"No tee shot can be described as good if the proper place to be is the center of the fairway."
- Tom Simpson
Our Design Philosophy
Our prime directive at Ross Golf Design is to create fun, strategic golf courses that are built in harmony with their natural surroundings, allowing golfers to have the most enjoyable and authentic experience possible within that particular landscape.
Golf is just a game, after all. A challenging, yet enjoyable, pursuit that bring people out into nature and out into their communities.
It has evolved dramatically from its ancestral Scottish roots, for certain, but it is imperative we not forget the tenets that attracted so many to the game when it was truly thriving during its infancy. These tenets: Strategy, Harmony, Enjoyment, and Variety, are the cornerstones to our company's design philosophy.
The Strategic School of Golf Course Architecture
Rooted in the design philosophy of golf's Golden Age, the Strategic School of Golf Course Architecture focuses on presenting golfers with thought-provoking architecture that challenges them with a multitude of options for how best to get the ball into the hole laid out before them.
What makes a golf hole strategic?
• Hole corridors should be designed with sufficient width so that golfers are able to find their ball and recover from an errant shot, regardless of their skill level.
• Golf holes must require thought. Greens should have enough character that they challenge the golfer all the way back to their tee shot. Hazards should be placed in such a way that golfers are forced to take them on to achieve the ideal position, as opposed to on the sides of play where they only penalize a poor shot.
• There should be multiple ways to play every golf hole and there should always be a clear path for even the least experienced golfer to find a way to get their ball in the hole.
"Narrow fairways bordered by long grass make bad golfers. They do so by destroying the harmony and continuity of the game and in causing a stilted and a cramped style, destroying all freedom of play."
- Alister MacKenzie
A Place-Based Approach
We create golf courses that deeply respect their site's unique environmental conditions rather than imposing generic design solutions that would function in any environment.
Our light-handed approach to golf course design, allowing the land to dictate the layout without regard for “convention” and minimizing earth-moving to only the most necessary spots, not only provides a cost-savings to our client but it also allows the golfer to have the most authentic experience with that particular piece of property. This approach helps to give our courses that elusive sense of place that is often missing from the modern golf experience.
"When we build golf courses we are remodeling the face of nature, and it should be remembered that 'the greatest and fairest things are done by nature, and the lesser by art', as Plato truly said."
- Robert Hunter
We Focus on the Fun Factor!
What great joy is to be had when watching one's ball bound along the ground, disappearing from view, only to reappear on its way toward the cup!
We Focus on the Fun Factor!
What great joy is to be had when watching one's ball bound along the ground, disappearing from view, only to reappear on its way toward the cup!
"The chief consideration that should influence us in making any alterations to a golf course is to give the greatest pleasure to the greatest number. Any change to a course that does not do this is manifestly a failure."
- Alister MacKenzie
"When you play a course and remember each hole, it has individuality and change. If your mind cannot recall the exact sequence of the holes, that course lacks the great assets of originality and diversity."
- George Thomas