Contemporary and near-contemporary records agree that Memphis Country Club’s golf began in 1905, when a 9-hole layout by James Foulis opened for the membership. This initial course anchored the club’s early years at its present Midtown site.
In 1915 Donald Ross was engaged to expand the course to a full 18. The restoration architect Kris Spence, who worked from historic aerials and ground photographs, notes that Ross “designed [the course] in 1915, expanding the original James Foulis course to 18 holes.” Top100GolfCourses likewise credits Ross with “managing to fit the fairways into a 105-acre property” in that year. Neither source cites surviving club minutes or a Ross plan in print; however, both accounts are broadly consistent and widely referenced in the literature.
The club’s own web history mentions that “since its redesign in 1911, [the] golf course has not changed materially in its basic design,” a statement that suggests significant work occurred by that date. Without archived minutes or drawings, it is unclear whether that “1911” redesign refers to a pre-Ross update of Foulis’s nine (possibly a transitional or second-nine effort) or an early phase preceding the 1915 Ross expansion. Clarifying this would require consulting the club’s board minutes and green committee reports from 1910–15 and reviewing any Ross correspondence preserved at the Tufts Archives in Pinehurst.
A recurrent, conflicting claim in secondary sources is that Tom Bendelow designed a “second nine” circa 1910–11 at Memphis CC. That assertion appears in derivative references (e.g., course summaries and message-board paraphrases, sometimes citing The History of Tennessee Golf: 1894–2001), but we have not yet found a contemporaneous construction notice, plan, or club record to confirm Bendelow’s on-site role. Given the club’s published emphasis on 1911 and the stronger trail for Ross’s 1915 work, Bendelow’s involvement remains an open question pending primary verification.
From the 1930s onward the club hosted major amateur competitions, including the 1937 U.S. Women’s Amateur (the USGA’s first championship staged in the American South, per the club), the 1948 U.S. Amateur, the 1959 U.S. Senior Amateur, and the 1979 U.S. Women’s Amateur. USGA records confirm the 1937 and 1979 Women’s Amateurs at Memphis CC and contemporaneous USGA publications previewed the 1948 Amateur at the club.
Unique Design Characteristics
Ross’s routing at Memphis is one of the clearest examples of his ability to extract variety from constrained acreage. On an almost square, ~105-acre block, he sent the front nine counter-clockwise around the property’s perimeter, then broke into the interior for the inward half using two loops that culminate in a tight “triangle of terror” at holes 15–17. This perimeter-and-loops geometry keeps wind and angles changing even as holes remain in close proximity.
The course has no formal water hazards, only a shallow drainage ditch that bisects the tract, so defense comes from angle-dependent bunkering, tree-framed corridors, and especially the putting contours. Top100GolfCourses notes pronounced, crowned targets—one reason the course plays “harder than it looks” relative to its card. The par-3 fourth is singled out as a “volcano” green: a short-iron shot to an elevated target with steep fall-offs and deep surrounding bunkers. That hole, along with the 15–17 complex, stands today as a particularly legible expression of the 1915 Ross design intent on this site.
Because the routing itself is the principal architectural artifact, several holes retain their strategic identity even amid changing vegetation. The fourth remains the signature one-shotter; the mid-length par-fours that edge the boundary on the outward side still play off diagonal hazards and into perched greens; and the late stretch (15–17) compresses space to intensify the close. These features are not generic to Ross but are specific to how he solved Memphis’s property constraints.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s body of work, Memphis Country Club is significant as a compact, urban-site 18 from the mid-1910s whose routing has endured with uncommon fidelity. The course evolved into a reliable championship venue: Memphis hosted the 1937 U.S. Women’s Amateur (Estelle Lawson Page over Patty Berg), the 1948 U.S. Amateur, the 1959 U.S. Senior Amateur, and the 1979 U.S. Women’s Amateur (Carolyn Hill over Patty Sheehan). These championships, recorded in USGA archives, give Memphis a distinctive résumé among Ross’s southern designs, reflecting both the routing’s robustness and the club’s tournament culture.
