Bellevue Country Club formed in 1914 and promptly engaged Donald J. Ross to lay out a course on the club’s hillside property above Syracuse. Contemporary club materials indicate a phased build: the first nine holes opened for play in 1916, with land acquired “four years later” to complete the second nine and create the 18-hole course members recognize today.
Club historical prose elsewhere states the course “was ready to play in 1917,” creating a minor discrepancy between a 1916 first-nine opening and a 1917 “ready” date; both derive from the club’s own pages and likely reflect phased construction and grow-in versus formal opening. In any case, the second nine was in play by 1920.
Ross’s involvement thus spanned at least 1914–1920 in planning and construction, with no surviving documentation of a later personal return to remodel holes after completion. The club characterizes Ross’s original approach at Bellevue as relying “completely on the landscape,” using “almost no artificial hazards” and fairways following the existing contours—language consistent with the property’s natural topography and elevation and with the site-specific brief he was given to fit the course to a pre-selected clubhouse precinct on Onondaga Hill.
The club further notes Ross chose the clubhouse area and set the routing to exploit the hill’s vistas and rolls. These on-site accounts, paired with independent summaries, align on the 1916–1920 phasing and on Ross’s intent to let the hillside and ridges dictate hole corridors rather than to manufacture features.
Architectural Features Specific to Bellevue
Bellevue’s routing uses the hill’s long slopes and natural ledges as active strategic devices rather than mere scenery. The club’s hole-by-hole descriptions, which preserve the inherited character of key complexes, make that clear.
Early in the round, the 2nd (par 4) demands a lay-up short of a creek and then a steep uphill approach “to a fast, undulating green,” a classic Ross cadence of short-to-long decision-making keyed to an elevated target. The 4th (par 4), identified by the club as its toughest hole, bends gently right and finishes at a green ringed by bunkers with out-of-bounds behind; the tee sits high, encouraging a full-blooded drive down the slope but punishing an over-bold second—an archetypal Ross risk profile that here is entirely a function of the land’s fall and the green’s contouring. The one-shot 7th features a “crowned” green with front and side bunkers; as a surviving crowned target on a short par-3, it remains one of the clearest relics of Ross’s green forms at Bellevue.
The middle stretch is defined by the site’s most distinctive landform: a stone ledge that frames and then pinches the corridor. On the 13th (par 4), players see the “huge stone ledge” from the tee, then must turn sharply (~60 degrees) through a narrow gap toward a slightly elevated green guarded on the right; the club emphasizes the putting surface’s undulations. The following 14th (also a par-4) reprises the ledge as a psychological and positional hazard: you can play safely short/left or challenge the ledge to open the angle into an elevated green. Independent profiles single out No. 14 as Bellevue’s “signature feature,” and also note that both 4 and 18 capitalize on long downhill tee shots created by the hillside routing.
Green-side and diagonal bunkering still tells the story on several holes. The 10th (par 5) tempts the strong player to attack a narrow, bunker-pinched throat in two; many instead lay up to a favored angle. The 12th (par 5) turns at right angles with a corner bunker to catch the shortcut and an elevated green “trapped on the right,” illustrating Bellevue’s mix of horizontal (dogleg/corner) and vertical (green pad) defenses. The 15th (par 4), among the longer two-shotters, emphasizes precise driving “to the left side” to shape a drawing second; the green is well defended, and trees tighten recovery angles. Late, the 17th (par 4) plays to a blind, uphill, markedly undulating green “fronted by three deep traps,” exactly the sort of on-grade severity Ross often reserved for short par-4s; the club text even winks that “Don Ross smiles” at the green’s interior contours. The 18th (par 4) finishes with a green “slop[ing] away from the player,” protected left and right by bunkers—another Ross-at-Bellevue cue that approach control trumps brute length.
Not every feature is purely original. The club acknowledges that 8 now has added water in front of the green, forcing lay-ups for the longest hitters, and that 11 is “one of our newer holes,” with narrower driving and paired fairway bunkers flanking the landing, indicating 20th-century (or later) alterations in those corridors. Nevertheless, the best-preserved Ross fingerprints remain the crowned-and-trapped 7th, the elevation-driven 2nd, the downhill-tee drama at 4 and 18, and the ledge-defined 13th–14th sequence. Together they express Bellevue’s hillside identity as Ross originally exploited it.
Historical Context & Significance
In Ross’s New York chronology, Bellevue belongs to his mid-1910s/World War I–era upstate work that culminated around 1920–1921 (e.g., the two Oak Hill courses near Rochester, Teugega at Rome). A regional historical profile by the state association places Bellevue among the notable Ross venues used for NYSGA championships, underscoring its status within his New York portfolio.
Competitive history at Bellevue gives uncommon insight into how the course played in Ross’s day. In 1920, the club hosted the Bellevue Country Club Open, won by Walter Hagen by eight strokes over 72 holes—an event later recognized among his 1920 professional victories. In 1921, Bellevue staged a follow-up event under the title New York State Open; although the name suggested an official state championship, contemporary notes indicate it lacked formal sanctioning by a state body that year. Bobby Cruickshank won by seven, with both Hagen and Mike Brady in pursuit. Decades later, Bellevue again featured on professional calendars, hosting the Greater Syracuse Senior’s Pro Classic on the nascent Champions Tour from 1982–1984, with Bill Collins (1982), Gene Littler (1983), and Miller Barber (1984) victorious. These events, especially the 1920–1921 pair, fix Bellevue in the record as a Ross course capable of attracting national-class fields on its original routing.
