Developer-sponsored leisure at San Jose began with a resort concept in the mid-1920s, for which Donald Ross was commissioned to lay out an 18-hole course across roughly 115 acres. Contemporary markers and local histories place completion in 1925, while a state heritage guide mentions 1926 plan dating; in either case Ross’s work belonged to the Florida land-boom moment and was integral to the San Jose Estates development. Early aerials preserved by the club show a lean hazard scheme and broad fairway corridors, with Ross’s bunkers used sparingly to shape play rather than as ornamental mass.
After World War II the property transitioned fully to private club use, and in 1988 the course underwent a renovation that introduced a system of irrigation lakes and reshaped many features. The club’s later documentation characterizes that phase as a departure from Ross’s intent, a point underscored by the disappearance or alteration of numerous original bunkers and the contraction of putting-surface perimeters.
A major course-wide restoration followed in 2006 under architect Dan Schlegel with MacCurrach Golf Construction. That project rebuilt all greens to a consistent profile (re-grassed to TifEagle), re-established Ross bunker placements and forms based on Tufts Archives drawings and period aerials, broadened fairway widths, removed more than a hundred shade-producing trees to recover agronomy and wind, and added modest length within the original corridors. The course reopened in October 2006. A subsequent phase in 2020 returned to select holes to restore additional Ross strategies—notably re-asserting centerline and angle-defining bunkers and recapturing lost putting-surface corners. The club’s current hole-by-hole notes knit these campaign decisions to specific Ross directives (for example, obscuring a par-3 target with a fronting bunker of deliberate height, or rebuilding a diagonal swale inside a par-5 green).
San Jose also documents that the entire back nine remains in its original positions as designed by Ross, an important planning fact that anchors later interventions to the 1920s routing.
Unique Design Characteristics
What makes San Jose read unmistakably as this course are the greens and their set-pieces—documented, rebuilt, and now central to play. On Hole 1, the club’s notes tie the target directly to Ross’s design call for three-and-a-half feet of elevation change through the surface with a distinct roll across its middle. This opening green immediately sets a tone: placement over power.
Hole 3 (par 5) is the course’s didactic piece. Ross’s plan specified a diagonal trough that falls away from the line of play by roughly a foot and a half and protects the rear half of the green; the 2006 restoration reconstructed this “Ross Trough,” so modern players face the same approach puzzle Ross intended. It is a rare, text-supported green interior that gives San Jose unusual documentary clarity.
Hole 5 (par 3) illustrates Ross’s preference here for run-on shots through guarded fronts. The restored bunkers sit in the flight line but allow a ball to land short and release; inside the target, a raised undulation divides front and back lobes. The Hole 8 (par 3) notes cite a Ross instruction that the front bunker “must not show off a clear view to the green,” so the bunker lip purposely obscures depth and plays with perception—margin for error tightens when the whole target cannot be seen.
Moving to the inward half, Hole 11 (par 5) is a double-dogleg across original water with a “Maiden”-style back section—two plateaus separated by a swale—that is explicitly acknowledged in the club’s hole text. Hole 12 retains its peninsula green setting, and the short Hole 10 emphasizes forced-carry calibration into a deep green that tilts left-to-right; both holes read as Ross using water and subtle contour, not towering hazards, to ask questions. Across the course the restored short-of-green bunkers (for example at 9) create foreshortening and depth deception, while centerline fairway bunkers (for example at 6 and 18) re-establish angle control off the tee.
The clearest surviving examples of Ross’s hand, because they combine original siting with plan-documented interior forms, are Holes 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 11, and 18. Their current green perimeters, interior rolls, and bunker relationships are all tied directly to Ross’s notes as cited by the club and the restoration accounts.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s Florida portfolio, San Jose is a land-boom resort commission that later evolved into a neighborhood club—an arc reflected in its listing on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also an instructive case of “loss and recovery”: aerials demonstrate substantial mid- and late-20th-century drift from Ross’s features, followed by a research-driven restoration that used primary sources to re-center the design. The 2006 campaign, explicitly anchored in the Tufts Archives and period imagery, has been cited in trade coverage as an example of how clubhouse-driven “greens projects” can be expanded into full architectural restorations when historical evidence surfaces.
