Devou Park Golf Course (Covington, KY)

Devou Park is the first exit in Kentucky as you go over the Ohio River on the I-71 bridge. The park has 700 acres and is a wonderful asset full of recreational activities that includes an 18 golf course. It’s very hilly and rests on the top of the ridge overlooking the city of Cincinnati.

Devou Park is a fun municipal course full of exciting features that offsets its drawbacks. It started off as a nine hole course before expanding to eighteen holes in 1995. Club professional John Brophy did the original holes in 1922. These holes are the ones that occupy the center of the property today. Gene Bates work goes around them, and even crosses the road to play next to the Behring-Crawford Museum and Northern Kentucky Children’s Home.

(The 533/523 yard par five fourth illustrates the insane lack of width that is given to golfers off the tee on the Bates holes that play on the extreme part of the golf course. Thankfully the tees are usually moved up and the player can hit a three wood. The hole opens up after this but what a daunting drive!)  

(Check out Brophy’s work on the 347/325 yard uphill second. A fun drive over the valley followed by a wedge into a banked hillside green. Note the first hole in the distance and the tremendous amount of pitch in the fairway.)

The rugged landscape of the interior holes are really impressive. Driving in, one sees all these tee boxes and greens benched into hillsides and atop of ridges. The juices get flowing right away, and the excitement of driving over all these cool landforms begins even before pulling the clubs out of the car. Just like I mentioned at North Park, the old architecture attacked this type of topography without any preconceived notions. The main focus was on engaging shots. 

(The 401/377 yard par four ninth plays downhill to a fairway that weaves it’s way between two hills…

…the second shot is all uphill to a back to front sloped green. The front is just sloped enough that anything short will roll back into the rough.) 

(My favorite hole is the 310/288 yard thirteenth. The top of the hill is the best spot to be for the approach but can one control the urge not to bomb it from the tee…
…there’s fairway below the wall of rough for long hitters. The green is nicely positioned for a short pitch. The putting surface slopes to the right.) 

The newer holes literally play on the edge of the ridge. They struggle with having enough width especially on the drives. Some of the holes work out fine, and of course, the signature fifth which tees off behind the museum and finishes with an incredible view of the city is first rate. 

(The 342/332 yard par four fifteenth doglegs up the hill above the valley. It offers several options ranging from laying up to the far left corner to driving over the cart path to the front left corner of the green…

…the green has a few challenging pins that take advantage of its perched location. I love how all these cool holes are short par fours that can be played in multiple ways.) 

Devou Park has a great atmosphere! It reminded me of Oglebay with all the cool attractions. It’s F-U-N ! I know the back tees supposedly max out at 6100 but only if they’re measuring the back of the tee box to the back of the green on every hole. The park brings in many people and there’s no way the course doesn’t lure a good percentage of them to try the game. This place has that type of pull in my opinion. It may not be a serious course but it’s a good time. I give Devou Park a 3 (average)(worth driving 15-30 minutes to play). 

(The 156/139 yard par three seventeenth plays way less than it’s listed yardage. The long slender green is angled with drop offs on the entire right side. It’s only a short iron shot, but your eyes won’t leave the ball as it hangs in the air, descending hopefully onto the green.) 

(The view from the Drees Pavilion is amazing! It’s one of the park’s biggest attractions and for good reason. Photographers, lovers, and families all soak in the view from the hillside. Devou Park is a gem.)