Springfield Country Club

Springfield Country Club epitomizes Donald Ross’s masterful use of the Midwestern landscape. Resting on rolling, ridge-inflected land, it forces decisions at nearly every step — whether to chase a guarded pin, lay back from a hidden creek, or negotiate the fierce internal contours of the greens. The 2024 restoration recaptured the drama and strategic flexibility of the original design, with flashed bunkers now deeper, more visible, and relentlessly well-placed. Tee shots often frame both risk and reward, with the best angle rarely being the most aggressive line. Chasing position — both laterally and vertically on sloping fairways or up penal green fronts — is the true test.

Donald Ross’s fingerprints are everywhere — in the movement of ground toward and away from greens, the fiendish short holes, and in the course’s subtle refusal to ever let you coast, now sharpened by Forse Design’s restoration touch.