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LOCAL GOLF
27 holes in Hartville. This course has not been reviewed. Range: none • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: longest configuration 6879
Officially closed as of 2023. 18 hole par 71 championship course in North Canton. A whopping 45 minutes from the I-77/Ohio Turnpike interchange, and 4 miles east of the Canton Regional Airport. Local golf architect Brian Huntley took a bull dozer in 2002 to the old Bob-O-Links North Course, driving range, and Par 3 course, and thankfully so. The result is a great course which is very playable with little interference from housing. From the first tee shot, what follows is great looking golf, hole after hole, particularly, the four par 5s. Even though there are five par 3s, they exhibit a nice variety in club selection and design. This is another modern-minimalist design from Huntley offering outstanding greens and green complexes, plush flowing contoured fairways and just the right amount of bunkering.
18 hole resort course in Huron, about a 55 minute drive west from the Cleveland west suburbs using I-90 and Rt.2. Opening in 1974, it was originally designed by George Fazio and his son Tom Fazio. Tom Fazio had returned in 1997 to make a few improvements. Among the changes, there are now four par 3's, not five. It does not resemble his other masterpieces of the 90's, but still has a lot of character. All the par 3's are absolutely fantastic to play and look at. Excellent fast greens and many wonderful holes with sweeping fairways leading to slighly pedestalled greens. However, about 3 holes border on boring, keeping this course from being one of the finest in the region. Score cards have pin positions and there are four sets of tees. Very pricey for this type of course. Range: Full grass and good short game area. Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 6782
Formerly a 1940s era 36 holes complex in Broadview Heights owned and operated by the City of Cleveland. Around 2011, the Metroparks took over the entire complex and redesigned the entire place into a top tier 27 hole complex with a nice practice facility to come. Thank you Metroparks. In 2019 the Furnace Run and Chippewa nines opened and in 2020 the Baldwin nine opened. Granted there is some growing in to do, especially with some of the rough, but the fairways and greens are already very nice. If you played the old Sencea, you remember it was awful. They took a bulldozer to pretty much everything and redesigned the course from the ground up. Not a tweak here or there with some new drainage like at Big Met. Nope. This was an incredible effort that fortunatley happened here in Cleveland. The did save many greens but expanded them to handle the modern game and heavy play. The holes flow nicely over rolling wooded terrain accented by whispy grasses. Modern but conservative bunkering with enough hazards to keep it fun. A great course for the driver with perhaps an emphasis on approaches. It won't be as penal as say a Manakiki or Sleepy Hollow but it will be a fair test on a fun design that is playable by all. We have already declared the Funace Run nine par five hole 3 as their signature hole and the Baldwin nine the best of the three. Go see why. No housing in this golf sanctuary and still a very competive rate. Walkable. Grass Range: Total Tees: 4 plus real junior tees • Total yardage: 6974
18 hole par 72 course in the Hartville, about a 45 minute drive from the I-77 and I-80 interchange, east of Akron. Good conditions, good greens and pleasant terrain makes this 1971 William Newcomb design a fun play. Some quirky holes and some tight fairways makes club selection and yardage critical. Many natural tree lined holes and water hazards. Good thing the carts have a built in yardage book. The craziest hole is the shortish par-4 sixteenth. You need to deal with a creek running down the entire right side and mature trees on the left of this slight dogleg right. The optimum shot is to take your drive right over the old covered bridge, if you dare. The front nine is solid but the back nine seems to be the favorite. A fantastic par 4 finishing hole closes your round where you must drive it straight down the middle of this ascending fairway. You need distance and accuracy because your approach must deal with a bunker, elevation, a partially obscured green and a hidden lake. Range: grass • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 6972
