Flying B Golf Course (Salem, OH)

With a name like The Flying B, I knew there had to be an aviation connection somewhere, and sure enough, an airstrip used to be where twelve and thirteen fairway are today. This mom n pop golf course out in the rural environs of Salem is one reason why I think Youngstown is one of most underrated areas in Ohio. Places like this are slowly getting phased out with upkeep and maintenance costs driving owners to sell to real estate developers, but the B is fully embraced by the local community. This is where families and friends meet to enjoy the simple pleasures of golf with the design geared towards the introductory level of player with short grass surrounding putting surfaces and few bunkers.

(The short uphill par four second finishes at an oval putting surface that is hidden from the fairway. There are plenty of trees to advocate being straight.)

(The par three third is one of the few times you’ll see a sand trap. This cute hole plays directly behind the clubhouse as the first two holes play down and back. Imagine teeing off first in your league and mingling with everyone a few holes later. Fun stuff!)

I only played the front nine after playing eighteen holes during our annual Youngstown trip. I choose to come here because it boasts an impressive 4.6 rating on Golfpass. The course is in good shape and has some nice topographical features including a gently sloping piece of property and a few water hazards on the back. The trees that line the fairways are spaced out allowing players to advance the ball after wayward shots. This does make it a bit of a shooting gallery. It is advisable to be alert. I do love the serenity and peacefulness of its remoteness. Everything about the Flying B is very pleasant. I give it a 4 (above average)(worth driving 30-45 minutes to play).

(The seventh is the best hole in my opinion as it plays along the boundary line on the left to a green fronted by a shallow valley. The tee shot is quite unusual (opening photo) where you drive between two large hedges. I thought it was pretty cool.)

(I got off to good start but couldn’t finish it. The par five eighth is a neat driving hole with a swale cutting diagonally through the fairway. If you can squeeze it down the left, then it’s reachable in two.)

(The par five fourth goes slightly downhill before turning left and finishing at this low profile green. Soft mounding short left and right catch those going for it in two. The lovely backdrop is punctuated by the white picket fence by the next tee.)

(A tree in the fairway makes the ninth hole a quirky par four. A water hazard left of the green forces the player to get the ball on the right side.)

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Squaw Creek Country Club - Avalon Resort (Vienna, OH)

Squaw Creek is a very nice golf course that could be so much better if they cleared the trees and/or trimmed the branches impeding the start lines from the tee. The improved air and light quality would help with firmer conditions and several of the greens would be much healthier. If such measures were taken, this place would climb up the best course in state list.

Squaw Creek was designed by Stanley Thompson in 1922. How much Thompson is left? I think more than most realize. The 2,3,4,5,6,7,10,12,17 greens all have really good contour to them and a lot of pitch. Greens like the fourth and sixth have steep rear sections that cascade to the front and sides. The false fronts on seven and seventeen repel balls several yards back into the fairway.

(The 386/350 yard par four second has a beautiful drive over a shallow valley. The right side of the fairway is the optimal play before hitting a short iron to a back to front green…

…the view looking back to the tee box reveals the wonderful topography Squaw Creek occupies. The creek is not much of a threat on this hole but is on 1,11,12.)

(The 204/175 yard par three third is a sporty shot over a valley to a green on a slight ridge. The bunkering is tame compared to what you’d see at other Thompson courses. An extra club would be a prudent choice.)

(Thompson loved long par threes and the 205/190 yard sixth is no exception. This is a brutal putting surface too. It pitches forward and has a severe roll that scurries balls to the front left. Par is a good score.)

Squaw Creek tips out at 7,277 yards and half a mile of it comes on two holes, the 628 yard eleventh and the 666 yard seventeenth. This course can hold its own against any level of player. Maybe that’s why the LPGA called it home from 1990-1992 and came back again from 2001-2004.

(The 628/562 yard par five eleventh doglegs left off the tee and again for the second shot. The green is lower than the fairway and is semi blind for the third shot. As the picture shows, the hazard fronts the putting surface and guards the right side. Several years ago, my friend Dan reached this in two shots, a feat we still talk about today.)

