It's really not an island, nor is it red despite the 17th Century Dutch description, "een rodlich Eylande" except in the Fall when its State Tree the Maple is in its glory. It is our smallest state but it boasts the largest name, "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" and it awaits the Ross Society and our celebration of our Annual Fest.

In 1636 the renegade believer, Roger Williams, was banished from Massachusetts Bay and settled on the tip of Narragansett Bay on land granted to him by local natives. He called his new home "Providence" and a "Place of Religious Freedom", his detractors would call it "Rogue Island." When Donald Ross came here nearly 300 years later, Providence again smiled upon this land, and our short visit in May of 2013 will prove how deftly he shaped small parcels into exceptional courses and how severely he still punishes the "rogue shot".

That Rhode Island golf has such an enduring appeal is largely a testament to Ross. "Around this area," says Barrington native Brad Faxon, "Donald Ross is a household name, at least in golfers' houses." Over a decade and a half, beginning with his work at Rhode Island Country Club in 1911, Ross would leave a remarkable set of fingerprints across the state.

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