Best course in Ohio?

[slicknic007]

My home course is HAH in Fairborn so I am partial to that course. It is very technical but also lots of fun. The thing to remember is that some people will probably vote for the open courses that allow you to bomb drives all day. I personally like the wooded scenery escpecially in the fall. So if you are looking for a fun round where you can play in the woods and still throw some longer shots, I'd pick Pike Lake. A perk to that course is that if you are feeling up to it, you start with a warm up at OU Chilicothee, then drive down 50 to Pike Lake, then hit another nice course at Paint Creek. 3 courses that you can easily play in one day and enjoy yourself while doing it as well.

 

[mmmmmat]

Long time lurker first time poster. I felt I had to sign up when I saw this thread.

I live in NE Ohio, and my favorite course is Punderson state park. I am totally in love with this course! It is worth playing for the scenery alone - beautiful. The locals are always working on improving it, I see progress nearly every time I play. Punderson used to be a brutal course, but earlier this year they did a TON of strategic clearing and it plays much more fairly. Makes for some great golf. Every hole has 3 gargantuan cement tees and there is hardly any litter.
I highly recommend my fellow DGers experience this beauty.

 

[sgamerp]

only played deis out of those choices and i gave it rated it a 5. completely awesome course but only if you enjoy very open and very long courses.

that sounds horrible.

 

[ru4por]

Long time lurker first time poster. I felt I had to sign up when I saw this thread.

I live in NE Ohio, and my favorite course is Punderson state park. I am totally in love with this course! It is worth playing for the scenery alone - beautiful. The locals are always working on improving it, I see progress nearly every time I play. Punderson used to be a brutal course, but earlier this year they did a TON of strategic clearing and it plays much more fairly. Makes for some great golf. Every hole has 3 gargantuan cement tees and there is hardly any litter.
I highly recommend my fellow DGers experience this beauty.

Welcome mmmmman. Don't be afraid to pipe in with your take, everyone else here does. :hfive:

 

[Puckstopper]

If you're planning a trip around disc, Cincy is DEFINITELY the place to go. However, if you're asking my favorite courses in OH, my top 3 are Hambrick, Holton and Roscoe

I'll agree with you on Holton being a solid course, and I haven't played Roscoe. I'm not sure what everyone loves about Hambrick though. Maybe it's the fact that I live about 10 minutes away from it, and play it more than any other course, but I just don't feel like it has much "wow" factor to it. Holes 2, 10, and 14 are the only holes I feel are at all unusual, and even 10 and 14 could be found on any wooded course. When I think about it, my preference is for a more wooded course, and the open holes on Hambrick just don't really do it for me. For anyone who likes Hambrick, you should check out Simsbury in Pickerington. Paul Jay was obviously influenced by Hambrick on certain holes, but has added his own unique flavor. Not only that, Simsbury has many more elevation changes than Hambrick, and is a more enjoyable course overall. I'm not trying to hate on Hambrick, I play it frequently and enjoy it. I just don't view it as a "destination" course, and would be really disappointed if I had driven a couple hours to play it.

Long time lurker first time poster. I felt I had to sign up when I saw this thread.

I live in NE Ohio, and my favorite course is Punderson state park. I am totally in love with this course! It is worth playing for the scenery alone - beautiful. The locals are always working on improving it, I see progress nearly every time I play. Punderson used to be a brutal course, but earlier this year they did a TON of strategic clearing and it plays much more fairly. Makes for some great golf. Every hole has 3 gargantuan cement tees and there is hardly any litter.
I highly recommend my fellow DGers experience this beauty.

Now this sounds fantastic. Anyone else in the area second the recommendation?

