For those tuning in to the US Open this week, expect lots of talk about Donald Ross. It won’t be a name you see on the leaderboard, but he will leave an indelible mark on this championship.
So, who is Donald Ross and why is he so revered in the world of golf?
Ross was a Scottish-born professional golfer who recorded a fifth-place finish in the US Open and a T8 in The Open, but he became better known for his work as a golf course designer.
After an apprenticeship at Royal Dornoch, he moved to America and wound up at Pinehurst and it’s on this stretch of land in North Carolina where he found his true calling.
“It’s no secret to anybody here at Pinehurst, Donald Ross was the creator of No. 2 and much of what is here,” the USGA’s John Bodenhamer said.
“Donald Ross did a lot of impactful things, a lot of important things. Perhaps at least one of my favorite quotes that he said, it went like this: ‘A country which gets golf minded need not worry about the honor, the integrity and the honesty of its people’. That hangs in Golf House Pinehurst for every one of our staff to see.
“Think about this when you think about Donald Ross. I didn’t realize this until just a few weeks ago. 1,000 USGA championships, 17.5 percent of those, 175 of them, almost one in five, have been played on Donald Ross golf courses. That’s pretty darned prolific.
The par 3 ninth hole at Pinehurst No.2
(Image credit: Getty Images)
“This was his masterpiece. Donald Ross wasn’t just a designer. Sure, that’s maybe what most people know him to be. But he was a superintendent here at Pinehurst. He was a club maker. He was a carpenter. He did other things. But he was a designer, and he lived at Pinehurst.
“You can go to the third green, look left, that’s where Donald Ross lived. His home is still there. Pinehurst is the caretaker for that.
“This was his masterpiece. He refined it. He took it from sand greens to turf grass and kept improving it over and over again.
“Each hole, he talks about this, was a different challenge. No two holes go in the same direction. You think about how the wind works around those holes and how it swings through the pine trees here.”
Ross would eventually design four courses here but most notably, he is the original creator of Pinehurst No. 2, the venue for this year’s US Open and which has held several of the sport’s biggest events over the years.
After his work at Pinehurst, the legend of Ross grew and he devoted more and more of his time to providing the canvas upon which great golf would be played.
Although he was born in Scotland, he didn’t design any courses in the Home of Golf. He is, however, credited with having a direct involvement with hundreds of courses in north America before his passing in 1948, while he has inspired the designs of countless other architects.
His layouts – too many to list – have hosted countless Majors and big events across both the men’s and women’s games.
Pinehurst No. 2 was restored to its original Donald Ross design in 2010 by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw
(Image credit: Getty Images)
He is responsible for Oak Hill and Oakland Hills, which between them have held 16 Major championships. Four US Opens and two PGA Championships have been played over Ross’ Inverness Club, while Pinehurst No. 2 is set for its fourth US Open.
Ross also designed the highly acclaimed Seminole and East Lake, home of the mega-money FedEx Cup finale each year.
What courses did Donald Ross design?
- Aronimink Golf Club
- Brae Burn (1919 US Open)
- Charlotte Country Club
- East Lake Golf Club
- Englewood Country Club (1909 US Open)
- Essex County Club
- Inverness Club (1920, 1931, 1957, 1979 US Open; 1986, 1993 PGA Championship)
- Interlachen Country Club (1930 US Open; 2008 US Women’s Open)
- Oak Hill (1956, 1968, 1989, US Open; 1980, 2003, 2013, 2023 PGA Championship)
- Oakland Hills (1924, 1937, 1951, 1961, 1985, 1996 US Open; 1972, 1979, 2008 PGA Championship)
- Pinehurst No. 2 (1936 PGA Championship; 1999, 2005, 2014, 2024 US Open; 2014 US Women’s Open)
- Plainfield Country Club
- Scioto Country Club (1926 US Open; 1950 PGA Championship)
- Seminole
- The Minikahda Club (1916 US Open)
- Wannamoisett Country Club
- Worcester Country Club (1925 US Open; 1960 US Women’s Open)