PITTSFIELD — The opening of the New England golf season is always a reason for celebration, but it’s perhaps even more meaningful for Berkshire Hills Country Club members this year with the club celebrating its 100th birthday all season long. Events celebrating the club’s milestone will begin a week from tonight (6 p.m., May 17) when it hosts the “Berkshire Hills Centennial Celebration.” The festivities will include a three-course dinner with three choices of entrees, and a speech from Stuart Wolfe, the A.W. Tillinghast Historical Society’s historian. Tillinghast designed the club’s challenging par-72 course. One-hundred years is really a long time ago in “golf years.” Consider: In the year the course opened (1925), the legendary Bobby Jones was still a year away from the first of two trips down New York’s “Canyon of Heroes” celebrating wins in England in The Open Championship. He was still playing using hickory-shafted clubs and his round trip was by ocean liner. The timing of the course’s construction came during the so-called “Golden Age of Golf Course Architecture” (1900-25). The Hills took advantage by hiring Tillinghast, whose works include U.S. Open favorites Bethpage Black (N.Y.), Baltusrol (N.J.) and Winged Foot (N.Y.). Most polls ranking course designers have him among the era’s greatest along with the likes of Donald Ross, Alister MacKenzie and Seth Raynor. Tillinghast’s resume goes far beyond golf course design and makes one wonder how he found time to do it all, thus Wolfe should have no shortage of good tales to tell on Saturday night. Remarkably, despite being credited with designing an astounding 260 courses, Tillinghast didn’t start in the business until he was 34 years old. He had spent the first third of his career as a sports editor and writer in his native Philadelphia. He also wrote countless golf stories for five major golf publications, including Golf Magazine. There are currently 400 works authored by A.W. in the Tillinghast Historical Society Library. Did we mention the World Golf Hall of Fame inductee was also an outstanding amateur golfer? Well, yes, he was, but according to the era’s media there was one blemish — he reportedly had a fiery and sometimes volatile behavior when in competition. Despite the majority of Tillinghast’s courses being located in the Northeast, especially in New York State, Berkshire Hills has the distinction of having the only Tillinghast course in Massachusetts, a fact that isn’t lost on the Mass. Golf Association, which has held many qualifiers, championships and U.S. Golf Association qualifiers at The Hills. “First of all, congratulations for the anniversary, Berkshire Hills has always been first-class with us, and has supported us at all levels,” Mass Golf Executive Director and CEO Jesse Menachem said in a phone interview. “There are only a few Tillinghast courses in the entire region so the players really enjoy it when they get to play in a tournament at Berkshire Hills.” The 100-year mark comes at a time when the club finds itself with a strong membership, thanks in part to the surge in golf that resulted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like any club, there have been highs and lows through the years. The lowest of the lows came in March 1940 when the club’s initial clubhouse burned down. During General Electric’s heyday much of the club’s membership was made up of the company’s employees and resulted in a mostly middle-class membership. The company’s departure, started in 1986, had an impact on the club that it has obviously been able to overcome through the years. “We have always prided ourselves in being a blue-collar club,” said Jeff Puleri, who just turned over his position as club president to Ken Gibson. “We currently have a healthy membership that is made up of vibrant men and women who love golf and enjoy playing our course.” A team led by Ken Gibson (president board of directors), Frank LaRagione (chairperson of the 100-year) and Reggie Simmons (secretary and director of communications) is in charge of this month’s events and several others as the golf season moves on. Tickets for Saturday night’s celebration are available to the public by emailing Madison Lotano at manager@berkshirehillscc,com. Tables up to eight are available. Berkshire Hills isn’t the only country club celebrating a significant anniversary this year. Forest Park Country Club opened in 1900, making it one of four remaining county courses opened in 1900 or earlier along with Stockbridge Golf Club (1895), Greenock Country Club (1895) and Wyantenuck Country Club (1896). We will look at Forest Park’s 125-year history and anniversary plans in a future column.