 

[ejvogie]

I'll agree with you on Holton being a solid course, and I haven't played Roscoe. I'm not sure what everyone loves about Hambrick though. Maybe it's the fact that I live about 10 minutes away from it, and play it more than any other course, but I just don't feel like it has much "wow" factor to it. Holes 2, 10, and 14 are the only holes I feel are at all unusual, and even 10 and 14 could be found on any wooded course. When I think about it, my preference is for a more wooded course, and the open holes on Hambrick just don't really do it for me. For anyone who likes Hambrick, you should check out Simsbury in Pickerington. Paul Jay was obviously influenced by Hambrick on certain holes, but has added his own unique flavor. Not only that, Simsbury has many more elevation changes than Hambrick, and is a more enjoyable course overall. I'm not trying to hate on Hambrick, I play it frequently and enjoy it. I just don't view it as a "destination" course, and would be really disappointed if I had driven a couple hours to play it.

I've only played it once, but it was with a large group from DGCR (we had a meet in 2011, camped at Delaware SP) so maybe it had more fun factor than Wow factor

 

[tbird888]

I'll agree with you on Holton being a solid course, and I haven't played Roscoe. I'm not sure what everyone loves about Hambrick though.

I hate to agree with you, but I do. There's just too much out in the open, and the wooded holes weren't super impressive either. I did like the wooded letter holes and deuce the pyramid hole (4?) though.

I played Blendon Woods and Lobdell the same day, and I much preferred both of them to Hambrick.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

I've lived here for 38 years and have only played 4 of the top 25

I was going to say, "Somebody needs to get out more," but with a wife and kids, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt... there are things which should take priority over course bagging.

I plan on hitting Mt. Airey (assuming it's still there to play) and Osage Grove (which I suspect will make a top courses list once it has enough reviews) in mid November.

I've only played it once, but it was with a large group from DGCR (we had a meet in 2011, camped at Delaware SP) so maybe it had more fun factor than Wow factor

Ditto on this... I really enjoyed that Survival round! I recall how Hambrick essentially played in three different sections of the park (including the wooded holes that were closed due to erosion at that time), each with it's own flavor, which in and of itself offers a bit of variety and keeps things interesting.

 

[ejvogie]

I was going to say, "Somebody needs to get out more," but with a wife and kids, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt... there are things which should take priority over course bagging.

I've done plenty of course bagging, but there's only 1 in the top 25 in this corner of the state, and the quality of courses to bag (in a reasonable driving distance) is better if I cross the border

 

[drblam]

I'll agree with you on Holton being a solid course, and I haven't played Roscoe. I'm not sure what everyone loves about Hambrick though. Maybe it's the fact that I live about 10 minutes away from it, and play it more than any other course, but I just don't feel like it has much "wow" factor to it. Holes 2, 10, and 14 are the only holes I feel are at all unusual, and even 10 and 14 could be found on any wooded course. When I think about it, my preference is for a more wooded course, and the open holes on Hambrick just don't really do it for me. For anyone who likes Hambrick, you should check out Simsbury in Pickerington. Paul Jay was obviously influenced by Hambrick on certain holes, but has added his own unique flavor. Not only that, Simsbury has many more elevation changes than Hambrick, and is a more enjoyable course overall. I'm not trying to hate on Hambrick, I play it frequently and enjoy it. I just don't view it as a "destination" course, and would be really disappointed if I had driven a couple hours to play it.

I think the appeal of Hoover is that there is something for everyone, and you can watch the pros play it to see your lines/vs their lines. I really love it.

I also love Simsbury. I tell anyone who will listen that it is the best course in the area, however someone pointed out to me that it doesn't have many of their favorite holes, long and open holes like the ones you (and me, honestly) don't care for from Hoover.

I bet if there was an A tier event at Simsbury it would get the props it deserves.

 

[BrotherDave]

I hate to agree with you, but I do. There's just too much out in the open, and the wooded holes weren't super impressive either. I did like the wooded letter holes and deuce the pyramid hole (4?) though.

I played Blendon Woods and Lobdell the same day, and I much preferred both of them to Hambrick.

How can you prefer Blendon Woods to Hambrick? That's inconceivable! BW is a pitch and putt for beginners with putter destroying concrete around the baskets.

