Highland Country Club credited its original layout to Donald J. Ross in 1945, the year the club was established and the course first entered service for members. Unlike some of his early-century commissions, this was a late-career North Carolina project set on the sandy soils west of downtown Fayetteville. Contemporary and retrospective club and tourism references repeat the 1945 date and Ross attribution, but primary documentation—such as original routing drawings, construction contracts, or Ross correspondence—is not publicly available through the club’s site. Accordingly, the opening date and authorship are taken from secondary listings maintained by regional tourism and national golf directories.
The clearest documented episode of post-opening construction occurred in 1991–92, when the club undertook a wholesale reconstruction of its greens to match Ross’s original green plans. Superintendent Tommy Gresham led the effort, working from Ross drawings that included written instructions for shaping, drainage and tie-ins; the club closed the back nine in August, then the front nine in September, and re-opened in November with greens rebuilt to those plans. A detailed trade article from 1992 reproduces Ross’s written specification for Highland’s 11th green and explains how the team rebuilt the putting surfaces by relying on the plans’ narrative guidance rather than modern laser-surveyed grading. That article also records that the No. 4 green was relocated to terrain consistent with the Ross plan after the team discovered the then-existing green did not correspond to the intended site.
Two additional, later-period references point to planning and/or renovation work in the 2000s. Several national directories list “Rich Mandell (2007)” in addition to Ross. Mandell’s firm states it prepared a Renovation Business Plan for Highland to “restore the course to the original design intent of Donald Ross,” using Ross construction drawings and a 1951 aerial as evidence.
Unique Design Characteristics
Ross’s written program for Highland’s 11th green shows how he meant to enliven a relatively flat hole with micro-contours and deliberate drainage. The specification called for the green to be raised “2 feet at front to 3 feet at left rear and 4-1/2 feet at right rear,” with “an irregular rolling undulation through the rear center” and “two large rolling mounds on each side of the green with pot bunkers cut into the slopes.” During the 1991–92 work, the club rebuilt the greens explicitly to those instructions, relying on the narrative to guide finished grades. That singular document preserves the intended play: approach shots repelled by subtle fall-offs near the edges and interior rolls that complicate recovery.
The same project account explains that Highland’s greens were shaped to shed water in multiple directions, with long runoff slopes at the fronts and shallow saucering in places—techniques that, paired with the site’s deep sand profile, produced firm surfaces and delicate edge conditions. The superintendent noted that balls finishing within 10–15 feet of the perimeter could be carried off by the natural drainage, a trait that continues to define approach and short-game choices today.
Beyond the greens, present-day descriptions by players emphasize tight, tree-lined tee shots and elevated targets that reward spin control on approaches. While these are contemporary observations rather than archival records, they comport with the course’s current yardage and the small-green profile recorded in national directories. Without a publicly available hole-by-hole plan, the strongest surviving, attributable Ross features at Highland are the greens that were rebuilt to his documented specifications in 1991–92 and the restored siting of the 4th green to the terrain Ross had selected.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s North Carolina portfolio, Highland belongs to his late-1940s work in the state’s Sandhills-adjacent region rather than the Pinehurst nucleus of the 1910s–30s. Its particular historical value lies in the survival of original Ross green plans with extensive written direction, and in the club’s 1991–92 decision to use those documents to reconstruct the putting surfaces. Few courses can point to published, hole-specific evidence of both the plan and the in-kind fieldwork. Highland’s competition pedigree is regional: the Carolinas Golf Association has continued to award events to the club, including the 17th North Carolina Senior Women’s Amateur in 2021 and the 64th Carolinas Senior Amateur scheduled for September 2025. While Highland is not a staple of national Top-100 lists, it has maintained a recognized place in North Carolina’s private-club landscape, in part through steady tournament hosting and its intact Ross-documented greens program.
Current Condition / Integrity
Routing: No public source provides an original 1945 routing map for comparison, so the integrity of the routing as a Ross artifact cannot be stated with certainty. The club has remained an 18-hole, par-72 course since opening, and modern yardages (6,500–6,700 from the longest tees) align with a conventional mid-century footprint. Verification would require access to the club’s original plan set or early aerials beyond the 1951 image cited by Mandell’s firm.
Greens: The greens were fully reconstructed in 1991–92 to Ross’s plans, including the relocation of the 4th green to a site corresponding with the original design. The project narrative states the team worked “to the plan” and relied on the written specifications to finish slopes and tie-ins. That is the course’s strongest claim to Ross integrity today. Multiple directories currently list bentgrass greens; no public notice of a conversion to ultradwarf Bermuda was found, though such changes are common in the region.
Bunkers and surrounds: The 1992 account hints at future bunker work (“If [he] doesn’t go ahead and do that, too!”), but it does not document a comprehensive bunker restoration immediately following the greens project. Later, Mandell’s Renovation Business Plan proposed restoring Ross intent using plans and the 1951 aerial; several directories tag “Rich Mandell (2007),” suggesting at least some field work in that year. The scope (e.g., bunker placements reclaimed, tee rebuilds, tree work) is not described in publicly accessible club materials. Contemporary player reports describe narrow corridors and overhanging trees affecting approach trajectories—conditions that shape play today but may reflect post-Ross vegetation rather than original design.
Practice and infrastructure: Current listings show a driving range and standard practice greens, and the club confirms a broader amenity set (tennis, dining, pool).
Citations and Uncertainty
Several important facts about Highland’s early years remain undocumented in public sources. We lack: (1) a digitized original routing drawing for the full course; (2) club minutes or correspondence verifying the exact dates of Ross’s site visits, staking, and construction supervision; and (3) a line-item description of any 2007 construction that may have followed Mandell’s business plan. The 1991–92 greens project is unusually well documented in a trade article that quotes and reproduces Ross’s own green notes, but a similar level of detail is not publicly available for bunkers, tees, or tree management.
Sources & Notes
Highland Country Club (official site). Accessed pages for general location and club amenities; no detailed architectural history is published.
“Fayetteville Insider’s Golf Knowledge,” DistinctlyFayettevilleNC.com (tourism board). Lists Highland as a Donald Ross design, opening in 1945, 6,732 yards. Secondary source.
Richard Mandell Golf Architecture: “Classic Works.” States the firm prepared a Renovation Business Plan for Highland “to restore the course to the original design intent of Donald Ross,” utilizing Ross’s original drawings and a 1951 aerial. Does not independently document scope/completion of construction.
“Ross Society’s … (Highland CC greens reconstruction),” Golf Course News, June 1992 (PDF). Firsthand trade-press account of the 1991–92 greens reconstruction under Superintendent Tommy Gresham, quoting Ross’s written directions for Highland’s 11th green and noting relocation of No. 4 green to the plan-consistent site. Primary contemporary source for that work.
Carolinas Golf Association tournament pages and releases documenting events hosted at Highland (e.g., 2021 North Carolina Senior Women’s Amateur; 2025 Carolinas Senior Amateur scheduled).