Tag: Ohio golf

Photographer says adieu to Ohio golf course before auction with radiant photo gallery

“I thought maybe you could bring back some great memories … since it will now most likely be housing parcels.”

LAKE TOWNSHIP, Ohio − This week’s auction of the former Seven Hills Country Club is stirring a last ripple of remorse in the requiem for a golf course.

In theory, the winning bid can come from someone wishing to reopen Seven Hills as a golf course.

However, numerous conversations with people tied to the local golf industry yield a clear consensus: When Seven Hills abruptly closed in the fall of 2022, it was finished for golf purposes in an era of local course closings.

The Sanctuary in Plain Township was the latest to cease operations.

As for Seven Hills, Mike Criswell has resigned himself to the “sorry to see it go” group.

Criswell graduated from Perry High School in 1982 and has traveled in his adult life, working in Australia and Louisville, Kentucky. He resettled in Stark County and played in a league at Seven Hills for 20 years until it closed.

Years ago, he befriended the Gran family, which operated Seven Hills for most of its 50-plus years. The course lasted less than three seasons after the Grans sold it in 2020.

In 2014, Criswell, an avid photographer, asked the Grans to turn him loose with a golf cart and a camera. He embarked in a morning mist, ahead of early bird customers.

More: Golfweek’s Best top public and private courses in Ohio

His resulting pictures, dormant until now, capture the essence of why Seven Hills spent decades as a local and regional favorite.

“I was in a Thursday night league with my partner, Craig Yoder, who helped build Seven Hills when he was growing up,” Criswell said. “He passed away last December after a fight with cancer. I miss the place and I miss my partner. I am still in the the original league, the Sylvester’s league, which is at Sable Creek now after Seven Hills shuttered the gates.

“The photographs sat on my hard drive, which is a shame, because the place was beautiful … pristine. I thought maybe you could bring back some great memories around Stark County, since it will now most likely be housing parcels.”

One of Criswell’s favorite holes was No. 15, dissected by a creek adorned with a covered bridge.

“I dream of going to Augusta,” he said. “When I framed this I was thinking of the morning shots I have seen there.”

The most striking “water hole” might be the par 4 No. 17.

“The view speaks for itself,” he said.

The former Seven Hills Country Club, which closed at the end of the 2022 season, is up for auction this week. The 18-hole course just outside Hartville was once considered one of the premier courses in Stark County.
Countless golfers who deposited a ball in a greenside pond may recognize Criswell’s shot of No. 1.

“It was a great par 5,” he said.

His picture of No. 17, with mist rising, strikes a ghostly chord as the course goes to auction.

The heyday of Seven Hills lasted a long time.

A review by Chris Racic on 3jackalmanac.com — the same year as Criswell’s photo shoot — captured some of the spirit.

An excerpt: “Tell me Seven Hills is your favorite golf course and I’ll compliment you for having good taste. Tell me it’s the best public course in the area and I would have a hard time picking one that’s better.”

The land is tucked on a tract a few miles southeast of the center of Hartville.

The auction, operated by Kaufman Realty & Auctions of Sugarcreek, will be conducted Friday and Saturday. It will include a house that wasn’t part of the golf course, maintenance equipment and the land that used to be 18 golf holes.

An auction of maintenance equipment and other items at The Sanctuary was conducted last month.

Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com.

The U.S. Senior Open is heading to Ohio in 2026. Could Tiger Woods be participating?

Woods turns 50 on Dec. 30, 2025, enabling him to narrowly meet the minimum age requirement for entry into the U.S. Senior Open.

As the United States Golf Association continues to roll out future tournament venues, the distinct possibility of a huge star in the field for an upcoming U.S. Senior Open is being brought to light.

Officials for the USGA announced that Scioto Country Club, in Columbus, Ohio; Oak Tree National, in Edmond, Okla., and Crooked Stick Golf Club, in Carmel, Indiana, will be the host sites for the U.S. Senior Open Championship in 2026, 2027 and 2028, respectively. Each club has previously hosted the championship. Scioto also will host the 2036 U.S. Amateur Championship.

