The Innis Arden Golf Club Historic

Organized in 1899 by J. Kennedy Tod, the Innis Arden private club was built in Connecticut on land that he had been accumulating since 1887. From that year to 1898, Tod acquired the 147 acres of Tod's Point and created a 37-room mansion and several outbuildings. During the construction, he hired about 30 skilled stonemasons from Italy and built a nine-hole golf course. The first people to join Innis Arden were Mr. Tod’s neighbors in Old Greenwich, which was then called Sound Beach. By 1899, the club was organized with 64 charter members.

In 1904, Mr. Tod closed Innis Arden to his neighbors in Riverside and Sound Beach after a series of indignities. Then the Sound Beach Golf and Country Club was organized, and play began at a course in Shorelands - the Sound Beach Golf and Country Club was incorporated in the following year, 1905.

In 1908, the Club negotiated a lease with the Ferris family. Their ancestor, Jeffrey Ferris, was part of a group of settlers that acquired lands from the Asamuck Indians in what is now Eastern Greenwich. With a lease in place, the Club started playing on nine holes at the current site in Old Greenwich.

Throughout 1925 and the following year, the Club expanded the golf course to 18 holes after purchasing land in Stamford. Nearly a decade later, in 1934, Mr.Tod’s widow allowed the Club to restore its original name, "The Innis Arden Golf Club."

During the Depression and World War II, the clubhouse was shuttered, but between 1948 and 1960, the club moved back to it across Tomac Avenue. The refinancing allowed the construction of a swimming pool and tennis courts and adapting the Club for the whole family. In 1971, the gates that used to guard Tod’s Point were refurbished, and in 1974, the Club arranged purchasing the 56 acres of land from the Ferris Family on a lease expiring in 2000.

The original Ferris Farmhouse built around 1840 was gutted and rebuilt between 1994 and 1995 into what is now the clubhouse. Then, in 2004, the Club undertook a significant modernization and reconstruction of the golf course, reopened four years later, in 2008.

From 2011 to 2013, the Club built and improved many amenities. For instance, in 2011, the Club membership approved funding for the Special Capital Project, allowing the reconstruction of the tennis and pool building and creating a fitness center. In 2013, it opened a new pool house with a state-of-the-art fitness center, a new tennis pro shop, a multi-purpose studio, a two-lane bowling alley, and the Bluefish Café with an outdoor seating area.

Currently, the fitness center encompasses nearly 3,000 square feet of training and fitness space, in addition to a 1,000 square foot studio for group classes. The training floor has an Everlast rubber flooring finish, and its windows surround the walls for maximum natural sunlight and an airy feeling.

Innis Arden offers training programs and activities for both golf and racquet sports. For instance, the golf course renovated in 2008 features tee boxes ranging from 5144 to 6307 yards. The golf staff includes four professionals trained in golf and club fitting, offering private and group instruction. In addition, they organize and run over 60 tournaments for all ages. At the same time, the tennis staff also plans year-round events, such as pro-ams, member-guests, member-members, championship tournaments, parent-child, and more.