What Are The Three Best Courses In Ohio?

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Actually playing golf in Ohio will have to wait a bit. The weather outside is truly awful now for anyone not a fan of bitter cold and heavy wind. Nothing lasts forever though, and the golf courses will beckon again before long. Ohio is home to some of the top courses in the nation, including these three gems.

Muirfield Village

In 1966 Jack Nicklaus won the British Open at Muirfield in Scotland, the course of “The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers”.  The spectacular course is at the world’s oldest golf club and for Nicklaus it completed the first of his three Grand Slams.  He so loved the course that he sought to design and replicate it in Dublin Ohio, near Columbus.

Though inspired by a Scottish links course, Nicklaus designed the course more to replicate Augusta with its numerous water hazards and narrow fairways. 

The club houses two courses, The Muirfield Village Golf Club and The Country Club at Muirfield Village. The MVGC  opened for play on Memorial Day in 1974 with a match between Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf. Jack shot a 66, which stood for five years as the lowest score on the course.

The annual Memorial Tournament kicked off in 1976. It never became a major but it is a premier stop on the PGA Tour each year and it attracts many of the best players. Tiger Woods is a five time champion of the event, and other top names have won the title as well including Nicklaus himself twice, Tom Watson twice, Greg Norman twice, Ernie Els and Fred Couples. It has also hosted many prominent other events over the years. That list includes the US Amateur in 1992, the Ryder Cup in 1987, the Solheim Cup in 1998, the Presidents Cup in 2013 and the Workday Charity Open in 2020. 

The course has gone through major renovations in the last decade. In the 2010’s several holes were lengthened, with a whopping 40 yards tacked on to the 18th hole. New bunkers were added as well. In 2020 the course closed for extensive modifications including new bentgrass putting surfaces on the greens and resurfaced tee boxes and fairways. 

The MVGC course now measures 7392 yards from the tournament tees. Playing from the blue tees goes 6739 yards and it is 6303 from the white tees. The other course goes 6875 yards. Members at the club mostly hail from the Columbus area, though some join from afar including a few international members.

Inverness Club

This course in Toledo has Scottish inspiration as well, though just in the name. It began in 1903 and took its moniker from the castle in Scotland. Wealthy Toledo citizens of the day planned a nine hole course, but somehow did not add correctly and only built eight holes. They quickly tacked on a Par 3 ninth hole.

In 1915 legendary designer Donald Ross was brought in to upgrade to a full 18 full championship course. The project was so successful that Inverness soon hosted its first major tournament, the 1920 US Open. Many renovations over the years would follow, as would a host of prominent tournaments. The list includes the US Open in 1931, 1957 and 1979, the PGA Championship in 1986 and 1993, the US Amateur in 1973, the US Senior Open in 2003 and 2011, the US Junior Amateur in 2019 and the NCAA Men’s Championship in 1944 and 2009. It is in fact the only club to have hosted all of the US Open, US Amateur, US Senior and US Junior Amateur Championships. Plus it even has a golf legend tie in like Muirfield as Byron Nelson was the head pro from 1940-1944 and considered Inverness his “home” course.

The latest renovation led by Andrew Green in 2016 looked at historic drawings and photos of the course and sought to recreate some of the original designs of Donald Ross. Empty fields were converted into what became holes 3, 4, and 5 and were modeled after Ross’s 8th, 7th and 13th holes. Plus bunkers were redone to best replicate their feel from the 1920 and 1931 US Opens

The tournament “black” tee course now measures 7730 yards with a par of 71. The gold tee course goes 6990 yards and the silver tees measure 6540 yards.

Camargo Club

Camargo  was one of the last courses designed by Seth Raynor but not completed until a year after his passing in 1926. Built on rolling hills just outside Cincinnati, it currently ranks second in Ohio as per Golf Digest.

The club’s pro and superintendent William Jackson completed the course consistent with Raynor’s designs, save for two holes. In the 1980’s Robert von Hagge gave the bunkers a redesign that was popular at the time, but did not age well. 

In the 2000’s Tim Doak renovated the course again to hark back to Raynor’s original design to rave reviews. It currently measures 6588 yards. Darius Oliver had this to say in his book “Planet Golf USA. “Classy and quietly understated, Camargo is a special club and a real treat for those with a keen eye for classic golf architecture. A lot of credit for the current state of the course must go to Tom Doak, who has helped preserve Raynor’s design intent by converting bunkers back to his original style and returning shrunken greens to their appropriate proportions. Despite comparing favourably with other Raynor courses, somehow this one continues to slide under most golfing radars. For the unaware, therefore, a game here is a most pleasant surprise.”