In no order, 5 most exclusive in Ohio have to be Pepper, The Golf Club, Double Eagle, Camargo, and Scioto. Am I missing anything?
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Was lucky enough to play TGC about 12 years ago, Beautiful sunny summer weekday afternoon. 2 cars in the parking lot, didn’t see another group on the course. Truly a special experience, great locker room. The old saying is they have 150 members because that’s how many lockers they have. Would love another look at it since greens and bunkers have been renovated
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My buddy was the assistant super at TGC for a few summers. I asked if he could ever sneak me out and he said it was impossible to get anybody out there. He was pretty surprised the NLU guys managed to get out there.
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Got the opportunity to play Double Eagle last summer and it did not disappoint. My host held an event for 36 guys. Besides a J Day sighting on the range when we made the morning round turn, we had the place to ourselves. I believe 80% of the invite only membership is out of state residents. McConnell’s property is truly spectacular. I didn’t want to be that guy that had his phone out taking pictures the whole day but I managed to snag a few.
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NWBTCW
I didn’t know Pepper or Double Eagle existed until just now and I have been golfing in Ohio for 25 years. Private club culture in America is wild.
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There’s a few just south of Pepper that are very special as well although not AS exclusive. Canterbury and Sand Ridge are phenomenal tracks.
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Very cool spot. Obviously the golf course itself at a lot of private clubs is what really brings people in, but the thing that always blows me away and makes me even more jealous is the A+++ practice facilities. Every time I leave one of those spots I have a thought of, “Hey what if I just didn’t leave and went and putted for like an hour?”
I’d be fine playing Forest Hills and Sleepy Hollow golf every day, but what is really lacking in the public space is a top flight practice on the west side of Cleveland. Best public ones I can think of are Ellsworth and Greyhawk. Both pretty significant hauls from Bay Village.
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It’s really hard to improve your short game without being a member at a club. Practicing wedges or 150y and in at a range just doesn’t work for me.
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You really need a proper(ish) green surface to hit to and fairway grass (and length). I’m always hopeful that Sweetbriar in Avon will actually do this when they blow up the Sweetbriar 18 but I doubt it more and more every year.
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Yes. I randomly ended up at a party last year with an out of state member. I was wearing an under the radar hat from Victoria National and this guy started chatting me up. He ended up being a Dormie Member too, so we shoot the shit for probably 45 minutes. At one point, TGC comes up and he makes the comment “I could probably get you on there in 2035.”
Sparing the details…the issue is not wether you could find access to the course itself, the issue is the guest policy is so restrictive, that there aren’t members who are going to be burning their few guest spots per year on friends of friends. His 2035 comment was in the spirit of “once all my golfing friends die or get too old to play, lets talk”. 
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This. My buddy that works at NCR sent me a bunch of pics of their new practice facilities, and I can’t imagine having full access to that kind of stuff every day
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Agree 100%. With the low amount of play they get specifically at SR, I doubt anybody would say a word if you stuck around and took full advantage of their facilities!
I was out there last year and finally met your friend. Those facilities are incredible.
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I wish a membership was more in the cards for me there too. I love that place’s whole aesthetic. 46 miles from home, and 67 miles from work kind of excludes me from it for the time being.
Ellsworth used to mow out 20is yards of fairway on the lower practice green by 10. I spent hours there just playing the up and down game with myself. Once they did that redesign of 9 they stopped and dont allow chipping at all down there. Didn’t help the hudson old guys that would hit 100 shag balls from the same spot and rip it up. I wish they would do that again that was so good for short game practice. I could hit unlimited amounts of different shots around that green.
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I was honestly floored how few people are on that place each year. When I say few guest spots (above)…it was implied that it is a course that typically only sees 4-5 groups on a tee sheet on any given day. A few thousand rounds a year. Shit like that blows my mind. A course that special seeing no more than 15-20 ish people on it any given day. It is kind of a bummer.
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Not sure where it slots in but Sharon GC has to be in the convo as well
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I am hoping to get to see that place this summer. I have a student that their families have a membership. Everyone knows I’m the golf guy at school so he said they would get me out for sure.
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They still cut a good amount of fairway on the practice area near 9 green. Unfortunately the green surface over there isn’t very good