Marion Country Club (Marion, OH)

Eight presidents have come from Ohio, the last one being Warren Harding in 1920. His front-porch campaign from his Marion home was the last time a candidate stumped for the presidency without traveling and giving speeches. To honor and celebrate his victory, Marion Country Club was formed and Willie Park Jr was hired to designed nine holes. 

I played Marion and Ashland on consecutive days (they’re both Willie Park Jr) and even though they’re only fifty miles apart, the topography between them is very different. Marion is somewhat flat with wetlands and a narrow ditch flowing through the property. The course is blessed with beautiful hardwoods that separate it from the typical central Ohio course built on rolling farmland. The back nine has most of the original holes and the greens can be characterized as platters with over easy eggs on them. The humps add spice to the approach shots and can be the devil to negotiate if one is coming over them. Whoever added the other nine holes however did the club a disservice. Instead of making the holes more like Park’s work, they incorporated their own style. The small pushed up greens are pitched with sand pits or rough hollows guarding the sides. In itself solid work but it creates two styles and leaves Marion lacking cohesion. I’d even say that a third style is present with large greens on 3 and 6. It should be noted both are next to the water and it’s possible it flooded in these areas. 

(The 424/415 yard par four third has a green fronted by a hazard. Most of the putting surface slopes forward but the back left and right areas slope away. It’s a solid  hole with some tricky pin positions.) 

(The 350/333 yard par four fourth is a birdie opportunity but you’ll have to hit a shot from a sidehill lie. The bunkers on left catch a shot that turns over just a tad too much. From bunker in picture, the entire green slopes away.) 

(The 223/220 yard par three fifth is a monstrous one shotter with a small green. A bunker guards the right side while the left is open to a run up shot. Fairway short offers plenty of options for those who choose to let their short game save par. A three is a very good score.) 

(The 392/387 yard par four sixth requires a solid drive to get past the dogleg and get a view of the green. Shorter hitters can play away to opposite corner and take a chance from a longer distance. Left of the bunkers is the water hazard seen on three.) 

(The 324/310 yard par four eighth doglegs right ninety degrees. The drive needs to be perfectly positioned otherwise you’ll be blocked out by the massive trees. The small green accentuates the the lack of playability the hole possesses. In my opinion, the entire tree line on the left needs to taken out.) 

(The 170/155 yard par three ninth is one of the most claustrophobic holes I’ve ever seen. There’s only about fifteen yards of space to hit the tee shot. Note how the entire green fits in the photo. It’s very narrow.) 

The back nine at Marion is four hundred yards longer than the front. Four of the par fours play over 440 yards from the back tees. Park demands strong driving and equally strong long iron play. This makes Marion a strong tournament course and Marion doesn’t disappoint with some great events played here annually. The Harding Amateur is one of the premier events in Marion County, and of course, the Ohio State Junior Girls Championship is played here each year. (Marion member Kay Wigton founded the Junior Girls and it has been contested here for almost fifty years) Major Champion Tammie Green is the most successful girl to win and media personality Holly Saunders won it too. 

(The 457/427 yard par four eleventh doglegs left with a creek bisecting the fairway at the turn. The long second shot is uphill to green guarded by bunkers left and right. Four is a great score.)

(The 188/170 yard par three twelth is across water to a green beautifully set into the mounds. Note how the diagonal line of the hazard drags the eye to the right where the recessed bunker awaits the shot bailing out…
…the green is on the mild side and rewards a good shot with a makeable birdie putt.) 

(This view at the 512/507 yard par five thirteenth shows all the trees and multiple lines taken from the tee. Like ten, it’s one of the few birdie opportunities on the back.) 

(The 159/155 yard par three fifteenth has a oval green that slopes to the front right. The mound of rough just short of the green makes the hole look shorter than it is. Trust your yardage and make a confident swing.) 

Marion is a private course that is open to the public on Mondays. I thought that was a great idea and it would be cool if other clubs initiated that themselves. It could be a recruiting tool for golfers who are on the fence about joining a private club plus clubs can charge a higher fee without much blowback. The ICPGA has been doing this for years and doesn’t have any trouble getting additional players every year. Marion is a solid course. It would be nice to see a few other girls emerge to become champions on the LPGA. I give Marion a 5 (good)(worth driving an hour to play). 

(The 442/402 yard par four fourteenth is long with trees on both sides of the fairway. A hump in the middle of the green stymies most from two putting from long distance.) 

(Note both the blue and white tees are rated over par!) 

[I played the white tees at 6404 yards. There are not many birdie holes here so taking advantage of the par fives is key. I was even for those holes. The long par fours were really not my downfall. I felt I played those reasonably well. In my mind, it all came down to putting and I didn’t make anything. I had four putts inside ten feet for birdie and missed them all. Sloppy approach shots on seventeen and eighteen resulted in bogeys. It was just a ho-hum 79.]

(The Harding Memorial is located inside Marion Cemetery.)