Municipal documentation compiled for the City of Hampton states that golf at what is now The Woodlands dates to 1893, and that Donald Ross returned in 1928 for a “redesign,” of which “two holes remain.”
The same slide deck characterizes the present course as a walkable ~5,400-yard, 18-hole layout on approximately 106 acres, with three-quarters of the property lying in the floodplain—context that has long influenced how routing and hazards function in wet seasons.
The public-facing city page and regional tourism materials present a different simplification, asserting that “Donald Ross designed the original course” and that the current design was completed by Ed Ault in 1973. Those summaries, in turn, are echoed by several golf directories. A centennial article by PGA.com adds a further chronology: the venue “opened in 1916 as the Old Point Comfort Golf and Country Club” and was “within 20 years redesigned by … Donald Ross,” language that is consistent with the 1928 date for Ross’s involvement but associates the early life of the club with the 1916 milestone more than the 1893 origin cited in the municipal study. Taken together, the evidence supports a Ross phase c. 1928, followed by a 1973 reconstruction by Edmund B. Ault that codified much of the present course. What remains unclear from publicly available sources is whether the pre-1916 and 1916 iterations occupied exactly the same ground as today’s Woodland Road site or if the club’s “venue” identity migrated; resolving that would require historic plats and construction correspondence.
No published city minutes, Ross drawings, or letters identifying the specific holes he built or rebuilt have been made public. The 2025 municipal presentation’s assertion that two Ross holes survive provides the best available anchor but does not name them. Absent those identifiers, any detailed hole-by-hole Ross attribution would be speculative.
Unique Design Characteristics
Given the course’s heavy 1973 recasting and subsequent incremental changes, the most durable “Ross” fingerprints at Woodlands are described only at the level of two surviving holes, not individual features. Without their numbers, one cannot responsibly ascribe, for example, a false front or a diagonal carry to Ross versus later work.
What can be documented is how the site and later architectural decisions frame today’s play: the Hampton River influences 11 holes, and the course contains dozens of bunkers—“77” noted in city materials—with partial bunker renovation accomplished in 2020 (20 bunkers rebuilt, eight filled), creating a hazard set that mixes older, flatter pits with newer, cleaner-edged sand features. Those conditions, together with the flood-plain setting, create a persistent demand for low-running trajectories and conserve width where mowing lines allow. Whether any of the bunker placements coincide with Ross’s 1928 work is not documented in accessible records.
The par-69, sub-5,500-yard matrix that players encounter now is an Ault-era product more than a Ross one, but it sits atop the same riverine ground that attracted Ross for his 1928 visit. Players will note how several greens are perched just enough above adjacent water tables to keep fronts firm—an approach consistent with practicality on this site but not verifiably traceable to a specific architect on any given hole.
Historical Significance
Within Ross’s Virginia portfolio, Woodlands is significant less as a showpiece and more as a municipal touchpoint: a public course in a historic harbor city where Ross’s involvement intersected with hospitality and resort patterns tied to Old Point Comfort and the Chamberlin Hotel. Popular accounts used the 1916 date in celebrating the course’s centennial in 2016, reinforcing the club’s long civic role, while also acknowledging Ross’s later redesign inside a two-decade window. The course has served local competitive golf—hosting the Hampton Amateur and the Peninsula Women’s Championship—but it is not typically ranked among Ross’s most intact or influential works, a reality reflected in later sources that note the course can “no longer claim to be a Donald Ross design” given the scale of subsequent rebuilding.
Current Condition / Integrity
City documentation and the on-site description indicate that Ault’s 1973 reconstruction defines the routing and most greens that golfers see today. The municipal study’s concise integrity statement—“Ross redesign in 1928 (2 holes remain)”—is the most specific surviving-fabric claim in the public record; however, it does not resolve which holes, what portion of their greens or surrounds, or how much earthwork relates to Ross. Without those identifications, the safest conclusion is that the course retains limited, fragmentary Ross work embedded within a predominantly Ault-era framework.
In terms of recent change, the city’s 2025 analysis reports 77 bunkers, with 20 renovated in 2020 and eight removed/filled, and characterizes the broader infrastructure (irrigation, tees, cart paths) as at or beyond service life—conditions consistent with a course rebuilt a half-century ago. The same study highlights that roughly 75% of the property lies in the floodplain, a constraint that both masks and magnifies historic architecture by narrowing maintenance windows and nudging mowing lines and drainage solutions over time. The course has no driving range, and maintenance resources and tree canopies have further shaped how Ault’s features read today.
Sources & Notes
City of Hampton (Parks & Recreation), “Challenging Fun – The Woodlands” (official course page: par, yardage, water on 11 holes, Ault 1973 claim; events).
City of Hampton, “The Course – The Woodlands” (current facilities and turf description).
City of Hampton, “Course Layout – The Woodlands” (course map; used here in lieu of an official scorecard link). City of Hampton / NGF Consulting & Richard Mandell Golf Architecture, Golf Course Study Results (Feb. 26, 2025) (slide: Woodlands “Originally built in 1893; Donald Ross redesign in 1928 (2 holes remain)” and facility constraints). PGA.com, “Hampton’s The Woodlands turns 100” (2016 centennial piece: opened in 1916 as Old Point Comfort G&CC; within 20 years redesigned by Ross).
VisitHampton, “The Woodlands Golf Course” (tourism listing reiterating “originally built in 1916,” “Donald Ross designed the original,” and “current design completed by Ed Ault in 1973”).
Virginia State Golf Association (VSGA), Course Listing: The Woodlands (par 69, ~5,400 yards; architect field: Ed Ault).
TeeOff (GolfPass/NBC), “Best Golf Courses Near Hampton, VA” (commentary that Woodlands “no longer can claim to be a Donald Ross design”—useful for integrity context, not as a primary architectural source).
13NewsNow (WVEC), “The Woodlands Golf Course celebrates 100 years” (local coverage echoing Old Point Comfort/centennial narrative).