Spence becoming master of Donald Ross restorations

 By SCOTT MARTIN

         In July, Kris Spence realized his longtime dream of playing Royal Dornoch Golf Club near the birthplace of Donald Ross, the storied and even canonized golf course architect who settled and made his home in Pinehurst.

        “I learned a great deal about Donald Ross and what he was trying to do when he designed a golf course,” said Spence. “The visit confirmed many of my theories about Ross and also heightened my respect for his respect for the strategy of golf and what makes golf fun, interesting, and challenging.”

        Spence differs somewhat from the Ross aficionado who makes the difficult and long trek to Dornoch: Spence is a golf course architect who is quickly building a reputation for bringing Ross classics back to life and thus has a particular interest in what made Ross tick.

        The work in Spence’s portfolio includes the restoration of two underrated Ross delights: The Grove Park Inn’s course in Asheville and Mimosa Hills in Morganton. Spence has also just delivered new course on an old layout at Cowans Ford near Charlotte, two holes at Carolina Golf and Country Club, also in Charlotte, plus Greensboro Country Club.

        After spending his formative years in Steele in the southeastern corner of Missouri, Spence played golf for Arkansas State University before graduating from the Golf Operations and Landscape Program at Lake City Community College in Lake City, Fla. Once in the workplace, Spence went straight to the top, becoming the superintendent on one of two courses at Atlanta Athletic Club in 1985. Spence then moved to Forest Oaks Country Club, redesigning holes three and six and getting the course ready each year for the then Greater Greensboro Open.

        In 1989, Spence implemented the design and then built the big-budget Governor’s Club in Chapel Hill, a well-received Jack Nicklaus design. From Chapel Hill, Spence moved back to Greensboro and spent a fruitful seven years at Greensboro Country Club. It was perhaps here that Spence cut his teeth on restoration work and began his appreciation for Donald Ross and Ellis Maples, who had designed GCC’s Irving Park and Carlson Farms courses, respectively.

        “When I got there, both courses were essentially worn out,” said Spence. “So I convinced the members to let me restore the courses. Being able to recognize what is original and what has been altered is very valuable to me.”

        After his work at GCC was mostly complete, Spence decided to enter the extremely competitive field of golf course architecture. He is also working on Hendersonville Country Club and Roaring Gap Club, and the Country Club of Johnston County in Smithfield, N.C.

        At Cowan's Ford Country Club near Charlotte, Spence took a routing produced by Duke Power employees and completely redesigned the course, using plenty of Ross and Maples touches.

        “I think Spence did a really good job,” said Joe Joseph, a Cowan’s Ford member who held the course record on the former layout. “He also did a great job presenting and selling what he was planning to do. We just had our member-guest and everyone was thrilled. We have a brand-new golf course – it’s like joining a new country club.”

Working with Ross courses, Spence is beginning to learn more about Donald Ross the man.

“Donald Ross was all about the game,” said Spence. “He was not so involved in the aesthetics. He was designing strategy and golf shots. As long as I’m thinking about sound strategy, I’ve been successful. Most of Ross’ golf courses are so well respected because he thought in strategy mode all the time.”

Spence also believes that many Ross courses have softened the bunkering and that putting the teeth back into the bunkering is an important part of his work. Anyone who doubts this should visit Mimosa Hills in Morganton, where the bunkers are narrow, nasty, and, in many cases, five feet deep.

Inspired most recently by his visit to Dornoch, where the course is routinely fast and firm, Spence is keen to bring back running shots this providing golfers of all standards with options, particularly with approach shots.

“It’s an old cliché that a good course is one where you use every club in your bag,” says Spence. “I like to think that a good course is one where a golfer could use every club in the bag three different ways. I want to offer golfers variety and options because that’s the fun in the game.”

Next up on the agenda is a par-3 course in Greensboro and the possibility of work at Gaston Country Club in Gastonia, Cedarwood in Charlotte, Bentwinds in Fuquay-Varina, Brook Valley in Greenville, and a complete restoration of Carolina Golf and Country Club in Charlotte.

But if Spence keeps up the quality of his work, then Ross courses all over the United States may soon be knocking at his door. They will meet a man who appreciates fun golf and the way it should be played – just like at Dornoch.