“The USGA is pleased to be returning to Scioto Country Club, Oak Tree National and Crooked Stick Golf Club as host sites for the U.S. Senior Open,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA chief championships officer. “Each club has a distinguished history of hosting national championships and promoting professional and amateur competition. We know each course will challenge the world’s best players and the communities will be welcoming and supportive.”

Although the dates have yet to be announced, this introduces the possibility of Tiger Woods playing in his first senior major in Ohio.

According to this story from our network partner, the Columbus Dispatch, the course might present a natural fit for Woods to debut in the event.

The Donald Ross-designed course in Upper Arlington also is scheduled to host the 2036 U.S. Amateur, last played at Scioto in 1968, when Bruce Fleischer won by a stroke. Scioto, where Jack Nicklaus learned to play the game, has hosted other significant national tournaments, including the 1926 U.S. Open, won by Bobby Jones, the 1931 Ryder Cup, won by the United States, and the 1950 PGA Championship, won by Chandler Harper.

Woods turns 50 on Dec. 30, 2025, enabling him to narrowly meet the minimum age requirement for entry into the U.S. Senior Open. The 15-time major championship winner has enjoyed great success in central Ohio, having won the Memorial Tournament five times. He has eight victories in events played at Firestone Country Club in Akron. Ohio has been good to him.

Scioto last hosted the Senior Open in 2016, when Gene Sauers defeated Miquel Angel Jimenez and Billy Mayfair by one stroke. Sauers finished the final round with three straight pars to finish 3-under for the tournament. It also hosted the event in 1986, when Dale Douglass defeated Gary Player by one shot.

Sauers’ victory in 2016, his first on the Champions Tour, marked a sentimental comeback story for the then 53-year-old from Georgia. Nearly a decade earlier, he battled Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a rare illness in which the skin on the extremities burns from the inside out. The medical condition nearly killed him, and kept him off the golf course for seven years.

The 2024 U.S. Senior Open will be held at Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island, with the 2025 event to be held at The Broadmoor (East Course) in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=2762]

Watch: A wild rain storm turned this Ohio golf course into a huge waterslide

A man at a golf course in Millersburg, Ohio, used the opportunity to create the world’s largest fairway waterslide.

Multiple rounds of showers and storms swept across Ohio over the last few days, and that created the perfect scenario for an incredible waterslide down the fairway of a golf course between Columbus and Akron.

A severe weather outlook was issued by the National Weather Service for parts of central Ohio according to an article from the Columbus Dispatch, warning of heavy rain that presented the chance for isolated flooding issues early and strong to severe storms.

The Weather Service noted that “strong to damaging” winds were the primary threat Monday, but tornadoes could not be ruled out.

But rather than sulking about the playing conditions a man at Black Diamond Golf Course in Millersburg used the opportunity to create the world’s largest fairway waterslide out of the course’s ninth hole. It made for quite the spectacle.

The course is famous for its 7th hole, which plays to a par 6 and can be extended to 720 yards from the tips.

[pickup_prop id=”34239″]

[lawrence-related id=778383186,778380722,778379981,778376386]

This former Ohio course of the year has been sold and could be turned into housing

The group that purchased the golf course asked to remain confidential until the sale closes.

[anyclip pubname=”2122″ widgetname=”0016M00002U0B1kQAF_M8171″]

ASHLAND, Ohio — A golf course that was named the Ohio public golf course of the year just 15 years ago is in danger of being permanently closed after a recent auction.

Mohican Hills Golf Club was sold for $2.43 million last week through an online auction held by Kaufman Realty. There were 91 registered bidders. Tim Miller was the realtor/auctioneer. The auction went well, according to Miller, who said the group that purchased the golf course asked to remain confidential until the sale closes.

The 18-hole public golf course is between Cleveland and Columbus and was designed by Jack Kidwell and Mike Hurdzan.

