Champions Golf Course (Columbus, Ohio)

Once again I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to play a course I should've visited a long time ago. Last time it was Yankee Run out near Youngstown, and this time it's Champions Golf Course in Columbus. 

(The masterplan in the clubhouse. Robert Trent Jones Sr 1948.) 

Champions was originally Winding Hollow Country Club. The membership sold the course to the city and moved out to suburbs. Not sure why they choose to move but from the comments I read, the members felt the surrounding neighborhood was deteriorating. The cylinder block clubhouse and the A-frame metal entrance gate gives one the distinct impression of being in the 1960s, and could be off putting at first sight, but when the course is viewed, that feeling is replaced instantly by a zeal to play. 

Champions has two things going for it. The first is the excellent topography, and second is the routing. There's only four straight holes! Six dogleg right while four dogleg to the left. The player is constantly being asked to choose the proper line and hit the appropriate shot. 

(The first green is relatively open, however, sand right and a ridge in the rear will make par a good score.) 

(Only 150 yards, the short par three second possesses a small green. The flag in pic is just a few paces from the back edge.) 

The ability to work the ball both ways is a huge advantage at Champions. 

(The view from the tee on dogleg left third hole.)

This is four green. 

(I was very surprised to see the variety in green sizes. The two previous RTJ Sr courses I played had large putting surfaces separates by ridges. Apparently his earlier work reflects his time spent with Stanley Thompson, one of my favorite architects. I love it!) 

The par three fifth. 

(Just a beautiful hole!! The green is placed perfectly atop the ridge!) 

Champions is a par 70 so only one par five on either side. Neither one is a gimmee birdie. 

(The par five seventh is 530 yards with water and sand guarding the green.) 

The eighth is my favorite hole on the course. 

(The drive is uphill thru a gap in trees. The terrain rises abruptly making this a semi blind tee shot...

....the hole then doglegs right to a green laid across the hill fronted by sand and a valley. The two tier green provides several excellent pin locations. Great hole!!)

The back nine kicks off with a long par three. 

(The tenth is 217 yards! It's slightly downhill but all carry. It could be a better hole if the trees and shrubs left of the green were trimmed back. Still a very good hole!)

The 394 yard twelfth. 

(All the greens at Champions are beautifully placed. It seems like every ridge, hilltop, or knoll was used for a putting surface.)

The thirteenth is probably the best known hole at Champions. 

(A very intimidating tee shot greets the player at the tee. It's downhill with a hazard guarding the entire right side....

.....from the fairway it's all uphill to a bunkerless green. A par is a great score on this long difficult hole.) (407 yards)

Fourteen keeps the pressure on. The 411 yard par four plays downhill with trees on both sides. 

(This is one of the few times we see the creek that runs thru the property. It's well short of the green but impedes progress should you drive it in the trees.) 

Fifteen is a great par five. It double doglegs left and is a three shot hole unless you can dramatically cut the corner. Even then it might not be possible. 

(The green is halfway up the hill. The very top is sixteen tee. The putting surface is small....

....this view from sixteen tee shows the challenges one faces. Note how the hill and green are angled from the fairway. An extra club might be prudent.)

The 189 yard par three seventeenth. 

(This idyllic par three looks benign from the tee but the first third of the green is a steep false front. It's a very demanding tee shot.) 

The last hole is a picturesque par four. 

(Eighteen is 390 yards. It doglegs right at the end and is leveled just above a shallow valley. The bunker and mound beautifully frame the green. It's a great second shot and birdie would be a wonderful finish.) 

I've played many courses in the Columbus area over the years, and it's ironic that my two favorites are ones that I've discovered in the past six months. Champions is hands down my favorite course here! (Delaware CC is the second). I'll definitely put this in my annual visits. I give Champions a 6 (very good)(worth driving 2 hours). 

Whispering Woods Golf Club (Erie, PA)

John Exley designed Whispering Woods in 2007, and it is considered by many to be the best course in Erie. 

(The par five seventh is arguably the best hole on the front. It plays uphill while doglegging left around a natural hazard. It takes three well struck shots to have a good birdie opportunity.) 

Whispering Woods main asset is it's conditioning. It is in perfect shape. This overcomes many of the shortcomings it possesses. Carts are mandatory, the front is unwalkable, miss shots result in lost balls, and the par threes are bland. But man the course is beautiful! 

(The par three second is a short iron shot. As you can see in the pic, not much to intimidate the player from being aggressive.) 

(Look at the beautiful mowing lines at the par five third....

....the green is accessible for those going for it in two.) 

The fourth hole is the most memorable on the front. It's a driveable par four, but it takes a lot of cojones to attempt it. 

(The view from the fourth tee. I like how the creek cuts into the fairway, protecting the garden spot short and alongside the hazard....

....the narrow green makes this a tough shot as the proper angle will make the pitch easier. Get an awkward angle or a weird yardage, and this short par four can become a bogey real quick.) 

(The par four eighth is 436 yards. The near island green is a bit over the top.) 

The ninth is a great par four!

(Nothing over the top here. The ninth is a beautiful, tough uphill par four.)

While the front nine is a bit disjointed, and connected by a cart path, the back nine is very cohesive and is the parcel of land one sees when driving down the entrance road. 

(The 482 yard tenth is a very difficult par four! A huge mound guards the entrance to the green (not sure it's visible in pic) and the player must carry it to hold the putting surface.) 