18 hole par 71golf course in the golf booming area of Medina, about a 35 minute drive south from the I-480 and I-71 interchange. First opened in the fall of 2006 and conditions among the best in medina for public courses. Brian Huntley designed this course to utilize Rocky River and Shale Creeks as the defining natural characteristics. While not Fazio flashy, Huntley usually gives you a solid modern course which is what you have here. Surrounding the course is farmland and a new housing development which for the most part does not encroach on the course but for 2 holes. The terrain has mostly modest elevation changes with the most elevations coming from the Rocky River and Shale Creek basins. Where the terrain was less than interesting, Huntley went to town with some of his most sophisticated contouring yet. Many young trees have been added to supplement the few trees that remain and they are already becoming a factor. Wind is always a factor here and this course plays harder than it looks. The starting par 4 will play tough for those not warmed up since a big retention lake down the right stands ready to eat all slices. It can be reach with the driver right over the right side bunker, but a more prudent approach would be to take the trouble out of the hole with a fairway metal to about 100 yards. Either way, if you stay out of the water, you can definitely score here. The par 4 seventh hole is a great example of the wonderful nuances this course possesses that keeps the low handicapper interested. The approach on the seventh is dictated by the pin position of this protected green. A right pin demands an approach from the left side of the fairway and a left pin from the right. However, choosing to favor one side of the fairway on your tee shot is not so easy as there is a pot bunker guarding the middle which force the errant golfer into a approach which is either longer, from the rough, the wrong side of the fairway or heaven forbid, all three. You might not appreciate these feature the first time you play but local knowledge can yield lower scores. This course may become known for its fabulous par 5s. The par 5 fourteenth has the Rocky River all down the left side making it a beautiful but dangerous hole for all shots. The other par 5s, three, eight and sixteen are Huntley at his very best. He has crafted these spectacular holes to be both visually and strategically interesting. Bunkering and routing force you to decide on power or finesse for most of your shots. The five par 3 here are solid and the wind usually is a factor. The scintillating 200 yard par 3 seventeenth is almost all carry and very intimidating. Those with a weak constitution should favor the right side of the green. The par 4 eighteenth is a tough finishing hole which doglegs downhill off the tee to the left then up to a protected green. You must keep the ball out to the right on your tee shot towards the 150 yard marker. If you are to far left or short of the corner, you will be blocked or in the schnitzel. Length is important on this hole since the difficult approach not only has to carry Shale Creek and bunkers to an elevated green, the prevailing wind is usually strongly against you. We have seen some bunkers being shrunk to facilate pace of play but also a few unmaintained or just plain abandoned. We definitely do not like to see that and neither would Mr.Huntley. Shale Creek needs a few more foot bridges for walkers. Range: grass and practice bunker • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 7026
18 hole par 71 course in the Bedford Metroparks, about a 15 minute drive south from the I-77 and I-480 interchange. A pleasant Ben Zink course with many elevation changes, wavy and wooded fairways but only a few sand traps and no real water to speak of. While not quite a Sleepy Hollow, this course has its own charm and is very popular with the mid and high high handicapper. The big range net all the way down the first hole is not particularly attractive and lots of range balls still find their way onto the hole, but there is a lot of good looking natural golf out there away from the clubhouse.The front nine allows you to take healthy cracks at the ball but the back tightens up a bit. Medium sized greens with slight slopes. Conditions are generally average. The prettiest hole is the shortish par four 12th. It's possible to drive this green, but the entrance to it is very narrow and the green is protected by four hungry traps. Shawnee Hills also features an executive nine hole course if you need to get in a quick round. Mat range. Range: mats • Total Tees: 3 • Total yardage: 6366
18 hole par 71 metro course in Brecksville, about 17 minutes south of the I-480/I-77 interchange. The course lies in a scenic valley created by a retreating glacier. Many natural elevation changes and woods. Plenty of sand but little water. Plenty of chances to loose your golf balls. Very challenging with long holes and very tricky greens. Very soft fairways, especially after a rain, since they were made the traditional way with lots of top soil and little sand mix for drainage. This very scenic Stanley Thompson design was built in 1925 and remains in great shape. Thompson was ahead of his time almost on the level of a Donald Ross. Thompson's signature features here are the pedestal elevated tees and the stunning vistas. This course is still a local favorite, heavily played and a great