Columbus, Ohio

[jerebear21]

sup golfwrx

 

I'll be up in columbus october 7-9 for a wedding; fortunate for me I know friends at ohio state so I'll be giving it a go at the scarlet course

 

there's a good chance I might be able to play camargo in cinci sunday morning/afternoon as well.

 

Any other courses I should look into? If anyone want to hit me up at the scarlet saturday oct 7th around noon time or if my camargo connection doesn't come through, then again at the scarlet october 8th mid morning, let me know. Always down to play some golf and if there's a good private that I should play and you willing to host let me know as well. I can reciprocate you in the tampa/orlando area if need be. Big fan of golf architecture btw.

[smeech8000]

You'll have better luck posting here: All Things Ohio Golf

[SilverBullets]

Camargo is special. Really cool place. If you set that up, absolutely do it. A fantastic Raynor track. Maybe the best collection of Par 3s on any course I have ever played.

 

The public courses in Columbus really aren't special at all. Scarlet is better than all of them. So if Camargo falls through, I would just play Scarlet twice unless someone can you host you at a private club. Obviously the big 4 are Muirfield Village, Scioto, The Golf Club and Double Eagle. Any one of those are truly special. Outside of that, there are ton of high quality, great condition private clubs that are worth playing (all most all of them are worth playing). So if you can hook up any rounds at Private clubs, absolutely do it.

 

It may be worth giving a call to Pinnacle and Wedgewood to see if they will let you on. Sometimes they will if you talk to the right person. Those courses are outstanding and sometimes they let people on. A lower tier private club which is worth playing and is easer to get on is Hickory Hills Golf Club. It's not very well known, membership is cheap and has been down so they tend to be more flexible. The course is really solid though. But overall, if you can get on a private club, any private club, it's likely to better than anything public you will play in Columbus.

[axeme]

If you have the time to go about 30-40 min east to Nashport, I can't recommend Virtues highly enough (formerly Longaberger). It's the #1 rated public course in Ohio and is in great condition.

[Neverfadeaway86]

Northstar in Sunbury is one of my favorites, Darby Creek in Marysville is fun and Clover Valley in Johnstown is fun as well

[jerebear21]

Looks like camargo and morraine is set up for next spring by my friend so no go this time around. I was recommended to play hyde park. I'm going to look into virtues as well.

 

Schedule as plan. Saturday morning tee time at the Scarlet. Then Attend the osu game vs Maryland. Then head to the wedding. Sunday two rounds. I believe I fly out 8pm.

 

Invite is out there if anyone want to join me at scarlet.

[jerebear21]

saturday - Scarlet early morning round pending OSU release of football time against Maryland

Sunday - Virtues - Tee time secured for 10:10am

 

First taste of Ohio golfing. Hopefully won't be disappointed. The real gem is next spring with Camargo and Morraine being set up.

 

Anyone up for a round at Virtues sunday, let me know!

[SilverBullets]

saturday - Scarlet early morning round pending OSU release of football time against Maryland

Sunday - Virtues - Tee time secured for 10:10am

 

First taste of Ohio golfing. Hopefully won't be disappointed. The real gem is next spring with Camargo and Morraine being set up.

 

Anyone up for a round at Virtues sunday, let me know!

 

I have never played Morraine but the pictures post reno look incredible. Camargo is really cool, especially if you are a golf course architecture nerd. That will be a special trip.

 

I'm not a huge fan of Scarlet but it's a really solid course and outside of The Virtues is better than anything else public. I just am not a fan of the layout. Long par 4s which are pretty tight and tree lined with absolutely massive greens (for Ohio at least).

[jerebear21]

saturday - Scarlet early morning round pending OSU release of football time against Maryland

Sunday - Virtues - Tee time secured for 10:10am

 

First taste of Ohio golfing. Hopefully won't be disappointed. The real gem is next spring with Camargo and Morraine being set up.

 

Anyone up for a round at Virtues sunday, let me know!

 

I have never played Morraine but the pictures post reno look incredible. Camargo is really cool, especially if you are a golf course architecture nerd. That will be a special trip.