A spokesman at the Ashland County Auditor’s Office said it could take anywhere from a month to six weeks before the transfer is complete.

The property was purchased in November 2022 by Joseph Shrock of Shrock Premier Custom Construction of Loudonville with plans to develop housing on more than 226 acres.

Shrock said he never intended to keep the property as a golf course, but when he developed another property further south near Belleville, he decided to re-sell Mohican Hills and hoped the new owners would keep it as a golf course.

The property was maintained as a golf course through the spring and early summer.

[lawrence-related id=778313763,778128941]

Popular Ohio golf club acquired by a national cemetery plans to stay open for the next decade or so

The deal allows Rawiga’s owners to lease back the property until the cemetery needs to expand.

RITTMAN, Ohio — Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery has purchased the popular Rawiga Golf Club directly south of the Department of Veterans Affairs facility.

Cemetery Director Jesse Getz said the $1.69 million purchase of the 156-acre course secured land for future expansion of Western Reserve and also lets the golf course operate well into the future.

Transfer of the golf course took place Oct. 4, according to Medina County auditor records, adding more than 150 acres to the 273-acre Western Reserve — one of only two national cemeteries in Ohio.

“It’s a win-win for the veterans and also the government, because we lease it back to the golf course,” he said. “Be it for 10 years or 20 years.”

Getz said the cemetery, which opened in 2000, now has 49,503 graves and would have eventually run out of space. The cemetery is in a 10-year Phase III development, with about 30 acres available for new graves.

The 164 national cemeteries throughout the U.S. and its territories are designed primarily to honor military veterans and their families.

“We truly have one time to make it right, and what we strive for is perfection,” he said.

No changes planned to golf club

The Rawiga course was designed E. Lawrence Packard, a prominent golf course architect responsible for more than 600 courses in North America before his death in 2014. His designs include four courses at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor, Florida, site of the annual Valspar Championship on the PGA Tour.

Rawiga co-owner Bill Colianni, head PGA professional and general manager at the club, said he was approached in late summer by Western Reserve Cemetery representatives who wanted to acquire the property for the cemetery’s future needs.

“They needed to secure our property,” Colianni said.

The deal reached by the two parties allows Rawiga’s owners to lease back the property until the cemetery needs to expand, Colianni said. During that time — estimated to be at least seven years and possibly more than a decade — the course will continue to operate without noticeable changes, he said.

After the sale became known, rumors on social media mischaracterized the timing of any transition, with some people speculating there would be immediate changes. That’s not the case, Colianni said.

“We’re there for all of our outings, banquets, leagues,” he said. “No one need to worry about us going away. Nothing is changing.”

The course started as a private club in 1959, evolving into a public course with banquet facilities.

‘An honor we have that national cemetery’

Janie Parish, executive director of the Wadsworth Area Chamber of Commerce, said she had mixed feelings about the purchase.

“When it was first put out there that it was being bought by them, I think people were sad because it has been around since the ’60s,” she said. “That’s where we do our golf outing every year.”

But Parish said the cemetery is a prominent and valuable fixture in the county.

“I just think it’s an honor we have that national cemetery,” she said. “More than anything, it becomes a destination. My parents are both buried at the cemetery.”

Getz said it’s difficult to assess when the golf course land will be needed, but speculated it probably wouldn’t be required for the next 10 or 15 years.

“We should have plenty of land in the original cemetery. … for our next stage,” he said.

[listicle id=778305314]

Penn Ohio Golf Trail: 54 courses – 4 mansions – 20 hotels – unlimited potential

Stay and Play – One Call Does It All For over 10 years, the Penn Ohio Golf Trail has provided unique and affordable stay and play golf packages to its guests. It has expanded each year with new courses and new lodging, but over the past three years …

Stay and Play – One Call Does It All

For over 10 years, the Penn Ohio Golf Trail has provided unique and affordable stay and play golf packages to its guests. It has expanded each year with new courses and new lodging, but over the past three years has grown to offer 54 courses across Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, five mansions, 20 hotels in various locations across the trail, and a golf experience that is unparalleled from other stay and play packages. With monthly package specials, a wide variety of lodging and courses, and different areas to explore, the Penn Ohio Golf Trail has a package to fit all golfers’ needs.