value. The hole corridors sometimes deceive the eye with the impression that you just hit down the middle of the green stuff, splitting the bordering trees. But the stealthy fairways are often closer to one side of the tree line than the other so apparent down the middle tee shots ending up missing the fairway. Be certain of your line.You are gently eased into the course with a pleasant reachable par 5. Sleepy Hollow is filled with little subtleties like the first green which slopes from front to back and leans to the right. Balls played to the middle can easily end up on the next tee box. Playing a bit short and left can give you a great chance for birdie. Then the course kicks you in the teeth with two very difficult holes back to back. A 220+ yard par three with death on the right and a tough par four where your drive must be as carefully placed as your approach. In 2001, the unfair and troublesome green at the par three 8th hole was completely replaced. Minor, but important improvements, keep accumulating. New tees boxes were added in 2006 on the par 4 thirteenth, adding almost 100 yards and the hanging green at the 16th was improved on the left with a modern style collection area. Being a part of the Metroparks also has its perks. They seem to have recently realized that the golf course is a great place to add naturalized areas of wild flowers and tall grasses, not just a place to mow endless acres of grass. The greens here are particularly vexing. They are old style but they have a lot of tilt which adds to the pace of the already fast greens. The break does not reveal itself well against the rolling terrain and you can find yourself having a longer second putt than your first. Being below the hole is critical here. These old style greens were not designed to handle very high speeds. When they have them rolling super very fast on dry days, several greens border on unfair and good approaches are not rewarded. We have seen too many excellent putters four putt on some of these greens so are deducting a few points until the greenskeeper reins in these greens. The course has been known to be a "death march" of slow play on weekends. But we have to tip our hats to the rangers here. A slow moving foursome of beginners in front of our group was lifted and moved ahead a whole hole for our benefit and in recent memory, they have been more vigilant of the pace. Not only that, a few years ago the GCO brand new and very expensive digital camera was left in our cart as we came off the 18th hole around 9:00 p.m. The honest and hard working rangers held our camera until we were able to retrieve it. Tee times are hard to get but worth the effort. Three sets of tees. Better bring your "A" game to this classic gem. Range: mat • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 6754
18 hole par 70 city owned course in North Olmsted. 2 minutes from I-480. A little on the short side with wide open fairways, a lot of sand for this type of course. Conditions used to be below average but a million dollar renovation job completed in 2002 brought good conditions and improved drainage. Several holes were redesigned and two par fives were shortened to par 4, shortening the course from a par 72 to a par 70. New renovations also included several new ponds, greens complexes and tee boxes. With all the money they dropped into the course, you would have thought more changes would have been made, but at least the few changes were very positive. During the heat of summer, the fairways still get stressed. The story on the renovation is as follows: The architect hired by the City to renovate the course was Barry Serafin, who is known for innovative and interesting courses. The City never really followed his master plan and some consider the renovation a failure compared to other muny tracks that have been successfully rejuvenated into contemporary designs. The blame clearly lies with the City and not with Serafin. We personally inspected the blue prints and the outcome is nothing like that which was intended. New holes 10 and 11 are probably the nices holes on the course. The signature par five 11th is a brute. It can be reached in two if you bust a drive. But the approach is tricky over a ravine to a heavily protected green. Right of the green is the baleout but it makes for a terrible chip. Hole 18 is a 90 degree dogleg around a retention lake that test your club selection and precision. The green can be reached by the longest of hitters but just to carry a small portion of the corner is a bit to tough for most. Play for the the 100 yard marker for a great angle in and a decent chance to score. Nice new refurbished clubhouse. Range: irons only off mats but rarely open • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 6203