 

I'm not a huge fan of Scarlet but it's a really solid course and outside of The Virtues is better than anything else public. I just am not a fan of the layout. Long par 4s which are pretty tight and tree lined with absolutely massive greens (for Ohio at least).

 

I read through the Ohio group and this isn't even one of the top 5 courses in ohio, but when I found out it was a mackenzie course, it's something I just have to do. Thanks for the input!

 

I'm a big big raynor fan and hoping to check off another one of his golf courses next spring. =)

[jerebear21]

Very disappointed in the scarlet course. I’ve walked augusta national and have seen so many pictures of cypress and royal Melbourne and figure this course would be worth it. I was very wrong. Honestly felt like every par4 was the same hole. Outside of the first hole, every par4 or par5 has bunkers on left side. The lack of elevation outside of 2-3 holes made this course very bland. Big greens and undulated but the lack of variety killed it for me. Not a good impression imho of my first playable Mackenzie course.

 

The flow felt mundane. The lack of variety is very noticeable. I lost interest after 14 holes or so. I give it a 6 out of 10. My alma mata, university of Florida, has a better course built by Donald Ross. Imho, the club at Yale is still my favorite university course. I thought the scarlet course would be better. I was completely wrong.

[jerebear21]

Played virtues today and definitely way better than scarlet. Worthy of the recognition. 8/10 for sure.

[nimmell]

Thanks for letting me tag-along, Jere! Both Scarlet and Virtues showed us some teeth with 20mph winds at Scarlet and the 0 roll at Virtues. I echo your review of Scarlet, nothing to write home about minus some history. Definitely had Jack's touch everywhere. Virtues FTW.

[Thunder Dan]

Very disappointed in the scarlet course. I’ve walked augusta national and have seen so many pictures of cypress and royal Melbourne and figure this course would be worth it. I was very wrong. Honestly felt like every par4 was the same hole. Outside of the first hole, every par4 or par5 has bunkers on left side. The lack of elevation outside of 2-3 holes made this course very bland. Big greens and undulated but the lack of variety killed it for me. Not a good impression imho of my first playable Mackenzie course.

 

The flow felt mundane. The lack of variety is very noticeable. I lost interest after 14 holes or so. I give it a 6 out of 10. My alma mata, university of Florida, has a better course built by Donald Ross. Imho, the club at Yale is still my favorite university course. I thought the scarlet course would be better. I was completely wrong.

 

I've played the Scarlet Course about 50x - I generally agree with you, though I've never made the mistake of comparing it to 3 of the top 10 courses in the world. Not every Donald Ross course is Oak Hill or Pinehurst. It's a course in the middle of a major city it just kind of is what it is. Virtues is better because the land is better. Augusta is better because the land is better. Scarlet is a mediocre layout crammed into a boring plot of land.

[jerebear21]

I don't disagree with you on this; but I wasn't trying to compare it directly to Augusta; Even if conditions were not up to par, the layout should have been much more fun. The club at Yale isn't going to be mistaken for Fisher Island or NGLA but I can strongly say I can play that course every day for the rest of my life. There aren't many mackenzie courses out there unlike Donald Ross so I did expect more. I guess my very own expectations is this was the architect that built augusta yet it didn't feel anything like augusta; even with donald ross less's known venue you can tell it's a donald ross. I'm not crapping on the course for being bad but with a name attached to mackenzie I expected so much more. I can't say the same about donald ross's course because he built probably a thousand. But when I'm playing a raynor/CB course, I am expecting a master piece and more often than not my expectations are always met. I put mackenzie up there with those two as the best there was.

