The beauty of any golf course is in the eye of the beholder, and what revs the engine of one golfer might not have the same effect on another. But it doesn't hurt to mull a second opinion when picking a course to play, especially if you are considering a new option.
So for what it's worth, Oldgolfdawg is taking it upon himself to rate the desirability of the central Ohio public courses that he is familiar with on a scale of 1 to 5 dog biscuits. In coming up with these ratings, he took into consideration such factors as layout, ambience, greens, fairways and staff. These factors were further broken down as follows: 1) Layout -- excellent, good, moderate, poor and designed by a drunken sailor; 2) Ambience -- excellent, good, moderate, poor and as inviting as rush-hour traffic in L.A.; 3) Greens -- excellent, good, moderate, poor and you cannot be serious; 4) Fairways -- excellent, good, moderate, poor and more appropriate for a goat ranch; and 5) Staff -- excellent, good, moderate, poor and graduates of the Beavis and Butt-Head school of etiquette.
So without any further ado, here's how Oldgolfdawg thinks they stack up:
5 dog biscuits -- Longaberger (affordability is the only drawback)
4 1/2 dog biscuits -- East Golf Club (a classic layout)
4 dog biscuits -- Cooks Creek, Cumberland Trail, Eagle Sticks, Deer Ridge, Golf Club of Dublin, The Players Club at Foxfire
3 1/2 dog biscuits -- Apple Valley, Bent Tree, Chapel Hill, Champions, Granville, Indian Springs, New Albany Links, The Links at Echo Springs and Royal American Links
3 dog biscuits -- Darby Creek, Glenross, National Road, Mentel Memorial, Raymond Memorial, Turnberry, Westchester
2 1/2 dog biscuits -- Airport, Blackhawk, Blacklick, Licking Springs, Safari Golf Club, St. Albans, Table Rock
2 dog biscuits -- Airport, Mill Creek, Oakhaven, Bridgeview, Marysville Golf Club, Minerva Lake
1 1/2 dog biscuits -- Wilson Road, Big Walnut (executive courses)
1 dog biscuit -- Let's not go there
Here's a list of courses I hope to play in the future in order to rank them: North Star Golf Resort, Rattlesnake Ridge, Clover Valley, Phoenix Golf Links, Kyber Run and Buck Ridge.
It should be noted that the top two courses in this rankings list were designed by Arthur Hills, a world-renowned architect based in Toledo. Three classic courses that have played host to major championships were designed by Hills. He was instrumental in guiding Oakmont and Oakland Hills through renovations to prepare for the U.S. Open in 1994 and 1996. He played a similar role with Inverness Club in preparation for the 1993 PGA Championship. Longaberger Golf Club was named "America's Best New Upscale Public Course of 2000" by Golf Digest.
I welcome any and all feedback on my rankings. If they put anyone's panties in a bunch, let me know. If I overlooked a course or should include another one to my hope-to-play list, set me straight. These subjective ratings are based on personal experiences collected over 26 years of playing golf in central Ohio. Some of the memories admittedly are long in the tooth and might not reflect current realities. If I'm way off base, that's my alibi, and I'm sticking to it.
http://www.longabergergolfclub.com/
(Warning: Some of lyrics in the songs accompanying the video below are rated R, for mature audiences only. I wanted to show off the course but found some parts of the audio to be offensive. I'll let you decide if the views of the course are worth having to listen to some of the blue language.)
Fred Stenson's Canadian epic, The Trade
14 years ago
Posts
I'd be interested in hearing which ones ranked highest and lowest in reference to your list of criteria. (ie. which course has the Bevis and Butthead staff, which course boasts the best - same for fairways, greens, etc.)
ReplyDeleteAs for some specific courses on your list;
G.C. of Dublin - one of my favorites maybe because I've cracked mid-90s there twice. But also because there isn't another course like it in the area. A little pricey, but deals are out there.
Chapel Hill always gets the best of me, but their All You Can Play offer is too good to pass up. 40 holes in one day makes for some good stories.
Deer Ridge's greens are brutal and it's hilly terrain is a son-of-a-gun to walk. Despite my bloated score, I still enjoyed the challenge, a sign of a solid track.
Eagle Sticks - I'll get back to you if I ever get there on a weekday. A traffic jam on the #2 tee box (Sunday mid morning) did not make a good first impression.
If you slice, shank, hook, toe or spray, avoid Indian Springs.
I personally enjoy Blacklick more than a couple of your three-biscuit courses. Very well maintained for a municipal course.
Royal American - Would like to play there once more since shaving a dozen strokes off my game over the last couple years. Probably won't make a difference ;)
Raymond is like Bally's at Las Vegas. Not too bad, not great. Decent all around, but a good value. Get there early to avoid a 5+ hour-round. I was the first one out of the gate one morning and was loading up the car 3.5 hours later - no cart to boot!
Never understand the fascination with Safari amongst my buddies - I'm glad you share my same mediocre-at-best opinion. The renovations/new holes and challenging greens are an improvement but better courses can be had for less.
Mentel Memorial keeps screwing up my outings. Of the four times I've played there three have been ruined. Once held up by super-slow play, once I got bumped on the back nine for an event they neglected to tell us about. Once I was booked on the wrong day and was unable to play. I will not return.
Phoenix: I realize for scientific purposes you have to play - just make sure to send a soil sample to the lab to go along with your course analysis.
I actually would like a sampling of your one-biscuit courses. Would be nice to know which ones to never-ever consider... I anticipate Phoenix will get some consideration, but just sneak in at 1.5 or 2.
And after teeing off about 20 times last year, I realize after looking up and down this list that there's so much golf out there to be played. Thanks!
Adam,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great feedback. I really enjoy playing Chapel Hill, too. It has a lot of difficult but fun holes. I may have underrated it. ... Safari would be a great track if you could just play Nos. 1, 17 and 18. ... As for other specifics, here's a quick version:
Best greens -- Longaberger, Cumberland Trail, Deer Ridge and East Golf Club.
Best fairways -- Longaberger, Cooks Creek,East Golf Club, Cumberland Trail
Worst fairways -- Thorn Apple, Table Rock
Best staff -- Chapel Hill (real nice folks; Worst staff -- Champions, late owner of Thorn Apple
Best ambience -- East Golf Club; Worst ambience -- Thorn Apple (the home of clover fairways and the grouchy owner who kicked the bucket).
Best layout -- East Golf Club, Longaberger, Cooks Creek, Chapel Hill; Worst layout -- Shamrock (it's dangerous)
Thanks again for the comments. Please send me any course or product reviews you feel like sharing with the small but passionate Chase The Pea Nation.
Adam,
ReplyDeleteJust a follow up on 1 biscuit courses. Golf course owners are having a tough time surviving in the lean economic environment we're experiencing so I don't want to pile on the true goat ranches. Since I try to avoid them like the plague, I probably shouldn't say too much about them. I've never played Wyandot. But from the road it looks like duck, walks like duck and talks like a duck ... So I'm guessing it's a duck.