Ridge Top Golf Course (Medina, OH)

Ridge Top was designed in 1961 by a local man named Bob Pennington. It maxes out at 6,241 yards. It’s built on a lovely piece of property with nice rolling features and several ponds. It has bluegrass fairways and bentgrass greens. Best of all, the modest green fees are reminiscent of the mom n pop courses that dotted northeast Ohio which unfortunately are no longer in existence today. 

The greens are the number one defense at Ridge Top. They have severe tilt to them and not always towards the line of play. It’s yesteryear setup reminds me of how we played golf when I was a kid. The ground firms up really hard and one has to judge not only the topographic features, like mounds and slope, but also the amount of rollout. This means reachable par fives and driveable par fours that look easy on the scorecard but end up round wreckers as you get on the opposite side of the slope and watch your ball race across the putting surface and off the other side. It’s the type of golf most people aren’t used to playing anymore. 

(Look at the light brown hue in the fairway. Yes your ball is going to run but can you control it? With all the irrigation we have nowadays, this type of appearance is rarely seen.) 

With these type of golf courses, there’s plenty of quirkiness to go around. The reverse C par five fourth and the J shaped short par four fifth are two that immediately come to mind. That said, there are a couple holes that would gladly be accepted by most courses. The 177 yard par three second plays to a green on the edge of the hillside. Its doubtful you’ll hit it below the hole so prepare for a tough downhill putt. The long 441 yard par four tenth is the best hole on the course. From the top of the hill, one must drive it over the valley to the fairway on the other side. The approach is then downhill to a fall away green. Anything long or left will find the hazard. Finally, the 136 yard par three eighteenth drops 40’ to a green benched into the hillside with water short. It’s just a short iron, but it’s a treacherous green with a lot slope.

(The downhill par three eighteenth is a lovely way to finish the round.) 

Ridge Top is a popular course in Medina and it’s doing all the right things. Besides the price point, it has a great patio for socializing after the round, and it has a good vibe that is welcoming. I know I talk a lot about architecture but courses like Ridge Top are a dying breed and I wish we had more of them. I give it a 4 (above average)(worth driving 30-45 minutes to play). 

(There are few public courses in northeast Ohio that I have not played, and I was excited to finally see it when the CNCGA put it on the calendar this year. I played the 10-12 stretch in three under, chipping in for par on 10, knocking it to six feet for birdie on eleven, and chipping in again for eagle on twelve. My 76 was the low round of the day)