Donald James Ross (November 23, 1872 – April 26, 1948) was a
golf course designer
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...
. He was born in
Dornoch
Dornoch (; gd, Dòrnach ; sco, Dornach) is a town, seaside resort, parish and former royal burgh in the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies on the north shore of the Dornoch Firth, near to where it opens into the Moray ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, but became a citizen of and spent most of his adult life in the United States. Ross started his career by being an apprentice to
Old Tom Morris
Thomas Mitchell Morris (16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908), otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, and The Grand Old Man of Golf, was a Scottish golfer. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, the "home of golf" and location of the St Andrews Links, and died ...
at
St Andrews
St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...
in Scotland around 1899.
With the help of an American
agronomy
Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...
student, fellow Scotsman Robert White from St. Andrews, Ross decided to move to America. Ross invested all his life savings to move to the United States and walked off the boat with only $2.
In America, he got his first job at
Oakley Country Club in
Watertown, Massachusetts
Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square, and the West End.
Watertown ...
. He quickly rose to the position of golf professional at
Pinehurst Resort
Pinehurst Resort is a golf resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina in the United States. It has hosted a number of prestigious golf tournaments including three U.S. Open Championships, one U.S. Women's Open, three U.S. Amateur Championships, one ...
in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, where he began his course designing career.
Work
Ross learned several skills related to golf throughout his life such as greens keeping, club making, golf pro, and architect.
Ross got his first job at the
Royal Dornoch Golf Club
Royal Dornoch Golf Club is a golf club in Dornoch, Sutherland, Scotland. It is generally referred to as Royal Dornoch. The club has two 18-hole courses: the Championship Course and the Struie Course. The older Championship Course is a links cou ...
, where he played while growing up, working as a greens keeper.
Ross served an apprenticeship with
Old Tom Morris
Thomas Mitchell Morris (16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908), otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, and The Grand Old Man of Golf, was a Scottish golfer. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, the "home of golf" and location of the St Andrews Links, and died ...
in
St Andrews
St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...
before investing his life savings in a trip to the U.S. After his year long apprenticeship he went back to the
Royal Dornoch Golf Club
Royal Dornoch Golf Club is a golf club in Dornoch, Sutherland, Scotland. It is generally referred to as Royal Dornoch. The club has two 18-hole courses: the Championship Course and the Struie Course. The older Championship Course is a links cou ...
where he honed his playing abilities while also taking care of the greens and making clubs.
Later in 1899, with the encouragement and support of Harvard astronomy professor and Salem and Petersham, Massachusetts resident Robert W. Willson, he obtained his first job in America at
Oakley Country Club in
Watertown, Massachusetts
Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square, and the West End.
Watertown ...
. In 1900 he was appointed as the golf professional at the
Pinehurst Resort
Pinehurst Resort is a golf resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina in the United States. It has hosted a number of prestigious golf tournaments including three U.S. Open Championships, one U.S. Women's Open, three U.S. Amateur Championships, one ...
in
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, where he began his course design career and eventually designed four courses. He then began running a substantial practice with summer offices in
Little Compton, Rhode Island
Little Compton is a coastal town in Newport County, Rhode Island, bounded on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by the Sakonnet River, on the north by the town of Tiverton, and on the east by the town of Westport, Massachusetts. The pop ...
. At its height, Donald J. Ross and Associates, as his practice was known, oversaw the work of thousands of people. However, Ross always kept up his professional golf standing. His brother
Alec
Alec or Aleck is a Scottish form of the given name Alex. It may be a diminutive of the name Alexander or a given name in its own right. Notable people with the name include:
People
*Alec Aalto (1942–2018), Finnish diplomat
* Alec Acton (1938– ...
won the 1907
U.S. Open.
