Triggs Memorial Golf Course

Triggs Memorial Golf Course is Providence's municipal crown jewel — and the only true public-access Donald Ross in Rhode Island. Ross conceived the course in the early 1930s and it opened in spring 1932 on the 140-acre Obadiah Brown Farm in Providence's Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Among Ross's 400+ designs, Triggs stands out as one of the architecturally-significant courses he allowed to be built as a muni rather than a private country club — a democratic Golden Age statement that remains a source of civic pride. Ross laid out a 6,522-yard par-72 routing that follows the natural form of the land with relatively small, strategically-bunkered greens. The front nine runs fairly flat; the back nine delivers the more dramatic elevation changes — that back-nine rhythm is what most visitors remember. Triggs begins with three long, difficult par-4s and finishes with two of the same, bookending the round with the test of Ross's par-4 strategy. Golf.com rated Triggs among the 14 best municipal golf courses to play in the United States. Triggs is also the anchor stop on the Rhode Island Coastal Loop of the Donald Ross Golf Trail. For the Newport / Cape Cod golf trip visitor extending into Providence, Triggs is the public-Ross highlight.