The Country Club of Pittsfield organized golf in 1897 on the former Sarah Morewood estate, where the club’s professional Willie Anderson—who won the first of his four U.S. Opens that same year—advised on a nine-hole layout measured at 3,240 yards. In 1917 the club retained Donald J. Ross to create a full 18-hole course on the rugged upland site; construction extended over several seasons due to the terrain, producing the club’s first comprehensive 18-hole course. Club history pages repeat the Ross authorship and, in a broad sense, associate the present course with his period work, but this claim is complicated by later records.
By 1928, the board again sought changes and initially hired Ross to prepare a revision plan. The project, however, transitioned to Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek, who were commissioned to produce a new design. Their work substantially reordered the course: the playing sequence changed, new tees were introduced, some holes lengthened and others shortened, and several existing greens—retaining Ross’s earlier contouring—were reassigned to different holes within the new routing. Contemporary landscape documentation concludes that, by the time Stiles finished, few of the holes remained as Ross had originally planned them.
The Stiles routing then remained essentially intact for decades. In 1985 the club altered the 8th hole, and in 2003–04 the club undertook a modernization program under architect Mark Mungeam. This work rescaled fairways, addressed drainage, expanded several greens, and added/renovated bunkers—one club page cites “over 25 new bunkers” in 2003, while an independent landscape history notes the program in 2004—points likely reflecting a project that bridged seasons. More recently, club communications reference an ongoing “golf course renovation project” with architect Bruce Hepner focused on tree management, bunker/drainage updates, and continued course improvement.
Unique Design Characteristics
Because the present course overlays Stiles & Van Kleek’s late-1920s routing, many features experienced today are their work or later alterations rather than pure Ross. That said, the club’s own hole guide explicitly identifies No. 3 as “one of Donald Ross’s original holes.” The hole remains a 370-yard class par-4, with an uphill drive to an elevated fairway and a double-tiered green protected left by bunkers with a small creek right—an ensemble consistent with both the era and the club’s note that several Ross greens were reused when the Stiles routing was built. As such, No. 3 serves as the clearest, publicly acknowledged surviving example of Ross’s 1917–20s construction.
Elsewhere, the modern course exhibits features that speak to the layered history. No. 2 plays from an elevated tee to a fairway that turns toward a small green approached over water—a target-scale and hazard placement that sharpen approach precision. No. 5 is a short, uphill dogleg-left par-4 with a two-tiered green that demands controlled spin; No. 8 is a par-5 dogleg-left whose fairway bunker and angled lay-up zone set up a positional third (this is the hole that was altered in 1985). No. 11, a sharp dogleg-right, uses wetlands close to the green to influence line of play on the approach. No. 12 climbs steeply to one of the day’s more severe elevation-change seconds, with a back-to-front sloping target that penalizes long. Down the stretch, No. 14, the longest two-shotter, asks for an assertive line to gain a view of its downhill approach, while No. 18 finishes with a blind tee shot to a two-tiered green—a compact, members-course finisher that still creates scoring volatility. While attribution of these specific features to Ross cannot be made without plan evidence, the hole-by-hole confirms their presence and playing roles on the present course.
Historical Significance
Pittsfield’s significance for Donald Ross lies less in a pristine survival and more in documenting the evolution of a Golden Age course: a 1917 Ross construction that, within a decade, was substantially reorganized by Stiles & Van Kleek, with selected Ross greens repurposed into the replacement routing. This sequence—Ross plan and build, followed by a late-1920s Stiles/Van Kleek re-routing—captures a common interwar story in the Northeast, where clubs pursued longer, more strategically variegated courses as equipment and play improved. The added layer that the original nine involved Willie Anderson’s input connects Pittsfield to an early moment in American championship golf. Today the club’s active role as a Massachusetts Golf qualifying venue keeps the course in the competitive conversation at the state level, a modern echo of the course’s long developmental arc.