 

I did go back and read up on the history and this was about as far of a mackenzie course as possible due to the timing of the depression and his death. He did the routing but it was built by his assistants and the greens done by maxwell? I would like to know if this course was any different before Jack's renovations and how was it different. Was it more fun? My alma mata course, the UF golf course was built on a crappy piece of land and it had so much variety and is so much fun;

[Thunder Dan]

I don't disagree with you on this; but I wasn't trying to compare it directly to Augusta; Even if conditions were not up to par, the layout should have been much more fun. The club at Yale isn't going to be mistaken for Fisher Island or NGLA but I can strongly say I can play that course every day for the rest of my life. There aren't many mackenzie courses out there unlike Donald Ross so I did expect more. I guess my very own expectations is this was the architect that built augusta yet it didn't feel anything like augusta; even with donald ross less's known venue you can tell it's a donald ross. I'm not crapping on the course for being bad but with a name attached to mackenzie I expected so much more. I can't say the same about donald ross's course because he built probably a thousand. But when I'm playing a raynor/CB course, I am expecting a master piece and more often than not my expectations are always met. I put mackenzie up there with those two as the best there was.

 

I did go back and read up on the history and this was about as far of a mackenzie course as possible due to the timing of the depression and his death. He did the routing but it was built by his assistants and the greens done by maxwell? I would like to know if this course was any different before Jack's renovations and how was it different. Was it more fun? My alma mata course, the UF golf course was built on a crappy piece of land and it had so much variety and is so much fun;

 

I mean Mackenzie never saw the land at OSU. They took one of his designs and made it. he died 2 years before the club opened. I think we've all done projects before that we didn't give it our all (me and this post for example)

[jerebear21]

Are you sure he didn't see the land? From my readings he did see the land and routed the 36 holes. The school athletic at the time Lynn St John commissioned Mackenzie to do 36 holes, one course which is a championship caliber, AKA the scarlet. The routing had to be changed because the clubhouse was moved but he made it happen. I've done my fair readings on this. The depression, his project with Augusta, and his death was what kept the project from going forward.

 

Thomas MacWood wrote an article detailing the work of the Scarlet Course by Mackenzie in club Atlas; you can google the link yourself.

[jerebear21]

also, I've never done a project I didn't give my all so I wouldn't know how that feels.

[Thunder Dan]

Are you sure he didn't see the land? From my readings he did see the land and routed the 36 holes. The school athletic at the time Lynn St John commissioned Mackenzie to do 36 holes, one course which is a championship caliber, AKA the scarlet. The routing had to be changed because the clubhouse was moved but he made it happen. I've done my fair readings on this. The depression, his project with Augusta, and his death was what kept the project from going forward.

 

Thomas MacWood wrote an article detailing the work of the Scarlet Course by Mackenzie in club Atlas; you can google the link yourself.

 

I'll look that up. My father in law is a member at OSU and gave me the back story of they took one of his designs but he didn't play a part in it's construction. But who knows which is accurate.

[jerebear21]

i'm going to lean towards a historian of golf architect than your father in law's back story.

 

http://golfclubatlas.com/in-my-opinion/ohio-state-golf/

[SilverBullets]

I don't disagree with you on this; but I wasn't trying to compare it directly to Augusta; Even if conditions were not up to par, the layout should have been much more fun. The club at Yale isn't going to be mistaken for Fisher Island or NGLA but I can strongly say I can play that course every day for the rest of my life. There aren't many mackenzie courses out there unlike Donald Ross so I did expect more. I guess my very own expectations is this was the architect that built augusta yet it didn't feel anything like augusta; even with donald ross less's known venue you can tell it's a donald ross. I'm not crapping on the course for being bad but with a name attached to mackenzie I expected so much more. I can't say the same about donald ross's course because he built probably a thousand. But when I'm playing a raynor/CB course, I am expecting a master piece and more often than not my expectations are always met. I put mackenzie up there with those two as the best there was.

 

I did go back and read up on the history and this was about as far of a mackenzie course as possible due to the timing of the depression and his death. He did the routing but it was built by his assistants and the greens done by maxwell? I would like to know if this course was any different before Jack's renovations and how was it different. Was it more fun? My alma mata course, the UF golf course was built on a crappy piece of land and it had so much variety and is so much fun;

 

I have never been a fan of Scarlet. I lived about a mile from the course for the first 30 years of my life, I had the option to belong there, and chose a course (multiple courses actually) which were 20 minutes away because I just didn't like Scarlet. It has a few pretty good holes which I really enjoy, but, for the most part it's just a long, flat, boring course with deep bunkers, thick rough and huge greens. The course is also packed most of the time and the rounds are generally pretty slow. It just doesn't do anything for me.

