Five Courses Added to the Official List
of Donald Ross
Designed Golf Courses
By
Michael J. Fay
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By
Michael J. Fay
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Five courses previously unlisted as Donald J. Ross designed golf courses on this web site have been recognized as Ross designs. They are: Jekyl Island Golf Club Brunswick, GA — We have been shown evidence that Mr. Ross visited Jekyl Island in Georgia in 1909 at the behest of developer J. B. High. Mr. High requested that Mr. Ross submit a layout for an eighteen hole golf course. He did and it was accepted by Mr. High. The layout matches an early aerial shot taken of Jekyl Island. We have no information on who exactly built the Jekyl Island course but Mr. Ross accepted a fee of $ 105.00 for his trip. At least nine holes of the original Ross course have been abandoned and the remaining nine may well have been incorporated into a later design by Walter Travis. Jeffersonville Golf Club, Jeffersonville Pennsylvania- Evidence has been developed that this municipal course was designed and built under the auspices of Donald J. Ross and Associates in the late 1920’s-early 1930’s. It may well have been wholly the work of Ross Associate, J.B. McGovern but was advertised in a Philadelphia newspaper as a D.J. Ross and Associates work. Ron Prichard, Ross restoration specialist says there are numerous unmistakable Ross features that he saw during a recent restoration of Jeffersonville. Country Club of Asheboro, Asheboro, NC- This little nine-hole gem was built during the Depression, most probably a WPA project. The course still exists and is a wonderful little layout. CC of Asheboro has long been touted locally as a Ross course and recently
the Director of Parks on Asheboro found the original course routing map,
which currently resides on the wall of his office. | |||
DuPont Country
Club, Wilmington, Delaware- Sandy Stoddart, a member of the Donald Ross
Society and the Jefferson-Lakeside Club in Richmond, VA presented Its’ fate was sealed in the late 40’s when the DuPont Company needed the property for a new testing facility. Longboat Key Club, Sarasota, FL- Long-time Ross Society member Barry Stulburg of Michigan has a home in Sarasota and is a member of the Longboat Key Club. When he heard rumor that Longboat Key Club had a Donald Ross designed golf course, he went digging. He came up with newspaper articles from 1922-3 that described the arrival of Mr. Ross and showed the plans that Mr. Ross drew for the Longboat Key Club. The course was built in 1922-3 according to the plan. It was a stunning eighteen-hole affair built on property adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico. This sealed its fate. The developer apparently plowed the course up to reclaim his best waterside lots and the course is not referred to after 1925. Another amendment to the list is that the Hawthorne Valley Country Club (previously Brightmoor Country Club) in Dearborn, MI has been incorrectly marked as closed. I am assured by numerous members that the course is still confounding Dearborn golfers. Two other courses are being currently researched Sewell’s Point in Virginia and the Lake Lure golf course in Lake Lure, NC. If you have any information on these two courses or any other course you might think a Ross course please email me at mjf2349@earthlink.net. Information on these courses and most other Ross designed courses can be found at the Tufts Archives in Pinehurst, NC. If you have questions email them to tuftsarchives@earthlink.net. Michael J. Fay
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