A public Ross design in the central Florida town of Bartow, this 1926 course offers affordable municipal golf on flat terrain among citrus groves and palms. The course serves the Polk County community as one of Ross's southernmost designs.
History
Bartow Golf Course holds the distinction of being the oldest Polk County golf facility still in operation — a course whose origins stretch back to 1919 on a former dairy farm on the east side of town, and whose 18-hole Donald Ross design has served as a public resource for the Polk County community for a full century. The initial nine holes were built on the former dairy farm site in 1919, providing Bartow with its first golf facility while the broader Polk County region was developing its golf infrastructure during the early twentieth century. The course's profile grew significantly with the expansion to 18 holes, which came in 1926 when Donald Ross — then at the height of his Florida practice — designed all 18 holes for the new layout. The completed course was officially opened on the morning of December 4, 1926, as a city-owned public facility.
Even before the 18-hole expansion was complete, the course had attracted notable professional attention. In 1925, 1924 U.S. Open champion Cyril Walker played an exhibition at Bartow. Walker's connection to Central Florida during this period reflects the broader pattern of touring professionals wintering in the region, and his 1924 U.S. Open victory at Oakland Hills — where he beat Bobby Jones by three strokes — made him among the recognized golfers in the country at the time of his Bartow exhibition. Ross's design for the 18-hole expansion took the original nine-hole site on the dairy farm and wove it into a full championship routing that has served Bartow's public golfers continuously ever since. The course is listed on the Florida Historic Golf Trail, recognized as one of the oldest continuously operating Donald Ross public courses in the state. The Bartow Golf Course has hosted the Youth Villa Classic for more than 50 years, an annual charity tournament that raises funds for the Sheriff Youth Ranch in Bartow.
The longevity of the Youth Villa Classic reflects the course's deep integration into the Polk County community — not just as a golf facility but as a venue for civic and charitable activity spanning multiple generations of local residents. Today the course operates as a city-owned public facility at a daily green fee of $30, maintaining the public-access philosophy that has characterized the Bartow golf experience since the 1919 nine-hole original opened on the former dairy farm. The Donald Ross 18-hole layout remains the foundation of the course, with the 1926 design carrying more than a century of Polk County golf history.