Plainfield Country Club, opened in 1890 as Hillside Tennis Club, moved sites twice before club leaders engaged Donald Ross to build an entirely new championship course in 1916. World War I delayed construction, however, and the new course was unveiled in 1921. Walter Hagen called it "the greatest golf course I ever played."

The first significant change to the course came in 1930, when the Ross-designed "Tunnel" holes (13, 14, and 15) were built through virgin forest, replacing holes that ran between the clubhouse and Raritan Road. The clubhouse also had to be rebuilt after it burned down in the 1920s.

Plainfield has hosted four Met Opens, five Met Amateurs, one French-American Challenge, and the 2005 Ike Championship. The club alsohas been the stage for three tournaments of national significance: the 1978 U.S. Amateur won by John Cook; the 1987 U.S. Women’s Open, won by Laura Davies in a playoff over Ayako Okamoto and JoAnne Gunderson Carner; and the 2011 Barclays, won in three rounds by Dustin Johnson with a 19-under-par 194, just hours before Tropical Storm Irene swamped the metropolitan area.

Leighton Calkins, club president, mayor of Plainfield, and MGA president, was instrumental in bringing the first three Met Junior championships (1912-14) to Plainfield. Calkins is also credited as the father of the current handicap system.

Plainfield’s incomparable championship history and knack for  identifying outstanding champions will make it a special site for the 97th Met Open.