After the First World War, Canton’s business leaders set out to build a club worthy of the city, and decided that meant building a superb golf course. They acquired three farms west of town for the purpose.
One of them, a member named Belden, worked in the brick industry and had spent years attending conventions in Pinehurst, North Carolina. There he had befriended a Scottish architect who was quietly becoming the most sought-after course designer in America. Belden convinced his fellow members that Donald Ross was the man for the job.
Ross laid out the course in 1920 and Brookside opened for play in 1922. The routing he drew is substantially the routing you play today.
Ross is known to have worked on four hundred and twenty-three courses across five decades. Historians place his prime between 1915 and 1935, the years when he moved past the geometric hazards of his early work toward bold internal green contouring, diagonal bunkering and naturalistic hazards. Brookside sits squarely in that window, alongside Pinehurst No. 2, Seminole and Oakland Hills.
He chose the site for its rolling ground and the brook that winds through it. The front nine crosses the eastern half of the property, with the brook dictating strategy on the fourth and fifth. The back nine threads the western half and takes on the most dramatic elevation on the property.
The greens are heavily contoured and they reward the player who thinks about where to miss. The bunkering makes a lazy approach expensive. Members who have played here for thirty years still find shots they have not hit before.
9th best course in Ohio.
7th in Ohio, and 84th among the Top 100 Classic Courses in America.
Top 100 Courses in the United States.
The course closes in the summer of 2027 for the most significant project in Brookside’s history and reopens in the spring of 2028. Architect Tyler Rae will return the Ross design to its original intent. Rae has walked 417 of the 423 courses Ross is known to have worked on, and his restoration of Lookout Mountain Club was named Golf Digest’s 2023 Renovation of the Year.
Brookside golf is played, not just admired. The season runs from May through the fall and carries real competition at every level.
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A Ross course is better on foot, and better still with someone who knows where the ground falls away. Brookside maintains a caddie program and supports the Evans Scholars Foundation, which sends caddies to college on full tuition and housing scholarships.
Each July the Caddie-Member Tournament pairs members with the young men and women who loop for them. It is one of the better days on the calendar, and it says something about the club that it exists at all.
A practice range and short game area let members work before a round or instead of one. An indoor simulator keeps the season alive through an Ohio winter, which matters more here than it would in Carolina.
Instruction is available for players at every level, from a first lesson to a swing that has gone sideways in August.
Twelve-minute tee time intervals keep pace honest without rushing anyone. Daily pin sheets and GPS yardage on your phone or watch mean you always know the number. A refreshed halfway house sits out on the course for the turn.
Small touches, but they are the difference between a round that flows and one that does not.
Membership details and current fees are available from the Membership Office.
Request Information
Tell us a little about yourself and the Membership Office will follow up personally.
After the First World War, Canton’s business leaders set out to build a club worthy of the city, and decided that meant building a superb golf course. They acquired three farms west of town for the purpose.
One of them, a member named Belden, worked in the brick industry and had spent years attending conventions in Pinehurst, North Carolina. There he had befriended a Scottish architect who was quietly becoming the most sought-after course designer in America. Belden convinced his fellow members that Donald Ross was the man for the job.
Ross laid out the course in 1920 and Brookside opened for play in 1922. The routing he drew is substantially the routing you play today.
Ross is known to have worked on four hundred and twenty-three courses across five decades. Historians place his prime between 1915 and 1935, the years when he moved past the geometric hazards of his early work toward bold internal green contouring, diagonal bunkering and naturalistic hazards.
He chose the site for its rolling ground and the brook that winds through it. The front nine crosses the eastern half of the property, with the brook dictating strategy on the fourth and fifth.
The greens are heavily contoured and they reward the player who thinks about where to miss. Members who have played here for thirty years still find shots they have not hit before.
9th best course in Ohio.
7th in Ohio, and 84th among the Top 100 Classic Courses in America.
Top 100 Courses in the United States.
The course closes in the summer of 2027 for the most significant project in Brookside’s history and reopens in the spring of 2028. Architect Tyler Rae will return the Ross design to its original intent.
Brookside golf is played, not just admired. The season runs from May through the fall and carries real competition at every level.
{{ item }}
A Ross course is better on foot, and better still with someone who knows where the ground falls away. Brookside maintains a caddie program and supports the Evans Scholars Foundation.
Each July the Caddie-Member Tournament pairs members with the young men and women who loop for them.
A practice range and short game area let members work before a round or instead of one. An indoor simulator keeps the season alive through an Ohio winter. Instruction is available for players at every level.
Twelve-minute tee time intervals keep pace honest. Daily pin sheets and GPS yardage mean you always know the number. A refreshed halfway house sits out on the course for the turn.
Membership details and current fees are available from the Membership Office.
Request Information
Tell us a little about yourself and the Membership Office will follow up personally.
Canton, Ohio 44708
330-477-6505
www.brooksidecc.com