Scioto Country Club

Donald Ross's 1916 design in Columbus, where Bobby Jones won the 1926 U.S. Open and Jack Nicklaus learned the game, recently restored by Andrew Green.

Scioto Country Club opened in 1916 on a Donald Ross routing in Upper Arlington, just northwest of downtown Columbus. Its tournament record is deep for a course of its size. Bobby Jones won the 1926 U.S. Open here, the year he became the first player to win the U.S. and British Opens in the same season. The club followed with the 1931 Ryder Cup, the 1950 PGA Championship and the 1968 U.S. Amateur. It is one of the few courses to have hosted all four of those events.

Scioto is also where Jack Nicklaus grew up under the club professional Jack Grout. Nicklaus broke 70 here for the first time at age 13. The course has changed hands architecturally several times. Dick Wilson heavily reworked it in the early 1960s, and in 2008 Nicklaus and Michael Hurdzan rebuilt the greens. In 2021 Andrew Green used a 1920s cartoon map of the course by Dudley Fisher to lower greens to their original grades, widen fairways and bring back flat-bottomed Ross bunkers.

The Ross character shows in the greens, which sit close to the ground and use gentle approach slopes rather than forced carries. That gives players choices around the hole instead of a single target. The par 3s vary widely, from a short 9th to a 14th that stretched to 249 yards for the 2026 U.S. Senior Open, the club's third. The restoration is a large part of why Scioto has moved back into the national top 100.

Holes to know

8

Par 4

A long par 4 that played as the second-hardest hole at the 2026 U.S. Senior Open.

14

Par 3 · 249 yd

The longest of a varied set of par 3s, set up at 249 yards for the 2026 U.S. Senior Open.

18

Par 4 · 482 yd

A long closing par 4 back toward the clubhouse, set at 482 yards for the 2026 U.S. Senior Open.

Championships

• U.S. Open 1926
• Ryder Cup 1931
• PGA Championship 1950
• U.S. Amateur 1968
• U.S. Senior Open 1986, 2016, 2026

Design history

• Early 1960s: Dick Wilson redesign
• 2008: Jack Nicklaus and Michael Hurdzan rebuilt the greens
• 2021: Andrew Green restoration toward Ross's original design, guided by a 1920s Dudley Fisher drawing