Fort Wayne’s Fairview Golf Course opened in 1927 with nine holes credited to Donald J. Ross. That nine became the nucleus of today’s Donald Ross Golf Club. The name “Donald Ross Golf Club” dates only to 2006, when new owners purchased Fairview from the estate of longtime proprietor Jim Kelley (owner since 1968) and rebranded the property to reflect its original authorship. The club’s own account also recalls that an additional nine was built “sometime in the 1970s”, producing a regulation 18-hole course for several decades.
In 2018 Indiana Tech finalized purchase of the property. The university’s plan—publicly announced in October 2017 and executed in spring 2018—was to retain the Ross nine for public play and re-purpose the back nine as the Warrior Park complex (softball, track and field, and a multipurpose facility). Indiana Tech’s athletics site now lists the golf facility as Warrior Park Golf Course (formerly Donald Ross Golf Course) and confirms the 9-hole configuration, the Black-tee yardage (3,472), and 9-hole ratings/slopes. The club’s website and tee-time portals continue to present the course under the Donald Ross Golf Club name for daily-fee play.
Primary Ross drawings or correspondence for this Fort Wayne commission are not posted publicly; neither the club nor the Donald Ross Society has released plan sheets online. The 1927 date, Ross authorship, and original nine-hole scope are consistently cited across club, university, and directory materials, but no published evidence indicates that Ross returned for later phases.
Unique Design Characteristics
Because the course is now the original nine, many present features can be discussed hole-specifically via current yardages. The second is a reachable par 5 (521 yards) followed by a long par 3 at #3 (225); together they establish the course’s strategic rhythm of modest topography plus precise approach demands. Mid-round, #5 (410) and #7 (434) are the sternest two-shotters, balanced by another long par 3 at #8 (220). The ninth is a classic par 5 finisher (550), giving the loop a three-par mix of 4-5-3 on the closing stretch that many public Ross nines adopted to amplify scoring variance coming home.
As for ground features, the best public descriptions are modest: directories describe “fairly flat terrain,” variable fairway widths, water in play on several holes, and slightly elevated greens. Those characteristics match the site’s low-relief setting and the club’s own emphasis on approach play rather than forced carries. Without released Ross plans, we cannot parse which green pads or bunker outlines remain faithful to 1927 versus later maintenance-era changes; however, the present 9-hole yardage set—bookended by par-5s, anchored by two long par-3s, and absent dramatic earthworks—is consistent with a lightly graded, neighborhood-scale Ross assignment.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s Midwestern catalog, Fort Wayne’s Donald Ross Golf Club is representative of his smaller community commissions of the 1920s—projects that seeded everyday public golf and later evolved as municipalities and private owners adjusted facilities to local demand. Two moments mark its distinct local story. First, the renaming in 2006 made the Ross authorship legible again after decades under the Fairview name, a not-uncommon fate for early public courses. Second, the 2018 transition to university ownership preserved the Ross nine while integrating the property into a collegiate sports park—an unusual but effective adaptive reuse that kept public golf on the original loop. Unlike other Indiana Ross venues (e.g., French Lick), Fort Wayne’s course did not host national championships; its significance is local continuity: a 1927 Ross nine that survived expansion to 18, then contraction back to nine, and still serves daily-fee golfers today.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing and hole sequence. The routing now in play corresponds to the front nine historically attributed to Ross. The hole-by-hole distances and par sequence (par-36 total; par-5s at #2 and #9; long one-shotters at #3 and #8) align with the “original nine is back” messaging on the club site. Indiana Tech’s decision to remove the back nine means any 1970s expansion corridors are no longer extant on the ground.
Greens and bunkering. Publicly posted materials do not list any modern architect of record for green reconstruction or wholesale bunker renovation since 2006. Given a century of public operation, it is reasonable to assume edge shrinkage/expansion and bunker reshaping have occurred; the club site and directories, however, offer only generic descriptions (slightly elevated greens; water on several holes).
Name and ownership context. The property’s identity shifted across three eras: Fairview GC (1927–2006); Donald Ross GC (2006–2018); and, following the university purchase, Donald Ross GC by Indiana Tech / Warrior Park Golf Course (2018–present). The course remains open to the public for daily-fee play under the Donald Ross name, while Indiana Tech’s athletics materials use Warrior Park in campus contexts. This dual branding explains small discrepancies across directories.
Sources & Notes
Donald Ross Golf Club (official site) — Home and Golf Course Details pages: states 1927 opening, original nine by Ross, later 1970s expansion to 18, and current 9-hole configuration with 3,472-yard Black tees and posted 9-hole ratings/slopes; includes scorecard images.
Indiana Tech — news release (Apr. 15, 2018) and Athletics facility page (Warrior Park Golf Course): confirms purchase in 2018, conversion of back nine to athletics complex, continued operation of front (Ross) nine for public play, address (7102 S. Calhoun St.), and 9-hole yardage/ratings.
Waynedale News, “Area Golf Course Renamed” (Mar. 22, 2006): documents Fairview GC renaming to Donald Ross GC, notes Jim Kelley ownership from 1968 and resale from his estate in 2006.