Current Condition / Integrity
On questions of authorship and integrity, present evidence supports the following: the current routing is primarily Stiles & Van Kleek (late 1920s), with some Ross greens retained and reassigned to different holes during their redesign; the club’s hole guide identifies No. 3 as a surviving Ross hole; and subsequent modernization in 2003–04 (Mungeam) adjusted green perimeters, fairway widths, drainage, and bunkering, introducing additional hazards in line with contemporary maintenance and play demands. The 1985 change to No. 8 further distances the present hole from any Ross precedent. Recent materials indicate ongoing work with Bruce Hepner, focused on infrastructure (drainage, tree management) and bunker updates rather than wholesale routing changes. Collectively, the course preserves the late-1920s design intent of Stiles & Van Kleek, with embedded Ross elements—most clearly on No. 3—offering tangible links to the club’s 1917 Ross build. For a definitive apportioning of surviving Ross features beyond No. 3, primary sources (original Ross and Stiles/Van Kleek drawings, construction ledgers, and committee minutes) would be required.
Sources & Notes
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), “Country Club of Pittsfield” landscape profile. Establishes 1897 origin; Willie Anderson’s advisory role on the original nine; 1917 retention of Donald Ross to design/construct 18 holes; 1928 re-retention of Ross and subsequent commissioning of Wayne Stiles & John Van Kleek to produce a new design; statement that few Ross holes remained afterward; notes 1985 change to No. 8 and 2004 work by Mark Mungeam (fairway scaling, drainage, green expansions, and added bunkers). Also notes that some Ross greens were retained and reassigned within the new routing.
Country Club of Pittsfield, “View Course / Scorecard.” Confirms present par (71), yardages and ratings for five tee sets including 6,458 yards (Gold), and provides hole-by-hole pages. The same page lists “Designer: Donald Ross / Year: 1897,” which appears to conflate the club’s founding year with Ross’s later (1917) 18-hole commission.
Country Club of Pittsfield, hole-by-hole descriptions: Hole 2 (elevated tee; approach over water to small green); Hole 3 (explicitly identified as “one of Donald Ross’s original holes,” with uphill drive to double-tiered green and creek right); Hole 5 (short uphill dogleg left to two-tiered green); Hole 8 (par-5 dogleg left with fairway bunker and angled lay-up); Hole 11 (dogleg right; wetlands encircling green); Hole 12 (steeply uphill approach; pronounced back-to-front green); Hole 14 (longest par 4; downhill approach); Hole 18 (blind tee shot to two-tiered green).
Country Club of Pittsfield, “Mobile – Golf.” Club characterization of the present course as “now officially a Wayne Stiles course,” with reference to a 2003 bunker program (“over 25 new bunkers and redoing all others”) and an overall back-tee yardage “about 6,500 yards.” (The 2003 date may represent the start of work that extended into 2004;
Country Club of Pittsfield, “Mobile – About Us.” Club history page stating “A new course of eighteen holes was designed in 1917 by … Donald J. Ross and this is more or less the course we play today.” This conflicts with TCLF and other accounts that the late-1920s Stiles & Van Kleek redesign reshaped the routing and reassigned certain Ross greens. Given the discrepancy, the club’s claim should be read as a broad attribution, not a detailed architectural audit.
Country Club of Pittsfield, “Golf Course Landscape Maintenance” PDF (2021). Notes removal of selected trees, bunker/drainage updates, and that the club is “continuing to work with Bruce Hepner on our Golf Course Renovation project,” documenting recent/ongoing work but without a full public scope narrative.
Mass Golf, “Mass Open Qualifying – Country Club of Pittsfield” (May 18, 2023). Confirms the club’s role as a host site for state-level qualifying.
Items requiring verification / uncertainties
• Precise extent of surviving Ross features: Beyond the club’s identification of Hole 3 as an original Ross hole, public sources do not enumerate which other greens or features in the Stiles routing trace directly to Ross’s construction. Verification would require consulting original Ross and Stiles/Van Kleek drawings, construction correspondence, and committee minutes.