Brookside Country Club

Brookside's roots are in Lakeside Country Club, whose members bought a casino on Meyers Lake in Canton in 1903 and built a nine-hole course there. In 1917 a group of Stark County business and civic leaders, among them T.K. Harris and members of the Timken, Belden, Herbruck and McLain families, set out to buy more land, and the club assembled three farms west of town; one of them had been in the Halter family since the 1850s. The choice of architect came through a member named Belden, who worked in the brick industry and had befriended Donald Ross at the industry's yearly conventions in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Belden persuaded the other members to hire him.

Ross's routing drawing for the course is dated 1920, and a 1921 newspaper article announcing his commission predicted the course "will be one of the finest courses in the United States." The course opened for play in 1922, and an as-built survey followed in 1923. A 1924 oblique aerial and a 1934 overhead photograph record it soon after construction. The club says Ross chose the site for its rolling ground and the brook that winds through it, and that the routing he drew is substantially the one played today. No source records Ross returning after the opening.

Holes to Know

From the Black tees the course measures 7,155 yards, with a par-36 front nine of 3,587 yards and a par-35 back nine of 3,568. There are four par 3s (the 4th, 7th, 12th and 14th), three par 5s (the 3rd, 17th and 18th) and eleven par 4s, and the round ends with back-to-back par 5s.

The 224-yard 4th from the Black tees (stroke index 17) is the first par 3 and plays across the brook, which crosses about 60 yards short of the green's centre and then runs up the whole right edge of an oval green; a single bunker sits short on the left. The club names the brook as the strategic element Ross used on this hole and the next.

The 454-yard 5th from the Black tees is the longest par 4 and stroke index 1. The brook runs the full length of the left side and then turns across the front of the green about 30 yards short of its centre, so the approach from the bend, about 375 yards out, carries water to a large green with no bunkers. Rae's plan found that the brook originally ran more directly at the green's front than it does now.

The 150-yard 14th from the Black tees (stroke index 14) is the shortest hole, and six bunkers ring its roughly round green: two in front, one on each side and two behind.

The 416-yard 16th from the Black tees (stroke index 10) bends right around a stand of trees, with fairway bunkers on both sides of the turn, and finishes with a carry over the brook about 30 yards short of a deep green that has no bunkers. The 14th and 16th greens are two of the four the club will rebuild in 2027–28.

The 529-yard 18th from the Black tees, the second of the closing par 5s, crosses the brook off the tee and climbs a long corridor to a green bunkered on the right and front-right. Tom MacWood described it in 2004 as a steeply uphill par 5.

Ross's Design Here

Ross's 1920 routing drawing and the 1923 as-built survey show wide hole corridors, open approaches to most greens, treeless sight lines and large sand hazards. The front nine crosses the eastern half of the property, with the brook setting the strategy on the 4th and 5th; the back nine threads the western half and takes on its steepest ground. Ross's design carried 94 bunkers.

Rae's study of those documents identified features specific to Brookside. The 3rd had a stair-stepped sequence of four bunkers climbing the left side of the fairway, anchored by a large bunker in the foreground. The 2nd and 8th shared a single wide corridor with no trees between them and a bold cluster of bunkers separating play. The 9th green was originally larger on its front-left. On the 5th, the brook flowed toward the front of the green and pressed harder on the second shot than it does now.

The greens are what has survived best. The 2004 restoration left the routing and the green sites untouched, and the architect Todd Eckenrode, who had competed for that job, wrote that the course's "incredibly unique greens were retained." The club describes them today as heavily contoured, and its 2026 master plan ties Brookside's contoured green complexes and large-scale bunkering to the period it treats as Ross's prime. Four of the most steeply sloped greens are now so fast for their contours that the hole must be cut in almost the same place all season.

Historical Significance

The club cites rankings from all three national lists: Golf Digest places Brookside ninth in Ohio, Golfweek seventh in Ohio and 84th among its Top 100 Classic Courses, and GOLF Magazine has included it among its Top 100 Courses in the United States. Brookside was already on Golfweek's classic list when the 2004 restoration reopened, and the club records that the restoration earned Golf Digest's Best New Remodel award for 2005.

Tyler Rae, the architect now in charge of the course, has called Brookside "one of the great Donald Ross courses, bold and memorable." The Donald Ross Society has visited twice in recent years: a Canton regional outing in August 2016, paired with Congress Lake Club, and a May 13, 2026, round during its "Hall of Fame Fairways" trip to Stark County.

Changes Since Ross

The first significant changes came in the 1960s, when about 20 bunkers were removed as a maintenance measure. A Robert Trent Jones remodel followed in the early 1980s.

