Greensboro Country Club organized a golf course at Irving Park in the 1910s and opened for play in November 1912; this initial course pre-dated the present Ross design. The National Register nomination for the Irving Park Historic District—prepared from contemporary records and club history—states that “by the mid-1920s the present course had been designed by Donald J. Ross and constructed between then and the end of the decade.” In 1932 the club added a lake across the fairway of what is now the Thirteenth, introducing water into play on a hole within Ross’s routing. With the exception of alterations to Holes 13, 16, and 18, that nomination held that the course continued to reflect Ross’s design.
Primary plan evidence for Ross’s involvement survives: a 1924 Ross course plan for Greensboro Country Club—held in the Tufts Archives at Pinehurst—is referenced in a 2021 report issued by North Carolina’s Historic Preservation Office. That document corroborates a mid-1920s design date and confirms archival design drawings exist. The Donald Ross Society’s directory likewise lists “Greensboro Country Club (Irving Park Course)” with dates refined to 1924–1928. Together, these sources anchor Ross’s work here firmly to the mid-1920s, distinct from the club’s earlier pre-Ross golf ground.
Subsequent modernization is part of Irving Park’s story. Public reporting notes a 1960s redesign by George Cobb that altered a number of Ross elements; this is the work Ross-specialist Kris Spence later set out to counteract by re-asserting historic characteristics. Spence, who served as Greensboro CC’s superintendent before starting his design practice, oversaw a late-1990s project at Irving Park described as a restoration of Ross heritage; articles recount this as a turning point in his career. While those accounts do not supply a blow-by-blow scope, they consistently place Spence’s work here in 1997–1998 and frame it as a Ross-centric renovation following Cobb’s changes. Club archival minutes, construction specifications, and Spence’s master plan (if available from the club) would be the appropriate primary sources to verify the precise scope (greens and surrounds, bunkers, tees, irrigation) and to map where his work most closely followed the Tufts plan.
Unique Design Characteristics
Irving Park’s strongest Ross fingerprints lie in its routing and green-to-tee connections across a tight urban site. The National Register text—written prior to Spence’s work—states that outside of Holes 13, 16, and 18 the course continued to reflect Ross’s design, implying that the corridors and green sites on the remaining fifteen holes remained in their original locations. In practical terms, that means the opening stretch and the central holes retain Ross’s hole sequences and landforms, even as maintenance practices and later periods of tree growth have affected playing widths. The lake introduced across the Thirteenth fairway in 1932 is an historical overlay on a Ross corridor; that water feature remains a defining hazard today and is the clearest, dated deviation from Ross’s original ground conditions. The remaining two exceptions named in the Register—16 and 18—were also acknowledged departures, likely reflecting either safety or clubhouse-related adjustments common to in-town clubs during the automobile era.
As the course plays today, modern scorecards and public imagery portray a compact par-71 with multiple sub-400-yard par fours and a handful of short-to-mid-iron par threes. That scale is consistent with Ross’s mid-1920s urban work in the Piedmont: it demands precise placement into small targets rather than brute length. While a detailed green contour inventory requires field study or original Ross grading plans, the combination of short par fours, small putting surfaces, and bunkering set close to greens—a profile visible in photographs of Irving Park’s holes—supports the Register’s conclusion that Ross’s design intent persists across most of the course. For a hole-by-hole map and yardage progression, see the current public scorecard resources cited below.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s North Carolina portfolio, Irving Park is one of his Triad-area commissions of the 1920s, contemporary with his celebrated Sedgefield course across town (opened 1926) and part of the region’s broader embrace of golf-centric suburban amenities during the streetcar era. The Historic Preservation Office’s context studies of Greater Greensboro note the symbiosis between the Irving Park real-estate development and the club course, with a streetcar connection facilitating suburban growth around the fairways—an urban development narrative that shaped the site constraints and, in turn, Ross’s routing. From a golf-history perspective, Irving Park also appears on early championship rolls: the Carolinas Golf Association recognizes the 1921 Carolinas Amateur as having been contested at Greensboro Country Club’s Irving Park course, indicating regional stature soon after the club’s course came into use and before Ross’s later rebuild reached maturity.
The course has continued to host state-level events into the twenty-first century, including the 2012 North Carolina Women’s Senior Amateur and the 2013 Carolinas Super Senior Four-Ball, which keep Irving Park in the competitive rotation notwithstanding its modest modern yardage. Those events, with published yardages and pars, further document the course’s present-day scale and its use as a tournament venue.
