Brunswick Country Club’s present course grew out of a move in the mid-1930s from an earlier site into a new nine-hole layout with sand greens on U.S. 17. In 1938 the club retained Donald Ross to add a back nine; later that year he made a site visit, reviewed construction, and handed over drawings to redesign the existing front-nine greens so that the original nine would match his new work. The club opened the completed eighteen holes on Labor Day 1939, marking the end of a two-step commission—new nine plus green rebuilds on the older nine—with Ross personally involved at both points in 1938. The club’s internal chronology preserves that sequence, and a later feature story documented the remarkable survival of Ross’s handwritten green drawings for all eighteen holes, which the club ultimately framed and shared with the Tufts Archives.
Ross’s intent is unusually well evidenced. The rediscovered 1938 green plans include elevations, gradients, and edge notes, giving a clear view of how he meant a very low-lying, wind-exposed coastal site to play: distinct green targets, varied internal contours, and bunkers scaled to the modest relief rather than heavy earthmoving. Contemporary accounts of the 2006–07 restoration, which worked directly from those drawings, describe the late-1930s design as a routing that relied on green contour and precisely sited sand hazards to differentiate holes on essentially flat ground.
After the 1939 opening there is no record of a second Ross era at Brunswick. The next major architectural campaign would not come for nearly seven decades: in November 2006 Davis Love III’s Love Golf Design began a year-long restoration based on the rediscovered Ross drawings; the course reopened in November 2007. Work during that project confirmed the authenticity of the 1938 build—not least when crews peeled off the turf and found the original black soil cap beneath the greens—and allowed the club to return surfaces to Ross’s original sizes, shapes, and elevations while rebuilding tee complexes, lengthening select holes, and reconstructing bunkers.
Unique design characteristics
Because Brunswick holds a complete set of Ross’s 1938 green sketches, the greens themselves are the clearest expression of his hand. The par-3 8th—a long one-shotter around 210–211 yards from the back markers—plays to a rectangular, visibly defined target ringed by bunkers, a look that tracks his sketch and that the restoration reinstated. The par-3 4th sits at the opposite end of the spectrum: shorter on the card (about 150–155 yards) but visually exacting across water to a broad, shallow surface that demands both precise trajectory and spin to hold the green. Each of these par 3s illustrates what Ross drew here: contrasting shapes and surrounds that produce different shot asks at similar clubs.
The finishing hole (par-4 18th) returns toward the clubhouse as a measured dogleg left, with a single fairway bunker to carry from the tee and restored Ross greenside bunkers flanking a perched target. It closes a back nine whose par-5s (12 and 14) are differentiated by lay-up and angle questions rather than forced carries, with No. 14 the club’s longest hole (near 592 yards from the Blue tees). On the front side, No. 6 (515-yard par 5) remains the handicap-1 hole because approach angles into the compact green matter more than raw distance, a hallmark of the way Ross used contours here to elevate modest landforms into decision points.
Across the course the bunker field that had drifted in number and proportion through the late twentieth century was re-scaled and re-located during the 2006–07 work to the positions evident on the 1938 sheets and early aerials. With green edges recaptured (after decades of shrinkage) and approach fronts reopened, the holes that now read most clearly as “Ross Brunswick” are the 4th (short water par 3 to a shallow target), 8th (long, squared-off one-shotter surrounded by bunkering), 14th (expansive three-shotter that privileges angle over brute force), and 18th (dogleg-left finisher into a guarded, elevated green).
Historical significance
Within Ross’s later-career portfolio, Brunswick is one of the few coastal Georgia commissions with surviving, complete green drawings for all eighteen holes—and a rare case where a club rebuilt its playing surfaces directly to those specific sheets. That documentary record matters: decades after opening, Tufts Archives initially recognized only Ross’s back-nine involvement; once the club’s full set of 1938 drawings surfaced and was shared, Brunswick’s modern identity as an 18-hole Ross was confirmed in historical circles.
As a competitive venue, Brunswick has long played host to the Golden Isles Invitational (founded 1949), a week-of-July-4th amateur tradition with a champions’ roll that includes Davis Love III (1985), Vaughn Taylor (1996), and multiple titles by Steve Melnyk and Bill Ploeger. The event today carries WAGR status, and the club’s calendar in recent seasons has included Korn Ferry Tour pre-qualifying, reflecting a course that, after restoration, sets fair but exacting tests at modern speeds while keeping Ross’s surfaces as the deciding factor.
