By Roseanna Smith
Communications Intern

Donald Ross is remembered as the emperor of golf course designers.

His name is associated with a kingdom of more than 400 courses — many on the list of America’s Top 100 — with characteristic short routings, crowned greens and a variety of challenges on all 18 holes. Jack Nicklaus has recognized Ross for his “naturalness” in design.

Donald Ross

But despite Ross’ many achievements, the master builder’s legacy lives on strongest at the Pinehurst resort in North Carolina. Ross designed and rebuilt the four courses, and replaced the oiled sand putting greens with Bermuda grass.

His career project and best-known work, Pinehurst No. 2 was reportedly done freehand. Ellis Maples, the eldest son of greenskeeper Frank who worked with Ross at Pinehurst, said the pair “didn’t have a single blueprint.”

Ross built the first nine holes of Pinehurst No. 2 in 1901 and five years later finished the course. In its long history, the course has served as host to the U.S. Open (1999, 2005), U.S. Senior Open (1994), TOUR Championship (1991-92), Ryder Cup (1951), and North-South Amateur (1901-present). The course is best known for its turtle-shell greens and tricky play, fine-tuned by Ross consistently throughout his career.

“I am firmly of the opinion that the leading professionals and golfers of every caliber, for many years to come, will find in the No. 2 course the fairest yet most exacting test of their game,” Ross said.

In fact, Ross so loved the challenge of the No. 2 course that he toasted his masterpiece at a 1930s dinner.

“It has been my good fortune to bring happiness to many men – and great trouble to many men,” he said.

Some historians have noted that Ross spent so much time on the Pinehurst No. 2 course as a statement to being snubbed by Bobby Jones – who passed over Ross in the commissioning of the Augusta National Course. Jones wanted to play a major role in the design, and was reported to have thought that Ross would not allow such intervention.

Ross grew up in Dornoch, Scotland, where he worked as an apprentice greenskeeper and clubmaker. He spent a year working at St. Andrews before beginning work at the Royal Dornoch course in 1893. On a trip to Scotland, Harvard professor Robert Wilson played the Royal Dornoch course and was so impressed with the young Ross that he made arrangements for his immigration to America.

In 1899, Ross reportedly arrived in Boston with $2. He did, however, have a job waiting in Watertown, Mass., at Oakley Country Club. As fate would have it, the next summer Ross was commissioned by James Walker Tufts to rejuvenate the Pinehurst course, where Ross lived in a cottage behind the No. 3 green until his death in 1948.

Ross was a fine player for a time, participating in four U.S. Open tournaments and winning three North-South Opens and two Massachusetts Opens. Ross tied for fifth in the 1903 Open, and never carried more than six clubs in his golf bag.

Ultimately, however, Ross was a designer at heart. At the height of his career in the 1920s, Ross employed over 3,000 workers in different regions but the effects of World War II and the depression were lasting. Still, jewels of the Ross Empire stand among Pinehurst as the best including: Seminole Golf Club (Florida), Oakland Hills Country Club (Michigan), Plainfield Country Club (Rhode Island), Oak Hill Country Club (New York) and Interlachen Country Club (Minnesota).

Ross is remembered today in many forms – primarily by the Donald Ross Society founded in 1989 to honor his designs. An annual cocktail party is held to commemorate his life and the society has over 1200 members. ‘The American Society of Golf Course Architects even hosted its 50th anniversary at Pinehurst, a celebration where Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus and Rees Jones gathered.

The cottage where Ross lived also serves as the unofficial museum of Ross’ life. Current owners Wayne Ashby and his wife Jo serve as caretakers of Ross’ Pinehurst legacy. They have collected memorabilia and re-designed the “Ross Room” where Donald Ross used to work on his design according to photographs of the time.

“I guess he has become a big part of our lives and I’m glad,” Wayne Ashby said.