He gets credit for improving some of them, that's for sure.

Funny you should mention...  just today in another forum, a poster made mention of a Donald Ross in Cincinnati - the Maketewah CC.

I hadn't heard of it so I checked out their website where it is revealed that it was originally laid out by Bendelow (1910), then subsequently "redesigned and refined" by Ross.

Tom

Why would Bendelow care.  He takes double credit for many courses including two that I am a member.  LCCC and Cross Roads....Quail Creek and Robinson.  Who knows how many more are out there as two names one course.  Don't even think about two something and one another.

Tyler,
I think we should care.

Credit should be given where due.

Palma Ceia C.C. in Tampa is another example.  Bendelow original and then i believe Ross rerouted, but it seems 9 out of 10 times credited to Ross.  If you Google it the first site credits Bendelow and the second Ross.

At Rosedale, in Toronto, Ross was brought in to rebuild 14 greens. He made improvements to the routing too, but it's still a Bendelow routing and he gets no credit.

Your friend at the Dunvegan might have been thinking of East Lake.

It is usually referred to as being by Ross, but EL is technically a Ross remodel of a Bendelow course. Ross' redo however rerouted virtually the whole thing. He built a completely different course.

EL is a good test case for how attributions ought to be given. When a remodel is as extensive as the one Ross did at EL, I think attribution ought to be given to Ross, with a note that there was a prior routing by Bendelow.

To Mike Young's point above, he is correct. And that there is no record that Ross ever worked on those courses doesn't seem to bother the clubs in the least.

Bob

Bendelow routed the original course at Skokie CC which Ross later redesigned in the teens.  In 1939 Langford added several new holes and redesigned several others.  It is now considered a composite Ross Langford course with no credit for Bendelow.

Bendelow was a transitional figure who initially laid out primitive starter courses (for lack of a better term) that were routed in a day by placing stakes in the location of the tees, hazards and greens with instructions provided as to how to complete the work.  Later, probably while employed with American Park Builders, his work evolved and involved detailed architectural drawings and supervision of construction.  In the teens and 20's he was widely cvonsidered an expert on turf and agronomy issues and lectured on such issues at the University of Illinois.  

The best preserved example of an early Bendelow I am aware of is Tuscumbia in Green Lake, Wisconsin and I think the original course at Medinah (not #3) is fairly well preserved as well.  

Anyone wanting to know more about Bendelow should pick up Stewart Bendelow's biography in which one can find a drawing of the original routing plan at Medinah.

Isn't this kind of like branding? Ross' renovation work ran the gamut, from total re-routing and design to much less invasive work depending on the quality of the original course. Many of the courses mentioned in this thread should more accurately be labeled as Bendelow/Ross designs, however, the name Donald Ross became synonymous with quality, namely because his courses were hosting lots of major championships (professional & amateur) from the 1920's to present, while those of Tom Bendelow were not.

People recognized the Ross brand, and I think a lot of clubs where Ross worked in any capacity, grabbed onto the name over the years to associate themselves with a well-known master. The Ross name got slapped onto promotional material, scorecards, hats etc., and likely sold a few memberships along the way. A lot of it is probably attributable to marketing as opposed to actual accreditation.

TK