 

[chris deitzel]

Best courses in Ohio

Portage
Punderson
Forked Run
Massilon
Mt Airy
Deis


lots of other fun ones as well.

 

[tbird888]

How can you prefer Blendon Woods to Hambrick? That's inconceivable! BW is a pitch and putt for beginners with putter destroying concrete around the baskets.

I never said Blendon was a better course, just that I preferred it (I think Idlewild is the better course, but I prefer Lincoln Ridge because of the fun factor). I don't enjoy zig zagging across flat, open fields for several holes at a time. There were a few holes there that I enjoyed, but they were few and far between.

Coming from Cincy and the four Steady Ed courses we have, Blendon was very refreshing. Sure it's a pitch and putt, but it's a more challenging one than we have here. I also played it pretty early on into my time playing.

 

[kinger]

Portage Lakes
Arboretum-Spiker
Oak Ledges (Massillon)
Deis Hill

The first three are all within half an hour of one another, Deis is a half hour drive south of Arboretum.

Portage Lakes has blossomed into this area's premier course.

 

[Ben Wilson]

How can you prefer Blendon Woods to Hambrick? That's inconceivable! BW is a pitch and putt for beginners with putter destroying concrete around the baskets.

I don't prefer Blendon to Hambrick, but I do like to play Blendon a lot. I think the biggest negative to Blendon is the seemingly high concentration of shirtless smoking chuckers there (even worse now that no one is policing the donation box). This is obviously correlated to the fact that it is a pitch and putt course, but if you can get there in the morning and beat the crowds Blendon is a ton of fun.

No one asked, but I'd rank the following Columbus-area courses as my favorite:
1. Simsbury
2. Hambrick
3. Gordon Holton
4. Blendon
5. Lobdell

 

[DyeingToPlay]

I'll agree with you on Holton being a solid course I'm not sure what everyone loves about Hambrick though. For anyone who likes Hambrick, you should check out Simsbury in Pickerington. Paul Jay was obviously influenced by Hambrick on certain holes, but has added his own unique flavor. Not only that, Simsbury has many more elevation changes than Hambrick, and is a more enjoyable course overall. I'm not trying to hate on Hambrick, I play it frequently and enjoy it. I just don't view it as a "destination" course, and would be really disappointed if I had driven a couple hours to play it.

I didn't vote since I've only played a couple from the choices. I was disappointed with Hambrick after only a 30 minute drive from my house. I pass it every day and have never been back after one round. I am biased since I live just a few minutes from Simsbury, but I really don't see how Hoover is possibly better than Gordon Holton, Simsbury, or Flat Rocks for that matter. I know Simsbury gets knocked a lot on reviews for the disc consuming rough, but the solution is to not throw there, right?

 

[bbobsuek]

If you are near Dayton then Hines Hardware and Belmont Park. Belmont is old school and I never miss it when I get back to Ohio.

 

[All Day]

I hate to agree with you, but I do. There's just too much out in the open, and the wooded holes weren't super impressive either. I did like the wooded letter holes and deuce the pyramid hole (4?) though.

I played Blendon Woods and Lobdell the same day, and I much preferred both of them to Hambrick.

This must have been a different visit than when I played Gordon Holton and Twilight Zone with you?

 

[All Day]

I don't prefer Blendon to Hambrick, but I do like to play Blendon a lot. I think the biggest negative to Blendon is the seemingly high concentration of shirtless smoking chuckers there (even worse now that no one is policing the donation box). This is obviously correlated to the fact that it is a pitch and putt course, but if you can get there in the morning and beat the crowds Blendon is a ton of fun.

No one asked, but I'd rank the following Columbus-area courses as my favorite:
1. Simsbury
2. Hambrick
3. Gordon Holton
4. Blendon
5. Lobdell

I love Blendon for putter ace runs, but you can't possibly put Blendon ahead of Flat Rocks!

 

[Ben Wilson]

I love Blendon for putter ace runs, but you can't possibly put Blendon ahead of Flat Rocks!

Never been to Flat Rocks! It is the only local course left on my list.