(Eleven is a beautiful par three.) 

(The par five twelfth has a natural hazard crossing the fairway for the second shot to carry.) 

(The thirteenth is a beautiful uphill par four. I love all the different contrasts in color.)

(The camera flattens out the course, but this green on fifteen is probably thirty feet above the fairway in the background. The natural area on this hole takes a very good shot to carry.) 

(The short par four sixteenth is short enough to be driven...

....but the last sixty yards are uphill, resulting in second shots that look like this. The flag is the only thing visible.)

The eighteenth is the best hole on the course, in my opinion.  

(The tee shot is uphill with traps right and natural area left...

....then it doglegs left with the green beautifully placed with sand fronting it. The approach is from an uneven lie, so it takes an excellent shot to get close to the pin. Great hole!!) 

Whispering Woods is definitely worth the 90 min drive from Cleveland to go play. I travel all over the area (2-3 hours) to play a wide variety of courses, and this place is one of the best conditioned. That fact makes it a must play. I give it a 6. (Very good)(worth 2 hour drive) 

Erie Golf Club (Erie, PA)

If one were to list the greatest architects in golf, Tillinghast would clearly be in the top three! In fact, his designs have held more major champioships than any other architect!  Ninety minutes away the city of Erie has an original Tillinghast design, and after the renovation by Richard Mandell, it is worth every minute to go play! 

(The beautiful par three fourth plays over a scrub filled gully. I love how the green is perched on a knob, and the sand trap reinforcing the difficulty of the shot. Note the fairway of the second hole in the background, giving the golfer a glimpse of what's to come.) 

Very rarely am I mesmerized pulling into a golf course, but Erie caught my attention the moment I was driving up the first hole. The bunkering especially grabbed it, and the ruggedness of the terrain had me chomping at the bit to play it. 

(The road coming in literally drives past the first hole, OB stakes lining the pavement. It can be a very intimaditing tee shot, but the fairway opens up once you get past the curve.) 

(This is the par five second. The bunker is several yards short of the green, but look at the shoulder and the influence it has on the approach and the putting.) 

Three and four were my two favorite holes on the front. Besides being beautiful, they were bold. Three was really a stunner. 

(This pic is from beginning of the fairway. From the tee, the drive is semiblind, and the player has to decide to hit it into the valley or try to drive it far up the hill....

....a more accurate view of the challenges of the third. Note how not one bunker can be seen looking back towards the tee.) 

The biggest challenge Tillinghast had at Erie was the elevation change, and designing holes basically on a side of a hill. I was really intrigued to see how he solved that issue. 

(What a great tee shot at the par five fifth!...

....the green all downhill at the end of the fairway. It's possible to land the second shot fifty yards short and have it still end up on the putting surface! That is the beauty of the hole! How much roll do you play for? And what kind of shot do you play to get it?)

There are five holes that go downhill, but only four that go up. This is done by routing a couple holes across the top, and by utilizing the land opposite the clubhouse. The eleventh, thirteenth, fifteenth, and eighteenth all played towards the clubhouse. It was great!! 

(Look at the back of seven green and how it's "tipped" to prevent balls from running off the back.)

(The eighth is only 140 yards, but I love how it's tucked in a little corner with the seventh hole playing above it. Everything slopes towards the right, and that front bunker is placed exactly where one would land the ball to funnel it onto the green.) 

(Yes the ninth is a slog playing straight uphill, but look how the green is built up and how it entices you to hit a great shot!) 

The back nine begins with an awesome par four!

(My favorite hole on the course! I think I could just drive balls from the tee and watch the ball caroom off the sideslope in the fairway...

....the real key to the tenth is feeding the ball onto the green without it running off the back. With the ball below your feet, this bunker is very much in play.) 

The eleventh is one of the four holes that play uphil, but when the green is this perfectly placed, appreciation is all that can be thought. 

(How can you not love this approach shot?!) 

(All you see on the thirteenth is the flagstick behind the bunker. In reality, there's several yards between the sand and green.) 

The last three holes are very interesting. The sixteenth is only 316 yards, and a good drive can possibly find it's way onto  the green. 

(Do you layup to the top for a flat lie or hit it as far as you can and take a chance with a downhill lie?)

Then seventeen follows with a 243 yard par three! Yikes! It's amazing how the old architects had no qualms designing par threes that were borderline unreachable. 

(Notice how seventeen is downhill, and how the real landing area is twenty yards short of the green. Better fly it super high if you're carrying it all the way to the putting surface.) 

I heard eighteen had the biggest gain in the renovation as Mandell reclaimed the original back tee set against the woods, and made this into a legitimate par five again. 

(Look at the landforms you have to transverse to get to this green....

....this big hill challenges the last shot. You can barely see the flagstick while the clubhouse beautifully backdrops the hole.)

My love for municipal courses has allowed me to "find" some really great places, and Erie Golf Club is by far one of my favorites. I can't believe how under the radar it is. I played Brackenridge Park down in San Antonio, another Tillinghast course that was renovated, and it received national acclaim. I feel Erie Golf Club is better. The only thing that concerns me is the condition. While it was good when I played it, I always wonder if the city is going to keep making that commitment. That said, I will find myself here a few times a year. I give it a 6 (very good)(worth driving 2hrs). 

(View of nine green from tenth tee.)