Essex County Club first established golf on its 180-acre site in the 1890s; a permanent nine by Tom Bendelow followed in 1896 and an 18-hole course, attributed to Herbert Leeds, John Duncan Dunn and Walter Travis, opened in 1900. [2] Ross’s connection began in 1909, when he accepted the club professional’s post and undertook a wholesale redesign. He lived on property during these years (1909–1913), walking to work and steadily revising plans as construction advanced, with the completed Ross course debuting in 1917. [1] [3] [2] [12]
Several contemporary sources fix the project span as 1909–1917, distinguishing initial planning and on-site work (1909–13, while Ross was professional) from later construction and finishing phases that concluded in 1917. [1] [2] Ross’s design intent for Essex was recorded in what the cultural-landscape literature calls his “embrace” of the North Shore’s rugged glacial topography: he retained native fescue, thinned trees to open long views over the rocky “mountain,” and used contrasting hazard types to keep play on the ground whenever the land allowed. [2] The club’s restoration co-chairs later echoed this intent when they described master-plan efforts to “bring the course back to the original Ross look” by expanding shrunken greens and removing “thousands of trees” that had crept in after World War II. [1]
Ross remained in close contact through the teens; the club and USGA both state the layout “looked as if it hadn’t been touched” since he finished in 1917, which underscores how little post-Ross alteration occurred for much of the 20th century. [1] There was no second Ross “phase” after 1917, but the routing and greens he left were the basis for all later work. [1] [2]
Unique design characteristics
Essex’s opening stretch displays Ross’s on-site responses to the pasture-flat lower ground. At the 1st, chocolate-drop mounds frame a narrowing corridor to a sloped green—mounding that reappears across the outward half and is part of the club’s character even today. [5] [2] The 2nd continues the theme with additional chocolate-drop hazards, a form consistent with the property’s rocky subsurface and with early-20th-century bury-piles; these features survive and still influence lines from the tee. [6] [5]
The celebrated 3rd—today a long par five—concentrates several Ross decisions. Mass Golf documents a 75-yard waste area in the drive zone that demands placement rather than brute length; the hole then climbs to a green known locally as “the bathtub” for its front-left depression. [4] [10] USGA writers traced that depression to the oldest continuously used green site on the property, maintained since the club’s first nine and retained by Ross in his re-routing; the club’s claim extends to calling it the oldest continuously used green site in North America. [1] (See “Sources & Notes” for the status of that claim.) The 3rd therefore exemplifies Ross at Essex in two ways: he accepted a pre-existing green site when it fit the land and then defended it with diagonal sandy wastes and strict angles into a perched target. [1] [4] [10]
From the 7th through the 9th, Ross left the flats and began climbing the granite shoulder that defines Essex’s inward nine. Links Magazine and The Cultural Landscape Foundation both single out a rare, double-tiered greenside bunker—at Essex the most vivid example sits by the long par-four 9th—and a variety of hazard types, from thin, sinuous trenches to broad separating wastes. [2] [5] The 9th’s tiered bunker continues to be a distinctive, surviving hazard form tied to Ross’s work here. [2] [5]
The one-shot 11th is the course’s best-preserved study in uphill par-3 defense: five bunkers encircle an elevated green whose right side falls sharply away. Mass Golf’s hole dossier and USGA commentary both emphasize how a miss into the deep right bunker leaves a downhill lie to a surface that runs away—precisely the recovery dilemma Ross orchestrated on this green pad. [4] [1] Because the tee-to-green corridor and the surrounding pits remained intact through restoration, the 11th today reads very much as Ross left it. [4] [1]
On the high ground, the 16th and the finish at 17–18 reveal how Ross used the “mountain” to stage blind or semi-blind play and then offered a downhill, S-curving home hole to a crowned, “inverted-saucer” green. The USGA noted the 18th’s dome and even compared its effect to Pinehurst No. 2, but here that crown is inseparable from Essex’s glacial knolls and the downhill tee shot’s ever-shifting stance. [1] The Fried Egg adds that the 16th’s back-left runoff trough punishes an over-bold approach and is typical of Essex’s subtle green surrounds—features retained rather than invented by modern work. [9]
In sum, the clearest surviving Ross examples are the 3rd (historic green pad and diagonal sand), the 9th (two-tier bunker defending a long two-shotter), the 11th (complete uphill one-shot composition), and the 18th (downhill S-shaped drive to a crowned green). Each element is specifically attested in contemporary sources and still governs play. [1] [2] [4] [5] [9] [10]
