Membership At an early meeting of the Board of Governors, Mr Stetson made a motion recommending that "present members of the Hawthorn Golf Club be invited to join the Country Club of New Bedford" and that "those signifying acceptance on or before April 1, 1903 shall thereby become members upon payment of the initiation fee and dues for the first half of the year". This was followed by a motion by Mr. Prescott that the above vote "also be made applicable to bond holders and their immediate families". *17 The Board thoughtfully honored the local military as well by voting “that army, navy and revenue officers be classified as non-resident members". * 19 It seems somewhat surprising that the founders abandoned the Hawthorn Golf Club once it felt overcrowded, yet offered the opportunity for approximately 300 of those same Hawthorn members to join their new golf course. In August of 1903 the Board subsequently limited the membership to 350 members! *21 Despite this vote, by the BOG meeting on February 11, 1907 the membership had swelled to more than four hundred members in three different categories! With golf gaining recognition in both Massachusetts and nationally, the Board moved to apply for membership to the USGA and the newly formed MGA on April 15, 1903. Almost from its inception, the Country Club of New Bedford was a coed golfing facility as can be seen on March 18, 1903 when the Board authorized their Secretary “to make application to the Woman's Golf Association of Boston."
The Country Club of New Bedford has been an extremely popular golfing venue for many years. Thus the Club maintained a capacity membership and had a waiting list for new members well into the 1990’s.