Shawnee Country Club - Topeka Kansas

The Shawnee Golf Club golf course was built because a badly shanked ball struck a prominent Topeka citizen as he and his wife were enjoying a buggy ride through Gage Park. The irate man demanded that the 6-hole Gage Park golf course be closed. Desperate golfers bought 120 acres and the Shawnee Golf Club was formed a year later in 1915.

Drought conditions during the construction of the first nine holes necessitated the use of sand for greens and tomato cans for cups.

Early features of the course included a fallow oil well between holes two and three, and a drinking well on number five, complete with rope and oak bucket.

Before the clubhouse was built in 1920, an old red barn across N. 29th Street served the purpose.

From the standpoint of play, the course has remained essentially the same since 1921, complete with the subtle challenges that typify the designer's work.  Among the most notable- the small rounded greens surrounded by rolling and mounding, which adds complexity to even the shortest chip shots.  There are no parallel fairways on the course, a rare luxury element that provides the golfer with a more interesting variety of views, as well as safer play.

The opening holes are challenging, but Donald Ross designed the first third of the course to be comparatively simple and non-punishing, essentially the "warm-up holes."

The back-to-back par fours from number nine through number twelve are among the longest and most challenging in the Midwest.  Recent improvements to the 16th and 17th holes, including new bunkers and mounding have been completed, carefully keeping with the original Ross concept.  The eighteenth hole was designed to be a match play tie-breaker; its severely sloped putting surface gives the edge to the golfer making the most skillful approach shot.