Historical significance
Within Ross’s oeuvre, Essex matters for chronology and for immersion. Golf Digest’s state profile calls it “the first great Donald Ross design,” connecting that reputation to his extended residence and the 1917 completion date. [3] He served as professional here from 1909 to 1913 and lived in a small house on the property, which allowed him to “tweak many holes” while supervising an overhaul of routing, greens and hazards; that proximity is central to the club’s self-understanding of the course as a lived-in Ross. [3] [7] [8] [1]
Essex also sits in significant competitive company. The USGA lists five national competitions here: U.S. Women’s Amateurs in 1897 and 1912 (the latter won by member Margaret Curtis), Curtis Cups in 1938 and 2010, and the 1995 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur. [11] The state association returned with the 115th Massachusetts Amateur in 2023, highlighting holes 3, 8, 11 and 18 as competitive pivots. [4] In present reputational terms, Essex is on GOLF Magazine’s U.S. Top-100 list (No. 65 in 2024–25), and sits in Golf Digest’s “America’s 100 Greatest” with ongoing “Best in State” recognition; both outlets explicitly tie its standing to Ross’s work and the course’s unusual variety. [12] [13] [3]
Current condition / integrity
The routing that Ross finalized in 1917 remains the course’s skeleton today. The club and USGA both characterize the layout as essentially unchanged for decades; the principal exception in the modern era was the relocation of the par-3 14th away from a road boundary during a Renaissance Golf Design master plan begun in 2000. [1] [8] In that work—led in the field by Bruce Hepner—greens were expanded back to original perimeters, hazard edges were re-established in keeping with period imagery, and extensive tree removal reopened Ross’s long cross-property views, particularly along the high “mountain” used by 16–18. [2] [5] [8] The state association’s 2023 preview credited superintendent Eric Richardson’s program with continuing to restore original shapes and thin trees in line with that plan. [14]
On the ground, specific Ross features have been preserved rather than re-imagined. The 3rd’s long drive-zone waste remains a defining decision point, and the green’s “bathtub” depression—documented by the USGA and others—still animates approaches. [1] [4] [10] The two-tiered bunker at the 9th remains a conspicuous historic hazard type on site, a form identified by The Cultural Landscape Foundation and LINKS Magazine as part of Essex’s original palette. [2] [5] The 11th’s five bunkers and elevated putting surface retain their original relationships; contemporary descriptions from 2010 match what players confront in championships today. [1] [4] At the finisher, the crowned 18th green and downhill tee ball—so central to Essex’s drama—survive intact. [1]
Because the 14th was shifted and because greens and bunkers have been restored (rather than rebuilt to new concepts), a feature-by-feature summary is more accurate than a speculative percentage: the Ross routing corridors are substantially intact, with one relocated hole; the majority of green pads, including the famous 3rd and 11th, are original or expanded back to original edges; bunkering has been restored in type and placement with notable survivals like the two-tiered pit at the 9th; and tree lines have been reduced toward the open, fescue-framed look associated with Ross’s on-site period at Essex. [1] [2] [5] [8] [14] For context, GOLF.com presently lists the course at par 70 and 6,555 yards, a length in the same register as the interwar era—another indicator of architectural continuity. [12] [1]
Uncertainties & disputed points
Two details deserve caution. First, the precise description of Ross’s residence: the USGA locates the “yellow house” where he lived during 1909–13 near the 2nd green, while other published accounts place his house adjacent to the 15th tee; both refer to a small on-site dwelling from which he walked to work, but the exact landmark reference varies by source. [1] [5] [7] Second, claims that the 3rd green is the “oldest continuously used green [site] in North America” appear in club and USGA storytelling; it is widely repeated by media and rankings outlets, but, as the USGA article notes, “people will argue that older golf courses are out there.” This directory records the Essex claim with that caveat. [1] [3] [12]
Sources & Notes
1. USGA, David Shefter, “Traditions Honored At Essex County Club,” May 31, 2010. (1917 completion; Ross as pro 1909–13; yellow house; oldest-green claim; 2000 Doak/Hepner master plan; tree removal; 18th “inverted-saucer”; detailed description of the 11th; continuity of yardage.)