![Pinehurst No](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Pinehurst_No._2.JPG)
While working at the Oakley Country Club, Ross had left an impression on the president of the
Boston Athletic Association
The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) is a non-profit, running-focused, organized sports association for the Greater Boston area. The B.A.A. hosts such events as the Boston Marathon, the B.A.A. 5K, the B.A.A. 10K, the B.A.A. Half Marathon, the ...
at the time, Edward E. Babb. During an exchange in 1910 between Babb and
Joseph L. Wyckoff, a business partner of stationary maker White & Wyckoff in
Holyoke, Massachusetts, Wyckoff remarked that he wished to find a man who "really knew about the laying out a golf course" for the Mount Tom Golf Club, today known as Wyckoff Country Club. Babb introduced Wyckoff to Ross later that year, bringing him back to the course, where he suggested key changes, but was unable to prepare plans as he had just signed a two-year contract as professional for the Essex County Country Club.
Completing this contract he returned to Holyoke in 1914 where he was put up in a house built for him by Wyckoff, who as an executive committee member of the Massachusetts Golf Association, saw himself as a patron of Ross, and offered him financial backing to move from being both an architect and golf pro, to focusing his career mainly in golf course architecture.
It is unknown what duration or regularity Ross lived in Holyoke, as he travelled often, even spending time designing a course in Cuba during his tenure in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
that previous year, though a ''
Boston Herald
The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...
'' article still placed him in Holyoke in 1919.
He would work with the Mount Tom Club for many years, welcoming Holyoke neighbors visiting his winter home in Pinehurst, completing a full redesign of the Mt. Tom course by 1922, and later serving as a pallbearer for Wyckoff following his death in 1931. Ross's work in Holyoke would remain largely untouched until the construction of
I-91
Interstate 91 (I-91) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It provides the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of the region. The Interstate generally follows the course of the Connecti ...
in 1965 left only 5 fairways of his design today.
Ross's most famous designs are
Pinehurst No. 2,
Aronimink Golf Club,
East Lake Golf Club
East Lake Golf Club is a private golf club 5 miles east of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1904, it is the oldest golf course in the city. East Lake was the home course of golfer Bobby Jones and much of its clubhouse serves as a tribu ...
,
Seminole Golf Club,
Oak Hill Country Club,
Glen View Club, Memphis Country Club,
Inverness Club, Miami Biltmore Golf Course and
Oakland Hills Country Club
Oakland Hills Country Club is a private golf club in the central United States, located in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, a suburb northwest of Detroit. It consists of two 18-hole courses designed by Donald Ross: the South Course (1918) and the ...
. Although Ross was a competitive golfer, he is primarily known for his work as a course designer. In his time as a designer he is credited with roughly 400 course designs or redesigns between 1900 and 1948.
Some of his early work was in Virginia and includes Jefferson Lakeside Country Club and
Sewell's Point
Sewells Point is a peninsula of land in the independent city of Norfolk, Virginia in the United States, located at the mouth of the salt-water port of Hampton Roads. Sewells Point is bordered by water on three sides, with Willoughby Bay to th ...
Golf Course. He also designed the
Municipal Golf Course at
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...
in 1927.
Ross also designed one of Westchester, New York's best courses,
Whippoorwill Country Club, in
Armonk, New York
Armonk is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of North Castle, located in Westchester County, New York, United States.
The corporate headquarters of IBM are located in Armonk.
Geography and climate
As of the 2010 census, A ...
; however, Charles Banks was hired by Whippoorwill to redesign the course in 1928. He also designed a 9-hole course in northern New York, known as the Schroon Lake Municipal Golf Club in 1918. He designed the
Hope Valley Country Club in
Durham, North Carolina
Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
in 1927.
In the 1930s, he revolutionized greenskeeping practices in the southern United States when he oversaw the transition of the putting surfaces at Pinehurst No. 2 from oiled sand to Bermuda grass. Ross also designed the course at Sedgefield Country Club in
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...
which is home to the PGA Tour's
Wyndham Championship
The Wyndham Championship is a professional golf tournament in North Carolina on the PGA Tour. It is played annually in Greensboro and was originally the Greater Greensboro Open.
History
Founded in 1938 as the Greater Greensboro Open, it was usua ...
. Currently, Sedgefield Country Club is one of only two regular Donald Ross designs on the PGA Tour (along with Detroit Golf Club which began hosting the Rocket Mortgage Classic in 2019). Aronimink Golf Club, located in
Newtown Square, Pennsylvania
Newtown Township is a township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Prior to 1789 it was part of Chester County. The population was 12,216 as of the 2010 census, and was 19,705 as of 2017.
