Golf was established at Piqua in 1896 on a six-hole layout created by members, making it the oldest club course in the Dayton region and among the earliest in Ohio. In 1920 the club engaged Donald Ross, who reworked those original holes and added three new ones to form a permanent nine-hole course. This 1920 phase is repeatedly noted in club materials and in recent management announcements; it aligns with independent summaries that place Ross’s Piqua work in the early 1920s.
Evidence that would allow a full reconstruction of Ross’s intentions—original construction drawings, hole-by-hole specifications, or annotated correspondence—has not been made publicly available by the club or in the Tufts Archives online finding aids. However, a researcher on GolfClubAtlas has posted references to a “Ross/Hatch” plan dated 1920 and a Dayton Herald item from August 28, 1922, both indicating a formal nine-hole Ross effort at Piqua; those references support the 1920 date but require verification in primary repositories (the club archive, local newspapers on microfilm, or Tufts).
The club remained a nine-hole facility for decades. In the mid-1970s, Ohio architect Jack Kidwell designed a second nine; SkyGolf dates the opening of the Kidwell nine to May 1975. The club’s public materials likewise attribute the additional nine to Kidwell, though they do not publish a precise opening date. No documentation has surfaced to suggest Ross returned after 1920.
Unique Design Characteristics (as observed and recorded)
Because the 1920 work constituted a nine-hole redesign/expansion on a modest site crossed by creeks, Ross’s routing necessarily interacted with those watercourses. Modern accounts of the course emphasize creeks crossing several par fives and affecting strategy on approaches. While these descriptions are contemporary, they are consistent with Ross’s practice elsewhere when he inherited pre-existing corridors—placing hazards to influence angle and distance rather than creating heavy earthworks. Without published original drawings, specific hole numbers for the 1920 nine cannot be assigned with certainty today; on comparable Ross-plus-Kidwell courses in the region, the older nine often survives as the present front side, but this requires confirmation at Piqua through aerials or club minutes.
The older greens at Piqua are repeatedly described in current materials as “small” and “undulating,” a profile that accords with the surviving Ross nine on many Ohio clubs. Members and visitors remark on the need to position tee shots for angles into these targets; this is borne out in present play reports and the course’s reputation as “classic” in scale rather than expansive. In contrast, the Kidwell nine extends overall yardage and creates a subtle shift in scale—longer par fours and broader teeing grounds—without erasing the intimate green-to-tee connections that characterize the earlier nine.
The clearest surviving examples of the Ross era at Piqua are likely those holes with smaller, perched greens situated near creek benches, where approach angles matter more than raw length; but without hole-numbered primary sources, assigning hole numbers here would be speculative.
Historical Significance
Piqua’s 1920 Ross commission fell during a period when Ross was consolidating his Ohio portfolio, adding to earlier work in the Miami Valley and Columbus regions. While not among his marquee national projects, Piqua is historically important on three counts. First, it demonstrates Ross working with pre-existing member-built holes, transforming a six-hole ground into a coherent nine—an arc of development typical of inland Midwestern clubs that matured from the 1890s to the 1920s. Second, the course exemplifies a later, common evolution: a mid-century second nine by a regional architect, in this case Kidwell, whose 1975 addition completed the 18 while leaving the older nine as the heritage core. Third, local press descriptions and club materials emphasize the role of meandering creeks through par fives, a strategic accent that likely traces back to the constraints and opportunities of the site Ross addressed in 1920. Together, these points situate Piqua as a representative, well-documented example of Ross’s smaller Midwestern commissions that endured through a twentieth-century expansion rather than a wholesale modernization.
Current Condition / Integrity
The present course expresses two eras: a Ross nine from 1920 and a Kidwell nine opened in 1975. The routing has not been published in a way that allows an easy overlay of 1920 holes onto the modern card, and the club’s website does not enumerate which present holes trace directly to Ross’s build. Nevertheless, the club continues to promote its Ross heritage, and modern yardage data confirms a par-72 course of approximately 6,835 yards. Publicly available descriptions note tree-lined fairways, small and contoured greens, and multiple creek crossings, all of which are compatible with a Ross-era nine that retained close green-to-tee transitions. The addition of the Kidwell nine increased total length and introduced more expansive tee complexes, a signature of 1970s work, but there is no evidence in accessible sources of a full-scale recontouring of the older green pads.
This narrative relies on club publications, third-party course guides, and one forum post referencing primary items. The club’s web pages now contain duplicated and slightly inconsistent phrasing about the “original nine in 1896” versus “original six built in 1896 and Ross adding three in 1920,” but both iterations converge on the same chronology: member six (1896) → Ross nine (1920) → Kidwell second nine (1970s). The exact mapping of the Ross nine onto today’s card, and the presence/extent of later rebuilds to those greens and bunkers, remains undocumented in public sources and is flagged for further archival work.
Sources & Notes
Piqua Country Club (official site), “An Equity Private Club” landing page (accessed Sept. 2025): confirms private status and credits course design to Donald Ross and Jack Kidwell.
Piqua Country Club, “Golf Course & Programs” page (accessed Sept. 2025): states original six holes in 1896; Ross redesigned those six and added three in 1920; later enhancements include an additional nine by Jack Kidwell (wording appears in two near-duplicate passages).
Bobby Jones Links news release, “Piqua CC turns to Bobby Jones Links,” Feb. 20, 2024: reiterates 1896 six-hole start and Ross 1920 redesign/expansion; notes later Kidwell nine.
The First Call (industry news), “Bobby Jones Links to manage Ohio’s Piqua Country Club,” Feb. 19, 2024: same chronology summary as #3.
Dayton Daily News, “Private course golf guide for 2011,” Apr. 8, 2011: contemporary local description noting creeks crossing each par five and differences in front versus back nine character.
GolfClubAtlas forum thread, “Reunderstanding Ross,” Feb. 2, 2022: user-compiled notes citing a 1920 “Ross/Hatch” plan and an Aug. 28, 1922 Dayton Herald reference to Ross at Piqua; included here as a pointer to primary sources that require verification.
Top100GolfCourses.com, “Piqua Country Club” (accessed Sept. 2025): summarizes the course as a Ross nine from the early 1920s with a Kidwell nine added in the mid-1970s.