Donald Ross – The Grandfather of Golf Course Design

Donald Ross is probably the most significant of all U.S. Golf Course Designers since the history of the game in this country. Ross, who was born in Scotland, lived from 1872 to 1948 and spent much of his time in the United States. Before coming to the U.S., Ross served as a golf apprentice to Old Tom Morris in the renowned golf region of St. Andrews. After being prompted by Harvard professor Robert Wilson, Ross spent his life savings on a trip to the U.S. and found work and settled at Oakley Country Club in Watertown, Massachusetts. A year after moving, Ross was appointed the golf pro at the prominent Pinehurst Resort in the NC Sandhills region of North Carolina. It was here that his life passion as a Golf Course Designer. While he was an above-average golfer, Ross was an exceptional golf course designer. A few of his most famous designs include the No.1, 2, & 3 courses at Pinehurst Resort, the Grove Park Inn and Country Club’s legendary golf course, the Carolina Country Club Golf Course, the Tryon Country Club Golf Course, Pine Needles Golf Course, Cape Fear Country Club’s golf course, and the Asheville Municipal Golf Course. Noted for his natural designs, Donald Ross’s excellently planned golf course designs will be enjoyed for generations to come.

Arnold Palmer

If Donald Ross is the Grandfather of Golf Course Designers, Arnold Palmer is his prodigal son to which the torch of exceptional design was passed. Regarded as one of the greatest golfer’s in the history of men’s professional golf, Arnold Palmer has won numerous awards and golf tournaments including the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour. Known affectionately as “The King," Palmer was one of golf’s “Big Three”, along with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, during the start of the sport on television. In 1974, Palmer was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, and in 1998 he won the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award. Palmer has designed North Carolina Golf Courses such as the course at Birkdale Golf Club, The Carolina Golf Club course, the golf course at the prestigious Cullasaja Club, the beautiful course at the Plantation Club, and the wonderful mountain course at the Village of Sugar Mountain Resort.

Pete Dye

Pete Dye, his wife, and fellow golf course designers and former famous amateur, Alice Dye, make a legendary golf course design team who have greatly influenced golf course design over the years. After studying course design in Scotland, Dye went on to bring classical golf course design back to the U.S. Pete and his wife, known as the "First Lady" of golf course architecture in the United States, designed Crooked Stick Golf Club in Indiana which was the site of the PGA Championship in 1991. Dye teamed up with Jack Nicklaus in his early design career, and the two worked together harmoniously designing the award winning Harbour Town Golf Links in 1969 which later became the site of an annual PGA Tour event. Dye was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2008 and received the Lifetime Achievement Award after designing such courses in North Carolina like the Oak Hollow Golf Course.

Dan & Ellis Maples

Designers

Jack Nicklaus embarked on a golf course design career that has challenged him and lead to some stunning golf course designs. For gorgeous North Carolina Golf Communities, browse our listings and make your dream a lifestyle.

Dan and Ellis Maples hail from a family that has strong ties to the golf tradition. Dan and Ellis’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all served or worked in the golf industry and today, these two brothers have individually and conjointly designed some of the most famed Golf Courses in North Carolina. Ellis passed away in 1984, but Dan continues the family tradition. Both brothers were born in Pinehurst NC, mentored and taught by their father as he worked for the superintendent of Pinehurst Country Club, Donald Ross. After rising in the industry, the two went on to create award winning courses at Pinehurst and in the mountains of North Carolina. The Maples brother created such Golf Courses in North Carolina as the Boone Golf Club in Boone, Cedar Rock Country Club’s course in Lenior, the Dogwood course at the Country Club of North Carolina, and the Grandfather course at the Grandfather Golf and Country Club.

Jack Nicklaus

After teaming with Pete Dye on a club in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, Jack Nicklaus embarked on a golf course design career that has challenged him and lead to some stunning golf course designs. A few years after working together in Ohio, Dye and Nicklaus designed the Harbour Town Golf Links in the renowned golf region of Hilton Head Island, SC. This spectacular golf course went on to become of one of the Top 100 Courses in the World according to many noted golf lists and publications. Nicklaus has designed over 350 courses in more than 32 countries and 40 states. His work in North Carolina includes such noted courses as the Queens Gap Golf Course in a new Lake Lure community, the Elk River Club’s renowned Banner Elk Golf Course, The National Club’s course, the course at The Governor’s Club, and the course at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove. Most of Nicklaus’s courses are located inside well planned golf communities. In fact, according to Travel & Leisure Golf’s 2007 list of Top 100 Residential Courses, 7 of the top 10 courses mentioned in the list were Nicklaus designed courses. For gorgeous North Carolina Golf Communities, browse our listings and make your dream a lifestyle.

Tom Fazio

Tom Fazio represents a new generation of golf course designers and his designs are some of the most sought after in the industry. After beginning his career in his family’s prestigious firm, Fazio set out on his own to jump start his own career in golf course architecture. Fazio has designed more than 120 golf courses, and he has more golf courses ranked among the top 100 in the U.S. than anyone else in the business. He has been named the Best Modern Day Golf Course Architect by Golf Digest 3 times, and in 1995 he became only the second course architect in history to receive the highest award by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, the Old Tom Morris Award. Fazio has designed course jewels in North Carolina like the course at the Finley Golf Club in Chapel Hill, Champion Hills Golf Club’s course in Hendersonville, the Forest Creek Golf Club at Pinehurst, and Pinehurst Resort and Country Club’s No.4 and No. 8 golf courses.