(The 666/545 yard par five seventeenth plays along the boundary line on the right. The left is lined with trees. The player must hit three accurate shots all with good length. Meanwhile, the green is atop a slight ridge with a false front that will spin shots down into the fairway. Par is a very good score.)

Squaw Creek is one of four properties owned by Avalon Resort, and it is their most complete facility. Besides golf, it has tennis and pickleball courts, a pool, and bar and patio. It’s very popular and draws a conglomerate of people enjoying their day. Expect it to be a little noisy by the clubhouse. I give it a 5 (good)(worth driving an hour to play).

(Ed Ault lengthened and did bunker work in 1990. Resort guests pay $82 to play.)

(Squaw Creek finishes with a 200/145 yard par three over water. It’s beautifully landscaped and is laid out in front of the patio and people at the pool. From the appropriate tees, it’s just a mid iron shot that should find the putting surface.)

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Windmill Lakes Golf Club (Ravenna, OH)

Windmill Lakes is one of the more challenging courses in northeast Ohio. It’s also home to the Kent State University men and women’s golf team. It’s a very successful program run by coach Herb Page and several players have made it to the pro level. While a few have won tournaments, none are more celebrated than Ben Curtis 2003 British Open Championship win at Royal St George.

Ed Ault designed Windmill in 1970. As an accomplished player, he designed the course exactly the way most architects of his ilk do, by challenging the tee shot and one’s putting stroke. At nearly 7000 yards, it has plenty of length. Players will feel the need to hit driver and the treelined fairways will demand it go straight. The putting surfaces are underrated and have interior contouring that make any putt over ten feet difficult to read. Toss in their large size, and players will find their short game and lag putting put to the test.

(Looking back to the green, the 409/380 yard par four third is best approached from the right side of the fairway. The left greenside bunker and couple large trees makes the left side of the fairway a much tougher approach.)

(This is the view looking back from the fifth tee to fourth green. At 567/544 yards, the fourth is a particularly difficult par five. The hole gets narrower the closer it gets to the green.)

(The 191/172 yard par three fourteenth is well bunkered with a green that has great movement. A large hump in the front left makes for several exciting pin positions.)

Windmill’s biggest drawback is its middling topography. Most of it is flat with a gradual tilt moving up towards the clubhouse. On the back nine, fifteen tee and eighteen green sit on a ridge, the only defining feature of the course. For all intended purposes, Windmill really shouldn’t be as good as it is, but that’s a direct testament to Ed Ault’s architecture, and specifically, to his ability to come up with some really good greens. Windmill is a solid course. I give it a 5 (good)(worth driving an hour to play).

(The 449/422 yard par four fifteenth plays downhill to a green bunkered on the front left and right corners. The toughest pins are tucked behind them while a wide opening allows weaker players a chance to run the ball on.)

(The 418/395 yard finishing hole bends right and plays slightly uphill. The left center half of the fairway is the best angle…

…a bunker fronts most of the green with a small sliver to bounce the ball on in the front left. A par is a good score.)

(I first wrote about Windmill eleven years ago and the lack of quality pictures is what persuaded me to update it. Unfortunately, the flatness of the course is not photogenic but the ones I did get came out well.)

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Little Mountain Country Club (Concord, OH)

When I wrote about Little Mountain twelve years ago, it had just co-hosted the Ohio Open and was considered by many to be one of the best public courses in the state. Since that time, it has settled in as a solid option and is best known for being the home of Jimmy Hamlin, a golf personality who visits premier destinations with LPGA pro Natalie Gulbis.

Michael Hurzdan and Dana Fry designed Little Mountain in 2000. It features the “Hurzdan Hump” prominently to the point of redundancy. There’s at least eight greens where a ridge shows a pitched space towards the golfer with the rest of the putting surface sloping away to the rear. This rise can be in the beginning of the green, in the first third, or in the middle. It’s a maddening characteristic and you’ll see more balls skip off the back here than anywhere else.