Members began planning a restoration in 2000. The club hired Brian Silva of Cornish, Silva and Mangeam, with MacCurrach Golf Construction building the work. The $1.8 million project began around Labor Day 2003. It added 16 bunkers, bringing the total close to Ross's 94, recovered nine acres of fairway and one and a half acres of green, enlarged the tees from 65,000 to 115,000 square feet, replaced an irrigation system of 600 heads with one of 1,300, and lengthened the course from 6,786 to 7,150 yards. The front nine reopened on May 1, 2004, the rest on Memorial Day weekend, and the course was rededicated on August 13, 2004.

In the two decades since, trees have grown back, bunkers have shrunk and shifted, and resurfacing has simplified the green shapes and cost them pin positions. A committee formed in 2023 produced a master plan in 2024, and in February 2026 the club named Tyler Rae its architect of record. His plan is built from the 1920 drawing, the 1923 survey and the two early aerials. NMP Golf Construction won the contract. The course is scheduled to close in summer 2027 and reopen in spring 2028.

The first phase rebuilds the green complexes on the 6th, 12th, 14th and 16th completely and expands greens across the course to their original sizes. It also rebuilds every bunker, widens fairways, removes more trees and regrasses all playing surfaces. Later phases are planned to rebuild and reposition tees, add practice putting greens near the 1st, 9th and 10th, and recover the shared corridor between the 2nd and 8th. The superintendent has said the most severe greens will be softened so that they can take varied hole locations at modern speeds.

Uncertainties

• The Jones work is attributed three ways: the Robert Trent Jones Society lists Brookside as a 1982 remodel by Robert Trent Jones Sr., the club's 2026 announcement credits Robert Trent Jones Jr., and Top100GolfCourses gives a Jones Sr. upgrade in 1962. This listing says "Robert Trent Jones" and dates the remodel to the early 1980s.

• Reports of tree removal in 2003–04 range from about 22 trees (Canton Repository, 2004) to about 1,200 (Canton Repository, 2026, looking back). The listing gives no number.

• The earlier listing, citing a club history no longer online, recorded work on the 18th in 2012 and a bunker program in 2020; the 2026 Repository calls the coming project the first restoration of any kind since 2005. Neither later project is described here.

• The Repository's 2026 article gives the course as 6,900 yards from the back tees; the club scorecard used here totals 7,155 from the Black tees.

Sources & Notes

1. Brookside Country Club, About The Club. https://www.brooksidecc.com/About-The-Club (Belden and Ross at the Pinehurst brick conventions; 1922)

2. Brookside Country Club, Membership. https://www.brooksidecc.com/membership (rankings, pool, tennis, closure 2027 to 2028)

3. Brookside Country Club membership site, The Restoration. https://brooksidemembership.com/amenities/restoration (1920 routing, 1923 survey, 1924 and 1934 aerials; Phase 1 list; later phases)

4. Brookside Country Club membership site, Golf, Racquets and Pool. https://brooksidemembership.com/amenities/golf, https://brooksidemembership.com/amenities/racquets and https://brooksidemembership.com/amenities/pool (routing by nines, brook on 4 and 5, events, caddies, practice facilities, indoor courts, swim team)

5. Glen Turk, Midwest Golfing Magazine, "Brookside Country Club Taps Tyler Rae to Restore Its Prime Era Donald Ross Layout," Feb. 24, 2026 (club announcement). https://www.midwestgolfingmagazine.com/brookside-country-club-taps-tyler-rae-to-restore-its-prime-era-donald-ross-layout/ (1921 newspaper; master-plan findings on 2, 3, 5, 8 and 9; Rae quote; Jones Jr. credit; 2005 Best New Remodel)

6. Tim Botos, The Repository (Canton), "Ohio club to restore Donald Ross golf course," Mar. 14, 2026, via Yahoo Sports. https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/ohio-golf-course-restoration-ode-170037136.html (Lakeside and Meyers Lake, 1917 land purchase, 240 acres, 99 bunkers, NMP Golf, closure dates, greens, Donald Ross Society visit, members)

7. Bill Snier, The Repository (Canton), "Revamped Brookside is homage to Ross' vision," Aug. 14, 2004, reproduced on Golf Club Atlas with replies by Tom MacWood and Todd Eckenrode. https://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php?topic=14778.0 (2003–04 scope, dates, 94 bunkers, 1960s removals; 18th hole; greens retained)

8. Robert Trent Jones Society, Chronological Listing of Golf Courses. https://www.roberttrentjonessociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/RTJ_Course_List.pdf (Brookside, Canton, 1982 remodel)

9. Top100GolfCourses, Brookside Country Club. https://www.top100golfcourses.com/golf-course/brookside (Lakeside name, 1922, Jones 1962 claim, creek holes)

10. Donald Ross Society, Events. https://rosssociety.org/Events (Canton Regional 2016)

11. Greens Visited scorecard and course-tour aerials (Ohio Statewide Imagery Program). https://ogrip.oit.ohio.gov/ (hole yardages, card shape, what is on the ground today)