Pine Tree Country Club
The Pine Tree Country Club is a golf and country club located in unincorporated Jefferson County between I-459 and the Cahaba River at 5100 Pine Whispers Drive, accessed from Grants Mill Road. The club was founded on May 20, 1968 by the merger of the Fairmont Country Club with the Hillcrest Golf & Country Club. The combined membership constructed a new clubhouse with golf course, swimming pool and tennis facilities for $3 million, which opened in Fall 1970. The first president was Jack Held.
The merger of the Reform (German) Hillcrest club and the conservative (Eastern European) Fairmont club was a major milestone in overcoming divisions between the two mainline Jewish traditions in Birmingham. Attorney Abe Berkowitz recalled his opposition, saying, "it's like mixing water with ink; you can't write with it and you can't drink it." When Hillcrest's proposal was brought to a vote, however, members of the Fairmont club approved the motion 289 to 24.
Membership in the Pine Tree Country Club was opened to non-Jews in 1991. In 2014 the club turned over management of its golf program to Troon Golf.
References
- Elovitz, Mark H. (1974) A Century of Jewish Life in Dixie: The Birmingham Experience. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press ISBN 0817369015
External links
- Pine Tree Country Club website