Holston Hills Country Club

The following article was written by Richard Smith who hails from Knoxville Tennessee: "Holston Hills is a rare example of an almost perfectly preserved Donald Ross layout. Built in the late 1920s under Ross’s direct supervision, Holston opened with a championship length of 6,950 yards and has only recently been lengthened slightly to accommodate modern equipment.

The club has undertaken two large restoration projects in the last 10 years, both supervised by Tom Doak and Renaissance Golf. The greens were restored first, and recently the bunkers have been redone as well. The club is currently in the process of removing large numbers of pine trees which were planted in the 1950s and 60s to restore the original open look of the property.

Holston is a remarkable old style layout. It is a well balanced par 72 layout with two long par fives balanced with two shorter and reachable par fives, two shorter par threes balanced by two longer ones, and, probably, one of the finest variety of par four holes I’ve ever played.

The greens are subtle, but there are a number of steep slopes reminiscent of Pinehurst No.2. However the overall affect of the greens is not as severe as No.2. Holston has made several Top 100 lists over the past few years and is destined to rise up the rankings as the restoration of the course continues. This is a great club with a large number of plus and single digit handicap golfers. It would be well worth your time to play this course if you are ever near Knoxville and sample a classic example of Donald Ross and the golden era of golf architecture."