 

Jack def. improved the course. Prior to Jack, it was even more boring than it is now. Small bunkers which had kind of moved out of play due to increased distance. It was shorter. The greens were pretty basic and vanilla (significantly smaller than they are now) and overall it was more or less a switch back course with holes lining each other. Jack didn't change much about the actual layout. For the most part, he just added tee boxes to make it a lot longer, changed some angles, blew up the greens and made the giant ones that are there now and redid the bunkering. Moved them, made them deeper in spots, and bigger.

 

It's been so long so it's kind of hard for me remember everything, but, I don't think the layout changed very much. I think a couple of holes had some more work than just adding tee boxes, reconfiging bunkers and redoing the greens, but, I don't think it was many.

 

Jack absolutely made the course better however. It's significantly harder than it was and it's in much better condition than it used to be. The course (as well as the community it's in) is 100% landlocked. So there ultimately isn't much that can be done layout wise unless they bulldoze the Gray course and build over that. But that isn't for the good of the course, university and students/alumni.

 

I've always thought Scarlet was hugely overrated. For me, it's not in the top 25 courses in Columbus.

[nimmell]

I don't disagree with you on this; but I wasn't trying to compare it directly to Augusta; Even if conditions were not up to par, the layout should have been much more fun. The club at Yale isn't going to be mistaken for Fisher Island or NGLA but I can strongly say I can play that course every day for the rest of my life. There aren't many mackenzie courses out there unlike Donald Ross so I did expect more. I guess my very own expectations is this was the architect that built augusta yet it didn't feel anything like augusta; even with donald ross less's known venue you can tell it's a donald ross. I'm not crapping on the course for being bad but with a name attached to mackenzie I expected so much more. I can't say the same about donald ross's course because he built probably a thousand. But when I'm playing a raynor/CB course, I am expecting a master piece and more often than not my expectations are always met. I put mackenzie up there with those two as the best there was.

 

I did go back and read up on the history and this was about as far of a mackenzie course as possible due to the timing of the depression and his death. He did the routing but it was built by his assistants and the greens done by maxwell? I would like to know if this course was any different before Jack's renovations and how was it different. Was it more fun? My alma mata course, the UF golf course was built on a crappy piece of land and it had so much variety and is so much fun;

 

I have never been a fan of Scarlet. I lived about a mile from the course for the first 30 years of my life, I had the option to belong there, and chose a course (multiple courses actually) which were 20 minutes away because I just didn't like Scarlet. It has a few pretty good holes which I really enjoy, but, for the most part it's just a long, flat, boring course with deep bunkers, thick rough and huge greens. The course is also packed most of the time and the rounds are generally pretty slow. It just doesn't do anything for me.

 

Jack def. improved the course. Prior to Jack, it was even more boring than it is now. Small bunkers which had kind of moved out of play due to increased distance. It was shorter. The greens were pretty basic and vanilla (significantly smaller than they are now) and overall it was more or less a switch back course with holes lining each other. Jack didn't change much about the actual layout. For the most part, he just added tee boxes to make it a lot longer, changed some angles, blew up the greens and made the giant ones that are there now and redid the bunkering. Moved them, made them deeper in spots, and bigger.

 

It's been so long so it's kind of hard for me remember everything, but, I don't think the layout changed very much. I think a couple of holes had some more work than just adding tee boxes, reconfiging bunkers and redoing the greens, but, I don't think it was many.

 

Jack absolutely made the course better however. It's significantly harder than it was and it's in much better condition than it used to be. The course (as well as the community it's in) is 100% landlocked. So there ultimately isn't much that can be done layout wise unless they bulldoze the Gray course and build over that. But that isn't for the good of the course, university and students/alumni.

 

I've always thought Scarlet was hugely overrated. For me, it's not in the top 25 courses in Columbus.

