Inverness Club

Donald Ross's Toledo championship course, host of four U.S. Opens and two PGA Championships, recently restored by Andrew Green to bring back Ross's bunkers and holes.

Inverness Club was founded in 1903 and Donald Ross rebuilt it into an 18-hole championship course completed by the end of 1918. It hosted its first U.S. Open two years later, in 1920, the same year it became the first club in the United States to let professionals into the clubhouse. A.W. Tillinghast revised the layout for the 1931 Open, and later work by Dick Wilson, the Fazios and Arthur Hills reshaped it for later championships.

The course's modern identity comes from Andrew Green's restoration. What began as bunker work turned into a broader return to Ross: Green used old drawings and photographs, pushed the second green back, and built new holes on former field ground at the south end, including a long par-3 3rd and par-3 5th modeled on original Ross holes. The bunkering now looks much closer to how it did for the 1920 and 1931 Opens.

Play revolves around small, sloping greens and a demanding closing run that members call murderers' row. The 18th is a short par 4, but in 1986 Bob Tway holed a bunker shot there to beat Greg Norman for the PGA Championship. The club has stayed busy with USGA events, hosting the 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur and the 2021 Solheim Cup, with a U.S. Women's Open scheduled for 2027.

Holes to know

18

Par 4

A short finishing par 4 to a small green; Bob Tway holed out from the greenside bunker here to win the 1986 PGA Championship.

3

Par 3

One of the holes Andrew Green built on new ground at the south end of the property, a long par 3 based on an original Ross hole.

Championships

• U.S. Open 1920, 1931, 1957, 1979
• PGA Championship 1986, 1993
• U.S. Amateur 1973
• U.S. Senior Open 2003, 2011
• U.S. Junior Amateur 2019
• Solheim Cup 2021
• U.S. Women's Open (scheduled) 2027

Design history

• 1931: A.W. Tillinghast revisions
• 1978: George and Tom Fazio changes
• 1999: Arthur Hills changes
• Late 2010s: Andrew Green restoration of Ross features, including new holes 3–5 on the south end