Evidence from the Rhode Island Golf Association’s 1994 archival newsletter places Ross at Winnapaug in two distinct phases: a 1921 remodeling of a pre-existing nine and an 1928 program to add nine more holes, creating the current 18-hole course. The same document notes Ross’s on-site involvement during planning and construction for these phases (asterisked in its course list). While many modern listings cite 1922 as the club’s founding/opening year, the RIGA chronology indicates that full 18-hole build-out was not complete until 1928.
Secondary compilations of Ross’s work further suggest that Walter B. Hatch, Ross’s long-time associate, assisted on the Winnapaug commission. Forum researchers have pointed to a 1921 Pinehurst Outlook notice and other period clippings indicating Ross/Hatch involvement.
In the modern era, the owners announced in April 2022 that Nicklaus Design, with the Donald Ross Society as historical partner, had been engaged to modernize/restore the Ross layout. Subsequent reporting described the team’s use of the Tufts Archives to research original Ross drawings, with an aim to re-expand greens that had rounded and shrunk and to restore fairway widths and shapes lost to decades of maintenance lines. As of late 2024–2025, local planning and legal proceedings around potential redevelopment created an uncertain timeline for any comprehensive construction, although the course remains open for public play.
Unique Design Characteristics
Although Winnapaug lacks the heaving interior dunes of some coastal sites, its most characteristic Ross moments coincide with compact, perched targets and angled asks that take on teeth in a sea breeze. A mid-round pondside sequence—commonly described as running through holes 10–13—brings Winnapaug Pond into view and, on certain winds, places quartering cross-winds into tee shots and approaches. Observers emphasize how these holes “wind along the shores of Winnapaug Pond,” a stretch that via angles and exposure rather than forced carries provides much of the course’s identity. Precise mapping of shoreline proximity and historic mowing lines for this run would best be confirmed against aerial photography (1920s–1950s) and original routing plans.
Hole-specific descriptions from player guides and reviews help isolate surviving Ross character. No. 4 is a testing 425-yard par four (No. 1 handicap) that, even in its present form, functions as the front nine’s stern positional ask. No. 9—a 525-yard par five—finishes the outward half and has long been the course’s longest two-shot approach opportunity for longer hitters when firm. On the inward side, No. 16 is a widely remarked 179-yard par three playing from an elevated tee to a shallow, punchbowl-influenced green site that rewards a controlled trajectory—a classic Ross-era target when kept firm. No. 12, another par three within the pond stretch, offers one of the property’s signature views, underscoring how Ross exploited the site’s edges without resorting to heroic water carries. These are the clearest present-day touchpoints for Ross’s original intent because they continue to read as shot-making problems tied to terrain and wind, not added hazards.
Taken together, the mid-round run near the lagoon and the late par-3 at 16 give the best sense of Winnapaug’s Ross DNA: modest ground forms leveraged for stance and trajectory questions, and greens whose effective targets shrink in a breeze. To gauge precisely how closely the current green pads match the 1920s construction, however, would require access to Ross’s graded plans and early aerials; public sources agree the greens have shrunk and rounded over time, a condition the 2022 restoration brief explicitly set out to reverse.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s Rhode Island portfolio, Winnapaug stands out as a public-access seacoast course from the early 1920s. A 1994 RIGA survey places it alongside Ross’s better-documented state work (e.g., Triggs Memorial, Newport, Wannamoisett, and Sakonnet), but specifically labels Winnapaug as a 1921 remodel + 1928 addition—useful context for scholars mapping Ross’s phasing and field presence across the state. The 2022 announcement that Nicklaus Design would perform a Ross restoration—its first renovation of a Ross layout—adds a separate, modern-era footnote to Winnapaug’s historical profile, reflecting contemporary interest in aligning municipal and public courses with archival intent. Regionally, the course is noted as an affordable Ross round with pond and ocean vistas, frequently cited in travel and state tourism material.
Winnapaug’s tournament record is modest; it serves local and vacation play rather than elite championships. The site’s significance therefore derives less from event pedigree and more from its chronological place in Ross’s 1920s New England itinerary and the continuing effort to reconcile a century of public-course maintenance realities with original design intent.
Current Condition / Integrity
Today’s Winnapaug retains a Ross-era routing with par 72/6,361 yards, though years of mowing-line drift have rounded and reduced green and fairway perimeters. Reviews and travel guides characterize conditions as variable but generally playable, with the site’s wind exposure and the pondside holes providing most of the challenge. The 2022 restoration brief—to re-expand greens to original shapes and recover fairway width lost to decades of narrowing—tracks with what one would expect on a century-old public course; Nicklaus Design stated that archival materials at the Tufts Archives were informing the effort. At the same time, local land-use debates have affected timelines; in September 2025 a state-level ruling rejected a proposal to convert all or part of the property to housing, leaving the course in operation and the long-range restoration pathway still a live (if administratively complex) prospect.
From an integrity standpoint, the best surviving examples of Ross’s Winnapaug are the hole corridors and several green sites (notably 16 and the par-3 in the pond stretch at 12), where the relationship between wind, stance, and target remains legible.
Sources & Notes
Rhode Island Golf Association, RIGA News (Spring 1994), “The Donald Ross Mystique,” esp. sidebar “Donald Ross Courses in Rhode Island” listing “Winnapaug Country Club — (Remodeled) 9 Holes 1921; (Added) 9 Holes 1928**” (asterisk indicating Ross on-site during planning/construction).
Winnapaug Country Club (official site): home page; course and tee-time pages describing public access, location, and on-site amenities.
Winnapaug Country Club — Tour the Course (site text snippet): states “plays over 6400 yards, par 72” and notes warm-up range for short irons and short-game areas.
Nicklaus Design project page, “Winnapaug Golf Club”: announcement of a Ross restoration engagement (2022); project framing and yardage context.
Golf Course Architecture (Richard Humphreys), “Nicklaus Design to work with Donald Ross Society at Winnapaug” (Apr. 22, 2022): first ND renovation of a Ross layout; collaboration with the Donald Ross Society.
Telegram & Gazette (Oct. 8, 2022): owners and Nicklaus Design reported researching original Ross drawings at the Tufts Archives; intention to re-expand greens and restore fairway shapes.
VacationRentalsRI.com feature: descriptive note that holes 10–13 “wind along the shores of Winnapaug Pond.” (Secondary travel source; useful for hole-sequence orientation only.)
What’s Up Newp (Sept. 2025) and Rhode Island PBS (Sept. 9, 2025): updates on planning/legal context affecting redevelopment proposals; both confirm the property’s status as a Donald Ross-designed public course and the persistence of restoration plans in public discourse.
GolfClubAtlas forum “Reunderstanding Ross” thread: secondary compilation noting Ross/Walter B. Hatch involvement and referencing a 1921 Pinehurst Outlook notice; serves as a pointer for primary-source retrieval. (Use with caution; verify in archives.)