Mansions

Allowing groups of two to 36 golfers to stay in one house is what sets the Trail apart. The historical mansions are furnished with big-screen TVs, pool tables, poker tables, among other amenities that allow guests of the trail to relax and unwind after a full day of golf. Breakfast is served right at the mansions, and catered dinners are also available. The luxury of having the entire group in a home setting creates the perfect golf package for groups.

Courses/Private Clubs

With 54 courses to choose from, there is something for every golfer. Famous designers such as Donald Ross, Pete Dye, A.W. Tillinghast, Tom Bendelow, and Stanley Thompson establish tradition on the Trail; while modern designers such as Brian Huntley, Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, and Jack Nicklaus provide modern courses to delight golfers.

The Trail offers courses for every level of golf. All courses are rated at 4 stars or above, and each course provides its own uniqueness to the golfers. Pine Lakes Golf Club is the home course of the Penn Ohio Golf Trail. Pine Lakes was established in 1926 and redesigned by Brian Huntley in 1998. The course mixes the mature conditions with a new layout.

Olde Stonewall in western Pennsylvania is rated as the number one public course in Pennsylvania. This challenging gem is unmatched for beauty and difficulty. Boulder Creek, The Quarry, The Virtues, Little Mountain, Stonewater and Fowler’s Mill golf courses provide the top courses in Ohio to Trail visitors. Each of these courses is consistently ranked in the top 10 courses in the state.

Hidden gems and local favorites allow Trail golfers to experience courses that locals love. Yankee Run, Reserve Run, The Links at Firestone Farms, and Mill Creek are just a few courses in the Youngstown, Ohio area. In Canton, Ohio, the Sanctuary, Sable Creek, Raintree Golf and Event Center, Zoar Village and Chippewa are just a few. Western PA offers Oak Tree CC, Castle Hills, Whispering Woods, and Tam O’Shanter, and Painesville, Ohio presents Madison CC, Legend Lake CC, and St. Denis.

The Trail also has exclusive booking rights on private, members-only country clubs. Youngstown CC has hosted a Western Open and, along with Tippecanoe CC, have hosted USGA qualifiers. Avalon Lakes and Avalon Squaw Creek are both former LPGA courses, and Trumbull CC and Avalon Buhl are traditional private club designs. Glenmoor CC and Shady Hollow CC in Canton and Quail Hollow in Painesville, among others, round out the country club courses.

Hotels and Locations

Besides the mansions, the Penn Ohio Golf Trail offers 20 different hotels around Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. The hotels are situated so that golfers can explore the many areas of the Trail, whether on one trip or over multiple years. The Youngstown/Warren/Sharon area is the home base of the Trail and has the most hotels and courses. In the past year, the Trail has expanded to Canton, Ohio, and Painesville, Ohio. Canton offers a unique opportunity for golfers as there are many great courses, three different hotel options, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Grove City, Pennsylvania, has some of the best shopping outlets and great courses for golfers to explore. As the hotels are spread across the Trail, it creates limited drive times to courses in the particular area, which is important for any package.

A Package to Fit All Golfers

The unique and wide range of lodging and golf courses means that there’s a package for all golf groups. Whether a father and daughter on their first golf trip together, a bus trip for 100 golfers in a league, or just buddies putting together a Ryder Cup tournament, the Penn Ohio Golf Trail has the package to fit all golfers’ needs. Each golf package is a tailor-made experience that fits budget, handicaps, and other important aspects when putting a package together.

Click here to start your unique golf package

Plan to turn Ohio golf course into a nature preserve fails, but it’s still for sale

“I don’t see why we need 182 acres of area for scum to come in and do whatever they want to do in a public park.”

