Thorny Lea Golf Club

Thorny Lea Golf Club traces its origins to a cow pasture owned by Alfred Morse, land that today forms the club's sixteenth fairway. Its founders were neighbors from West Elm Street, many of them professionals or figures in Brockton's shoe manufacturing trade, the city's leading export at the close of the 19th century, who shared an interest in the then-fast-growing game of golf.

The club grew from an idea shared by William Monroe Nute, an executive with the Howard & Foster Shoe Company, and Herbert L. Tinkham, treasurer of the W. L. Douglas Shoe Company. The two drove the cattle aside and paced off a basic five-hole course. The holes were short and rough-edged, with fairways kept in check by the grazing cows. The greens were ringed with wire fencing to protect the putting surfaces, though the cattle frequently broke through.