The golf ground now occupied by Blowing Rock Country Club began life as the Green Park–Norwood Golf Course, a nine-hole layout opened by 1915 and expanded to a full eighteen in 1922. Local historical materials document the 1915 opening and 1922 expansion but do not name a designer; they also show that the club affiliated with the course in 1950 and purchased it in 1973, formalizing the present identity of Blowing Rock Country Club.
Attribution of authorship has long been contested. The club today presents the course as “North Carolina’s only Seth Raynor golf course,” emphasizing origins in 1915 and the subsequent buildout to 18 holes, and it has promoted a course identity built around Raynor’s template vocabulary.
By contrast, a stream of secondary sources—summarizing older Ross listings—has maintained that Donald Ross returned to Blowing Rock in 1922 to “redesign nine holes and add nine more,” effectively creating a full 18. That claim appears in regional press that references Ross’s own course list, but the article simultaneously acknowledges the uncertainty and the competing Raynor narrative that emerged from archival discoveries cited by the late historian George Bahto.
Professional trade reporting during recent renovation work at the club provides further context: in 2016 the architect Kris Spence publicly described the original nine as designed by Raynor in 1915 and noted that, for many years, the course had instead been credited to Ross. Spence’s project brief aimed “to bring the style and flavour of Raynor” to specific holes that were not originally Raynor’s, implicitly acknowledging a patchwork authorship across the property’s history.
As for direct, primary-source documentation of Ross’s intent at Blowing Rock—plans on Ross letterhead, club minutes commissioning him, or correspondence—such material has not been identified in publicly accessible repositories. The Tufts Archives and Donald Ross Society indexes provide general avenues for Ross research, but no published, citable Ross plan for Blowing Rock has been made available online; consequently, there is no conclusive evidence of a Ross construction phase on the ground beyond the contested 1922 claim summarized above.
Given the available record, the most supportable timeline is: nine holes open by 1915; the course enlarged to eighteen in 1922; later decades saw additional alterations by others; and in 2016–17 Spence undertook a targeted project that explicitly leaned into Raynor identity. Whether Ross personally “redesigned nine and added nine” in 1922 remains a live attribution question rather than an established fact.
Unique Design Characteristics (as they relate to Ross claims)
Because the club now frames the course as a Raynor work and has recently re-accented that identity, isolating surviving features that can be confidently attributed to Ross is difficult. The clearest, well-documented architectural descriptions from the modern era concern holes ten through thirteen—precisely the corridor Spence reworked “to bring Raynor flavour” to holes “not originally designed by [Raynor].” Spence characterized No. 10 as “a textbook Eden” par three a touch over 150 yards; No. 11 (a 485-yard par five) with a “Bear’s Mouth” bunker fronting the green; No. 12 (a 380-yard par four) with a Redan-style approach to a slight punchbowl; and No. 13 transformed into a 330-yard “drop-shot” par four with a small plateau green beyond a stream bed. These are strong hole-by-hole details—but they reflect the club’s present Raynor-forward direction, not confirmable Ross fabric.
The course’s most discussed hole in local lore—the 311-yard par-four seventeenth, blind over a rise to a hidden green—has been part of the Blowing Rock conversation for decades and has even produced rare aces on a par four. Yet the same local account that popularized the tale explicitly treats the larger design authorship as unresolved. Absent a dated Ross plan tying specific green forms or bunkering on No. 17 to his hand, it cannot be used as evidence of Ross architecture.
In short, while the property surely exhibits classic Golden-Age mountain devices—elevated putting surfaces, diagonal hazards, and strategic use of ridgelines—the only hole-specific features now documented in the public record are those recently described by Spence in Raynor terms. Records do not indicate extant green drawings, cross-sections, or hole plans that would let us isolate a particular green pad, bunker array, or routing decision as a surviving Ross exemplar at Blowing Rock.
Historical Significance
Blowing Rock’s significance in relation to Donald Ross lies not in a celebrated, intact example of his work but in the historiography of attribution in the North Carolina mountains. The town of Blowing Rock hosted at least two early golf ventures: the Green Park–Norwood course (the nucleus of today’s club) and the separate, now-lost Mayview Golf Course—explicitly marked locally as a Donald Ross design at the present LM Tate Show Grounds. The proximity of a genuine Ross project (Mayview) likely contributed to decades of confusion that attached his name to the country club course.
