Donald Ross- which is your favorite and why?

[Rob Curtiss]

Hey all,

I love Donald Ross. I have Played Oak Hill ( both east and west ) , Salem CC, Inverness and bunch of others in my home state of Florida- Timaquana, Sara Bay and belleair CC.

Scheduled to play Oakland Hills this summer.
What are your favorites and why?  Any ones not so publicly known?

[Matt Bielawa]

Since you're going to be in Detroit, if you have some time to kill, Rackham is a good and municipal Ross course that probably has more Ross in it than Oakland Hills.  Don't plan a trip around it, but it's a fun little muny that doesn't get all the publicity of the big private courses.  Franklin Hills in the Detroit area is also strong, if you can get on.

In Rochester, there is also probably more Ross left in Monroe and Country Club of Rochester than there is in Oak Hill East.  I really like them both.

You probably can't go wrong with the Ross designs in the Pinehurst/Southern Pines area.

[Phil Lipper]

I have often wondered how many courses that have Ross name on them were really done by him. He lived from 1872 to 1948 and designed golf courses everywhere, it wouldn't be easy to design all those courses today flying around in G4. It has always seemed illogical to me that given the travel restraints of the time that he could be have designed all those courses.

[Sean_A]

R

I think my favourite to date is LuLu.  Its an interesting mix of turn of the century design and later more easily recognizable Ross trademark design. When I was there it still needed some tree clearance.  It has since started allowing public play at reasonable rates, which only makes LuLu more attractive to me.  If I went back to Philly, I would want to see LuLu again.

Ciao   

[Rob Curtiss]

Hey Sean,

Thanks for the info on LuLu..
I will be up in the Philly area next summer and will check it out.


Matt,
 will try and check out Rackham as well. Not sure i can get on Franklin Hills, but I hear it is nice.

[Sean_A]

R

Franklin Hills is probably my second favourite Ross.  Some great muscular bunkering studded about a lovely, rolling property.  There is an interesting mix of par 3s and like LuLu, the oddball hole or two.  Unlike LuLu, there are few ball buster holes which I think help make Franklin a better course than LuLu. 

Ciao

[BHoover]

Brookside CC (Canton, OH) is without doubt my favorite Ross.  The greens are fabulous with lots of movement (both severe and subtle slopes), false fronts, mounding, internal shelves, and even a couple fall-off areas.  The property features lots of elevation changes and rolling hills.  There are downhill tee shots, uphill tee shots; short par 3s and long par 3s.  Post-renovation/restoration in the early 2000s, it plays firm and fast and features squared-off greens and Ross-style grass-faced bunkering.  I could play there everyday and not get tired of it.

Other Ross courses that I like are Timuquana CC (Jacksonville) and Scioto CC (okay, so there isn't a lot of Ross left).  In 2014, I'm looking forward to playing a few new Ross courses--Oakland Hills, Inverness, Holston Hills, Springfield CC (Ohio).  

[Rob Curtiss]

Playing holston Hills myself this year with a member of the DRS- Donald Ross Scoiety

I loved Timuaquana and am dying to play Scioto- on my bucket list

[jonathan_becker]

Brookside CC (Canton, OH) is without doubt my favorite Ross.  The greens are fabulous with lots of movement (both severe and subtle slopes), false fronts, mounding, internal shelves, and even a couple fall-off areas.  The property features lots of elevation changes and rolling hills.  There are downhill tee shots, uphill tee shots; short par 3s and long par 3s.  Post-renovation/restoration in the early 2000s, it plays firm and fast and features squared-off greens and Ross-style grass-faced bunkering.  I could play there everyday and not get tired of it.

Agreed.  Don't forget about the buttcrack green, too  

I love Brookside!

[Chris_Hufnagel]

My favorites are Pinehurst #2, Oakland Hills, and Rolling Rock (9 holes) – each was fun from tee to green and very playable.  

I am amazed at how I much enjoyed Oakland Hills - given the reputation of the course, one could easily conclude that it might be a slog, but it wasn't at all.  I give a lot of the credit to the membership and maintenance crew for how playable the course is day-in and day-out for the members and their guests.  

Much has been written about #2, both before and after the restoration work - not much I can add here that is new or improves upon what is already out there.  I know that some here have said here that they were deflated or underwhelmed after plying #2, and I guess I can understand why - but I really enjoyed it.  But to me, it could be a perfect member's course and one that I don't think I would get bored of playing over time.  Lots of width now, challenging approaches, and endless variety around the greens.

The original post also asked for some not so "publicly" known - my entry here is Rolling Rock.  A tremendously fun nine hole course near Ligonier, Pennsylvania.  It is a very sporty course with some great holes on a fairly tight piece of property.  The course is really "intimate" with lots of fun greens that places a premium on accuracy and "missing" the shot in the right place.  Lots has been written about the third green which has to bee seen to be believed - I played three matches on the Ross nine there and three-putted that green all three times...

[Carl Johnson]

I have often wondered how many courses that have Ross name on them were really done by him. He lived from 1872 to 1948 and designed golf courses everywhere, it wouldn't be easy to design all those courses today flying around in G4. It has always seemed illogical to me that given the travel restraints of the time that he could be have designed all those courses.

For me the question is less how many did he design originally - I think the number normally given is accurate, since he had a team for much of the time and did not necessarily visit all sites, but rather worked from topos.  The more significant question in my mind has to do with whether you can take one of those courses originally designed, but which has been much modified over the years and still call it a Ross course.  However, taking the liberty of calling any original-Ross course which still mostly resembles the original, my favorite by far is:

Carolina Golf Club (Charlotte), which happens to be my home club, is my favorite (not saying it's "the best," but just my favorite).  Since you asked for favorite (not "favorites"), I'll stop there.  By way of context, keep in mind that, to my recollection, I've only played 13 Ross courses, 12 in North Carolina and one in South Carolina.  Why CGC? - Very playable for the higher handicappers, yet challenging for low handicappers, and a great routing on a small piece of land.

