Asheboro Municipal Golf Course

The City of Asheboro dates Donald Ross's design of its municipal course to 1935, and the Carolinas Golf Association gives the same year in its championship notes. Paul and B. J. Dunn's guide to public Ross courses, as quoted on Golf Club Atlas in 2002, records that the course was built in 1937 by workers of the Works Progress Administration and that for many years nobody knew who had designed it. Later research turned up an old newspaper article naming Ross as the architect, "an expert at such work who worked at a very nominal figure," along with his original plans, which the city keeps. GolfLink and Will Bardwell's 2021 review for Lying Four both give 1937 as the year the course opened.

The plans remain with the city. A Golf Club Atlas member wrote in September 2026 that he had stopped by the city's parks and recreation building to see the "Donald J. Ross original drawing." Bardwell reports that Ross's sketches show no water hazards.

Holes to Know

From the Blue tees the nine measures 3,054 yards to a par of 35: six par 4s, two par 3s and a single par 5. The first three holes are par 4s that run side by side, the 4th is the only par 5, and the two par 3s, the 5th and the 7th, are separated by the 6th.

The 370-yard 2nd from the Blue tees is stroke index 7 and climbs back up the slope. Its two key bunkers work as a pair: a small one left of centre about 40 yards short of the green, and a crescent across the front right of the green.

The 342-yard 3rd from the Blue tees is the shortest par 4 and stroke index 13. It runs back down the hill to one of the smallest greens on the course, roughly 15 yards across, with a long bunker down its left side and a smaller one at its front right. A ditch lined with stones and brush angles across the fairway 15 to 35 yards short of the green.

The 524-yard 4th from the Blue tees is the only par 5 and stroke index 1 on the men's card. It runs straight between tall woods on the left and a cart path and pines on the right, to an oval green set along the line of play with a bunker on each side.

The 166-yard 7th from the Blue tees is the shorter par 3 and stroke index 17. A road and commercial parking lots run along its left side, and its green, about 20 yards across, has a bunker at each front corner.

The 383-yard 8th from the Blue tees is the longest par 4 and stroke index 3. Bardwell describes a blind tee shot straight uphill to a fairway that swoops down to the left; today it turns left about 200 yards from the tee. A pond lies along the right of the approach from about 95 yards out, reaching to within about 15 yards of the small green, which has a bunker at its front left and another between green and water.

Ross's Design Here

Bardwell's reading of the course is that Ross designed it with "few features requiring expensive upkeep" and "leaned instead on a strong routing." The site sits on a large, gradual downhill slope with hummocks large and small, and the holes run through it in different directions: sometimes uphill, sometimes downhill, sometimes across. In his account the only holes that run parallel are the first three, and they make the most aggressive use of the few hazards in the design.

The 2nd is the clearest example. In Bardwell's account the drive sets the problem: from the right side of the fairway the approach must carry the greenside bunker, while from the left the small fairway bunker cuts off most running shots and forces the ball between the tree line and the greenside sand.

At the 4th, Bardwell wrote that the greenside bunker "bleeds away into the surrounding landscape, reminiscent of Pinehurst No. 2."

The greens are the course's other defining feature. A Golf Club Atlas contributor in 2002 described a "tight, tree-lined par 35 layout" with small greens, several sloping from back to front, and advised playing for position because sloped fairways carry longer shots into trouble. GolfPass reviewers say the same, naming the 9th green the most severe. A 2019 GolfPass reviewer wrote that locals call the four holes from the 5th "In The Pines" because of how tightly the trees close in.

Historical Significance

Bardwell called it "indisputably not among Ross' masterworks" but valued it for what it keeps: its original routing is intact and most of its original bunkers remain. RBC Royal Bank's Discover site placed it sixth in a 2022 list of the ten best public Ross courses in North Carolina, and Visit NC lists it among the state's public Ross courses.

The course is a regular venue for state junior golf. The Carolinas Golf Association held its North Carolina Junior Boys' 13 & Under Championship here for the 11th consecutive year in 2017 and again in 2019, using a mix of tees of about 5,520 yards over two loops of the nine. The event later became the Junior Boys' 14 & Under: Griffin Williams of Greensboro won the 26th edition here in July 2023 at three under par, and Grayson Baucom of Hickory won the 27th in July 2024 at four under, 67-69. The course also hosts the city's annual Men's Asheboro City-Amateur and a Junior Amateur.

The course also figures in Asheboro's civil rights history. Bardwell, citing the High Point Enterprise of January 17, 1964, writes that the NAACP chose Asheboro as the focus of a major integration campaign that year, and that its demands included integration of the municipal golf course; the mayor claimed the course was already open to Black players. After the city rejected the demands, Black residents began sit-ins at local businesses, starting on Saturday, January 25, 1964, according to the Randolph County historian L. McKay Whatley. Dozens were arrested, and on January 27 The Courier-Tribune ran the headline "60 Negroes Arrested in Sit-In Incidents." Later that year the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbade, among other things, racial discrimination in restaurants.

Changes Since Ross

The sources agree that the course has changed little. Dunn's guide records very little change apart from tree plantings, and Bardwell wrote in 2021 that the original routing remains intact and most of the original bunkers remain in place. No renovation or restoration by an outside architect is recorded in any of them. Dunn's guide described water in play on three holes and "a myriad of sand and grass bunkers"; today's aerial shows a modest number of bunkers, most beside the greens, with water at the ditch on the 3rd and the pond on the 8th.