Par 72 golf course in Chardon, about 35 minutes from downtown Cleveland. A very pleasant course to play with a solid layout. Good conditions but with fickle greens. The course is routed nicely to take advantage of the plentiful elevations without being over the top. Up and down through valleys bordered by tree strands and nature. No housing anywhere. Even from the tips, the course is not that long and can yield good scores. Most tee shots nicely fit the eye and you usually have ample room to hit the driver all day. Avoid the left side on the first three holes because of O.B. All the par fives can be brought to their knees and two shortish par 4s can be reached with a bold stroke. If you can keep it in the medium sized fairways you usually get a green light into the medium sized greens that are often semi-hanging or mildly pedestalled. Only three bunkers. The most scenic hole is the gorgeous downhill par 4 fifth hole which looks longer than it is. Favor the right side of the fairway since everything kicks left. You will be hard pressed to complain about this course, it is not pretentious and provides a solid and playable venue for most golfers. Range: yes • Total Tees: 3 • Total yardage: 6640
18 quality golf holes in Garrettsville, about 35 minutes east of the I-80/I-77 interchange. This far outpost golf course on the GCO landscape is a pleasant treasure near Youngstown. It sports wonderful elevation changes and flowing ribbons of fairway. There are numerous hazards like bunkers, marshes and water to contend with along with the heavily wooded terrain. This is a very fun course to play with many enjoyable tee shots and challenging approaches. No two holes are alike with solid and varied par 3s. Club selection is very important on several of the shortish par 4s where trouble lurks, particularly holes 11, 12 and 16. Conditions here are generally above average to good and the greens, while on the smallish side, offer plenty of challenge and medium speed in the early part of the year to very fast in summer. A nice challenging par 5 starts you off with a very long pedestal green. Don't be short or right on your approach. Close your round with a spectacular tee shot on the beautiful par 4 eighteenth. Beware of the trap in your landing zone to the right, its further than it looks and hard to carry. Probably the only serious knock on this course is the fact that in some spots, it does not drain as well you would expect. Range: no • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 6571
18 modern holes located in Avon Lake, about twenty five minutes west from downtown Cleveland. A huge and beautiful new clubhouse was completed in 2000. The first nine opened in 2002 and the second nine in the fall of 2007. Thankfully, it is very different from the old course. The Legacy, features lightly rolling fairways formed over flat parcels that once were vineyards and flood plain woods or part of the old Sweetbriar course. The modern contouring gives the illusion of some topography and gentle doglegs provide a nice sense of flow. The fairways and preservation of the remaining tree strand lead to excellent greens complexes. The challenges come in the form of man made lakes, enhanced dissecting creeks and plenty of sand protecting the medium sized greens. But the defining characteristic here is that while not a long course, even from the back tees, the medium fairways put a premium on tee shot accuracy. Only then will you be in position to attack the wonderful greens complexes. This design makes the best of the limited amount of land available in fast developing Avon Lake and fills a demand for a new style course in an area where there are plenty of old, worn out, courses. The holes weave in and around housing development which, for the most part, are set back sufficiently. But you do feel the confines of housing, roads, fences, and O.B., especially as you traverse the long cart paths abutting backyards. They put the longer holes next to each other so you usually have housing just on one side. The back nine is the stronger of the two nines in terms of length and we also think in design. It is also ever so slightly more removed from the housing, at least for now. While reachable, it is a risky proposition for longer hitters to try for any of the par 5s in two. The par 5 greens are all tucked away and heavily protected so think twice about it before backing up the tees behind you. There is also a fine assortment of well designed par 3s here. Unfortunately, this course cannot be walked due to the great distance between certain holes. Range: Yes but mats only and slightly undersized • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 6634
The old original course has some ok holes but is very flat without any contouring. Little water and no sand. The basic greens are below average and conditions are less than average. Most holes run next to adjacent holes separated by a thin tree line and you can spray the ball to your heart's content. Very walkable. Range: Yes but mats only and slightly undersized • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 6634