San Jose’s competitive footprint in recent years has been as a USGA qualifying site, notably for the U.S. Mid-Amateur (including the 2024 cycle). Regionally, the club hosts invitationals and city-area events; local histories mention a longstanding invitational whose private-club status once separated it from municipal championships, underscoring the club’s historical role in Jacksonville’s golf culture.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing and scale. The course remains an 18-hole Ross routing on roughly 100–115 acres, with the back nine in original positions. Yardage has been extended but only within existing corridors; walks from green to tee remain short, preserving Ross’s compact sequence.
Greens. All greens were rebuilt in 2006 to consistent profiles and re-grassed with TifEagle, with perimeters re-expanded to reclaim edge hole locations and false fronts lost to shrinkage. Features tied to Ross’s plans—such as the diagonal trough at 3 and edge contours at 18—were restored.
Bunkers and fairway lines. The restoration repositioned bunkers to plan locations and reintroduced centerline hazards where Ross used them to govern angle choice. Fairways were widened and mowing lines adjusted so fairway cut wraps into green surrounds, returning ground options around targets.
Trees and agronomy. The 2006 work included significant tree removal (over 150) to restore sunlight and air movement, enabling firmer surfaces and more faithful playing characteristics. Subsequent maintenance has preserved broader corridors while allowing specimen trees to frame certain lines.
Water features. The irrigation lakes introduced during the 1988 renovation remain part of the landscape and strategy on select holes. Where those lakes altered historical ground, the restorations have used bunker placement, tee alignment, and green contour to recover the intended questions within the changed hydrology.
Practice and facilities. Modern practice grounds support coaching and year-round play, while a 2019–2021 club-wide capital program modernized non-golf facilities; these projects did not change the routing.
Integrity assessment. With the 2006 and 2020 campaigns, the strategic language of the course now coheres with Ross’s documented intent: green sites, interior contours, and the strategic positions of bunkers are the dominant influences on scoring, and the round’s rhythm reflects a compact, walkable plan. Remaining departures from 1920s ground—principally lakes added in 1988 and some non-original holes on the front nine that now use original green sites—are acknowledged in the club’s notes and accommodated through strategy rather than disguised.
Sources & Notes
San Jose Country Club — Golf / Course Tour (official site). Current yardage (7,043 yards), par (72), practice facilities; 2020 restoration note; detailed hole-by-hole descriptions linking present features to Ross’s plans (e.g., Hole 1 three-and-a-half-foot elevation change; Hole 3 “Ross Trough”; Hole 8 obscuring front bunker; back-nine holes in original positions).
Golf Course Industry, “A Lost Ross — Design Case Study” (Jan. 8, 2007, Mark Leslie). Primary contemporary account of the 2006 restoration: architect Dan Schlegel; builder MacCurrach; costs; timeline (construction March–October 2006); reliance on Tufts Archives plans and 1928/1940s aerials; details on tree removal counts, square tees, re-established bunkering, and green reconstructions (including the diagonal swale at the par-5).
Florida State Golf Association — USGA Qualifying materials (2024 Mid-Am Jacksonville site) and USGA qualifying results. Confirms San Jose’s role as a recurring qualifying venue.
National Register of Historic Places documentation (San Jose Estates thematic materials; club website statement; historic marker). Confirms period of significance (1925–26 development), NRHP listing, and the club’s 1925 completion date.
Club capital-program reporting (2019). Context for facility renovations (non-golf) and scheduling.
Third-party scorecard/registry listings (GOLF Course Finder; GolfLink; GolfPass). Corroborate par/yardage and note prior renovations (1989 Bob Walker attribution; 2006 Schlegel). These are secondary and occasionally inconsistent; they require verification against club cards and architect records.
State heritage trail overview (Florida Golf Heritage). Notes that greens, tees, and bunkers were rebuilt nearly restoring the course to Ross’s original plans (date context aligns with the 2006 project).
Local histories (The Jaxson). Places course opening in 1925 within San Jose Estates development narrative.
Donald Ross Society / Tufts Archives references. Context for availability of original plan sheets used in the 2006 restoration research.
Uncertainties and items requiring primary verification
• 1988 renovation authorship/scope: Trade accounts document the aesthetic/pond-building emphasis, but architect attribution in public registries (Bob Walker and/or Robert Weed) is inconsistent.
• Front-nine lineage: The club notes that some front-nine holes are not original Ross holes but play to original green locations (e.g., Hole 3). A definitive map of which tees/fairways were moved when would require comparing the 1928 aerial, the 1988 renovation drawings, and the 2006/2020 as-builts.