Current condition / integrity
Brunswick today is best described as a Ross routing and green set restored to the 1938 plans. The 2006–07 project rebuilt every green to the original size, shape, and elevation, reconstructed bunkers, re-established fairway widths, and updated tees and irrigation. During that work, crews literally unearthed Ross’s original construction layer beneath the greens, an archaeological proof that the restoration team then matched to the drawings hole by hole. The result is a course where the presentation is contemporary but the targets and surrounds are Ross-accurate.
Distance today comes from tees rather than moved greens: the Blue set plays 6,802 yards, par 72; the club also posts a Ross tee at 6,437 yards, with multiple forward options. The scorecard confirms not only totals but hole-by-hole shapes in miniature—par-3 yardages at Nos. 4 (152) and 8 (211), the 592-yard 14th, and the 426-yard 18th that finishes against bunkers at right and left of the green. In day-to-day play the decisive features remain the greens and their short-grass surrounds. That is consistent with what the restoration found: decades of topdressing had swollen and crowned the original pads and shrunk perimeters; cored-out and rebuilt to the 1938 notes, those same pads now present varied interior rolls and corner hole locations that govern scoring more than raw yardage.
What has been preserved vs. altered
Preserved: the 1938 Ross routing, all eighteen green sites and interior contours (to the drawings), and the bunker scheme in location and scale; the club also displays the full set of 1938 green drawings in the clubhouse and has archived them with Tufts.
Altered (and intentionally reset): twentieth-century green shrinkage, bunker drift, and tree encroachment—all addressed in 2006–07; tees lengthened to create modern yardages; clubhouse replaced following the restoration.
Sources & Notes
Brunswick CC — “Clubhouse and History.” Charter 1920; move to present site 1936 (nine with sand greens); Ross hired 1938 for back nine; later 1938 site visit and front-nine green redesign drawings; Labor Day 1939 opening of all eighteen.
Brunswick CC — “Golf Course.” Restoration summary: Love Golf Design began Nov. 2006; 12-month project; turf stripped to reveal original black soil layer; greens returned to original size/shape/elevation; tee complexes rebuilt; bunkers reconstructed; reopening in 2007.
Sports Illustrated (Ken Klavon), “Rare Ross writings bring Brunswick’s renewal” (May 28, 2019). Confirms rediscovery and use of all 18 Ross green drawings (1938); notes that Tufts initially recognized only the back-nine before full documentation emerged; describes archaeological rebuild process (soil cap discovery), yardage range (6,437–6,802), and course rating/slope; records Ross’s two-step 1938 involvement (back-nine routing in March; later return to rework front-nine greens).
Brunswick CC — “Golden Isles Invitational.” Tournament overview and current WAGR status; July-4th tradition.
brunswickcountryclub.com
Brunswick CC — “Golden Isles Invitational Champions.” Champions list including Davis Love III (1985), Vaughn Taylor (1996), Steve Melnyk, Bill Ploeger, and Dru Love (2011, 2016).
Brunswick CC — scorecard (PDF). Blue 6,802 yds / par 72; hole yardages (e.g., No. 4 = 152, No. 8 = 211, No. 14 = 592, No. 18 = 426); additional tee sets including a Ross tee (6,437 yds).
Hibu
Love Golf Design references. Contemporary notices of the firm’s Ross-plan-based restoration and (in one document) the note that Ross drew plans by March 19, 1938 and made a site visit that year.
Club tournament calendar (2024). Notes Korn Ferry Tour pre-qualifying hosted at Brunswick, illustrating current competitive use.
GolfClubAtlas forum threads (2006–07). Contemporary discussion during construction, including Ross green sketches (e.g., No. 8) circulated by the club and the restoration team—useful corroboration of the plan-driven approach.
Disputed or uncertain points
Extent of original pre-Ross design. Multiple sources agree the club operated a simple nine with sand greens before 1938; one magazine feature attributes that nine to a Sea Island pro without naming him, while the club’s summary does not identify an architect. This entry treats the pre-1938 nine as non-Ross and focuses on Ross’s back-nine addition and front-nine greens redesign.
Recognition of Ross’s authorship for all 18 holes. Tufts Archives/DRS long listed Brunswick primarily as a back-nine job; after the 2006 discovery of the complete 1938 green drawings, later materials recognize Ross’s work across all 18. The club displays the originals; digital copies were provided to Tufts.