Donald Ross' best holes with 1 or fewer bunkers

[Jaeger Kovich]

I've been looking through my photo archives, google earth and Ran's great photo tours, but I'm struggling to find many examples of Donald Ross courses with holes that have 1 or 0 bunkers.


Can anyone name some of his best holes that meet this criteria?


Oyster Habors 11 - 0 bunkers
Knickerbocker 15 - 1 bunker
Roaring Gap 7, 10, 11 - 0, 0, 1 bunker
Weston 7, 8, 9 - 1, 1, 0 bunkers




None of these courses seem to work from I can tell: Mountain Ridge, Glens Falls, Essex County, Oakland Hills, Aronimink, Seminole, Pinehurst 2, Mid-Pines, Plainfield, Holston Hills, Whitensville...

[Paul Jones]

12th hole at Bald Peak Colony

[Dan_Callahan]

The 4th hole at Concord CC is one of my favorite holes anywhere and it has no bunkers.

[Mark Jackson]

No. 7 at Inverness - Challenging enough with the creek and uphill approach. Probably my favorite bunkerless Ross hole.

[Brad Lawrence]

No. 7 at Inverness - Challenging enough with the creek and uphill approach. Probably my favorite bunkerless Ross hole.

Beat me to it. 


I’ll add a sleeper.  17 at Danville Golf Club.  Uphill all the way. The hole plays long with a blind approach if you can’t hit a hook off the tee.

[Ted Sirbaugh]

The 7th hole at Timuquana has one bunker (greenside) is among the best holes on the course.


Haven't played Brae Burn, but I've heard good things about the bunkerless 7th.

[Jaeger Kovich]

Thanks guys!

[Dan_Callahan]

Here’s another: the 1st hole at the Orchards doesn’t have any bunkers. It’s a challenging opener, with a creek that crosses the fairway forcing you to think about what club to hit on your very first shot.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Haven't played Brae Burn, but I've heard good things about the bunkerless 7th.

Good call. With the creek it doesn't need a bunker.
I can only think of one bunker at Raleigh 11.

[V. Kmetz]

I know the original post said "best"...but there's three at Siwanoy... the 5th, 12th and 14th that have one (12 has none)... they are all good golf holes...all have had many iterations (bunker-wise) and these are Mike Devries' iteration. A quick look at the historical Westchester aerials from 1925-26 could tell a diff Ross story.

[Ira Fishman]

Hope Valley 16 has no bunkers. The dogleg is too severe for me, but the green site is really good.


Ira

[Carl Johnson]

Not sure what qualifies as a Donald Ross hole or one of his best.  But no. 16 at Carolina GC in Charlotte has no bunkers.  Did it have a bunker when originally built by Ross?  Presumably not, because when Kris Spence restored this hole in 2007/2008 he tried to put back all the old bunkers on the course and he did not put one here.  No bunker since I joined in 1995.  It's a par 3, a little down hill and across a stream in front of the green, and can play from about 135 to 225.  During pro or high level amateur tournament play it usually comes out as second or third most difficult hole on the course in relation to par.  On the other hand, for reasons not clear to me, Brad Klein has said he doesn't "get" the green, which has had any number of reconfigurations since the Ross build in 1929.

[Tim Martin]

Here’s another: the 1st hole at the Orchards doesn’t have any bunkers. It’s a challenging opener, with a creek that crosses the fairway forcing you to think about what club to hit on your very first shot.

The par 3 10th also has no bunkers.

[Matt Kardash]

.

[Adam G]

The 12th at Franklin Park Municipal (aka William J. Devine) has one bunker, a greenside bunker from which Ross drew the fill for the green. A wonderfully natural uphill hole, and the lore is that Bobby Jones played it repeatedly to practice and named it as one of his favorite par 4s. (Ross redesigned a 9 hole course into the current 18; correct me if I am wrong but I believe 12 is a Ross original.)

[Ira Fishman]

Come to think of it, Hope Valley 11 has only one bunker. Mr. Hogan named it one of the best holes on the tour, but that was before they piped the stream under the fairway. It still is a wonderful hole. Slight dogleg right and very severe uphill second shot. The sole bunker is left of the green which is the natural miss given the upward angle to the green.


Ira

[Phil Burr]

#3 at Hyannisport is a pretty good cape with one bunker greenside.  Longmeadow CC is an oft-overlooked but excellent Ross course where #6 (1 bunker) and #17 (none) are two of the most memorable holes.

[Ronald Montesano]

CCBuffalo has no candidates.
In Rochester, Monroe, Irondquoit, Oak Hill East fall short.


CCRochester (par 3 and par 4 holes) and Oak Hill West (par 4-#10?) have candidates.

[archie_struthers]

 




now that's some good info for Jaeger....well done

[Mike Hendren]

Not necessarily the "best" but perhaps "unique:" 



The 8th at French Lick Hill Course (1 fairway bunker)
The quarry and dell holes at Lulu (both bunkerless)


Mike

[Ben Hollerbach]

what about Foxy at Royal Dornoch? does that count as a Ross?


0 bunker holes:
17th Biltmore Forest
4th Oakley
7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 15th, & 18th Highlands


1 bunker holes:
1st Mimosa Hills
4th Sedgefield

[Matt Frey, PGA]

A few more that I appreciate:

Maketewah - No. 8 (Par 4)
York - No. 16 (Par 4)
Steel Club, Hill Nine - No. 4 (Par 4)
Steel Club, Hill Nine - No. 5 (Par 3)

[mark chalfant]

Franklin Hills,MI 10th 450 yards.  Many large moguls border the fairway and the green here has splendid contours.




I wonder if Worcester CC has a hole that qualifies?

[Kye Goalby]

Misquamicut #1,8,9 zero bunkers
Misquamicut #6 one bunker

[Jim Sherma]

A few more that I appreciate:

Maketewah - No. 8 (Par 4)
York - No. 16 (Par 4)
Steel Club, Hill Nine - No. 4 (Par 4)
Steel Club, Hill Nine - No. 5 (Par 3)

Matt - Historic Aerials has 3 bunkers on the Hill #5 as of 1962 - Numbers 4 and 6 did not have any at that point. The Hill is a great stretch of holes from 1-8, 9 never did much for me. I always thought it was the best stretch in the Lehigh Valley.