Fort Bragg’s population and recreational footprint expanded rapidly during and after World War II. In that context, the Army commissioned Donald Ross to design a full-length course on land fronting Bragg Boulevard; Stryker opened in 1946. The routing read like an accessible, soldier-friendly test: simple walks between greens and tees, a mix of short and long two-shotters, and a par-72 tally that relied on angles more than raw yardage. Unlike Ross’s high-profile resort work elsewhere in the Sandhills, Stryker was conceived as a durable community course—built for heavy rounds and straightforward upkeep.
Documentation of post-opening architect visits is thin in publicly available sources. There is no published evidence of a multi-phase Ross return after 1946, and no surviving plan set is publicly posted that would allow a granular year-by-year comparison of bunkering or mowing lines. What is well attested is the course’s continuous military-community role across the post-war decades—hosting on-post club championships and service competitions and functioning as a public gateway to the post’s golf program alongside the separate Ryder Course.
From 2023 onward, local government and installation officials debated the possibility of repurposing all or part of Stryker’s land—first as a site for a new E.E. Smith High School and later as a broader “entertainment hub.” County commissioners ultimately voted in October 2024 against the high-school-on-Stryker proposal, and by mid-2025 the installation was studying alternative non-school concepts. Throughout these discussions, the Army’s MWR operation continued to publish Stryker’s hours and to run tournaments, indicating that, operationally, the facility remained active.
Unique Design Characteristics
Routing and water use. Stryker’s routing turns frequently across modest rolls and sandy soils typical of the Fayetteville edge of the Sandhills. The course uses water sparingly; contemporary descriptions consistently note that only one hole brings a significant water hazard into play. This keeps the round moving and reinforces ground access into many targets.
Scale and angles rather than forced carries. From the back tees Stryker measures in the mid-6,600s, but the scoring resistance comes from position: diagonal bunkers nip at preferred landing lines and several greens are set on mild shoulders or plateaus that push indifferent approaches into short-grass fall-offs. The fourth hole is regularly cited as a local hallmark, stretching beyond 600 yards from the tips; it illustrates how the course tests placement on shot two to earn a clean angle into the green rather than penalizing indiscriminately with hazards.
Green character. Reports and local write-ups emphasize “undulating” or “tilting” greens instead of severe tiers. The putting surfaces are not large by modern standards, and their interest tends to be perimeter-driven—edges that fall away, front-to-back pitches, and short-grass surrounds that reward low-running recoveries when conditions are firm.
Walkability and cadence. Stryker’s connective tissue—short green-to-tee walks, clear visuals, and modest elevation changes—reflects its original mandate to serve a large population with varied golf experience. It is an “every-day” loop built for repetition: military leagues, weekend scrambles, and service championships can all be staged without elaborate setup.
With limited publicly available hole-by-hole architectural documentation, the clearest surviving “Ross tells” at Stryker are thus expressed at the scale of routing cadence and target placement rather than in signature, high-relief features: the long, strategic par-five at the fourth; the prevalence of diagonal fairway bunkering; and green pads that defend by tilt and contour instead of water.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s catalogue, Stryker is significant as a late-career, post-war commission specifically for a U.S. Army installation—one of the few Ross designs built primarily to serve an active-duty community. It extends the geography of his Sandhills work beyond the Pinehurst/Southern Pines core and demonstrates how his strategic vocabulary translated to a high-volume, public-facing military facility. Stryker also holds local sporting significance: it has been a venue for on-post championships, points-race events, and service competitions, and it is closely associated with the Floyd family—L.B. Floyd long served as professional at Stryker, and his children, future PGA Tour great Raymond Floyd and LPGA player Marlene Floyd, learned the game there. That lineage ties the everyday military course to national professional golf history.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing and “bones.” Available evidence suggests that the routing and hole directions remain substantially those of the 1946 plan, though tree growth and later maintenance practices have narrowed some corridors relative to mid-century conditions. The one-water-hole identity persists, reinforcing the course’s original angle-first character.
Bunkers and greens. Stryker’s bunkering has been rebuilt and re-edged over time to meet maintenance standards; without a publicly accessible Ross plan set, it is difficult to quantify which individual bunkers occupy original footprints versus later, maintenance-driven adjustments. The greens exhibit the expected wear of a heavily played community course; contemporary descriptions emphasize functional undulation, and there is no public record of a comprehensive, architect-led green reconstruction campaign that would have erased original pads wholesale.
Facilities and operations. The Army’s MWR pages continue to list Stryker’s hours and programming, and the installation schedules shared championships across Stryker and Ryder. In parallel, civic discussions about alternative land uses have been active since 2024, but the golf operation has remained open. For architectural integrity, the most pressing variables are corridor width (tree management), mowing lines around greens and fairways (to preserve short-grass recovery options), and bunker placement relative to contemporary driving zones.
What is preserved vs. altered or lost.
Preserved: the essential 18-hole routing; the angle-driven par-five/four cadence that defines scoring; the minimal-water identity.
Altered: corridor width via tree growth; bunker construction details and edges; minor recentering of hazards to suit maintenance and traffic.
Unclear/needs primary verification: exact original bunker counts/placements; detailed green-pad perimeters and where edges may have contracted due to decades of mowing-line drift; any Ross-era construction correspondence that would reveal intended mowing widths.
Sources & Notes
Fort Bragg/Liberty MWR — Golf (facility pages and hours). Confirms current operation of Stryker, public access context, and basic facility description.
Public course directories / tourism listings (architect attribution, opening date, yardage, par). Multiple independent listings attribute Stryker to Donald J. Ross with an opening year of 1946, par 72, and ~6,625–6,641 yards. Use as secondary corroboration only; primary verification would require club/Army files or Ross office records.
Local features and hole notes (one water hole; 600-plus yard fourth). Useful for present-day character and specific hole reference.
• “Fayetteville Insider’s Golf Knowledge” (tourism blog, Apr. 2021).
On-post tournaments and operations (recent years). Establishes continuing competitive role and shared usage with Ryder Course.
• Fort Bragg/Liberty MWR calendar (Annual Fort Bragg Golf Championship: Stryker & Ryder).
• Past local coverage of two-day championships at Ryder/Stryker.
Fayetteville Observer
Floyd family association and service events.
• BestOutings profile noting L.B. Floyd’s tenure and Raymond/Marlene Floyd’s connection; All-Army Tournament references.
• 1965 news clip referencing All-Army play at Stryker. CDNC
Land-use proposals (2024–25): high school siting and later entertainment-hub study. For current-condition context only; golf operation continued during these discussions.
• CityView (Jan. 2024; Jan. 2024 and Oct. 2024 reporting).
• WTVD/ABC11 (Oct. 2024).
• Fayetteville Observer status update (July 2025).
• WKML (June 2025) and Donald Ross Society news note (May 2025) on entertainment-hub concept.