A plan to apply for a state grant to turn Wilkshire Golf Course into a nature preserve will not go forward because it did not receive the required support from Lawrence Township trustees.

Trustees Mike Haueter, Donald Ackerman and Matthew Ritterbeck decided Thursday not to back the efforts of the property owners and a Cleveland-area nonprofit to get a Clean Ohio grant to buy the 182-acre course near Bolivar.

Ackerman said the area already has more than 600 acres of open space at Camp Tuscazoar, plus the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and Fort Laurens. He said a nature preserve would affect the ability of the Zoar Wetland Arboretum to get volunteers and donations.

“We have a wonderful place here in Tuscarawas County,” Ackerman said. “What can a park offer our community that we don’t already have?”

The area also has green space controlled by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Ritterbeck said.

[lawrence-related id=778066241]

The community would lose about $25,000 a year in taxes if the golf course became a nature preserve, he said.

Ritterbeck said Tuscarawas County commissioners, whose approval would also be needed to advance the grant application, are fiscally conservative.

The 16-member advisory committee of the Tuscarawas County Park Department recommended on Tuesday that county commissioners support the Clean Ohio application, according to Jesse Rothacher, park manager. The recommendation was not unanimous.

But the commissioners will not be asked to act because the township trustees’ lack of support doomed the application.

Most of the residents who spoke about the project at the board’s meeting opposed it.

“I don’t see why we need 182 acres of area for scum to come in and do whatever they want to do in a public park,” said Martha Simon. “I’m just hoping that it doesn’t happen, like in other places, where there’s a problem getting rid of people on drugs and all kinds of stuff.”

Kyle Quillen said he does not support using tax dollars to buy the course.

“I don’t think we need another park in the area,” he said. “I think it would be detrimental to the economy locally down here.”

Quillen said jobs and revenue would be lost, and that there are local people who would buy Wilkshire and keep it in its present use.

The golf course is owned by Beth Easterday Futryk of Powell, Ohio, and Holly Easterday Adams of Savannah, Ga., whose late father and grandfather built the course. They have proposed selling the course to the West Creek Conservancy of Parma, which would have funded the purchase with a Clean Ohio grant.

It would have been operated by the Wilderness Center of Wilmot.

Wilderness Center Executive Director Jeanne Gural said the property would have had trails open to the public with a nature center in the clubhouse. She said Wilkshire would have allowed the nonprofit to serve thousands of children per month, an increase over the hundreds who visit its facility in more remote Wilmot monthly.

But Harry Frank told trustees the nature preserve would become a liability.

“You’re crazy if you approve it,” he said. “Who’s going to take care of it? You’re going to get stuck with the bill.”

Franks said the local hotel would suffer without the golf course.

Golfers patronize local restaurants, Ackerman said.

[listicle id=778080732]

Kyle Bradford said the property would stink after being flooded because it would stay wet.

But Joe Leslie, director of real estate for the West Creek Conservancy, based in Parma, said returning the land to its natural state would allow it to absorb more water. He said the area would have pollinator habitat.

“The majority of the residents in Bolivar couldn’t care less about pollination,” Bradford replied.

“Farmers should,” Leslie said.

He said the nature center would be an asset that would draw tourists.

Lockport Brewery owner Andrew Marburger said he was excited about the possibility. The brewery is next to Wilkshire.

Futryk spoke in favor of the proposal at the trustees’ meeting. She said the course has been offered for sale, but had not gotten any offer at a fair-market value. She said the course has suffered from floods, a tornado and a declining interest in golf.

The West Creek Conservancy will explore other public and private options for Wilkshire, said Executive Director Derek Schafer.

On Twitter: @nmolnarTR

[lawrence-related id=778080997,778074918,778032755]

Tiger Tracker: Woods bounces back with ‘solid day’ Saturday at the Memorial

Golfweek’s Adam Woodard discusses Tiger’s third round of play from Muirfield Village Golf Club at the Memorial Tournament.

