit de corps of the membership and staff, went down in history as the biggest PGA Championship ever.

In the summer of 1977 the Club completed nine additional holes to meet the demand of its golfing members, thus providing two challenging 18-hole golf courses.

Ernie Els was the winner of the 1997 United States Open.

In 2011, Congressional was honored once again to host the United States Open.