Donald Ross Courses You Can Play

Caption: Pinehurst No. 2

Donald Ross Courses You Can Play Near Pinehurst

Few places allow a golfer to encounter Donald Ross as completely as the North Carolina Sandhills.

Caption: Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club

Ross arrived in America from Dornoch, Scotland, in 1899, a 27-year-old golf professional and greenkeeper who had apprenticed under Old Tom Morris at St. Andrews. A year later, James Tufts brought him to Pinehurst to oversee the young resort’s golf operation. Ross would remain connected to Pinehurst for the rest of his life, designing or reshaping hundreds of courses around the country while continually refining the golf he found outside his own front door.

Today, six Ross courses remain in the immediate Pinehurst and Southern Pines area, and every one of them can be played by a visitor — although access varies considerably.

For golfers interested in Ross, that makes the Sandhills something close to an architectural pilgrimage.

Pinehurst No. 2

Access: Pinehurst Resort guests and members

Best for: The essential Ross experience

No discussion of Donald Ross begins anywhere else.

Pinehurst No. 2 opened in 1907 and became what Ross called “a pet of mine” and “the finest test of championship golf I have ever designed.” He lived nearby and continued refining the course for decades.

Its genius is not brute difficulty so much as the decisions it forces. Broad landing areas tempt players into finding preferred angles, while the famed crowned greens repel indifferent approaches into closely mown collection areas.

Caption: Pinehurst No. 2

The sandy native areas, wiregrass and firm playing surfaces returned during the 2010-11 restoration by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw revived much of the character Ross intended.

No. 2 has now hosted four U.S. Opens, with four more scheduled through 2047, and it remains the centerpiece of any Ross-focused trip.

Advance play on No. 2 requires staying at Pinehurst Resort or being a member. The resort currently requires a minimum two-night stay for packages that include No. 2.

Booking: Pinehurst.com

Pinehurst No. 1

Access: Resort guests and members; limited public walk-on play

Best for: Seeing where Ross began shaping Pinehurst

Pinehurst No. 1 predates Ross. Dr. Leroy Culver and John Dunn Tucker created the original course in the late 1890s before Ross arrived in 1900 and pulled the pieces together with his own architectural touch.

That history makes No. 1 an interesting counterpoint to No. 2. At just over 6,000 yards, it is approachable, with broad fairways, modest earthmoving and an old-fashioned rhythm that reflects how golf courses were constructed before bulldozers transformed the profession.

Caption: Pinehurst No. 1

It is also one of the easiest Pinehurst Resort courses for a visitor to sample without staying overnight. From April through October, non-resort guests may seek a walk-on tee time beginning one day before play, subject to availability.

Booking: Pinehurst.com

Pinehurst No. 3

Access: Resort guests and members; limited public walk-on play

Best for: Short-course strategy and classic Ross greens

Distance is almost irrelevant at No. 3.

The par-68 course measures only 5,155 yards, but its tiny greens, doglegs and varied angles make it considerably more demanding than the scorecard suggests.

Caption: Pinehurst No. 3

Ross began developing the course in the first decade of the 20th century, and a 2017 renovation restored sandy native areas and other features intended to reconnect the layout with his original work.

No. 3 is an ideal lesson in one of Ross’ enduring principles: a golf course does not need enormous length to make a player think.

Like No. 1, it is available to non-resort guests on a limited walk-on basis from April through October, with tee times released one day in advance.

Booking: Pinehurst.com

Southern Pines Golf Club

Access: Public

Best for: Ross in a rugged, natural Sandhills setting

Southern Pines Golf Club is among Ross’ earliest designs in the area, opening in 1906. For many years it occupied a quieter place in the local golf hierarchy, but its restoration under Kyle Franz has brought its architectural character back into focus.

The land here has more movement than many visitors expect. Ross allowed the course to follow the natural ridges, slopes and sandy contours rather than imposing a manufactured landscape upon them.

Caption: Southern Pines Golf Club

The result is an especially engaging example of early Ross — strategic without being fussy and full of interesting shots.

The course is now part of the same ownership group as Mid Pines and Pine Needles and is fully accessible to outside play. Non-resort guests may book tee times up to 30 days in advance.

Booking: SouthernPinesGolfClub.com

Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club

Access: Public

Best for: Perhaps the purest preserved Ross experience

By 1921, Ross had become one of the busiest architects in American golf. That year, he joined Leonard Tufts and other Pinehurst figures in creating Mid Pines, four miles east of the village.

More than a century later, it remains one of the most intact expressions of Ross’ work

Caption: Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club

Kyle Franz restored Mid Pines in 2013 after studying Ross material in Pinehurst’s Tufts Archives. The routing moves effortlessly through longleaf pines and rolling ground, and at a little more than 6,700 yards it demonstrates how Ross created challenge through angles, contours and positioning rather than simply length.

Mid Pines and Pine Needles sit directly across Midland Road from one another, making them perhaps the easiest Ross pair in America to combine in a two-day trip.

Outside golfers can reserve Mid Pines tee times up to 30 days in advance.

Booking: MidPinesInn.com

Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club

Access: Public

Best for: Championship Ross

Pine Needles opened in 1927, six years after Mid Pines, yet the two courses are anything but copies.

Where Mid Pines often feels graceful and intimate, Pine Needles has broader shoulders. Ross spent considerable time here late in his life and played much of his golf at Pine Needles during his final years.

Caption: Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club

The course’s championship credentials speak for themselves. Pine Needles became the first course to host four U.S. Women’s Opens, in 1996, 2001, 2007 and 2022. Kyle Franz restored the layout in the late 2010s, reopening vistas and recovering Ross features that had softened over time.

For a visitor who wants to understand why Ross courses continue to challenge elite players without becoming joyless for everyone else, Pine Needles may be the ideal example.

Outside guests can reserve tee times up to 30 days ahead.

Booking: PineNeedlesLodge.com

The Best Donald Ross Itinerary

A golfer could spend a week studying Ross around Pinehurst, but three days provides an excellent introduction.

Day 1: Pinehurst No. 1 or No. 3, then Pinehurst No. 2. Start with one of Ross’ earlier, smaller-scale Pinehurst courses before experiencing his masterpiece. The contrast makes No. 2 even more revealing.

Day 2: Mid Pines and Pine Needles. They sit across Midland Road from one another and provide perhaps the best same-architect, same-era doubleheader anywhere in American golf. Mid Pines opened in 1921; Pine Needles followed in 1927. Their differences are part of the lesson.

Caption: Pinehurst No. 2

Day 3: Southern Pines Golf Club. Finish with one of Ross’ earliest Sandhills designs, now restored so that its native contours and strategic qualities are again plainly visible.

The itinerary traces more than three decades of Ross’ work without requiring a long drive.

That may be the great advantage of studying Donald Ross in the Sandhills. Across America, golfers can find hundreds of courses bearing his name. Around Pinehurst, they can see how his ideas developed — from his earliest years in America through the mature work of a designer who helped define golf architecture in this country.

And they can do it with a scorecard in their pocket rather than a history book in their lap.

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