Golfweek’s Adam Woodard discusses Tiger’s third round of play from Muirfield Village Golf Club at the Memorial Tournament.

In Ohio, golf industry took proactive measures to remain operational

Ohio golf bodies came together last week to author a letter sent to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s office.

Golf course superintendents are a resourceful group. Brian Laurent, executive director of the Miami Valley and Central Ohio Golf Course Superintendents Associations, continues to be amazed at the workarounds superintendents have found in the midst of a global pandemic. This is new territory for everyone in the golf industry.

“If there’s a problem, they’ll find a way to fix it,” Laurent said.

Laurent has marveled at the ingenuity he’s seen shared by turf professionals on Twitter in recent days. From raising cups above the ground (or perhaps sticking a foam pool noodle inside to eliminate touch points around the hole) to using backpack sprayers to disinfect shared maintenance equipment, the work-arounds are downright MacGyver-esque.

Laurent is viewing the global health challenge from the perspective of Ohio’s robust golf industry, which took proactive measures in unfamiliar territory.

On Sunday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued a statewide “stay at home” order, effective at 11:59 p.m. Monday. In anticipation of that action, Ohio golf bodies had already come together last week to author a letter sent to Gov. DeWine’s office. They pled golf’s case as a much-needed space for people needing to get outdoors in these strange times.

The Ohio Superintendent Network indicated Sunday evening it would work to find answers for golfers and industry workers in light of the governor’s order. By Monday afternoon, it was confirmed that courses could continue maintenance operations and remain open for play.

As other state governors across the country have issued executive orders mandating the closure of shared recreation spaces, Ohio’s golf leaders wanted to make sure courses could continue to operate provided the proper safety measures are in place. Those best practices – for courses and for players – have been widely circulated among the state’s various golf bodies.

Related: Is it safe to play golf during coronavirus outbreak?

“We can kind of see the writing on the wall,” Laurent said 24 hours before the order came down. “There’s going to be more shutdowns of various businesses. We’re just doing what we can to try to get ahead of it.”

The letter made clear golf’s impact in Ohio. It’s a $2 billion industry comprised of more than 700 golf courses (which, as industry officials pointed out in their opening line, are mostly small businesses) that employ roughly 68,000 people.

“Golf is one of the few great American pastimes we can safely enjoy right now,” the letter read. “Allowing facilities to remain open will offer Ohioans — including kids — a place to be outdoors, enjoying nature, exercising and working through a little of the anxiety we’re all feeling right now.”

In the past week, Laurent has penned informative articles for the Ohio Superintendent Network outlining actions and preparations as well as handy resources for members of the golf industry. He provided reassurance, too.

“None of us have ever been through anything quite like this before,” he wrote in a March 20 post outlining the industry’s collaborative actions, including the letter to Gov. DeWine. “It’s OK to be scared, nervous, anxious, cautious, whatever you’re feeling. I get it.”

In some states, like California and Florida, golf is already in season. Laurent said traffic on state golf courses isn’t what it should be this time of year, even though the 2020 season hasn’t really ramped up yet.

“Play is definitely down,” he said. “Overall, the folks I have talked to, the large majority want to remain open and continue to provide an outlet for people to go and get away from the home office or just kind of get away from things, be outside and enjoy some recreation.”

Laurent said he has traded messages with superintendents in neighboring states, “learning a little bit about their battle.” The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America continues to advocate, problem-solve and support the industry, too, he said.

One potential challenge Ohio – and other northern states – could face is in the seasonal aspect of maintenance. There is much to be done this time of the year.

“If they miss the next couple weeks up here they’re going to be playing catch-up for the rest of the year with the weeds and diseases and all that kind of stuff,” Laurent said of turf operations.

Ohio’s proactive measures could prove to be industry saving on several levels.

[opinary poll=”do-you-feel-comfortable-playing-golf-ami-HcK9NO” customer=”golfweek”]