Commissioning and opening (1923).
In 1923 the club opened a new in-town facility at Emerywood anchored by a nine-hole course designed by Donald Ross. Contemporary club histories identify the Ross nine as an early, defining amenity of the organization, which soon evolved into the present High Point Country Club. The routing, yardage scale, and green sizes reflected the compact nature of the site and the club’s social-sport mission in the furniture-industry city.
Growth of the club and second site (1960s onward).
As demand for a longer, championship-length course grew, the club added a second property: Willow Creek, an 18-hole course by Willard (William C.) Byrd, which opened in 1964. Through the late twentieth century Willow Creek hosted notable state and regional competitions (including periods of the LPGA’s Henredon Classic in the 1980s), while Emerywood continued to provide the membership with a Ross-era in-town loop for practice and everyday play. In 2012 the club modernized Willow Creek’s putting surfaces to Champion Bermuda, a warm-season grass selected for summer performance; those green replacements were at Willow Creek (the Byrd course), not at the Ross nine.
Publicly available club materials do not list later Ross return visits or redesign phases at Emerywood after 1923.
Unique Design Characteristics (course-specific)
Routing scale and par mix. The Emerywood scorecard shows a classic short-course cadence anchored by one clear three-shotter on the outward loop (Hole 4, 448 yards from the back markers) and variable pars on Holes 7 and 9 (listed as 4/5 on the men’s/senior line), yielding a per-nine par of 34/36 and an 18-hole two-loop total of 70/72. That par structure—and the corresponding yardages of 2,684 yards per nine—is consistent with Ross’s small-property solutions in the Carolinas.
Hole-specific constraints recorded on the card. The printed local rules identify out of bounds defined by a fence on Holes 4, 8, and 9, and a lateral hazard to the right of the fairway on Hole 9 (and 18 when the loop is repeated), with a designated drop area. These fixed boundary and water constraints, taken together with the short yardages, help explain the prevalence of positional play and wedge-distance approach shots into small targets at Emerywood.
Targets and surrounds. The club describes Emerywood’s greens as “small, undulating” and the fairways as rolling with elevation changes—features that are evident in play despite the limited acreage. While the club does not publish hole-by-hole ground plans for the nine, the combination of short-iron approaches into compact targets and a handful of uphill/downhill stances is central to how the Ross nine is still experienced.
Clearest surviving examples of Ross’s work. In the absence of published, hole-by-hole as-built drawings, the strongest evidence of continuity lies in the overall routing and yardage scale that remain as printed on the club’s scorecard and in the listed playing notes (e.g., hazards, OB) tied to specific holes. Holes 4, 7, and 9—because they define the nine’s par and hazard identity on the card—are the easiest to point to as surviving expressions of the original concept: 4 as the primary three-shot hole; 7 and 9 as adjustable-par corridors whose length and boundary conditions drive strategy. Additional confirmation would require review of original Ross drawings or aerials.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s North Carolina oeuvre, Emerywood represents a surviving, in-town nine from the early-1920s Piedmont boom in clubmaking—a counterpoint to the higher-profile resort and championship works elsewhere in the state. The city’s own historic-preservation literature explicitly notes the opening of a private Donald Ross nine in 1923, around which the Emerywood neighborhood was then planned and built out—evidence of the course’s role in shaping the city’s growth on the west side. In the club’s internal chronology, the later addition of Willow Creek did not displace the Ross nine; rather, it allowed the club to preserve and actively use Ross’s compact course while meeting championship needs at the second site.
Although the club is not commonly listed among statewide “best-of” Ross rankings because the championship course (Willow Creek) is a Byrd design, Willow Creek has carried the club’s tournament profile, hosting events such as the LPGA Henredon Classic (1980s) and state championships—a history the club’s page summarizes. This bifurcated identity—Ross nine for daily member play and Byrd 18 for championships—has allowed Emerywood to remain intact and relevant.
Current Condition / Integrity
What remains. Public materials indicate Emerywood continues to play as a Ross nine, retaining the short yardage scale, par mix, and hole-specific boundary/water features listed on the current scorecard. There is no public record on the site of a wholesale re-bunkering or green-rebuild campaign specific to Emerywood in recent decades; the most prominently documented agronomic modernization—the 2012 Champion Bermuda conversion—occurred at Willow Creek. In day-to-day terms, members encounter rolling fairways and small, undulating greens on the Ross nine, consistent with the club’s description.
What changed elsewhere (context). Willow Creek has seen more significant modern updates (greens conversion in 2012), while Emerywood is presented as a maintained Ross-era loop with programmatic updates (e.g., junior tees, forward tees) rather than architectural re-imagining. The club’s history page and course pages do not identify a named restoration architect at Emerywood in the past decade.
Sources & Notes
High Point Country Club — “Emerywood” page. Club description of the nine-hole Ross course; opening date; present-tense features (rolling fairways, elevation changes, small undulating greens).
High Point Country Club — “History” page. Club chronology; acknowledgment of the 1923 opening; description of Willow Creek (Byrd, 1964), tournament history (LPGA Henredon Classic), and 2012 Champion Bermuda greens at Willow Creek.
North Carolina Historic Preservation Office (state documentation referencing Emerywood Country Club and course opening). Notes a 1923 opening of a private, Donald Ross-designed nine at Emerywood.
City of High Point (official blog: neighborhood history). Context on the Emerywood neighborhood’s planning beginning in 1923 around the country club.