(The 582/519 yard par five opening hole has plenty of width to advance the golfer in quick fashion but the green with its false front and runoffs will make par a good score.)

(The 366/327 yard par four third is fraught with trouble all around the green. The creek is the most feared hazard but the mounded front with the putting surface pitching away hides the real challenge. Only a well strucked iron shot will hold. A four is a good score.)

Little Mountain has gone through a few tweaks since 2014 starting with multiple bunkers being grassed over. It was a good choice from both a playability and a maintenance standpoint. Also, long grass is growing around the creek, giving it a rich texture, and slowing the water as it passes. The course looks and feels more natural than it previously did.

(The 471/447 yard par four tenth doglegs left around a deep ravine. Locals view it as a par five and play it down the right to avoid penalty strokes…

…this view shows how perched the green is, and if you compare it to the previous photo, the hump becomes apparent which can send your ball off the putting surface. For a long par four, it’s a devious green complex.)

(The 135/123 yard par three twelth is basically a short pitch shot, yet the back of the green which abuts the ravine terrifies players into making a sloppy pass. I love little par threes like this that require precision and confidence.)

Little Mountain’s reputation hinges primarily on three half par holes (10,13,18) that would be short par fives at most public courses. Each one hugs a steep ravine on the left and demands the player challenge the hazard to secure an easy par. (Regulars are happy to write 5 three times on these holes) The par threes are on the forgiving side, spare the long sixth, and the three par fives are each birdie opportunities. I still see it mentioned as a top 10 public Ohio course, but I feel it’s happy just pulling players between Cleveland and Erie. I give it a 5 (good)(worth driving an hour to play).

(The 471/452 yard par four eighteenth is one of the better finishing holes in northeast Ohio. Long hitters have the advantage of finding the speed slot and reaching the bottom of the hill…

…most players will be looking to shoot it up short of the right bunker and take their chances with a pitch n putt par. Only the longest or best players will take it over the ravine. A four is an excellent score.)

(As much as I enjoy Little Mountain, it has taken the position that it’s the best course in the area and is leading the charge with the highest greens fee (at least on Saturday morning) in the area. Because it’s 30 miles outside the city on the east side, I feel it’s insulated from the glut of municipal courses that dot the southern suburbs.)

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Pitch Shots - New Northeast Ohio Clubhouses

In a bit of an anomaly, two local municipal courses are opening clubhouses this summer, Ridgewood in Parma and Ellsworth in Hudson.

The whole new clubhouse phenomenon is usually reserved for private courses, but recently I’ve noticed that public courses are going this way too, or more precisely, municipal courses. Several years ago, Twinsburg invested in a new clubhouse, a move that was split among its residents, but it gave the city a place to host events, and in my opinion, is geared more towards the restaurant inside than golfers. Fast forward to last year where Cuyahoga Falls renovated their clubhouse at Brookledge, which honestly, would benefit tremendously from a new building, but they focused more on egress and moving players between purchasing golf and food. Even the Metroparks got into the act when they built the new clubhouse for Big Met. Everything boils down to what each city is trying to accomplish. Unfortunately, I feel Parma took Ridgewood’s new clubhouse as an opportunity to compete in the event center game. It’s a huge sterile building that required them to expand the parking lot in both directions. Like Twinsburg, it will have a pub/restaurant attached to it. They did invest a bit into the course, most notably redoing the eighteenth green (soon to the ninth when they reverse the nines) and pulling out the trees so people have a great view of the par five seventh (sixteen) and the lovely short par four ninth (eighteen). Now Hudson on the other hand put in a really wonderful clubhouse that almost competes with Lake Forest and CC of Hudson as a third, albeit public, country club. In fact, I expect the new clubhouse will make Ellsworth one of the best, if not the best, stop on our schedule at CNCGA. As I’ve gotten older, the clubhouse has become a bigger part of the golfing experience, and I expect the guys will love it!

