North Carolina, USA

Play the legendary Ryder Cup and US Open course Pinehurst No.2 and two other Donald Ross classics.

With more than 400 courses carrying his name, golf architect Donald Ross is synonymous with world-class golf. The former apprentice to Old Tom Morris is known as the ‘Michelangelo of golf’ due to not only the artistry of his creations, but also due to how prolific he was, and also the fact they’re all unique. This was no cookie-cutter template being rolled out time and again, as Ross expert – and golf architect – Kris Spence once said: ‘His courses and holes seldom look alike due to the way he connected each and every hole to that piece of property’.

But Pinehurst No.2 is the masterpiece every golfer has to play. A host of the PGA Championship (1936), the US Open (three times so far, with five more slated between now and 2047), and the US Women’s Open (2014 and set to host again in 2029), and of course famously the 1951 Ryder Cup (won by the USA), Pinehurst No.2 has been played by the greats of the game time and again, but the fact it now has Major bookings for the next 25 years is testament to the enduring quality of Ross designs.

Pinehurst No.2 is part of the Pinehurst Resort with its ten 18-hole courses (and one nine holer) across its 8,000 sq km of golfing utopia, and it’s also the home of Dornoch Cottage – Ross’s former home named after his Scottish hometown – where you you can book a bespoke dining experience that celebrates the life and times of a man who literally helped shape the game.

To maximise your Ross golf experience in this part of North Carolina, take in more of his great works nearby, with both Pine Needles and Mid Pines, little more than a ten-minute drive east. You can also add a fourth Ross round in at nearby Southern Pines.

Mid Pines, however, is one for those wanting the authentic Ross experience as it remains the same as when it was created in 1921, due to the painstaking restoration by Kyle Franz over a decade ago. Described by Golf Magazine as ‘pure Donald Ross’, Pine Needles, six years younger than its Ross sibling, also underwent a Franz restoration, and the result is a course good enough to be award four US Women’s Opens.