Contemporary evaluators often cite the “rectangular routing” and the change-of-direction cadence as hallmarks here; Golf Digest’s statewide reviews describe Memphis CC as a classic Ross rectangle with the outward nine marching counter-clockwise, aligning with on-the-ground observation and the aerial record. While such appraisals are secondary sources, they reinforce the course’s reputation for making “almost every inch” of the site do strategic work.
Current Condition / Integrity
The club emphasizes that since a major early-period redesign, the golf course “has not changed materially in its basic design,” notwithstanding periodic infrastructure additions and widespread tree planting over the last six decades. Routing integrity is therefore high. That said, green perimeters and bunker forms had, by the early 21st century, shrunk or drifted from their historical footprints.
Beginning in 2010, Memphis CC undertook a two-phase restoration led by Kris Spence. Phase one (completed 2011–2012) addressed tees and bunkers; phase two (2016) restored the Ross greens to their original “fill-pad” dimensions. Spence worked from detailed 1930 aerials and a full set of period ground photographs for each green, re-establishing more than a third of lost putting surface area and re-emphasizing the angle-based strategies embedded in the original design. Irrigation controls and subsurface profiles were modernized during the green work. The result returned hole locations to corners and shelves that had been effectively out of play as greens shrank.
Citations and Uncertainty
1911 vs. 1915 sequencing. The club history cites a “redesign in 1911,” while multiple sources credit Ross with completing an 18-hole plan in 1915. Absent minutes or plans, it is unclear whether 1911 reflects an interim redesign (possibly by another architect) before Ross’s 1915 expansion, or a different interpretation of when the “new” course took form.
Tom Bendelow attribution. Some secondary accounts attribute a second nine to Bendelow circa 1910–11. We have not located a contemporaneous notice or drawing; the claim appears to flow from later compilations. Verification would require period newspaper construction reports, contractor invoices, or plan sheets conclusively tying Bendelow to on-site work. Until such documentation surfaces, Bendelow’s role at Memphis should be treated as unconfirmed.
Sources & Notes
Memphis Country Club, “History” and club information (accessed 2025). Provides club-authored claims regarding yardage, par, 1911 redesign language, recent facilities, and list of USGA championships hosted.
Top100GolfCourses, “Memphis Country Club” (profile). Summarizes origin (Foulis 1905), Ross’s 1915 expansion on ~105 acres, no water hazards beyond drainage ditch, routing description (front nine counter-clockwise; interior loops; 15–17 “triangle of terror”), and the par-3 fourth (“volcano” green). Also notes the two-phase Spence restoration with recovery of more than a third of lost green area.
Kris Spence Golf Design, “Memphis Country Club.” Provides restoration chronology (2011/2012 tees & bunkers; 2016 greens & bunkers), working sources (1930 aerials, period photographs), and the statement that Ross expanded the original Foulis course to 18 in 1915.
Golf Course Architecture, “Kris Spence completes restoration of historic Memphis CC course,” Dec. 23, 2016. Confirms two-phase restoration, 2016 greens work to original fill-pad dimensions, and asserts recovery of >35% lost green area. Also characterizes Ross’s Memphis work as completed in 1915.
USGA, “U.S. Women’s Amateur Results: 1895 to Present.” Confirms Memphis CC as host in 1937 and 1979.
USGA, “Host States and Clubs: 1895 to Present.” Lists Memphis CC’s four USGA championships: 1937 & 1979 Women’s Amateur, 1948 Amateur, 1959 Senior Amateur.
USGA Green Section Record, “The Memphis Country Club” (Aug. 20, 1948). Contemporary feature noting the 48th U.S. Amateur at Memphis CC, early club history, and that the “original 18-hole course was replaced by a new championship test designed by…Donald J. Ross.”
Golf Digest course page and state summaries referencing Memphis CC as a “rectangular routing” with the opening nine counter-clockwise (date given as 1917 in GD copy). Secondary appraisal corroborating the routing description; specific year differs from other sources and should be reconciled with primary documents.