Galen Hall Golf Club (Wernersville, PA)

As a peruser of British Isles golf, I’ve always been fascinated by the hidden gems and out of the way courses that writers gush about when they bring the little corners of each fiefdom to life. Part of my desire to blog is to find such places here in America, or at least within the landscape that I’m traveling. Occasionally, I find one that fits that description. Galen Hall is such a place.

Galen Hall’s quaint clubhouse is easy to miss as you drive past the stone wall that lines the road. It’s very much like an English cottage complete with a sign hanging from a wooden post. The golf course is the product of two legendary architects. Alex Findlay designed the original nine holes in 1910 (1-6 17-18) before A.W. Tillinghast expanded it to eighteen holes in 1917 (7-16). It is an out and in track that takes you on a journey down South Mountain all through the valley before ascending the steep terrain up to the clubhouse. If you believe a great routing is like a great hike, then you’ll appreciate Galen Hall even more.

(The 475/465 yard par five second plays uphill before the hole turns left and drops dramatically (and over a public road) downhill. My second shot finished fifty yards short of the green where I pitched my third off the sloping fairway into the hole for an eagle three!! The picture doesn’t do the hole justice as the drop is way steeper than it appears.)

(The 195/170 par three fourth plays in the corner of the property along the boundary line. A creek cuts diagonally across just short of the green…

…it’s a daunting shot and laying back might be the play. This is a great example of Findlay’s lay of the style where natural features are used to defend par.)

(The short uphill 325/300 yard par four fifth finishes at a pulpit green. Long hitters must guard against pulling it into the hazard…

…the 480/470 yard sixth follows with a reachable par five. Findlay’s ability to gracefully route golf holes is quite pleasing. This three hole stretch (4-6) allowed Tillinghast to expand down the valley corridor.)

(The 500/485 yard par five eighth drops downhill to a right to left cambered fairway. Notice how Tillinghast turned the fairway around the edge of the mountain. If one fails to use the dominant slope properly then the next shot requires more skill to get into position…

…the green is not exactly built for a long iron shot. Being in the fairway for a short pitch is the best way to secure a four.)

(The downhill 164/155 yard par three tenth is a lovely hole and is the furthest point from the clubhouse before we turn back.)

While the Findlay holes are natural albeit quirky at times (you’ll hit over a public road twice), it’s Tillinghast’s valley holes that are the highlight of the round. Many of the greens are on high points with offsetting bunkers. You’ll also find the “Moat Hole” at the center of the routing. You first spy it on the par five eighth before the thirteenth and fourteenth circle around it to mentally challenge the player before stepping on the tee.

(The 520/500 yard par five twelth is a gorgeous par five that bends to the right…

…with the fairway cambering left to right, the player wants to be on the high ground hitting to the green. The iconic barn poses an unusual hazard and I’m not sure if any relief is granted for it’s interference…

…a kickplate just past the bunker will nudge balls onto the green. Anything left will find the tall grass that protects from bailing out to that side.)

(This is the first good view of the “Moat Hole” dubbed America’s first island green..

…it’s much wider than it appears in the picture. Laying up is an option. The hole is 193/132 yards. I have an inkling that William and David Gordon inserted the back tee when they expanded the yardage of Galen Hall in 1955…

…this is the view from behind. Yes it really is a moat!)

Galen Hall rates high on my cool meter. If I lived nearby, I’d be itching to play it often. It reminded me a lot of Kebo Valley in Bar Harbor Maine with how well the golf intertwines with nature in a rustic fashion. I liked it so much that it’s my favorite round of the year. Add in the $52 cost and It makes my list of best values (Pacific Grove, Dale Hollow, Punta Borinquin). I give Galen Hall a 6 (very good)(worth driving 2 hours to play).

(I played the the white tees at 5,876 yards and shot my best round of the year. The course has 5 par fives, 5 par threes, and 8 par fours. I played the par fives -2 but was +4 on the par threes. The one shotters are very good.)

(Credit to Galen Hall Instagram)

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