Brentwood Golf Course

Jacksonville looked for a site for a municipal golf course from the 1910s and had A. W. Tillinghast inspect several sites, without result. In 1921 the Citizens Golf Committee of the Chamber of Commerce pressed the City Commission for a course and urged it to hire Donald Ross, and on November 28, 1921 the commission employed Ross to survey the possible sites. Early in 1922 the city bought 146 acres in Moncrief Heights for $61,158 and hired Ross to design the course.

Ross walked the ground himself. The Florida Times-Union reported in September 1922 that he had "tramped over the Moncrief tract" before calling it "the finest and sportiest municipal golf course in the U.S.", and that he had already made several visits to Jacksonville for this course and for Timuquana. The city built the course with its own forces under Commissioner Dr. M. B. Herlong, who said they would carry out Ross's plans to the letter, using the city's engineering department and a crew of city workers to clear and plow the fairways. Jimmy Scott oversaw construction details, and Ross's associate J. B. McGovern inspected the work in September 1922. The city wanted to open in spring 1923, but McGovern advised the commission to wait until the fall.

The course, then called the Jacksonville Municipal Golf Course, opened on Friday, November 8, 1923. Mayor John T. Alsop declared a holiday for city employees, a parade led by motorcycle police went out to the clubhouse, and the mayor hit the opening shot. The course measured 6,282 yards, par 72, and the green fee was 50 cents. The 1923 card read "America's Finest Eighteen Holes. Donald Ross, Architect. Grass Greens and Tees." Charles Mayo was the first professional. In 1928 the city bought land for a further nine, which Mayo laid out; the land was not all secured until 1936, and it is unclear whether those holes were finished.

The 18 holes did not survive. The city sold the course in 1960 rather than integrate it, its private owners closed it in 1975, and the Duval County School Board later bought the site. Today's nine, designed by Joe Walter for the First Tee of Jacksonville on the remaining undeveloped land, opened on December 12, 2000.

Holes to Know

From the Gold tees the nine is par 34 over 2,514 yards: five par 4s (the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th), one par 5 (the 3rd) and three par 3s (the 5th, 7th and 9th). Four of the par 4s are under 340 yards, and the round closes par 3, par 4, par 3.

The 263-yard 1st from the Gold tees is the shortest par 4. It runs straight between a wood on the right and scattered trees on the left, with no fairway sand, to the smallest green on the course, about 3,200 square feet, with one bunker off its right side.

The 494-yard 3rd from the Gold tees, stroke index 3, is the only par 5. It is a straight corridor of trees with houses beyond the right side. Its only sand is a pair of bunkers right of centre about 180 to 205 yards short of the green, and the oval green, about 36 yards deep, has no bunker around it.

The 373-yard 6th from the Gold tees is the longest par 4 and stroke index 1, and it is the one hole that follows Ross's routing. A railway runs behind the trees down the right side, and a long pond lies left of the fairway from about 75 yards out to about 30 yards short of the green. One bunker sits on the right of a green about 38 yards deep.

The 137-yard 9th from the Gold tees finishes the round with a par 3. A pond runs along the right as far as the back of the green, which is long and narrow, about 41 yards deep and 19 wide, with bunkers at its front-left, front-right and back-right.

Ross's Design Here

Ross's plan was published with its card in the Times-Union on September 10, 1922. It used 117 acres of the tract for 18 holes that ran on both sides of the Atlantic Coast Line railway: after holing out at the 12th, players crossed the tracks to the 13th tee. The paper named the 541-yard 13th, a double dogleg across a valley and the longest hole, as the feature of the course. The clubhouse veranda was to overlook the 1st and 10th tees and the 9th and 18th greens. The paper described the 1st as a fairway of close-cropped Bermuda grass with wire grass and mound bunkers on either side.

Only one hole of that plan can be played today. The Florida Historic Golf Trail identifies the present 6th as Ross's 12th, which the 1923 card gave as 419 yards, and calls it the one hole left that follows Ross's routing and design intent. The 1922 drawing shows the 12th as a straight hole beside the railway with two pairs of bunkers and no water. Today's 6th keeps the straight line beside the railway, but a pond now runs along the left and a single bunker sits on the right of the green, so the hazards are not the ones Ross drew. The other eight holes are Joe Walter's 2000 design.

Historical Significance

Brentwood carried national championships in its first decades. In August 1930 it held the U.S. Amateur Public Links, in which local golfer Bob Wingate met Joseph Greene of Philadelphia in the 36-hole final. With the match all square on the last green, Greene's long putt stopped inches short and stymied Wingate, who curled his putt around Greene's ball and holed it to win.

The PGA Tour's Jacksonville Open was played at Brentwood in 1945, 1946, 1948 and 1949, with Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson in the fields. Sam Snead won the first two, and his 264 in 1946 stands as the event's record total. The LPGA opened its 1952 season at Brentwood with the Jacksonville tournament, won by Louise Suggs, and Patty Berg won there in 1953.

The course was segregated. Black golfers could play only on Mondays at Brentwood and Fridays at Hyde Park, the city's other municipal course, though from 1952 to 1959 Brentwood hosted the Southeastern Open and the Gate City tournament for Black professionals and amateurs, according to the Trail's history; Joe Louis, Teddy Rhodes, Lee Elder and Charlie Sifford, a four-time winner, played there. In June 1958 Frank Hampton, Edward Norman, Charles Brown and Devoye Austin Brown were turned away when they came back on a Tuesday to finish a rain-delayed round, and they sued the city. In 1959 a federal district court ordered both courses opened to Black golfers without restriction; the city closed them instead and sold them the following year.