18 holes of formerly private golf located in Chagrin Falls. Once the haven of corporate accounts, this bankruptcy reclamation has a lot to offer. 2014 saw the completion of a $1 million renovation of the course and facilities. It doesn't feel like a mafia hangout anymore. A prime piece of property like this is hard to come by. A wonderful design which utilizes every once of terrain and adds modest contouring. The ample elevations, mature trees, streams and ponds go a long way in making this a worthy play. The design falls somewhere in between old school and the modern game where there is some pushed up mounding here and there to give some contrast. The course runs through a development, but save for a few holes, the homes are barely visible and you don't have the long walks between holes. Wooded courses tend to get overgrown with time and this was no exception. The renovation saw the removal of 1000 trees. That sounds like a lot, but your really don't notice any less nature. But now the course is a fair test off the tee as it was meant to be. Big improvement. The typically small to medium sized saucer greens can have tricky slopes where being in the correct spot on the green can save a few strokes. These are good greens, smooth and very fast. The course seems to start out gently enough with a par 4 but beware of a sneaky bunker right in the middle of your landing zone. Most play to the right which also opens up the approach to the green. From Route 306, you can see the famous par 4 seventeenth road hole. Dramatically downhill with the a busy road on the left. The fairway tilts substantially to the right and also gently doglegs left. A tee shot that can hold this fairway is no easy task. Many have started the tee shot down the road hoping to cut it into the fairway only to hear the ball bouncing down Rt. 306. Tee shots that end up in the right rough will find it hard to carry the creek to reach the green in two. The pro's tip is to hit it far enough to find the flat spot at the bottom right of the fairway. It's just not easy to hit it that far. Overall, the course is improving greatly and the price is right. Go play it now and you may find a great value. With improving conditions and a remarkable design, it provides a good test for all aspects of your game. New expanded grass and matt range. Four sets of tees. Range: grass • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 7029
The older 18 holes of the Thunderbird 36. The 1960's vintage north course is slightly longer and far more wooded. The South course seems to be more popular, but the north course may be more challenging and definitely more traditional. Some very hilly and wavy fairways which get tight at spots. The greens are not as nice as the south course. They say four sets of tees but looks more like two stations. Range: grass • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 6336
18 newer holes that are part of the Thunderbird 36 in Huron. 45 minutes west of Cleveland using I-90 and Rt.2. Although somewhat short, the scenic course is also interesting. You can really score here. Great set of par 3s. Three of them have water that comes into play. The 1995 south course is the more modern of the two Thunderbird courses with gently rolling open fairways utilizing mounding to create definition and privacy. And that is not easy to do without any bunkers. So it is wide open on most holes so let the shaft out. Often the rough is up so recovery shots can be unpredictable. Some nice views of the Huron River. No sand, but marshes, water, and creeks in a decent and fun layout. Range: grass • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 6336
An 18 hole par 71/72 regulation and a 9 hole executive course located in Akron, about thirty five minutes south of the I-77 and I-480 interchange. Despite a rather ignoble name, this course is a wonderful test of golf. There are some truly beautiful holes with great elevation changes. Plays longer than you think. While starting slow and easy, a long uphill par 4 awaits you at the third hole. The fourth hole is a par 4 from the back tees while the forward tees play it as a par 5. It slowly unfolds downhill with a dangerous tree-filled gorge on your right. Great back to back par 5s await you at the 6th and 7th holes; one playing downhill, the other, uphill to a hanging green. A very solid back nine starts with two short but sneaky par fours and finishes with three great holes. The 18th is a monster of a long par 5 where not even the longest can get home in two. This course offers very good conditions, a traditional layout over nice terrain and slick and moderately undulated greens. The course is conservatively bunkered with no water except over the stunning par 3 at the 13th. You do not really realize it, but there are only one and a half doglegs here. A unique feature surrounding many of these greens are the raised collars which catch and pin stray shots, making up and downs very difficult. Decent value.Range: Yes • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 6374
