Worcester Country Club

Massachusetts is ground zero for Donald Ross-designed courses (there have been over 50 nine- and 18-hole courses through the years), and Worcester is considered one of his best, the second highest ranked Ross in the state. The course opened in 1914 and hosted the 1925 U.S. Open, won by Willie MacFarlane, who beat Bobby Jones in a 36-hole playoff. It was also the site of the inaugural Ryder Cup two years later, in 1927, as well as the 1960 U.S. Women’s Open. The holes are routed over two distinct sections of the club’s property, each parcel roomy enough to let the holes spool out and breathe as they traverse lovely elevations and meadows of native grass. Over the past few years, architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner and their team have fine-tuned the design, paying close attention to the approaches of the greens and capturing lost edges and corners of the putting surfaces. They also cleared out some unnecessary trees, enlarged bunkers, and restored several bunkers that had been lost over the decades. Worcester’s naturally flowing holes didn’t need much work, but what has been done over has made the course stronger, more vivid, and more adamantly Ross.