The 2000 revival grew from the same neighbourhood. Bill Ford, who had caddied at Brentwood for 50 cents and fell in love with the game there, had for years taken local children to hit balls in a field beside the closed course. Councilwoman E. Denise Lee led the project, which broke ground on June 30, 1998. PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and Calvin Peete spoke at the December 2000 opening. Daniel Wexler included Brentwood among the lost courses in his 2003 book Lost Links. In August 2025 the Florida Department of State added Brentwood to the Florida Historic Golf Trail.

Changes Since Ross

The original course was split by the construction of Interstate 95, and the Duval County School Board built the A. Philip Randolph Academy of Technology on part of it after the 1975 closure. The School Board later gave the remaining undeveloped land to the First Tee of Jacksonville. The nine-hole course built there by Joe Walter from January 2000 occupies about 55 acres, with a driving range, short-game area and learning centre added. No Ross green or bunker is documented as surviving; the routing of the 6th is the only part of his plan in play, and the pond along that hole is a later feature.

Uncertainties

• The Florida Star's 2000 report names Joe Walter as the architect of the current nine; a GolfPass snippet names Tommy Cushnahan of MacCurrach Golf. The listing follows the contemporary newspaper.

• Whether Charles Mayo's extra nine of 1928-36 was ever completed is not known; the Trail's history says historic aerials show several fairways cleared but not to Mayo's plan.

Sources & Notes

1. Florida Department of State, Florida Historic Golf Trail, "Brentwood Golf Course" (History, Today and Local Knowledge tabs), https://floridahistoricgolftrail.com/courses/brentwood/?altTemplate=CoursePage (Tillinghast, 1921 committee, 1922 purchase, Herlong, McGovern, 1923 opening, Mayo, 1930 Public Links, tournaments, segregation, 1959-60 sale, 1975 closure, 1998 groundbreaking, 2000 opening, 6th as the old 12th)

2. Florida Times-Union, "Donald Ross Employed to Survey Golf Course", November 29, 1921, reproduced by the Trail, https://floridahistoricgolftrail.com/media/3323/brentwood-history-2-fhgt-doanld-ross-survey-site-florida-times-union-the-florida-times-union-november-29-1921.png (Ross hired to survey sites)

3. Florida Times-Union, "Work Being Rapidly Pushed Construction of New Links", September 10, 1922, reproduced by the Trail, https://floridahistoricgolftrail.com/media/3324/brentwood-history-3-fhgt-layout-donald-ross-herlong-florida-times-union-september-10-1922.png (Ross plan and card, Ross quote and visits, McGovern, Scott, railway crossing, 13th, 117 acres)

4. Jacksonville Municipal Golf Course scorecard, 1923 (courtesy USGA), reproduced by the Trail, https://floridahistoricgolftrail.com/media/3326/brentwood-history-5-fhgt-jacksonville-muni-scorecard-combined-1923-usga.jpg (6,282 yards, par 72, 12th at 419 yards, card wording, Mayo)

5. Florida Historic Golf Trail, 1922 plan of the 12th beside today's 6th, https://floridahistoricgolftrail.com/media/3346/brentwood-lk2-fhgt-current-6th-hole-vs-old-12th.png (hazards then and now)

6. Florida Star, "Brentwood Area Has Course Jax Kids Can Call Their Own", December 30, 2000, reproduced by the Trail, https://floridahistoricgolftrail.com/media/3338/brentwood-history-17-fhgt-first-tee-opening-and-new-course-designed-by-joe-walter-florida-star-30-dec-2000.png (Joe Walter, 55 acres, December 12 opening, Bill Ford, Finchem and Peete)

7. Florida Department of State, "Florida Historic Golf Trail Celebrates 10 Years and Welcomes its Newest Partner Course", August 20, 2025, https://dos.fl.gov/communications/press-releases/2025/florida-historic-golf-trail-celebrates-10-years-and-welcomes-its-newest-partner-course/ (Trail designation, Public Links)

8. Brentwood Golf Course, "The Course", https://www.brentwoodgolfcourse.com/the-course/ (scorecard, I-95, Golfair Boulevard, A. Philip Randolph Academy, city ownership, Indigo Sports)

9. Brentwood Golf Course, home page and Practice Facility, https://www.brentwoodgolfcourse.com/ and https://www.brentwoodgolfcourse.com/practice-facility/ (First Tee figures, range and practice areas)

10. News4JAX, "Fight for equal rights on the greens of Jacksonville", April 3, 2017, https://www.news4jax.com/community/2017/04/03/fight-for-equal-rights-on-the-greens-of-jacksonville (segregation suit and sale)

11. Wikipedia, "Greater Jacksonville Open", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Jacksonville_Open (winners; Snead's 264 record)

12. Wikipedia, "Jacksonville Ladies Open", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonville_Ladies_Open (1952-53 at Brentwood)

13. Wikipedia, "U.S. Amateur Public Links", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Amateur_Public_Links (1930 winner)

14. Daniel Wexler, Lost Links (Clock Tower Press, 2003), contents as listed at https://lehmanns.de/shop/technik/5427047-9781932202038-lost-links, with Golf Club Atlas forum, https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,43689.650.html (Brentwood chapter)

15. Course tour aerials and geometry (USDA NAIP imagery via USGS The National Map; OpenStreetMap contributors) and the Greens Visited scorecard (hole descriptions and yardages)