Public rankings have rarely included a private, regional club of Bellevue’s scale, but independent course profiles continue to highlight the Ross provenance, the ledge-driven middle holes, and the downhill tee shots as defining characteristics. A recent note also records that the club commissioned Ron Forse to prepare a master plan aimed at restoring Ross elements—an interpretive endorsement by a specialist firm that Bellevue’s bones remain worth careful preservation.
Evolution & Current State
The club states the course now measures “nearly 6,600 yards” from the tips; multiple third-party listings put the championship yardage around 6,614 yards, par 71. The hole-by-hole card shows a familiar Ross par distribution (front-nine par 35, back-nine par 36), and the course retains its hillside rhythm, crowned greens, and right-side bunker bias on specific complexes (e.g., 12, 13). The routing’s core and many green pads appear intact on the best-preserved holes noted above, while 8 (added water) and 11 (a “newer hole”) reflect later insertions.
Recent work has focused on compatibility with the Ross framework rather than wholesale redesign. The club explains that its Board commissioned Ron Forse “to review the course for any necessary tweaking” that would “maintain its Donald Ross heritage,” and adopted his long-range master plan into the bylaws—an unusually strong governance step that should protect Ross features as improvements proceed. Superintendent Mike Tollner details that Forse’s 2021 planning also revised and expanded the practice facilities (a new, ~19,000-sf range tee and reworked short-game area) to accommodate post-2020 membership growth, while the course itself navigated severe winter damage in 2022 with USGA agronomic input and staged green recoveries; all 18 reopened by Memorial Day, and the practice complex came online in mid-May to early June.
Integrity assessment. A precise percentage of surviving Ross features has not been published by the club or independent scholars. Based on the club’s own hole descriptions and external profiles, the routing and several green complexes (notably 2, 4, 7, 12–15, 17–18) read as authentically rooted in Ross’s original hillside scheme. Later alterations (e.g., the ponding on 8, the reconfigured 11) qualify that integrity in spots, and decades of tree growth have naturally tightened some corridors. The Forse plan’s stated aim—to restore and maintain Ross elements—suggests ongoing efforts to reconcile modern play with the course’s early 20th-century identity rather than to replace it.
Sources & Notes
Bellevue Country Club — Golf page. Club summary of origins and phasing: nine holes opened in 1916; additional land acquired “four years later” to develop the second nine; present-day yardage “nearly 6,600”; Board commissioned Ron Forse to prepare a preservation-minded master plan that is now part of the bylaws.
Bellevue Country Club — About Us page. Club narrative on Ross’s intent “relying completely on the landscape,” minimal artificial hazards, fairways following contours; statement that the course “was ready to play in 1917”; Ross’s selection of the clubhouse area. (Note the 1916 vs. 1917 discrepancy with Source 1.)
Bellevue Country Club — Course Tour (hole-by-hole). Primary source for current hole features and Ross-era characteristics still evident at specific holes: No. 2 (creek then uphill to fast/undulating green), No. 4 (bunkered green with OB behind), No. 7 (crowned, well-trapped green), No. 8 (added water), No. 10 (narrow, bunker-guarded lay-up/“go” decision), No. 11 (“newer hole” with narrow drive and flanking fairway bunkers), No. 12 (right-angle dogleg, corner bunker, elevated green trapped right), No. 13 (stone ledge, sharp dogleg, undulating green), No. 15 (long par-4 requiring specific tee-shot placement), No. 17 (blind uphill approach to undulated green fronted by three deep traps), No. 18 (green sloping away, flanked by traps).
Top100GolfCourses — Bellevue profile. Independent synopsis confirming club founding in 1914, nine holes in play two years later, 18 by 1920; highlights long downhill tee shots at Nos. 4 and 18 and identifies No. 14’s rock ledge as a signature feature; notes commissioning of Ron Forse for a Ross-element restoration master plan.
Tournament history — Wikipedia & ancillary references. Bellevue Country Club Open (1920) at Bellevue, won by Walter Hagen; event later recognized among Hagen’s 1920 wins; 1921 event retitled New York State Open (not formally sanctioned), won by Bobby Cruickshank; general cross-references to Hagen’s 1920 résumé and “former PGA Tour events” category. (Note: “state open” title in 1921 was nominal rather than officially sanctioned; a different NYSGA-run State Open emerged later.)
NYSGA — “Donald Ross and his New York Influence.” Places Bellevue within the association’s rotation of Ross venues hosting state championships, establishing regional significance within Ross’s New York portfolio.
Champions Tour (Senior) results — Where2Golf. Greater Syracuse Senior’s Pro Classic at Bellevue: Bill Collins (1982), Gene Littler (1983), Miller Barber (1984), with scores and brief notes.
Yardage & par corroboration: third-party scorecard/guide listings showing Bellevue as par-71 at ~6,614 yards from the tips. (Used here to confirm the club’s “nearly 6,600” statement and the par total; the club’s own hole card also sums to 71.)
Practice-facility and recent course stewardship — Golf Course Industry (Dec. 16, 2022). Superintendent Mike Tollner recounts Forse’s 2021 update to the long-range master plan and the subsequent expansion/re-design of the practice facilities (new 19,000-sf range tee, reworked chipping area), along with winter-damage recovery on greens during 2022.
Disputed / Uncertain Points
Opening chronology (1916 vs. 1917): The club’s Golf page states nine holes opened in 1916; the About page states the course was “ready to play” in 1917. This likely reflects phased completion and grow-in versus formal availability; both are club-authored and thus reported here side-by-side.
Ross return visits post-1920: No primary records located in club-published materials or standard public references confirming that Ross personally returned to modify the course after the second nine opened. (If club minutes or correspondence surface, this assessment should be updated.)