Lake Wales Country Club (formerly Lake Wales Municipal Golf Course) has long been attributed to Donald Ross as the architect. However, after doing some research into Lake Wales CC and the surrounding courses, it has become somewhat clear that Seth Raynor is the architect that should get credit for this course. There are also a few discussions that have taken place here regarding this topic, but wanted to get into greater detail regarding the history & architect of this course:
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,41932.msg892197.html#msg892197 - Bahto discovery in October of 2009
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,50709.msg1154778.html#msg1154778http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,57804.msg1356975.html#msg1356975The first thing to clear up is the Donald Ross claims and if there is any evidence supporting his involvement with the Lake Wales CC. I have been in contact with Scott Edwards who is spearheading the Florida Historical Golf Trail project and he passed along this information regarding Donald Ross working in the Lake Wales area, but only on the Lake Pierce Estates Golf Course.
This is an email Scott sent to the Tufts Archives:
Advertisement for Donald Ross designing Lake Pierce (Palm Beach Post 12/12/25):
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1964&dat=19251212&id=bClHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0TMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4140,4301713The 1941 aerial of Lake Pierce Estates Golf Course:
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00071778/00020/6x?vo=31&vp=2634,7741941 & 2014 aerial of Lake Pierce Estates Clubhouse (located just northeast of the golf course on Lake Pierce):
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00071778/00019/7x?vo=13&vp=1939,1164 &
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lake+Pierce,+Florida/@27.9611998,-81.5372981,423m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x88dd0a7cf3be1503:0xd61164e37024e69Tufts Archives Lake Pierce routing:
http://tuftsarchives.com/vex/vex1/images/3A8A9AAE-5C4C-4CF0-9AF0-850377169780.jpg &
http://tuftsarchives.com/vex/vex1/85B025F3-751A-4470-92CC-426027245280.htm So now that Lake Pierce has been proven to be a Donald Ross course that was actually built and is not Lake Wales CC, the Seth Raynor evidence for Lake Wales CC is below. Also, there has been no documentation pointing to Ross having any involvement with Lake Wales CC.
First are the newspaper articles from late 1924 & early 1925 that attribute the course to Seth Raynor.
St. Petersburg Evening Independent 3/29/24
Tampa Tribune 6/5/24
10/8/24
Tampa Tribune 10/9/24
11/26/24
12/10/24
12/31/24
1/7/25
1/14/25
Tampa Tribune 1/26/25
1/28/25
Tampa Tribune 1/28/25
2/4/25
The Palm Beach Post 2/10/25
The above newspaper articles state nine holes have been opened for play, are in first class condition, and the other nine are laid out ready for construction later this summer/next summer. The 1925, 26, 27 and 30/31 American Annual Golf Guides list the golf course as 18 holes.
As for the construction of the back nine…the 1941 aerial below shows an 18-hole golf course. Now when exactly the second 9 holes were added is something I haven't been able to find, but it wouldn't surprise me if the second 9 holes were built using Raynor's plans (I think he probably passed away before the second 9 holes were finished).
1941 aerial:
http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00071778/00019/9x?vo=32&vp=1325,22432014 aerial:
https://www.google.com/maps/@27.8985965,-81.5392005,846m/data=!3m1!1e3In the southeastern corner of the 1941 aerial there is a Biarritz hole and this happens to be the one hole that doesn't follow the same routing as the 2014 routing. I also doubt the current greens & bunkering have any resemblance to anything Raynor originally built. As for template holes I can make out what appears to be Biarritz & Cape holes, and a possible Redan, do you see any other template holes, if so please share your thoughts.
Some old pictures from the course (dates unknown).
Here are some better pictures of the clubhouse, which were taken in 1926
A 1950's images of women putting
Big thanks to Scott Edwards for helping me with my Florida golf history investigations.
Edit 6/22/17 : 1925 magazine Suniland - Advertisement that shows guys playing Lake Wales Municipal Golf Course (not sure what hole this would have been)