Current Condition / Integrity
As of the 1994–95 National Register documentation, Ross’s routing and hole locations at Irving Park were substantially intact except at 13, 16, and 18. The 1932 lake across the Thirteenth fairway represented the most conspicuous interwar change. Later twentieth-century work—reported as a 1960s George Cobb redesign—introduced additional alterations, some of which likely involved greens and bunkers modernization typical of that era. In the 1998 project led by Kris Spence, the stated aim was to restore the “Ross heritage” that had been obscured, using archival material (including the 1924 Tufts Archives plan) as a guide. Without access to Spence’s plan set and the club’s as-built records, a room-by-room accounting of how many original Ross green pads were recaptured or how many bunkers were returned to plan is not possible here; however, public sources agree on the restoration thrust and its timing.
Today’s published scorecards show Irving Park playing at roughly 6,016 yards, par 71, with three primary tee sets. That yardage reflects the course’s historic footprint and the surrounding neighborhood fabric; it also suggests that preservation of original corridors remains a club priority over wholesale lengthening. A current, hole-by-hole scorecard is publicly viewable through third-party golf information sites; those pages, along with aerial imagery, are useful proxies for researchers until the club’s own archival room and the Tufts Archives drawings can be consulted directly.
Sources & Notes
North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, National Register Nomination, “Irving Park Historic District” (GF0204). Confirms (a) the club/course opened in November 1912; (b) “by the mid-1920s the present course had been designed by Donald J. Ross and constructed between then and the end of the decade”; (c) a 1932 lake was built on the No. 13 fairway; and (d) “except for changes to holes 13, 16, and 18, the course continues to reflect Ross’s design.”
North Carolina HPO Environmental Review, ER_21-2174 (2021). Notes that a 1924 Donald Ross course plan for Greensboro CC is held in the Tufts Archives and was consulted for the report, thereby documenting primary-source plan evidence and dating.
Donald Ross Society—Course Directory (2018 update). Lists “Greensboro Country Club (Irving Park Course), Greensboro, NC—18 Holes, 1924–1928,” aligning with the Tufts plan date and late-decade completion.
Preservation Greensboro, “The Secrets of Irving Park” (2025). Reiterates the National Register’s summary: post-Ross 1932 lake on No. 13, and that aside from 13, 16, 18 the course reflects Ross’s design. Useful as a synthesized, public-facing restatement of the Register text.
Sports Illustrated (SI.com), “Kris Spence: The golf course whisperer emerges” (2020). Reports that Irving Park underwent a George Cobb redesign in the 1960s and that Kris Spence subsequently worked to restore Ross character; frames Spence’s late-1990s project at Irving Park as career-defining.
Business North Carolina, “N.C. Golf: Designer Spence restores courses’ glory” (2018). Places the Irving Park Ross design beginning in 1924 and notes Spence’s Greensboro CC tenure leading into 1990s restoration discussion.
Carolinas Golf Association, championship pages (2012–2015). Confirm 1921 Carolinas Amateur at Irving Park and document later events hosted at Irving Park, including the 2012 North Carolina Women’s Senior Amateur and the 2013 CGA Super Senior Four-Ball, with published yardage/par for those weeks.
Uncertain or Disputed Items (requires primary-source verification)
Initial “Ross in 1911” claims: Several golf-directory sites state that Ross designed an Irving Park course in 1911 (or that a Ross 18 existed by 1911). The National Register nomination and state preservation context place the present Ross course’s design and construction in 1924–1928, with club golf in play in 1912 prior to Ross’s rebuild. Reconciling these requires consulting club minutes, early clubhouse publications, and the Tufts Archives drawings and correspondence files.
Scope and date of George Cobb’s work: The 1960s Cobb redesign at Irving Park is reported in reputable journalism, but a definitive accounting of its scope (e.g., greens reconstruction, bunker relocations, safety changes near the clubhouse) should be drawn from club construction files, plans signed by Cobb, or period newspaper coverage.
Exact elements restored by Kris Spence (1997–1998): Public pieces credit Spence with restoring Ross character but do not publish a hole-by-hole scope. The club’s 1998 master plan, as-built drawings, and any before/after aerials would establish which bunkers, green edges, and tees were returned to Ross’s 1924 plan and where modern considerations required deviations.