2. The Cultural Landscape Foundation, “Essex County Club.” (Design chronology 1909–1917; earlier Bendelow/Leeds/Dunn/Travis work; fescue and tree-thinning intent; chocolate drops; unique double-tiered bunker; 2001 restoration by Bruce Hepner.)
3. Golf Digest — “Best in State: Massachusetts” course profile for Essex County Club. (Characterization as “the first great Donald Ross design”; service as professional 1909–13; 1917 remodeling; notes on unusual holes and the club’s third green claim.)
4. Mass Golf, “Signature Holes at Essex County Club… 115th Mass Amateur” (2023). (Hole-specific details: 3rd’s 75-yard waste area and oldest-green claim; 8th’s blind tee ball; 11th’s five bunkers; 18th’s downhill staging.)
5. LINKS Magazine, “Classic Courses: Essex County Club.” (Descriptions of chocolate-drop mounds on 1; variety of bunker types; two-tier bunker at the 9th; note on Ross living on site.)
6. Adventures in Golf Course Architecture (independent course-architecture blog), “Essex Country Club: Holes 1–8” (2014). (Photographic documentation and description of chocolate-drop mounding influencing play at the 2nd.)
7. The Fried Egg, “Essex County Club — Profile & Review” (2019). (Ross’s overhaul “with the exception of the current 3rd green”; dynamiting stone; daily familiarity through residence; varied surrounds.)
8. The Fried Egg, “Essex County Club — Courses page” and related reporting (2019–2024). (Renaissance master plan beginning in 2000; relocation of the par-3 14th due to a neighbor lawsuit; summary of restoration aims; praise for Richardson/Hepner stewardship.)
9. The Fried Egg, “Take Note…The bathtub” (course notes). (Specific explanation of the 3rd green’s depression as the defining feature; commentary on 16th’s back-left runoff.)
10. Mass Golf video/flyovers & features (2019–2023). (Visual confirmation of the 3rd green’s “bathtub” and long sandy features in the drive zone.)
11. USGA, “Host States and Clubs: 1895 to Present.” (Essex’s national-event record: 1897 & 1912 U.S. Women’s Amateur; 1938 & 2010 Curtis Cup; 1995 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.)
12. GOLF.com (GOLF Magazine), course page for Essex County Club and 2024–25 U.S. Top-100 list. (Current Top-100 rank No. 65; par 70; 6,555 yards.)
13. Golf Digest, “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses” (2025). (Essex listed among the 100 Greatest; prior rank noted; Digest’s summary ties standing to Ross and unusual holes.)
14. Mass Golf, “Mass Amateur Preview 2023.” (Notes on the ongoing restoration/restoration ethos: tree thinning along the mountain; restoring original Ross shapes under superintendent Eric Richardson.)
Notes on disputed or uncertain items.
• Ross’s residence on property: the USGA locates his house near the 2nd green, while other published accounts place it adjacent to the 15th tee; both agree he lived on site from 1909–13. [1], [5], [7]
• “Oldest continuously used green” claim: the club and USGA present the 3rd green site as such; the USGA article itself acknowledges others might dispute the superlative. [1], [3], [12]
