Allegheny’s golf story on the Sewickley Heights property began with a Bendelow layout that opened in May 1902 after construction in 1901, replacing the club’s earlier city course in Allegheny (today Pittsburgh’s North Side).
Over the next decade the club steadily acquired land and contemplated changes to the “footprint,” setting the stage for a long, unusually sustained relationship with Donald Ross. Contemporary club history compiled by the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association places Ross on the ground beginning in 1913, with work that unfolded in phases “over the next 35 years,” a span well into the mid-twentieth century that is atypically long for Ross’s club engagements.
Evidence that Ross formalized a full redesign during this period includes a 1923 plan set reproduced by researchers, showing a complete eighteen-hole scheme for the Sewickley property. Club minutes summarized by one archival survey indicate that Ross also produced a supplementary 1923 plan focused on repositioning and adding bunkers, lengthening several tees, and refining green surrounds—work consistent with a phased build-out on a property whose landholdings were still evolving.
Early-1920s outside input briefly intersected with Ross’s tenure. One account has Herbert Fowler and C.H. Alisonengaged “about a decade” after Ross first advised, before leaving the project, with Ross stepping back in to complete the work; another summary says Fowler (misrendered as “Robert Fowler”) reworked three holes in 1922, immediately preceding Ross’s 1923 overhaul. The presence and scope of Fowler/Alison’s work at Allegheny should be regarded as disputed pending direct access to club records.
World War II created a distinctive coda to the Ross era at Allegheny. With many members away, the back nine was curtailed; after the war, the first seven holes of that nine were completely remodeled in 1945, an episode recorded on the site’s historical marker and echoed in later Ross scholarship. The result—postwar holes laid atop a Ross routing—left a divided architectural lineage between earlier and later work on the second nine.
Unique design characteristics on the ground
Because Ross’s work at Allegheny stretched across multiple phases, it reads less like a single “opening day” imprint and more like a set of recurring strategic signatures in specific corridors. On holes 2, 5, and 10, cross-bunkers advance into the line of play from in front of the green rather than flanking it, forcing an early decision on line and trajectory off the tee—an arrangement Ross used here to make Allegheny’s short grass play diagonally, not straight down the fairway.
Two plateau par-3s—No. 6 and No. 15—remain the purest textbook examples of the course’s Ross heritage. Each calls for a precise carry to a raised target with flanking bunkers that visually “frame” but also deflect slightly off-line shots, a feature pattern documented by modern field notes and consistent with Ross’s 1920s plan vocabulary.
The third hole is Allegheny’s long, exacting one-shotter (219 yards from the back markers), its sloped greenmagnifying the penalty for a miss. Recent work under the club’s master plan refreshed the bunkering and—combined with tree removals behind the target—re-exposed the green’s full profile. The mechanical tow rope that hauls walkers up the steep rise from the 3rd green to the 4th tee is an idiosyncratic artifact of the routing: Ross accepted the hillside, then used the next tee’s perch to change direction and rhythm, rather than avoid the terrain.
On the 11th, a downhill two-shotter, recent view-clearing has opened a striking vista from the tee; the corridor itself tracks an older line, while modern tree work and selective bunker edits have restored the hole’s scale. It is emblematic of how Allegheny’s present routing reveals earlier Ross intentions when modern vegetation is managed.
Which holes best preserve Ross today? The front nine, with its cross-bunkered 2nd, the plateau 6th, and the long 3rd, preserves the clearest chain of custody back to the 1923 plan and subsequent 1920s-30s fieldwork. By contrast, the post-war reworking of the opening stretch on the back nine (holes 10–16 are where most 1945 changes concentrated) means those corridors carry more mid-century overlay, with 15 still reflecting the plateau par-3 type.
Historical significance within Ross’s body of work
Allegheny matters because Ross did not simply “drop in” once; he returned repeatedly across at least three distinct episodes—initial advisory work beginning 1913, a comprehensive 1923 plan, and post-war remodeling associated with the 1945 restart of the back nine—an unusually long arc of authorship for him at a single club. That continuity offers a rare case study of Ross responding to a club whose land base and needs changed over decades.
The club’s esteem in competitive golf also threads through Ross’s Allegheny. The course hosted the 1954 U.S. Women’s Amateur, where Barbara Romack defeated Mickey Wright in the final; Carol Semple Thompson, Allegheny’s most famous home-club player, captured the 1990 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur at Allegheny and later the 2001 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur there in the shadow of 9/11. The course frequently appears in state listings and enthusiast rankings and is treated in modern directories as a Ross restoration under way.
The WPGA’s historical profile further records Allegheny’s role as a regional hub that drew exhibitions and visits by Harry Vardon, Bobby Jones, Chick Evans, Willie Anderson, John McDermott, Glenna Collett, and Mickey Wright, situating the club—and by extension its Ross course—within the traveling competitive and exhibition circuits of the early-to-mid-1900s.
