Brookside is a Golden Age Donald Ross design restored to its strategic brilliance—a regional must-experience for serious players. The bold, undulating greens will torment and thrill, while rolling terrain and wide corridors blend old-school playability with championship challenge. A quintessential Midwest classic worth a detour, but not a cross-country pilgrimage.
Brookside Country Club is a pure expression of Donald Ross’s strategic vision set across rolling Midwest terrain. The routing masterfully uses the land’s natural waves, integrating a meandering brook and dramatic elevation changes to create shifting angles and compelling shot values throughout. What truly defines Brookside is its spectacular collection of greens—bold, complex, and famously unforgiving, they command the round. Fairways are intentionally broad, encouraging aggressive lines while allowing playability, but the defense always tightens near the hole. Decades of restorations have rejuvenated bunkers, expanded putting surfaces, and removed trees to recover the views, corridors, and play angles that made Ross’s plan timeless.
Donald Ross’s fingerprints are everywhere, but recent restoration architects (Silva, Rae) have revived and amplified his original vision—especially around the green complexes and strategic bunkering.
A classic opening handshake from Ross—downhill after an exacting tee shot aiming right. The green runs away from you, one of the few on the course to do so, demanding precise spin control.
Keep the drive right to stay short of hidden left bunkers; approach should favor center-right, landing short and letting the slope do the work.
Hidden bunkers left off the tee; approach short or long leaves a slippery up-and-down.
Immaculate bentgrass and restored vintage touches; playably firm and fast.
Unhurried private-club rhythm; quick early, slower weekends.
Traditional, understated, focused on the game’s roots.
Standard private country-club attire expected
Brookside’s quick, contoured greens demand razor-sharp chipping and pitching touch.
Three-putts lurk on almost every hole, especially above the hole.
Strategic angles let you choose your shape—be able to fade or draw on command.
Course is rolling but designed to be walked—soak in the landscape as Ross intended.
Official opening of new Brookside location
Robert Trent Jones Jr. modifies course for length and definition
Wins Golf Digest’s Best New Remodel honor
It was Mr. Belden’s annual Pinehurst brick-industry conventions that forged a relationship with Donald Ross, ultimately bringing the legendary architect to Canton. Ross would visit, eat at the Belden Texas Company home, and walk the soon-to-be fairways, shaping a personal connection into a Midwest icon.
Brookside’s rolling terrain was once three separate post-WWI farms. Their acquisition set the stage for a quintessential Ross routing, turning open Ohio farmland into a championship-caliber challenge with creeks, corridors, and contoured greens.
Brookside’s bold identity is defined by its commitment to restoring Donald Ross’s intent. Over decades, the club has taken on bunker recovery, green expansions, and tree removal—all to bring back the signature angles, views, and green-side drama that make every round a study in strategy.
The club’s land was originally three post-war farms assembled into an 18-hole championship site.
Brookside’s 2005 Brian Silva restoration won Golf Digest’s Best New Remodel.
Hole 4 is routinely ranked among the best par 3s in Ohio.
Members affectionately call the toughest pin positions “Sunday Ross.”
Brookside’s green complexes are among the most undulating in the Midwest.
Dramatic elevation, former quarry, bold modern design
Historic PGA Tour host, iconic finishing holes
Traditional parkland layout, classic ambiance
Vintage Donald Ross, tucked away on the lake
Affordable, rolling terrain, local favorite
Stay in nearby Canton or Akron for dining, lodging, and easy course access.
Courses with the most similar DNA profile — matched by deviation shape across all eight playing characteristics.
Why it matches: Plainfield Country Club is a natural next stop after Brookside Country Club: it makes the greens a central strategic puzzle.
Why it matches: What links these two? Demands the same precision once you reach the putting surface — a familiar feeling, expressed in Lake Merced Golf Club's own setting.
Why it matches: There is real overlap here. The Country Club of Scranton makes the greens a central strategic puzzle, making it a compelling counterpart to Brookside Country Club.
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