The Master Architect

Discover theTimeless Geniusof Donald Ross

Explore legendary course designs, plan your perfect Ross pilgrimage, and track your journey through America's golden age of golf architecture.

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Year Legacy
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Latest Updates

News from Ross Courses

OWNERSHIPSep 23, 2026

Closed since 2024, the former Cheraw Country Club is listed for sale

Cheraw Country ClubPermanently Closed

Cheraw Country Club — a course with Donald Ross work that opened in 1924 and closed in 2024, the last 15 years as Moree's Cheraw Country Club — is listed for sale at $995,000. The Donald Ross Society records Ross work at Cheraw in 1924 and 1939; the sale listing attributes the front nine to Ross, and how the two phases map onto today's 18 holes isn't publicly documented. The 172-acre property, across from Cheraw State Park, includes the 18-hole course, an approximately 10,000-square-foot clubhouse and four ponds. According to the listing, the course shows about two years of overgrowth and deferred maintenance, but its corridors, fairways, greens and irrigation remain in place. Suggested uses range from golf restoration to hospitality, residential development and an RV resort.

RENOVATIONSep 22, 2026

6th green complex being redone this off-season

Newton Commonwealth Golf Course

The club announced that the 6th green complex is getting a “redo” over fall and winter 2026–27. No architect, scope or completion date has been announced. The present green, known for its long camel-back contour, is itself a 1990s rebuild on a moved site rather than Ross’s original.

RENOVATIONSep 18, 2026

The Thompson Nine opens; St. Charles returns to 27 holes

St. Charles Country Club

St. Charles officially opened the Thompson Nine on September 18, 2026 with a ribbon-cutting and ceremonial first tee shots, returning the club to 27 holes and completing a five-year renovation and restoration program. The rebuilt nine — Riley Johns and Keith Rhebb’s par-35 homage to Stanley Thompson on the former Woods nine — joins the restored Ross (2024) and MacKenzie (2023) nines.

CLOSINGSep 15, 2026

Stryker Golf Course Set to Close September 30

Stryker Golf Course at Fort Bragg

Fort Bragg’s MWR directorate confirmed Stryker will close September 30, 2026, citing sustained financial losses and aging infrastructure — roughly $750,000 a year to maintain — with golf consolidating at the on-post Ryder course. The driving range and clubhouse concessionaire are slated to stay open while the Army studies the land’s future. A Change.org petition started in July by Elle Rio, backed by veterans and military families, urges the Army to halt the closure of the 1946 Donald Ross design.

EVENTAug 30, 2026

Scheffler wins 2026 TOUR Championship in first level-starts finale

East Lake Golf Club

Scottie Scheffler won on 16-under 264, three clear of Viktor Hovland, for his second FedExCup. It was the first TOUR Championship played without starting strokes, with all 30 players beginning at even par. East Lake hosts again in 2027 before the finale moves to rotating venues in 2028.

PGA TOUR
EVENTAug 24, 2026

Wider corridors for the 2026 TOUR Championship setup

East Lake Golf Club

East Lake was set up with 29 acres of fairway for the 2026 TOUR Championship, up from 24 in 2023, with rough cut back from 90 acres to 70. The wider corridors are intended to create more risk/reward decisions, building on Andrew Green's 2023–24 restoration, which rebuilt every tee, green and bunker while keeping Ross's routing.

Athlon Sports
NEWSAug 23, 2026

Storms cost the arboretum course more than 100 mature trees

Ravisloe Country Club

Ravisloe — the first golf course accredited as an arboretum by the Morton Register of Arboreta, which it received in June 2022 — lost more than 100 mature trees in a July 27, 2026 tornado that hit Homewood, plus roughly 10 more in an August 11, 2026 storm. Owner Claude Gendreau called the damage “pretty grim” and pledged to restore the tree population. The second storm came two days after the club’s 125th-anniversary celebration on August 9. The property carried more than 3,000 trees before the storms.

EVENTAug 4, 2026

Hosted the Pennsylvania Senior Amateur Championship

Berkshire Country Club

Rick Stimmel won by one stroke over Neil Gordon in the 36-hole stroke-play event for golfers 55+.

Amateur Golf
EVENTAug 4, 2026

Club will host the Massachusetts Open in 2028

Pocasset Golf Club

Mass Golf named Pocasset host of the 118th Massachusetts Open — the club’s first time staging the state open, and the payoff of a restoration program that recently reconstructed every bunker and tee, enhanced numerous green sites, and installed new irrigation (2025), with a range renovation underway and a new short-game area due by the 2027 season. The club has hosted seven Mass Golf championships since 1978.

Mass Golf
EVENTAug 2, 2026

Michael Thorbjornsen wins the final Rocket Classic at 18 under

Detroit Golf Club - North

- Thorbjornsen closed at 18-under 262 for a two-shot win and his first PGA Tour title in the tournament's final edition - First competitive test of the restored course: played as par 70 at 7,328 yards — a composite in which a 494-yard par-4 second hole replaces the North's par-5 2nd ("Freight Train") and the 505-yard 5th plays as a par 4 - Scoring stayed low despite the changes — multiple 61s, including Cameron Young - Post-restoration member card confirmed via the club's course tour: par 72 (73 forward) at 7,104 yards from the Gold tees

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The Master Architect

Who Was Donald Ross?

Donald James Ross (1872–1948) was a Scottish-American golf course architect who designed over 400 courses in the United States. His designs are known for their strategic bunkering, subtle green complexes, and timeless playability.

Born in Dornoch, Scotland, Ross apprenticed under Old Tom Morris at St Andrews before emigrating to America in 1899. His masterpiece, Pinehurst No. 2, has hosted multiple major championships.

Learn More About Donald Ross
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Years of Legacy
The Term Explained

What are “Greens Visited”?

The term “Greens Visited” is often associated with the designs of legendary architect Donald Ross and particularly the famous crowned or “turtle-back” greens at courses like Pinehurst No. 2.

For Ross enthusiasts, the term describes a shot that lands on the green but does not come to rest on the green due to the severe slopes and contours of the putting surface. The ball might roll off into collection areas or bunkers, even if the initial shot was well-struck and on target. This design philosophy demands extreme precision; a seemingly good shot “visits” the green but is quickly repelled, leaving a challenging recovery shot.

A testament to Ross's belief that golf should reward precision over power, where even a well-played shot demands respect for the green's subtle complexities.