The Yale Golf Course, or Yale University Golf Course, is a golf course in New Haven, Connecticut, owned and operated by Yale University. Yale is home to the men and women's Yale Golf Team and hosts three collegiate invitational tournaments each year. The course is primarily open to university students, alumni, and the university community. History In the 1800s and early 1900s, most Yale students traveled to Race Brook Country Club in Orange, Connecticut, to play golf. However, it was relatively far away and not convenient to campus. After witnessing much enthusiasm among his undergraduates, George Adee wrote a proposal to the Yale Athletic Association out of concern and frustration in 1922. By this time, Princeton already had a university golf course while Harvard had begun discussions for a golf course of their own. Adee's proposal revolved around asking Sarah Wey Tompkins, the window of Ray Tompkins, to purchase and donate a plot of land on which Yale could build a course of their own. Ray Tompkins was a former Yale football captain in 1882 and 1883. Tompkins had amassed a large wealth while serving as the president of the Chemung Canal Trust Company in New York. Upon his death in 1918, Tompkins left his wife Sarah an estate worth over a million dollars. However, in his will existed a provision that upon the death of his wife the remainder of his wealth would be given to Yale "to furnish facilities for extending and developing the practice of athletic exercises on the part of students of the University." In 1923 following Adee's proposal, Yale approached Sarah Tompkins in hopes that she would purchase a plot of land known of the Greist Estate and donate it to the University. She accepted without hesitation and the was purchased for $375,000. Following the donation of the Griest Estate by Sarah Tompkins, a Yale Golf Committee was formed. With George Adee as its first chairman and J.F. Byers and Jess Sweetser on the committee, they contacted golf course architect Charles Blair Macdonald to confirm the possibility of having a golf course on the estate. Upon viewing the property and seeing its potential, Macdonald agreed to serve as a consultant to the project. Macdonald pushed for the hiring of a former associate of his, Seth Raynor, to be the course architect. Raynor was paid $7,500 to complete the project and began surveying the land in