In days gone by, the course was often marked by poor conditions despite being blessed with the superb hilly terrain of Hinckley. Our most recent visit pleasantly surprised us with much improved conditions across the board. First and foremost, the greens are very respectable now and roll nicely. While not super high on the Stimp meter, these large greens won't bounce your ball around on the way to the hole. The fairways are no longer cut straight down the side but flow nicely over the terrain. Bunkers were maintained and the tees were decent. There were many instances of a landscaping beautification program going on with benches, boulders, shrubs and mulched flower beds. There are still some sketchy spot on a few fairways and some of the rough gets thinned out. There are also some drainage problems and some areas can get sloppy particularly the holes in the flood plain of the bordering river. But the layout is pleasant with some shortish holes and some monster holes, particularly the 601 yard third hole. There is a good mix of open holes and wooded holes with dangerous dog legs and very solid par 3s. The course is not too penal with the main hazards being the conservative bunkering and pesky creeks which meander throughout the course. Many holes play longer than the yardage due to the elevations and sometimes soft fairways. The reasonable rates, less than crowded course and natural environment, will help you forgive some of the conditioning indiscretions. They finally have a decent clubhouse. Range: No • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 6528
Opened in 2017, the Nichlaus Design Group has total taken over and redesigned the old Spring Valley golf course in Elyria. Since 2019 this course has become a must play and we could not be more excited about this one. The greens are remarkably good for such a young course and the fairways have grown in nicely. It has taken a long time for the rough to grow in but as of 2021 it has finally filled in. The design is excellent with many modern Nicklaus features without being penal. We call it a sporty shotmakers course where position play is at a premium yet there are plenty of chances to play driver and take on cross bunkers or the many water features. You can only get a faint idea of where two or three old holes were before bulldozer reshaped this place. It is nothing like Spring Valley and we give them high marks for crafting a fine new course in and around this Black River flood plain which is no easy place to put in a serious golf course. Perhaps the only hole that people really are not fans of is the short par 4 twelfth which follows the river bend. Basically a long iron of the tee to somewhere around the 150 stake. But people often try to drive the green just to end up in a grove of trees. Not many good options and just not their best design effort. A new tee box cut into the hillside on the par 4 fifteenth helps open up the hole for tho those who draw the ball. A new retention pond has tame some of the flooding they were still experiencing. A course like this really needs a range which they do not have. Even a 100 yard short game area would be really help. Great club house. See you in the top-20 soon. Total Tees: 5 • Total yardage: 7015
Nine hole executive course convenient to downtown located in Newburgh. Operated by the Cleveland Metroparks and host of the First Tee of Cleveland. A par 29 for mature golfers and par 34 for beginners. Actually more a learning center with a full grass range and practice area but a great place to get away and hit some balls during your lunch hour. Range: grass tees and short game area • Total Tees: 3 • Total yardage: 1449
18 hole par 70 championship course located in Ravenna, about 40 minutes from the I-77/I-480 interchange. Excellent greens, great conditions and a good layout makes this course a must play. A few average holes keep this from being truly top shelf. A traditional, tournament caliber layout, but no mounding or bumps anywhere. Some elevation changes from a few tees and thin tree cover. The course sort of has an old time PGA feel. A fair test with all the holes in front of you and basically straight away. Well marked and some water. A great starting par 4 slightly downhill and a great finishing uphill par 4. Take care to consider the slightly elevated greens and the greenside bunkers which sort of push up the corners of the greens. Pin placement is really key on this course with its fast and seriously undulated greens. One of the more popular courses in the south east region of the GCO area. Windmill continue to maintain excellent conditions and with the lack of any housing cluttering the course, it remains an enjoyable place to golf. So much so you sometimes don't notice how the course is incrementally taking a toll on your score. Range: grass • Total Tees: 4 • Total yardage: 6936