The 2016 trade-press coverage of the Spence project—stating plainly that Raynor designed the original nine in 1915 while acknowledging a long period of Ross attribution—has itself become part of the course’s historical profile, illustrating how evolving archival work can correct long-standing credit lines. That shift in institutional self-identification (from “Ross” to “Raynor”) is a central reason Blowing Rock is frequently cited in discussions about disentangling authorship among Golden-Age architects.
Tournament history does not alter the attribution calculus but does indicate continuing competitive use. The Carolinas Golf Association staged the 12th Carolinas Super Senior Four-Ball at Blowing Rock on September 26–27, 2023, setting up at approximately 6,100 yards and par 72. That contemporary set-up confirms current yardage and par ranges, though again it bears on tournament use rather than authorship.
Current Condition / Integrity
Given the club’s present Raynor positioning and the 2016–17 work by Kris Spence specifically aimed at infusing Raynor character into holes 10–13, the percentage of any Ross construction that might once have been present on the property is, at best, uncertain and likely small. There is no accessible, authoritative mapping that ties the current hole numbers to a dated, signed Ross plan, and the club’s public materials do not claim extant Ross features. Records do not indicate documented Ross return visits after the supposed 1922 activity.
Documented modern renovation: Spence’s 2016 project removed a blind tee shot and a pond on No. 13, relocated No. 12’s green some 30 yards back, and recast Nos. 10–13 to explicit Raynor templates (Eden, Bear’s/Lion’s Mouth, Redan-to-punchbowl, drop-shot plateau). Construction began in late September 2016 with grow-in through spring 2017 and opening the following summer. These specifics materially altered green locations, bunker schemes, and playing lines on those holes and therefore would have overprinted any earlier authorship traces there.
As a practical matter, what has been preserved today is a mountain-sited, early-20th-century course corridor expanded in 1922, with select features now calibrated to Raynor vocabulary. What has been altered or lost—relative to any putative Ross phase—includes at least the four back-nine holes detailed above and likely additional green/bunker forms adjusted across the 20th century (earlier renovation phases are not comprehensively documented in public sources). In the absence of primary plans or a hole-by-hole Ross inventory, an overall “percentage of Ross” cannot be responsibly assigned.
Sources & Notes
Blowing Rock Historical Society, Historic Marker: “Green Park–Norwood Golf Course (ca. 1915)” and “LM Tate Show Grounds… site of the former Donald Ross designed Mayview Golf Course,” accessed August 2025. (Timeline of 1915 opening; 1922 expansion; 1950 affiliation; 1973 purchase; separate Ross project at Mayview.)
Blowing Rock Country Club, Golf (club website), accessed August 2025. (Club’s present statement: “North Carolina’s only Seth Raynor golf course,” origin date 1915.)
Sean Dudley, “Kris Spence to add Raynor flavour to four holes at Blowing Rock,” Golf Course Architecture, Oct. 20, 2016. (Raynor credited for the 1915 nine; long-standing Ross attribution noted; hole-by-hole details and 2016–17 construction scope on Nos. 10–13.)
Ken Ketchie, “The Mysteries of the Beautiful Blowing Rock Golf Course Continue to Prevail Through the Decades,” High Country Press, Sept. 27, 2013. (Cites a Ross list claiming he “redesigned nine and added nine” in 1922; also notes competing Raynor evidence highlighted by George Bahto and quotes Brad Klein’s skepticism; describes No. 17’s blind tee shot and odd aces.)
Carolinas Golf Association, 12th Carolinas Super Senior Four-Ball (news posts/results), Sept. 26–27, 2023. (Host site confirmation; ~6,100 yards, par 72 set.)
Disputed Points & Uncertainties
Authorship (Ross vs. Raynor): The club currently embraces Raynor authorship; trade-press reporting for the 2016 renovation aligns with Raynor for the 1915 nine. Older materials and regional press cite a Ross course list asserting he redesigned nine and added nine in 1922. No publicly available Ross-signed plan or club minute has been located online to settle the claim decisively. (Sources 1–4)