Country club

Country clubs are most commonly located in city outskirts or suburbs,[2] because of the need for substantial grounds for outdoor activities.

[4] Country clubs had a profound effect on expanding suburbanization[5] and are considered to be the precursor to gated community development.

Early clubs focused primarily on equestrian-related sports: coaching, racing, jumping, polo, and foxhunting.

[7][8] The Brookline Country Club was founded in 1882 and is esteemed to be the nation’s first by the Encyclopaedia of American Urban History.

[5] When people lost most of their income and net worth during the Great Depression, the number of country clubs decreased drastically for lack of membership funding.

[5] Historically, many country clubs were "restricted" and refused to admit members of specific racial, ethnic or religious groups such as Jews, African Americans and Catholics.

[citation needed] Similar to the United States, Spain has had a tradition of country clubs as a pillar of social life.

[18] The most notable difference between Spanish and American country clubs is that the former are not normally located in the countryside but either within a city or town itself or in the outskirts at most.