Podcast appearances and mentions of Donald J Ross

Donald J. Ross designed golf courses have a special place in Teddy's heart. His formative years of golf were spent on a few of Donald Ross' courses, learning the game at Worcester CC, then working as an assistant pro at Oakley CC and also a short time at Alamance CC in North Carolina. He's super excited to talk with A.J. Sikula, the head PGA professional at Inverness Club! AJ joins Teddy and Mike to share about the lauded history of the club and gives keen insights into the course itself.  Inverness Club was founded in 1903 by well endowed citizens of Toledo, OH. Just a few short years later in 1918, the course we know and love today was finished. The residents of Toledo wanted a championship caliber course and they certainly got one.  The Ryder Cup was imagined & championed by the owner of Inverness Club, S.P. Jermain. Inverness Club members are very gracious and have a storied history of accommodation, having allowed golfing professionals in their clubhouse during the 1920 US Open, for the first time in history.  A.J. made his way to Inverness Club when the director of golf personally called & asked him to join the team at Inverness. To say that Teddy and Mike were excited to get some time on A.J.'s calendar is certainly an understatement.  Listen in as these three golf enthusiasts discuss the lauded history at Inverness, its exciting future, and how they can all consider themselves members of The Luckiest Golfers On Earth Club. The history of this extremely difficult course is truly fascinating and you won't want to miss this deep dive! Show Notes [01:05] We're talking about Inverness Club in Toledo, OH with A.J. Sikula, the head golf professional for the course.  [03:00] Teddy shares his connection with Donald J. Ross and a bit about his history.  [05:07] Learn more about A.J. and his experience.  [09:48] A.J. shares his best number at Inverness.  [12:41] The course has changed a little bit since it was designed because of course use and erosion.  [13:56] Why do they give grandfather clocks as their prizes?  [15:30] Who was responsible for creating the Ryder Cup? [16:47] Ways their membership is known for being gracious hosts of big events.  [21:29] Hear the story behind the permanent changes in the rules of overtime play due to a round at Inverness.  [25:18] Does A.J. have any additional information about Byron Nelson being a head PGA professional at Inverness?  [29:20] Mike shares a story about meeting Byron Nelson.  [32:58] A.J. fully believes that he is one of the luckiest golfers on Earth.  [36:10] Teddy and Mike recap the episode, the Inverness Club, and give a sneak peek of the next episode.  The Links Luckiest Golfer On Earth official website:https://luckiestgolferonearth.com/ Ted's Fundraiser to raise awareness and funding for GBS|CIDP Research: https://p2p.onecause.com/gbs-cidp-diy/ted-fenton GBS|CIDP Foundation International:https://www.gbs-cidp.org/ Inverness Club  

The Strapped Boys are back! This time they sit down and discuss the first course at Pinehurst Resort. According to history, hotel guests introduced the game in the dairy cattle grazing fields, hitting little white balls that disturbed the herd. Pinehurst Founder James Walker Tufts then hired Dr. D. Leroy Culver of New York to design and build a golf course in Pinehurst in 1898. The first clubhouse followed a few months later. Pinehurst's first golf professional, John Dunn Tucker, was hired in 1899 to add an additional nine. The course later became Pinehurst No. 1, our first 18-hole layout. In 1900, Tufts hired Donald J. Ross, a young Scottish golf professional, to direct golf operations at Pinehurst. Ross completed renovations of No. 1 in 1901 and in 1907 completed work on Pinehurst No. 2. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nick and Jared discuss The Aiken Golf Club (1912 - J.R. Ingles and Donald J. Ross, with restoration work from Jim McNair Jr.). Aiken served up a pleasant day full of small-town America character. The Aiken Golf Club should sit high on everyone’s hidden gem list, and emphatically demonstrated the necessity of accessible and architecturally interesting golf in America, as well as the genius of offering players strategic options tee to green with a side of diabolical greens to navigate round after round.

In the second episode of the Architecture Series, Jared and Nick discuss the brilliance of famed Scottish Golden Age golf course Donald J. Ross. Ross designed courses from 1900-1945, including some of the crispiest collections of pure-ina found in the game today, like Seminole GC, Pinehurst #2, East Lake GC, Inverness CC, Mid Pines Club, Essex CC, Oak Hill CC, Old Elm Club, Roaring Gap Club, Aronimink GC, and Carolina GC. Ross designs offer up varied (and diabolical) green complexes, increase strategy and shotmaking, feature world class routing, and enhance playability across all levels. Listen along and learn about one of the great figures in the game of golf!Instagram: @StingersOnly

               “…I came to America to grow up with a game in which I had complete confidence.  Golf has never failed me.”  – Donald J. Ross (https://golfyeah.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Bradford-Becken.jpg)   Bradford A. Becken, Jr. President The Donald Ross Society Durham, North Carolina Brad Becken is one of a relatively small group of dedicated amateur golfers who share a common purpose: which is to safeguard the life’s work of a man from Scotland named Donald J. Ross…a man whom many consider to be the most importance influence on the game of golf in America. Serious students of the game, and of golf course architecture in particular, are well aware of the contributions of Donald Ross. But it’s fair to say that the average golfer has scant knowledge or appreciation of who Donald Ross was, or his enormous impact on the game. Hopefully, Brad Becken’s interview with Golf Yeah will increase, by some measure, the golfing public’s understanding of who the man was, and more specifically, why there is an organization called the Donald Ross Society…for which Brad Becken currently serves as President. (https://golfyeah.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/donald_ross.jpg) After a distinguished career as an investment banker, working for some of the most respected firms on Wall Street, Brad served as CFO and then President of a Los Angeles-based entertainment company until his retirement in 2005. Brad will fill in the details regarding his own life’s story, and regarding the work of the Donald Ross Society…but I will disclose that his progress through the ranks of the Society has been somewhat impressive. Brad joined the organization in 2012, was elected to the board in 2016, and assumed to role of President in 2018….which suggests to me that Brad has a true calling for the Donald Ross Society…that’s been recognized by people who share his passion. Another measure of Brad’s passion: over the past 8 years, he has played on 367 courses designed by Donald Ross.   (https://golfyeah.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Pinehurst.jpeg) Pinehurst is considered by many to be Donald Ross’s greatest masterpiece.   10 Key Facts You Should Know About Donald J. Ross:  ONE: Ross was born in 1872 in Dornoch, Scotland to a family of modest means. An accomplished golfer, he was sent to St. Andrews to learn from the most highly recognized golf professional of that era, Old Tom Morris.  Ross returned to Dornoch, where he served as club professional and greenskeeper. TWO: Ross emigrated to the United States in 1899 to become club professional and greenskeeper at Oakley Country Club in Watertown, Massachusetts. His arrival coincided with growing interest in golf in America, and the need for new courses to accommodate the invention of the Haskell wound golf ball…which traveled further and higher than gutta percha balls. THREE: Ross redesigned the Oakley course, and met member James Tufts, a successful businessman who convinced him to build a golf course on a piece of land he owned in the sandhills of North Carolina, known as Pinehurst. From then until the remainer of his life, Ross would work in New England during the summers, and in North Carolina in the winters. Ross served as director of golf at the Pinehurst Resort for many years. FOUR: As his reputation and demand for his course design services grew, Ross remained close to the game as a player. He competed in a number of tournaments, winning the Massachusetts Open, as well as the North and South Open. He also finished well in a number of U.S. Opens. FIVE: By 1916, Donald J. Ross Associates had been established, and during the first three decades of the 20th century, Ross employed 30 building crews and 2,500 men, who were responsible for the design and construction of more than 380 courses. SIX: Ross’s reputation as an architect was so strong that he solicited