Brook-Lea arose from a 1926 commission to Donald Ross to create a new course on land bisected by Little Black Creek on Rochester’s west side. By April 1926 the club had crews in the field clearing fairways and greens to Ross’s plan; construction was budgeted “just over $42,000,” with contractor Franklyn P. Clark hired to supervise build-out. The club’s centennial history also records the practical realities of the wooded site—over 4,800 pounds of dynamite were used to remove stumps—underscoring that Brook-Lea was a full new construction rather than a reworking of existing golf. The course opened later that year.
Ross’s broad ambition at Brook-Lea can be stated unusually precisely because the club retains his original blueprint routing and a full set of green drawings, and, crucially, all 18 hole notes and sketches. Those documents show he first envisioned 27 holes but built 18, with construction supervised in the field by associate J.B. McGovern—an arrangement consistent with Ross’s practice in the region at the time. The routing used Little Black Creek for both strategy and identity—hence the club’s name—and varied the ground by moving between linksy flats and modest rolls on the “upland” portions.
During construction the club moved the intended clubhouse location, and although the holes remained where Ross sited them, their sequence changed. The most visible result is still present today: both nines finish with a par three. Contemporary routing descriptions and the club’s own materials concur on this point, making Brook-Lea one of the rare Ross courses where the round concludes (and the outward half returns) with a one-shotter. There is no evidence that Ross returned for a second phase after opening; early newspaper clippings and internal research cited by the current restoration architect, however, document that three greens were flattened within the first decade, a change now being reversed to match Ross’s green sheets.
Unique design characteristics
The creek-edge par 3s at No. 9 and No. 18 are the most legible Ross signatures on the ground. Each plays across Little Black Creek to a stout, mid-iron target; the 9th, typically 170–180 yards, asks for a slight right-to-left flight to hold a green that the creek tracks beside until it slips away at the last moment. A statue of Ross overlooks that green, a local reminder of authorship as well as the design’s nerve. The home hole repeats the carry in a different wind and angle, using the same waterway as the defining hazard rather than greenside bunkers, and it locks in the unusual Ross-at-Brook-Lea cadence of finishing with a one-shotter.
On the back nine the routing opens with two consecutive par fives (10 and 11) before the course crosses and recrosses Little Black Creek in the 12–13 stretch. That cadence—conservative opportunities immediately after the turn, followed by precise creek work—tracks the hole locations in Ross’s routing even though the sequence itself shifted with the clubhouse move. Today’s restoration documents give additional, hole-specific texture: at No. 8 a back-left bunker has been reinstated and the other three restored to the original pattern; at No. 15 a set of spectacle bunkers—a bold visual device Ross occasionally deployed—has been reintroduced; and at Nos. 14–15 fully ten lost bunkers are returning, restoring diagonal and carry options that had been muted by later alterations.
The ongoing work is particularly explicit about green forms. Based on Ross’s green sheets, the club is rebuilding and re-contouring Nos. 5, 9 and 18 to recover original tiers, corner pinning space, and feed slopes that were blunted by early flattening. With those changes, the holes that most clearly express Ross at Brook-Lea are 9 and 18 (the creek-carry closers), 15 (for its recovered spectacle bunkers and reinstated risk-reward), and 8 (as a case study in the way Ross’s modest-sized bunkers pinch lines to a perched target). Each of these ties directly to surviving Ross plans or hole notes and is being rebuilt to those specifications.
Historical significance
Within Ross’s Rochester cluster (Monroe, Oak Hill, Country Club of Rochester), Brook-Lea marks his 1926 expansion west of the Genesee and is one of his best-documented projects in the area thanks to the survival of blueprint, green and hole-note sets at the club. Unusually for Ross, both nines end with par 3s—a quirk that local historians attribute to the clubhouse relocation during construction—which gives Brook-Lea a recognizable identity in Ross scholarship. The course has long served as a competitive stage in the Rochester golf ecosystem, hosting the RDGA Men’s Championship (e.g., 2020) and recurring New York State Golf Association Amateur Series events (2024, 2025), linking the restored Ross fabric to current tournament set-ups.
Current condition / integrity
Brook-Lea is an active restoration story. In 2022 the club approved Barry Jordan’s master plan grounded in Ross’s original routing, hole notes, and green sheets; the first phase has already reinstated key bunkers and started expanding greens and fairways, with phase two scheduled for spring 2024 and additional construction work continuing thereafter. The scope is unusually quantified: 18 bunkers removed, 44 restored, 57 added, with tree removal, drainage, and native-area establishment to re-set width and visibility. The plan also corrects the early flattening of three greens by rebuilding Nos. 5, 9, and 18 to their drawn interior contours. Research for the plan drew on historic photography and local archive work, and notes that some bunkers documented by Ross were postponed in 1926 and never built—those are being installed now to complete the design intent.
What has been preserved is substantial: Ross’s hole locations and corridors remain where he set them; the par-3 finishes at 9 and 18 are intact; Little Black Creek still crosses, borders, or bisects several playing corridors; and the scale of green pads (once mowing lines are fully expanded) aligns with the green sheets. What has been altered or lost over time—now being addressed—includes: bunker removals and relocations from late-20th-century projects; contracted green edges that erased corner hole locations; tree planting that narrowed sight lines; and the early flattening of three greens. The current restoration explicitly targets each of those categories.
Sources & Notes
Brook-Lea CC — “History” page. Establishes the 1926 origin, Ross authorship, and that his original blueprints and green drawings are held by the club (with links). Also notes Ross originally envisioned 27 holes.
Brook-Lea CC — “Centennial” page. Provides construction detail: by April 1926 clearing was underway; $42,000 budget; 4,800 lbs dynamite for stumps; Franklyn P. Clark oversaw construction.
Golf Course Architecture (Richard Humphreys), “Barry Jordan to continue Ross restoration at Brook-Lea…” (Nov. 15, 2023). Core restoration evidence: club moved clubhouse during construction → sequence changed (both nines finish par-3); club possesses 18 hole notes & green sheets; Little Black Creek animates several holes; three greens flattened within first decade with plan to rebuild 5, 9, 18; quantitative scope (18 removed, 44 restored, 57 added bunkers); reinstated bunkers at 8, 14–15; spectacle bunkers at 15.
Top100GolfCourses — Brook-Lea profile. Independent routing description confirming par-3 finishes at 9 and 18, typical 170–180-yard range, Little Black Creek carries, and the Ross statue by No. 9. Notes back nine opening with two par fives and an overall length “just over 6,800 yards.”
Tyler Rae — Donald Ross project list (professional source). Notes Brook-Lea planned as 27, “built only 18,” with J.B. McGovern as construction supervisor—consistent with the club’s 27-hole note and Ross’s construction practice.
Disputed or uncertain points
Attributions for late-20th/early-21st-century alterations. Aggregators sometimes credit Bob Cupp, Ron Forse, or Tyler Rae with unspecified work. The club’s current restoration record emphasizes Barry Jordan (2022–present) and references “various architects” over the past 30 years without naming them; publicly accessible primary documentation for earlier projects is limited.