Local investors engaged Donald Ross in 1926 to lay out a nine-hole course on dairy-farm pasture at the foot of the Smokies. Those holes—known historically as the “Carolina” nine—occupied the valley floor and opened for play that year.
Contemporary accounts from the 2021–23 renovation state that the project team worked from Ross’s original plans when restoring that nine, indicating that drawings survive (or at least were available to the designers) even though the club does not presently publish them.
The club expanded beyond Ross’s work in two later steps. A second nine, called “Dogwood,” was added in 1929; a third nine, “Blue Ridge,” arrived in 1986 under architect Tom Jackson. Across the mid- and late-twentieth century, bunkering drifted from Ross’s style, streams were piped and hidden, and the resort eventually operated as a 27-hole facility with three interchangeable nines. Nothing in the published record indicates that Ross returned after his 1926 construction period, and no Ross-era “redesign” has been documented by primary sources.
Following a change in stewardship, Raines Company appointed Bobby Weed Golf Design in 2021 to rationalize the property into a single 18-hole course and to restore the Ross nine. Weed’s team reopened the course in summer 2023 after re-routing the non-Ross holes, exposing streams, removing intrusive ponds, and crafting a sand-based, wiregrass-accented presentation that sets off the old corridors. The front nine of today’s course is the restored Ross nine; the remaining holes are new or heavily reworked alignments designed to harmonize with the valley’s scale and the mountain setting.
Unique Design Characteristics (as they exist on site)
Ross’s surviving work at Waynesville—now the opening nine—was characterized by compact walkability, modest green-to-tee transitions, and the use of the valley’s shallow creeks as diagonal or carry hazards. During the 2021–23 project those creeks were “exposed on both sides,” reversing earlier piping and bank formalization, which revived Ross’s crossing and parallel stream tactics at multiple holes on the valley floor. The present sandy, open-edged aesthetic—native sand and wiregrass—creates bluff lines and lay-back options short of several greens on the Ross nine without requiring additional bunkers, a choice rooted in historic photographs and the ground conditions Ross first encountered in 1926.
Green sites on the Ross nine were rebuilt to original sizes and interior contours per the designers’ use of Ross’s plans. Several of these complexes now accept a running approach from the fairway edges where streams no longer interrupt the ground game; elsewhere, diagonal hazards still force a specific angle from the tee. The restoration also removed later, decorative ponds that had crept into the Ross corridors; on at least one former par three and one par four, those ponds were converted back to naturalized sandy lowlands to reintroduce Ross’s intended ground contours and recover short-grass recovery options around the targets. While the club does not publish a hole-by-hole catalog of Ross’s original numbers, Weed’s team has explicitly stated that holes 1–9 trace Ross’s 1926 routing on the valley floor.
Among the clearest surviving examples of Ross’s work are the early and mid-front-nine holes that play across and along the reopened creeks: a short two-shotter where the ideal drive flirts with the inside stream bank to open the best approach, and a medium par three set on slightly raised natural ground with fall-offs into sandy, non-irrigated surrounds. These holes rely on angle and firmness rather than forced carries, and their restored widths and fairway lines echo mapping from the Ross plans referenced in the renovation reports. Because the club’s public materials provide only general descriptions, precise original hole numbers and green sketches remain to be confirmed from the Tufts Archives or the club’s own plan set.
Historical Significance
Waynesville’s Ross nine sits at the intersection of two strands in Ross’s career: mountain-edge resort work in western North Carolina and compact, valley-floor routings that used existing watercourses to structure play. In 1926, this was one of the region’s accessible resort layouts, conceived to anchor an inn and encourage travel along the growing network of scenic roads—an approach the hotel continues to promote. The later accretions of 1929 and 1986 made Waynesville a 27-hole complex, but the 2021–23 project returned the course’s identity to the 1926 core while making a coherent 18 for a modern resort audience. Within the Ross corpus, Waynesville is thus an instructive case of partial survival and careful re-integration: the front nine retains Ross’s ground-truth—routing corridors, green placements, and stream strategies—while the back nine shows how a contemporary architect can complement, rather than mimic, a surviving Ross nine on adjacent landforms.
While Waynesville has not been a regular host of national championships, its recent reopening drew trade-press attention for the rehabilitation of a lesser-known Ross property and for its decision to remove water features and reveal sandy soils—moves aligned with documented historic conditions rather than ornamental trends. Any claims about early-era events or exhibitions would require consultation of local newspapers (Waynesville Mountaineer), hotel guest registers, and club minute books, which are not presently available in published form.
Current Condition / Integrity
Surviving Ross fabric. The restored front nine is presented by the current stewards as a direct expression of Ross’s 1926 work, with routing, green locations, and general playing corridors returned to historic intent based on original drawings. Streams that Ross had used as strategic devices were reopened, and later ornamental ponds within the Ross corridors were removed. As a result, the integrity of Ross’s strategic ground game on these holes is comparatively high. That said, without access to plan-set measurements or construction notes, it is prudent to treat precise green-edge shapes and interior contouring as reconstructions in the spirit of the original rather than certifiable replicas.
Later accretions. The 1929 Dogwood nine and Tom Jackson’s 1986 Blue Ridge nine no longer exist as separate nines; Weed’s redesign consolidated the property into a single 18. Several holes on the current back nine occupy corridors influenced by the later-twentieth-century work, but they were rebuilt to a new design language that visually harmonizes with the restored Ross nine through sandy waste, wiregrass, expanded fairways, and the removal of intrusive edging. Consequently, the back nine reads as a sympathetic complement rather than a Ross artifact.
Presentation and play today. The course now measures 6,515 yards from the back tees and plays to par 71. The front nine’s lowland setting contrasts with the middle stretch of the back nine, which rises into the hills for broader views and then descends to a valley-floor finish. The practice grounds, short course, and Himalayas-style putting feature reinforce the resort’s golf-first identity and allow players to engage Ross’s style of short-grass recovery and along-the-ground approaches in multiple formats.
What remains uncertain. The public record does not yet provide hole-by-hole identifications tying each present front-nine hole to its 1926 number, nor does it disclose Ross’s construction correspondence, contractors, or any subsequent on-site visits. There is likewise no published list of changes (if any) made during the 1929 expansion that may have touched the 1926 nine.
Sources & Notes
Golf Course Architecture: “Waynesville to reopen in summer following Bobby Weed redesign,” 2023. Confirms Ross’s 1926 nine, the 1929 Dogwood nine, Tom Jackson’s 1986 Blue Ridge nine, and details of the 2021–23 Weed project (removal of ponds, exposure of creeks, wiregrass/native sand presentation, restored Ross nine forming the front nine). Also indicates the team worked from Ross’s original plans.
Bobby Weed Golf Design (project page): “Waynesville Inn & Golf Club.” Describes the master plan aims—restoring the Ross nine, consolidating 27 into 18, exposing creeks, extensive sandscape and wiregrass, and creating a Himalayas-style putting course and short course. Useful for current-condition and design-intent statements.
Waynesville Inn & Golf Club official website. Provides present-day resort context, amenities, and the framing that the front nine preserves Ross’s “Carolina” course legacy. Also confirms the membership/guest-play model and on-site contact information.
Items requiring verification or subject to dispute
Dogwood nine authorship (1929): Secondary reporting dates the Dogwood nine to 1929 but does not identify an architect. Unless club records specify a designer, attribution should remain “unknown” in public directories.
Exact hole mapping of the Ross nine: Weed’s materials and trade-press coverage state that the present front nine reinstates Ross’s 1926 routing on the valley floor, but they do not publish a one-to-one hole-number concordance.