SELFLESS LOVE

#2 as “the fairest test of championship golf I have ever designed”. The course evolved with Ross finetuning it over the years to include the groundbreaking transition from rolled clay and oiled sand to Bermuda grass for the putting surfaces just in time for the 1935 PGA Championship. Always the innovator, he established Pinehurst’s Maniac Hill, where golfers could take lessons and practice their shots under the watchful eye of the instructor, whereas previously golfers had always received playing lessons on the actual course.

After years of experimentation, he eventually started what would become a thriving design business known as Donald J. Ross and Associates in 1910, which would employ thousands in its heyday. His winter office was in Pinehurst and his primary summer office was in Little Compton, Rhode Island, although he had affiliate offices in North Amherst, Massachusetts, and Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. According to the Donald Ross Society, he designed 413 courses in North America, more than 40 of them in North Carolina alone, for a total of 31 states and four Canadian provinces. He was known for creating a challenging course without gimmicks, designing each hole to be playable for beginners but difficult enough for the greats. His trademarks included the crowned or “turtleback” greens, great routings, switchbacks, diagonal hazards, and creative greens complex designs. In short, he was known for creating courses with playability and challenge in mind.

In addition to Pinehurst, some of Ross’s more notable courses include Aronomink Golf Club near Philadelphia, PA; East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta; Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, FL; Oak Hill Country Club near Rochester, NY; Glen View Club near Chicago; Memphis Country Club; Inverness Club in Toledo; Miami Biltmore Golf Course; and Oakland Hills Country Club near Detroit. Of all his designs, Pinehurst #2 was considered his best work, and he continued to perfect it until his death. It has hosted three U.S. Open championships, one U.S. Women’s Open, three U.S. Amateur Championships, 1 PGA Championship, and the Ryder’s Cup. #2 is consistently ranked one of the top courses in North Carolina and among the very best in the entire United States.

Fittingly, Ross lived in a home of his own design, named Dornoch Cottage, located behind the third hole of #2 where he also raised championship roses in his spare time. And as if he wasn’t busy enough, for 27 years until his death in 1948, he owned one of Pinehurst’s landmarks and still favorite watering hole, the Pine Crest Inn.

Because of his brilliance as a designer and the sheer number of courses he designed, many people are unaware that Mr. Ross was himself a talented golfer. He won the North & South Open in 1903, 1905, and 1906 and the Massachusetts Open in 1905 and 1911. Most notably, he placed fifth in the 1903 U.S. Open and eight in the British Open in 1910. Apparently, Donald wasn’t the only one in his family with golf prowess; one of his three brothers, Alex, actually won the 1907 U.S. Open! In addition to his achievements as a player, Ross was a founding member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects formed at Pinehurst in 1947, with the organization’s highest honor bearing his name. He was also admitted posthumously to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1977, a high honor rarely given for anything other than playing success. Golf most certainly did not fail him.

As for his personal life, Ross married twice, first to Janet Conchie whom he met in Dornoch one summer and later married in 1904, and two years after her passing in 1922, he wed Florence Blackington from Little Compton, RI. He had one daughter, Lillian, with Janet. Lillian Ross Pippitt died in 2000 at the age of 91. Donald passed away at the age of 75 in Pinehurst. As so aptly put by The Donald Ross Society, golfers have a more interesting game to play thanks to the genius and legacy of this pioneering Scotsman.

Oh, and as for not having a street in Florida named after him, many people would vehemently argue this fact, myself included before my research for this article. Donald Ross Road, which runs from Juno

"When I was a young man in Scotland, I read about the American businessman absorbed in making money. I knew the day would come when the American businessman would relax and want some game to play, and I knew that game would be golf. I read about the start of golf in the United States and knew there would be a great future in it, so I learned all I could about the game: teaching, playing, club-making, greenkeeping, and course construction. And then I came to America to grow up with a game in which I had complete confidence. Golf has never failed me."— Donald Ross

Beach to Palm Beach Gardens in the Sunshine State, is NOT named after Donald J. Ross, renowned golf course architect. Nope, it’s named for Lieutenant Donald Alexander Ross of Kelsey City (now Lake Park), Florida, a World War II hero who received the Silver Star before dying in action at the age of 24. I solemnly salute the lieutenant for whom this road is really named. However, after a little more investigation, I discovered one elsewhere – Donald Ross Drive in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Something tells me the architect would approve.

Golf Course by Donald Ross