Current condition and integrity
What survives of Ross at Allegheny today is best understood by layers. The routing of the front nine largely coheres with the Ross era, while the back nine carries the 1945 remodeling of its first seven holes; this split is confirmed by the site’s historical marker. Human Metabolome Database Mid-century and later works left a palimpsest: a 1975 remodel by Ed Seay introduced additional alterations, and the club undertook small projects with Ron Forse in the 1990s before commissioning Gil Hanse to write a Ross-based master plan beginning in 2003. Hanse’s work has been iterative and “light-touch,” focusing on restoring bunker forms, recapturing green edges, and re-establishing long views through comprehensive tree management.
Tree loss in a 1999 storm catalyzed a membership rethink; subsequent removals “rapidly altered” the course by reopening historical vistas, after which the club “shifted from removal to renovation,” ultimately selecting Hanse’s restoration-led approach. That overarching program explains contemporary changes at, for example, No. 3 (bunkering refreshed; visual scale returned) and the view corridor at No. 11.
Because Allegheny’s grounds still contain numerous abandoned greens—one public summary places the count at 32—and because the back nine underwent a 1945 rebuild, any attempt to assign a single, precise “percentage Ross” must be cautious. On the public record, no definitive percentage is published by the club or the Tufts Archives. A reasonable reading of the evidence is that most front-nine green sites and corridors trace to Ross’s plan and on-site work, while a majority of the back-nine surfaces reflect the 1945 remodeling and later edits; ongoing Hanse work is returning bunkers, mowing lines, and green perimeters nearer to the Ross idiom without reversing the 1945 footprint. Treat that interpretation as an evidence-based estimate rather than a fixed metric.
Disputed or uncertain points
Two items deserve flags. First, Allegheny’s move-in date to Sewickley appears in two forms in public sources—1902 opening versus “moved in 1903.” The local history record citing construction in 1901 and opening in May 1902 is used here; the superintendent’s interview summarizing “since 1903” may reflect a ceremonial or administrative date rather than first play. Second, accounts of early-1920s Fowler/Alison involvement vary in names and scope; until club minutes or plan sheets are published, treat that phase as unconfirmed in detail.
Sources & Notes
1. Bell Acres Borough historical PDF, Cochran Fleming’s Sewickley Dairy Company & the Allegheny Country Club(construction 1901; opening May 1902).
2. Western Pennsylvania Golf Association, “WPGA Founding Club Series: Allegheny Country Club” (Ross at ACC beginning 1913; multi-phase over 35 years; land acquisition; tow rope; notable visitors).
3. GolfClubAtlas forum, “Reunderstanding Ross” (Ross plan reproduced; notes of 1930s/1945 activity).
4. Top100GolfCourses course page (Bendelow 1902; Ross 1923; note on Fowler & Alison engagement and Ross finishing). Contains editorial narrative; cross-check with other sources.
5. Historical Marker Database entry (back nine’s first seven holes remodeled in 1945; general evolution). Roadside history sign; concise but useful. Human Metabolome Database
6. Ed Seay remodel list (Michigan State “Golf Architects” archive) showing 1975 remodel at Allegheny.
7. Golf Course Industry, “Covering the basics” (2015): 1999 storm and tree loss; subsequent tree program; small projects with Ron Forse; selection of Gil Hanse for a long-term Ross-based master plan; “open vistas.”
8. Hanse Golf Design project page, “Allegheny Country Club — Golf Course Master Plan — Ross (2003–Ongoing).”
9. KDKA/CBS Pittsburgh “Elite 18” features on Hole 3 (219-yard par-3; sloped green; updated bunkering) and Hole 11 (view corridor improved).
10. USGA championship records: 1954 U.S. Women’s Amateur (Romack d. Wright) at Allegheny; 2001 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur (Semple Thompson) at Allegheny; 1990 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur winner listing with Allegheny as site.
12. ForeTee course history snippet (Bendelow origin; “Fowler” 1922; Ross 1923; 32 abandoned greens; Hanse restoration underway). Secondary aggregation; treat cautiously.
Notes on uncertainty.
• Fowler/Alison involvement: Top100 attributes a mid-1920s engagement to Herbert Fowler and C.H. Alison, while ForeTee assigns three 1922 holes to “Robert” Fowler. Pending primary documentation (plans, invoices, or minutes), list as disputed.
• Extent of intact Ross: No public, numeric percentage is published by the club or Tufts Archives. The 1945 remodeling of much of the back nine and the record of “32 abandoned greens” argue for mixed integrity by hole; the front nine retains clearer Ross DNA, while the back nine is a Ross-postwar hybrid now being restored in style under Hanse. Treat any percentage as an interpretive estimate rather than a fact.