The pond on the 8th is the one feature a source suggests Ross did not build. Bardwell notes that Ross's sketches show no water hazards and that the pond appears absent from a late-1950s aerial photograph. It now reaches to within about 15 yards of the 8th green.

The surroundings have changed too. The 7th now runs beside a road with Bojangles and Taco Bell parking lots just beyond the property line, and Bardwell found untended branches stretching over its tee shot.

Bardwell wrote in 2021 that the course would never be a candidate for a full restoration, noting that the city's appropriations for it had fallen slightly over the previous decade after inflation. The CGA thanked the staff in 2024 for keeping it "in tremendous condition." On July 1, 2026 the city raised greens fees, to $18 for walking from $10 with a recreation card, and ended memberships. At the July 9 council meeting residents asked for a senior rate, night lighting, highway signs and historic-site designation.

Uncertainties

• Dates: the city and the CGA give 1935 for Ross's design; Dunn's guide, GolfLink and Lying Four give 1937 for construction or opening; a 2002 Golf Club Atlas post says circa 1936. The front page of The Courier of February 27, 1936 appears to report on the project but could not be read. This listing uses 1935 for the design and 1937 for the opening.

• When the 8th-hole pond was built is not recorded. Bardwell's evidence is its absence from Ross's sketches and from a late-1950s aerial.

Sources & Notes

1. City of Asheboro Cultural & Recreation Services, Golf Course page, read October 2026. https://asheborocrs.recdesk.com/Community/Page?pageId=7767 (Ross design 1935, 56 acres, rates, Austin Stout, annual events)

2. City of Asheboro Cultural & Recreation Services, Facility Details: Municipal Golf Course. https://asheborocrs.recdesk.com/Community/Facility/Detail?facilityId=22 (nine holes, designed by Ross in 1935)

3. Will Bardwell, "Asheboro Municipal," Lying Four, November 30, 2021. https://www.lyingfour.com/conversations-blog/2021/11/21/asheboro-municipal (routing and slope, the 2nd's bunkers, the 3rd's ditch, the 4th's bunker, the 7th and 8th, sketches and late-1950s aerial, 1964 integration campaign, appropriations, routing and bunkers intact)

4. Golf Club Atlas discussion, "Ross in Asheboro, N.C.," December 2002 with replies September 2026. https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,1933.0.html (summary of Paul and B. J. Dunn's guide: WPA construction in 1937, newspaper article naming Ross, plans held by the city, little change but tree plantings; description of greens; 2026 report of the original drawing at the parks and recreation building)

5. GolfLink, Asheboro Municipal Golf Course. https://www.golflink.com/golf-courses/nc/asheboro/asheboro-municipal-golf-course (opened 1937)

6. GolfPass, Asheboro Municipal Golf Course, course profile and golfer reviews 2014 to 2024. https://www.golfpass.com/travel-advisor/courses/9884-asheboro-municipal-golf-course (small greens sloping back to front, practice area, "In The Pines")

7. Carolinas Golf Association, "Preview of the 21st NC Junior Boys' 13 & Under," July 6, 2017. https://www.carolinasgolf.org/blog/preview-of-the-21st-nc-junior-boys-13-under (11th consecutive year at Asheboro)

8. Carolinas Golf Association, preview of the 23rd N.C. Junior Boys' 13 and Under, June 30, 2019. https://www.carolinasgolf.org/blog/preview-23rd-n-c-junior-boys-13-u (Ross 1935; tees of about 5,520 yards)

9. Carolinas Golf Association, "Williams Claims NC Junior Boys' 14 & Under Title," July 7, 2023. https://www.carolinasgolf.org/blog/williams-claims-nc-junior-boys-14-under-title (2023 champion)

10. Carolinas Golf Association, "Baucom battles for first CGA title," July 23, 2024. https://www.carolinasgolf.org/blog/baucom-battles-for-first-cga-title (2024 champion, staff, course condition)

11. L. McKay Whatley, "The Asheboro Sit-Ins," Notes on the History of Randolph County, NC, January 18, 2013. https://randolphhistory.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/1066/ (sit-ins from January 25, 1964; Courier-Tribune of January 27, 1964)

12. Graham Helsabeck, "Golfers concerned about rising prices at Asheboro Municipal Golf Course offer thoughts on other ways to raise funds," Randolph Hub, July 20, 2026. https://randolphhub.com/article/sports/golfers-concerned-about-rising-prices-at-asheboro-municipal-golf-course-offer-thoughts-on-other--ways-to-raise-funds (July 2026 rate increase, end of memberships, council meeting)

13. RBC Royal Bank Discover, "The 10 Best Donald Ross Public Golf Courses in North Carolina," July 20, 2022. https://discover.rbcroyalbank.com/the-10-best-donald-ross-public-golf-courses-in-north-carolina/ (listed sixth)

14. Visit NC, "The North Carolina Donald Ross Golf Experience." https://www.visitnc.com/story/qRap/the-north-carolina-donald-ross-golf-experience (listed among public Ross courses)

15. Tyler Rae, "Timeline of Donald Ross Courses Built by Year." https://tylerraedesign.com/donald-ross/ (lists Asheboro under 1935)