 

Where did you join if you don't mind me asking? I'm 8 minutes from Scarlet but not considering it. Grew up playing Brookside, may end up there or Wedgewood, Tartan, usual suspects..

[SilverBullets]

I don't disagree with you on this; but I wasn't trying to compare it directly to Augusta; Even if conditions were not up to par, the layout should have been much more fun. The club at Yale isn't going to be mistaken for Fisher Island or NGLA but I can strongly say I can play that course every day for the rest of my life. There aren't many mackenzie courses out there unlike Donald Ross so I did expect more. I guess my very own expectations is this was the architect that built augusta yet it didn't feel anything like augusta; even with donald ross less's known venue you can tell it's a donald ross. I'm not crapping on the course for being bad but with a name attached to mackenzie I expected so much more. I can't say the same about donald ross's course because he built probably a thousand. But when I'm playing a raynor/CB course, I am expecting a master piece and more often than not my expectations are always met. I put mackenzie up there with those two as the best there was.

 

I did go back and read up on the history and this was about as far of a mackenzie course as possible due to the timing of the depression and his death. He did the routing but it was built by his assistants and the greens done by maxwell? I would like to know if this course was any different before Jack's renovations and how was it different. Was it more fun? My alma mata course, the UF golf course was built on a crappy piece of land and it had so much variety and is so much fun;

 

I have never been a fan of Scarlet. I lived about a mile from the course for the first 30 years of my life, I had the option to belong there, and chose a course (multiple courses actually) which were 20 minutes away because I just didn't like Scarlet. It has a few pretty good holes which I really enjoy, but, for the most part it's just a long, flat, boring course with deep bunkers, thick rough and huge greens. The course is also packed most of the time and the rounds are generally pretty slow. It just doesn't do anything for me.

 

Jack def. improved the course. Prior to Jack, it was even more boring than it is now. Small bunkers which had kind of moved out of play due to increased distance. It was shorter. The greens were pretty basic and vanilla (significantly smaller than they are now) and overall it was more or less a switch back course with holes lining each other. Jack didn't change much about the actual layout. For the most part, he just added tee boxes to make it a lot longer, changed some angles, blew up the greens and made the giant ones that are there now and redid the bunkering. Moved them, made them deeper in spots, and bigger.

 

It's been so long so it's kind of hard for me remember everything, but, I don't think the layout changed very much. I think a couple of holes had some more work than just adding tee boxes, reconfiging bunkers and redoing the greens, but, I don't think it was many.

 

Jack absolutely made the course better however. It's significantly harder than it was and it's in much better condition than it used to be. The course (as well as the community it's in) is 100% landlocked. So there ultimately isn't much that can be done layout wise unless they bulldoze the Gray course and build over that. But that isn't for the good of the course, university and students/alumni.

 

I've always thought Scarlet was hugely overrated. For me, it's not in the top 25 courses in Columbus.

 

Where did you join if you don't mind me asking? I'm 8 minutes from Scarlet but not considering it. Grew up playing Brookside, may end up there or Wedgewood, Tartan, usual suspects..

 

Yeah so I’m from UA... I grew up playing Hickory Hills. In high school my parents picked up a membership at Wedgewood and I kind of alternated rounds at the 2 courses. My dad kind of stopped playing golf when I went to college and they aren’t really into the club life so they dropped Wedgewood. They are still members at Hickory.

 

I was a member on my own at Hickory because the cost was crazy low. But my work moved to New Albany (from downtown) in 2015 and it was impossible to get to Hickory on a week night. So I joined Worthington Hills. Man did I love being a member there. The cost is low for what you get. The course is pretty much a switchback course with some kind of rolling hills. It’s not an incredible layout or anything. The layout is kind of just OK. But it does have some really good holes. The conditions however. That course was always in great shape and the greens are absolutely top notch. I’ve played a lot of the clubs around town and Worthington’s greens are probably 3rd to Village and Scioto. All of the bunkers have been redone and they are great.

 

For the price, Worthington is really tough to beat.