In a newspaper account of the opening of the club in 1921, it was stated that the course had been entirely re-laid by Donald Ross.  That statement, however, needs clarification. 

We don’t know how the original 9 hole course was designed, or who designed it.  From the earliest accounts, and what was normal for the time, a committee consisting of the early founders would lay out the course on the property with changes and improvements being made continuously during the early years.  Courses at the time were quite rudimentary.

The services of Donald Ross as a golf course designer were in great demand from around 1912 until his death in 1948.  He designed several courses in this area.   Among those were the RI Country Club in 1911, the Wannamoisett Course in 1914, the Metacomet Course in 1921 and the Warwick Country Club in 1924.  Eugene F. Wogan worked as an assistant golf professional under Donald Ross at the Essex Country Club and later did design work.  In 1974 his son Philip designed 10 additional holes at Franklin Country Club making it an 18 hole course.

In 1930, Donald Ross published a listing of the courses that he designed and is currently in the possession of Phil Wogan.  The Franklin Country Club, as a course designed by Donald Ross, is not on that listing.  According to Phil Wogan, unless Donald Ross had a major impact on a course, such as overseeing and supervising the construction in addition to the design, he did not consider it a course he designed.

In Phil’s words “in that period of time, according to my father, Donald Ross did a lot of consulting along with design work.  I wouldn’t have any doubt that he came (to FCC) on a consulting basis.  The fact that you have a newspaper clipping would suggest that he might have had some input into the redesign.”

The newspaper article is useful in that we know that Donald Ross was involved in some way – to what extent we do not know.

Around 1926, Wayne Stiles and John Van Kleek remodeled the course.  William F. Mitchell again remodeled it in the late fifties and two holes were added around 1962.  Phil Wogan added ten additional holes in 1974 completing the course that we enjoy today.