Wilmington NC -- yes, there really is a Ross under $40!

[Robert Kimball]

I just submitted a story for Triad Golf magazine about N.C. coastal golf. One of the featured courses is the Wilmington Municipal Golf Course. The locals call it “the MUNI.”

As part of the assignment, I had the pleasure of talking with John Fought, who oversaw the restoration. He couldn’t have been prouder of the achievements his team, along with head pro and GM David Donovan, made in the span of about a year. The course was built in 1925 with sand greens (not uncommon in the South during that period), when the irrigation finally came in around the early 1950’s Ross was already dead and never got to see his actual greens come to fruition.

With the help of the original drawings and routing, the team has fully restored the Ross greens and redid the bunkers. It took some work convincing the city of Wilmington that this was a project worth doing, but once they got the funding passed, the results were wonderful. Fought and his team also did the restoration at Pine Needles just down the road back in 2004.


Anyone traveling to this area of NC this summer would do well to take a stop at the MUNI and play a “real” Donald Ross for around $40. Heck, even if you are at Myrtle Beach or Sunset, it’s worth a day trip.

Some before/after eye candy:

#7 before




#7 now




# 8 before



#8 now



#12 before



#12 now



#18 before



#18 now

[Jason Thurman]

Wow Rob. Those photos really do look great.

You say that Fought and Donovan's team restored the Ross greens, but also say that the greens were still sand when Ross died. Did Ross' original plans include diagrams for grass greens? Or did they simply restore the greens to the shape and contour of the original sand greens, but with turf? All the sand greens I've ever played on (all five of them...) were flat circles or squares, and it sounds like that's how most sand greens are today. Some early photos of Pinehurst show sand greens that appear to have contour and more interesting perimeter margins. Was that also the case at Wilmington?

[Robert Kimball]

Yes, from what I gathered, they were sand greens for most of the time that Ross was alive because they didn't have irrigation installed. When they finally had the irrigation, Ross wasn't around anymore, so they just converted the round sand greens into basically round grass greens -- which lasted throughout.

Fought said that he could definitely tell the Ross routing was there, but the green complexes needed reworking to his original specs. I believe the original layout and specs are on display in the pro shop. I haven't had a chance to visit (yet). It's on my list as I make my way across the state.

-- Rob 

[A.G._Crockett]

I'll play there in late July, and really looking forward to it.  I've seen the Muni before and after the Prichard work on the bunkers a number of years ago, and I'm excited to see what John Fought has done.  My college roommate plays there and was intensely interested in the process; he was impressed with how much site time Fought himself spent.  He is also very pleased with the outcome.

[Robert Kimball]

Have fun A.G. -- Fought said he spent plenty of time there.  He said he hears from a lot of "Ross Guys" and they are all very happy and supportive.