Thorny Lea Golf Club

Thorny Lea Golf Club, is a Private, 18 hole golf course located in Brockton, Massachusetts.

The Thorny Lea Golf Club first opened for play as a 9-hole course 1900. The par-70, 18 hole course we see today was designed by Wayne E. Stiles and John Van Kleek and officially opened on June 20, 1925.

Thorny Lea Golf Course plays to a maximum distance of 6,456 yards for a course rating of 71.6 and a slope rating of 129.

There have been plenty of golfing exhibitions at Thorny Lea. When it was a nine-hole course, two of Great Britain’s top players, George Duncan and Abe Mitchell, played against Brockton champions and a Harvard law student, the immortal Bobby Jones in 1923.

There were several other matches over the years. Walter Hagan and Horton Smith visited Thorny Lea in June of 1928. Gene Sarazen and Babe Didrikson played an exhibition in 1935.

Beginning in the 1970s, the PGA of America brought its National Assistant Professional Championship here for a 13-year run. The tournament was sponsored by Foot-Joy, a Brockton golf-equipment manufacturing company. It was during this tournament that the course record was set by Ken Allard, out of Katke-Cousins G.C. in Rochester, Michigan. He posted a 7-under 63. PGA Tour players Loren Roberts and Fred Funk jump-started their professional careers with victories at Thorny Lea. Besides winning at Thorny Lea, both professional golfers went on to win a PGA Tour event in the Bay State at Pleasant Valley.