More than 400 golf courses are attributed to the great architect Donald Ross, but in the state of Iowa you’ll find just one: Cedar Rapids Country Club. While the current 18-hole routing isn’t exactly what Ross laid out, most of the corridors remain the same, and a few of the holes have been renumbered.

Developed just 50 years after the town of Cedar Rapids was incorporated, CRCC is one of Ross’s earlier designs and is arguably one of his boldest routings. The course traverses a set of rolling hills on its front nine before it dips down into a low river valley and navigates a winding creek on the back nine. On the inward nine, Ross overcomes the flat land with some eye-popping greensites and creatively uses Indian Creek. After tiring you out, Ross tests your legs with one last climb on the wonderful uphill par-4 18th. 

While Ross is the architect of record at Cedar Rapids, its history cannot be told without mentioning the extensive restoration work performed by Ron Prichard and Superintendent Tom Feller. In the 2010s, a committee led by member Vaughn Halyard did the painstaking work of convincing the membership that a drastic overhaul would help turn Cedar Rapids into one of the most well-regarded Donald Ross designs in the country. Operating on a shoestring budget, Prichard opened up the property to expose its wonderful landforms, restored Ross’s aesthetic through meticulous reworking of the course’s bunkering, and brought back some of the best Ross greens you can find. With Feller at the helm, the club’s maintenance practices are among the best in the country and make CRCC a shining example of architecture in modern-day American golf.

Take Note...

2020 Derecho. Just a couple of years after CRCC completed a very successful restoration, the area was rocked by a powerful windstorm that wreaked havoc on the property, knocking down even more trees and opening up vistas further than the restoration committee ever imagined. This thread on Golf Club Atlas gives you a good idea of the destruction caused by the storm and how the club recovered.

{{content-block-course-profile-cedar-rapids-country-club-002}}

Double vision. Late in 2022 and early in 2023, the club added a second green on the par-4 16th hole to make that section of the club more walkable and save maintenance on one of the most difficult areas of the course to grow grass. Those who play the green from the left will be greeted by some very bold rolls and contours.

‍“Burial Mound”. The 14th green doesn’t actually sit atop a burial mound, but it sure looks like it. This approach is one of the most striking on the course as it stands high atop the flatland of the back nine. The greensite is an original from Tom Bendelow’s nine-hole design.

{{content-block-course-profile-cedar-rapids-country-club-001}}