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Sunday, November 22, 2015

Delaware Golf Club (Delaware, OH)

Delaware is a hybrid Donald Ross course with nine holes by Ross and nine holes by Hurzdan. It sits next to Ohio Wesleyan University, and it's home to the Perkins Observatory, one of the largest radio telescopes in the world. Both are part of the ambiance, and are in view from the course. 
(The diificult eleventh with a drive across the ravine.)

The course condition was the best I've seen all year. It's a pretty impressive statement considering we played it in November! The Hurzdan holes (front nine) really set up best for the speed of the greens. The best angles all had open entrances, while shots over bunkers had to be hit perfectly to stop on the green. 
(This is the par five fourth with an excellent water hazard dividing the hole in half. Both fairways provide great options to make birdie.) 

(The center bunker does a good job of hiding the putting surface, but also let's the golfer know where the lower right section begins compared to the upper left. My favorite par three at Delaware.)  

(Challenging the bunkers off the tee at nine opens up the approach to a green hard against the ravine. Coming in from the right, the green looks very small, especially with the ravine directly behind.)

The Ross holes are low key, and have more subtle features. It probably takes a few plays to fully understand the best method of attack on them. 
(Heres the skyline green tenth where a rear pin position requires deft touch to get close. The rough short of the green takes the low runner out of play, a shame if you ask me.) 

Like all Ross holes, the greens are interestingly placed at Delaware. 
This green has falloffs left, right, and back. It makes what could be an average hole into an interesting one. 
The par three fourteenth is not far from the main road. In fact I saw a ball ricochet off the guardrail. The green has fairway just short to bounce the ball in. 

The best hole on the course is sixteen, and it is a beautiful example how Ross uses the natural features to create cool challenges. 
The par four doglegs left around a hill, and player decides to either carry it or try to use the slope to propel the ball to a flat spot far on the right side. The green is beautifully placed with a large tree forty yards short guarding the right side. 

Delaware Country Club is the type of course I enjoy finding. Good architecture, strong history, and superb conditioning make for a grand day of golf. As I stated previously, it had the fastest greens I played all year, and I can understand if someone wanted to bump it up based purely on that. It's a strong 5 (good). It definitely needs inclusion as one of the top public courses in Ohio. 







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