Before the B.C. Open, En-Joie Cost 25 Cents to Play

George F. Johnson opened the Endicott course for shoe workers in 1927. Decades later, the same public layout became a regular stop for professional golf

An undated vintage postcard brings together views of En-Joie Golf Club during its B.C. Open years, including the course, clubhouse, tournament galleries and an aerial view of the property. Credit: Vintage postcard. Original publisher and photographer unidentified. Image digitally restored. 

A round at En-Joie cost 25 cents when the course opened in 1927, according to the club’s history. The price explains the original idea better than any modern slogan could. George F. Johnson wanted Endicott-Johnson shoe workers on the golf course, and he intended the game to be affordable enough for them to get there.

Nearly a century later, En-Joie is known far beyond Endicott for a different set of workers. PGA Tour players came annually for the B.C. Open, and PGA Tour Champions has returned since 2007. The professional record is substantial. The beginning, however, belongs to a factory town and a course built as part of its social structure.

Golf for the People Who Made the Shoes

Johnson’s approach grew from Endicott-Johnson’s system of employee welfare programs. The company supported housing, health care and recreation across Broome County. A National Park Service study of planned communities describes Endicott-Johnson as a company town that earned considerable favor among employees beginning around 1900, while also placing the program inside the larger history of employer-directed welfare capitalism.

That context matters. Johnson’s gifts improved daily life and gave workers access to facilities they otherwise might not have had. They also strengthened the relationship between company and employee. En-Joie was one piece of that arrangement, built on the belief that recreation could serve health, morale and productivity at once.

The club credits Ernie Smith with the original design. Early fairways were flat, open and kept without heavy rough so golfers were less likely to lose balls. Endicott-Johnson even manufactured golf balls. The course was accessible by design, not as an accommodation added years later.

A 1923 Endicott-Johnson billboard promoted the company’s shoes and its image of a prosperous workforce. Four years later, George F. Johnson opened En-Joie Golf Club as another recreational benefit for workers and the community. Credit: Thomas Cusack Co., 1923. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. No known restrictions on publication.

How the B.C. Open Reached the PGA Tour

The tournament did not begin as a 72-hole Tour event. Butch Harmon won the one-round Broome County Open in 1971, followed by a two-round B.C. Open in 1972. The PGA Tour arrived in 1973, when Hubert Green won by six strokes.

The abbreviated B.C. name had a local personality. Endicott native Johnny Hart created the comic strip B.C., and its prehistoric characters appeared in tournament advertising, merchandise and the champion’s trophy. At a time when many events were identified mainly by a sponsor or city, the caveman imagery gave this one a face golfers could recognize immediately.

The 1974 winner knew En-Joie better than most of the field. Richie Karl was an assistant professional at the course and an Endicott native. He reached a playoff with Bruce Crampton, then made birdie on the first extra hole. Karl had won a PGA Tour event at his home course.

The Winners Kept Coming

En-Joie’s list of champions eventually included Tom Kite, Calvin Peete, Jay Haas, Fred Couples, John Daly, Brad Faxon and Craig Stadler. Joey Sindelar, another New York golfer, won twice. Faxon won in 1999 and successfully defended in 2000. Jason Bohn won in 2005, the last B.C. Open competed at En-Joie.

Michael Hurdzan’s 1998 and 1999 renovations enlarged the greens and added more contour. En-Joie didn’t need extra yardage to become more demanding. Players still faced narrow, tree-lined corridors, and misses around the elevated greens became more difficult to recover from.

The River Took Away the Farewell

The Susquehanna River had always been part of En-Joie’s geography. In 2006, it became the reason the course could not stage the B.C. Open’s final edition. Severe flooding covered the property with water, mud and debris. Two weeks before the tournament, the event moved to Atunyote Golf Club at Turning Stone Resort in Verona, New York. John Rollins won there, leaving En-Joie’s 2005 edition as the course’s unplanned PGA Tour farewell.

The absence lasted one year. In 2007, the DICK’S Sporting Goods Open brought PGA Tour Champions to En-Joie. Some players experienced the course twice in their careers, first during the B.C. Open years and again after turning 50.

En-Joie Still Belongs to the Public

The Village of Endicott owns En-Joie, and Broome County has operated it since 2006. A round no longer costs 25 cents, and the factories no longer set the region’s daily rhythm. The tee sheet remains open to the public on the same course where PGA Tour champions and hometown professional Richie Karl won.

En-Joie’s tree work has been substantial. Its published history says crews removed nearly 300 dead, crowded or vulnerable trees over roughly a decade. The work reopened sightlines, improved growing conditions for the turf and created more recovery room along some of the course’s narrow corridors.

That is what made En-Joie a fitting site for the Golf Heritage Society’s 2026 National Championship. The history is visible in tournament trophies and old programs, but it is also available on the scorecard. En-Joie approaches its centennial with a record built by shoe workers, club professionals, touring champions and the public players who kept showing up between tournament weeks.