First phase includes rebuilding four green complexes, reconstructing bunkers, widening fairways and regrassing
By Laura Hyde |
Brookside Country Club in Canton, Ohio, has appointed Tyler Rae to lead a restoration of its Donald Ross golf course.
The 18-hole layout, which originally opened for play in 1922, is situated on a site Ross chose for its rolling terrain. He routed the front nine across the eastern portion, while the back nine was threaded through the property’s most dramatic elevation changes in the west.
Ross’s original routing plan for the course at Brookside Country Club (Image: Brookside Country Club)
In developing his restoration masterplan, Rae referenced Ross’s original routing plan from 1920, as well as other documents from the 1920s. This research showed that the site had experienced incremental erosion, which caused fairway corridors to narrow, choking off the strategic width that Ross designed for. Bunkers had shrunk and shifted, with some disappearing entirely. Green shapes had become simplified due to decades of resurfacing, and tree planting had closed off sight lines, blocking the open approaches Ross intended.
Tyler Rae and his team referenced several historic documents, including this 1934 aerial, to develop their restoration plan (Image: Brookside Country Club)
The first phase of the multimillion-dollar restoration will include rebuilding four green complexes (six, twelve, fourteen and sixteen) and expanding greens across the course to recover the original sizes and strategic pin positions. Bunkers will be reconstructed to restore the Ross character and scale, while widening the fairways will reopen approach angles. Select trees will be removed to recover sight lines and improve turf health. All tees, fairways and greens will be re-grassed, the irrigation system will be upgraded and cart paths will be rebuilt.
Rae's restoration masterplan (Image: Tyler Rae)
Future phases will include rebuilding or repositioning tees and creating a new practice putting green that will be integrated with the first, ninth and tenth holes. It is also hoped Ross’s original dual fairway corridor between holes two and eight can be recovered.
“Brookside is one of the great Donald Ross courses, bold and memorable,” said Rae. “The goal is to restore it as faithfully as possible to its original design intent while keeping an eye toward the future, ensuring a golf course that reflects its historical significance for generations to come.”