History
The first mention of the township was in 1684, ...
, played host to the
AT&T National
The National, originally titled for sponsorship reasons as the AT&T National and later as the Quicken Loans National, was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 2007 to 2018. It was hosted by Tiger Woods and benefited the Tiger Woods ...
in 2010 and 2011.
Ross was a founding member and first president of the
American Society of Golf Course Architects
The American Society of Golf Course Architects (abbreviated as ASGCA) is a professional organization of golf course designers in America. Founded in 1946, its members are actively involved in the design of new courses and the renovation of existi ...
, which was formed at Pinehurst in 1947.
He was admitted to the
World Golf Hall of Fame
The World Golf Hall of Fame is located at World Golf Village near St. Augustine, Florida, in the United States, and it is unusual among sports halls of fame in that a single site honors both men and women. It is supported by a consortium of 26 go ...
in 1977, a high honor rarely awarded for anything other than playing success.
Ross died while completing his final design at Raleigh Country Club in North Carolina. He is buried in Newton Cemetery in
Newton, Massachusetts
Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...
.
Design elements
What allows a Donald Ross golf course to stand out is th
design principles and elements he used He displayed great attention to detail. Often he created challenging courses with very little earth moving; according to
Jack Nicklaus
Jack William Nicklaus (born January 21, 1940), nicknamed The Golden Bear, is a retired American professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest go ...
, "His stamp as an architect was naturalness." Some of his designs include the "turtleback" greens, a Ross double plateau, and The Punchbowl.
The route the golfer had to take was an important decision Ross had to make and he favored very clear routes that would not require much walking. When he would design a par-4 hole, he favored an uphill short hole. Ross often created holes which invited run-up shots but had severe trouble at the back of the green, typically in the form of fall-away slopes.
All of these exemplify his naturalness design philosophy which did not require intense earth moving, he simply let the lay of the land dictate what each and every hole should be. Ross would go into designing a new course with the thought to "make each hole present a different problem. So arrange it that every stroke must be made with a full concentration and attention necessary to good golf. Build each hole in such a manner that it waste none of the ground at my disposal and takes advantage of every possibility I can see."
His most widely known trademark is the crowned or "turtleback" green, most famously seen on Pinehurst No. 2, though golf architecture writer Ron Whitten argued in ''
Golf Digest
''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit under its Warner Bros. Discovery Golf division. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competiti ...
'' in 2005 that the effect had become exaggerated compared to Ross's intention because greenkeeping practices at Pinehurst had raised the center of the greens.
Golfing career
Ross had a successful playing career, winning three
North and South Open
The North and South Open was one of the most prestigious professional golf tournaments in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. It was played at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, long the largest golf resort in the world, ...
s (1903, 1905, 1906) and two
Massachusetts Open
The Massachusetts Open is the Massachusetts state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by Mass Golf (formerly the Massachusetts Golf Association). It has been played annually since 1905 (except for wa ...
s (1905, 1911), and finishing fifth in the
1903 U.S. Open and eighth in the
1910 Open Championship. As his fame grew, he began to teach and play less and to focus on golf course design.
Professional wins (5)
* 1903
North and South Open
The North and South Open was one of the most prestigious professional golf tournaments in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. It was played at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, long the largest golf resort in the world, ...
* 1905
Massachusetts Open
The Massachusetts Open is the Massachusetts state open golf tournament, open to both amateur and professional golfers. It is organized by Mass Golf (formerly the Massachusetts Golf Association). It has been played annually since 1905 (except for wa ...
, North and South Open
* 1906 North and South Open
* 1911 Massachusetts Open
Results in major championships
DNP = Did not play
WD = Withdrew
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10
See also
*
List of golf courses designed by Donald Ross
References
External links
The Donald J. Ross LLCDonald Ross Society*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Donald
Scottish male golfers
Golf course architects
World Golf Hall of Fame inductees
People from Sutherland
Sportspeople from Holyoke, Massachusetts
Sportspeople from Highland (council area)
1872 births
1948 deaths