[Matt Schmidt]

. . .Rackham is a good and municipal Ross course that probably has more Ross in it than Oakland Hills.  

What do you base this statement on, Matt?  Are you comparing original routings, greens and terrain to present day?  Do you have much knowledge of either course?

[Brian Finn]

My favorite Ross course that I have played is Plainfield CC.  It seemed a perfect member's club / course for frequent play.  It is definitely a course where I wanted to walk from 18 green straight to the first tee.

Close behind would be Pinehurst #2 (pre-resto), which I am eager to play again...photos of C&C work look incredible.

Holston Hills and Brookside CC are two other outstanding Ross courses that are among my favorite courses by any architect.

Scioto CC, Mountain Ridge and Hyde Park G&CC are 3 others that I really enjoyed playing.

2014 plans include trips to both Minneapolis and Detroit, where I hope to see some more great Ross (big targets are WBYC & Oakland Hills).

[Mark Bourgeois]

Brookside CC (Canton, OH) is without doubt my favorite Ross.  The greens are fabulous with lots of movement (both severe and subtle slopes), false fronts, mounding, internal shelves, and even a couple fall-off areas.  The property features lots of elevation changes and rolling hills.  There are downhill tee shots, uphill tee shots; short par 3s and long par 3s.  Post-renovation/restoration in the early 2000s, it plays firm and fast and features squared-off greens and Ross-style grass-faced bunkering.  I could play there everyday and not get tired of it.

Other Ross courses that I like are Timuquana CC (Jacksonville) and Scioto CC (okay, so there isn't a lot of Ross left).  In 2014, I'm looking forward to playing a few new Ross courses--Oakland Hills, Inverness, Holston Hills, Springfield CC (Ohio).  

Brian, from what I've seen in old photos I wouldn't call grass-faced bunkering "Ross style."

[Bill McKinley]

No votes for Seminole yet? Well here's one from me!

Seminole is the best Donald Ross course in my humble opinion. Amazing greens, firm conditions, great bunkering, neat angles, great routing, it has it all.

I will echo the sediments of others on here about Canton Brookside. Awesome place. Others great Ross's that I've played are Oakland Hills and Pinehurst #2. I would love to get the chance to play Plainfield, it sounds like a great one.

[Carl Johnson]

Brookside CC (Canton, OH) is without doubt my favorite Ross.  The greens are fabulous with lots of movement (both severe and subtle slopes), false fronts, mounding, internal shelves, and even a couple fall-off areas.  The property features lots of elevation changes and rolling hills.  There are downhill tee shots, uphill tee shots; short par 3s and long par 3s.  Post-renovation/restoration in the early 2000s, it plays firm and fast and features squared-off greens and Ross-style grass-faced bunkering.  I could play there everyday and not get tired of it.

Other Ross courses that I like are Timuquana CC (Jacksonville) and Scioto CC (okay, so there isn't a lot of Ross left).  In 2014, I'm looking forward to playing a few new Ross courses--Oakland Hills, Inverness, Holston Hills, Springfield CC (Ohio).  

Brian, from what I've seen in old photos I wouldn't call grass-faced bunkering "Ross style."

Mark, take a read of Bradley Klein's Discovering Donld Ross (if you have not already done so).  What I got from Brad is that Ross used a wide variety of bunker styles, and that one cannot really say only "one" style is a Ross style.  (Grassed-faced seems to be one of Ross's styles.)  I'm no expert myself, but Brad is (if anyone).  Does that mean he's gospel?  No, but read his book and see what you think.

[Matthew Lloyd]

I've only played Oak Hill and Scioto but those are two of my all time favorite courses anyway. As others have noted, there may not be that much of Ross left on either, but he still laid the foundation allowing for (mostly) good improvements to be made.

I'd like to think Ross would emerge as my favorite designer if I had a chance to play more of his courses and confirm that guess.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Carl,

Yes you're right, I was just trying to make the point that there are a number of prominent Ross-designed courses today that have grass-faced bunkers but originally that didn't, leading many to believe such bunkers were a Ross trademark. Actually, that's what I used to believe.

[Terry Lavin]

Pinehurst #2 because I haven't played Brookside yet!  Or Wannamoisset. Or Seminole. Oh, the treasures that litter our landscape!

[jonathan_becker]

Seminole is the best Donald Ross course in my humble opinion. Amazing greens, firm conditions, great bunkering, neat angles, great routing, it has it all.

I will agree with this as well but Brookside is still my favorite 

[Carl Johnson]

Carl,

Yes you're right, I was just trying to make the point that there are a number of prominent Ross-designed courses today that have grass-faced bunkers but originally that didn't, leading many to believe such bunkers were a Ross trademark. Actually, that's what I used to believe.

Agreed.  I'd say no trademark, but grass-faced were one of the many styles he used.

[BHoover]

Mark, this picture shows the bunkering at Brookside...and Becker's buttcrack green. I don't know what style is typical Ross, but this is awesome.

[Rob Curtiss]

I agree Brian...That is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

[Mark Bourgeois]

I pine to play Canton Brookside.

[Nigel Islam]

I love Pinehurst #2 and Scioto, but my favorite is the Ross course in French Lick. The old hill course has my favorite greens of anywhere I have ever played.