I was really close to joining Silver Lake. Lived right around the corner. Last I saw, they were close to full membership but the fees were surprisingly affordable. I want to say yearly I was looking at about 3k-ish. The membership coordinator there was really helpful. Ultimately, I passed because I enjoy playing at different courses. Hell, we would have never met if I joined.
You will enjoy the NOGA events. I played a couple last season for the first time and they are very well run. The schedule is pretty awesome too. Not sure how many I will be able to play this year. Depends how my schedule shakes out. I’d like to play the scratch events and try and get to the Championship but I think they are going to fall into the days I won’t be able to play.
And to those discussing Elyria, I love that place. Entered the inaugural Elyria Open last year (had to WD due to shoulder injury) but man. What a fun place to play golf.
Let me know if you do any of the flighted series NOGA events this year, I’m planning to do all of them if I can. Always happy to get out at Fowler’s or Boulder Creek haha but really
This is going to sound crazy because it’s so far off but I’m looking at the Net Four Ball at Westfield North at the end of the August. I’m hoping the game is in shape and I can get into the Ohio Open which is going back there. I want to play there one way or another.
They have done a massive renovation over the last 3 or so years. I found this:
Westfield Country Club committed to a Master Plan in 2017 which provided enhancements and renovations to both our South and North Courses. We partnered with Hurdzan Design for this project. Some of Hurdzan’s most notable work was on display at the 117th US Open hosted by Erin Hills. Timeline associated with the Master Plan include:
Phase 1 – New Practice Facility, Himalayan Putting Course with new irrigation system. Opened in 2018.
Phase 2 – South Course Renovations (parkland course) and new irrigation system. Opened June of 2019.
Phase 3 – North Course Renovation (true links) and new irrigation system. Opened summer of 2020.
Cool to hear you guys speak highly of Elyria. I am very biased, but it’s a special place and I never get tired of playing there. We’ve been doing a lot of tree work this winter, which should open up more vistas and help improve turf health.
We are hosting a NOGA 2 man in May, Ohio Am qualifier in June, and the 2nd Elyria Open in October. Hope to meet you guys at those events. I am also interested in hosting a NLU gathering (big or small).
I played Elyria for the first time this summer and I absolutely loved it. Played with a “member” (he belongs to a sister course) and it was so fun. However, it was roughly 100 degrees with humidity so that wasn’t fun. I’m hoping to visit again this summer.
Oberlin country club is a nice place, it is a private club. Also if you go further west in the huron area there are two courses, Thunderbird North and South both are great.
More tree work? That sounds fantastic. Older clubs owe it to themselves to start these kinds of projects. Back in October, you could tell there had been some done before. I played a practice round for the Open with someone who had been playing there for years. He said that he hadn’t been there in at least a few years and it was cool to see his reaction as we got to each hole. He was pointing out things that he remembered that were now different. I’m looking forward to the Open again this year. Jake did a great job organizing that. I’d like to play it again for the Ohio Am qualifier but it’s looking like I’m going to have to hold off until the Portage CC date.
I played the NOGA event at Brookside last year and had never been there. I played with a couple of guys that were rather local and same situation like I had at Elyria. Their reactions to seeing over 1000 trees removed was awesome. I think Kirtland has it done it recently. While not “older” by comparison, Westfield just finished theirs. On the local side, Windmill has been doing this. Seneca is doing a complete renovation. Tree management can completely change the way a course plays. Unfortunately the course I grew up went the other way. They planted a bunch of trees when I started there. It’s now time to remove them. They operate on a tight budget anyway and all of the trees have destroyed the quality of turf.
Im excited to see what work windmill completed since I last played it. I have almost 100 rounds there alone in the last 2 years with the membership deal they had going. Theyve put in a lot of drainage and other improvements as well.
Anyone have any experience with Club Champion in Columbus? Looking to do a long game fitting, will buy and build any clubs through my club, so I’d just be looking for fitting data.
While I can’t speak about the Columbus location, I recently went through a fitting in Cleveland and purchased a set of Titleist T200s with KBS 115 x-stiff shafts.
Since you’re doing the fitting for data, I’d make sure you hit just about everything so you have a solid sense of what’s out there and what feels best. You’ll definitely get the upsell on buying from them so he prepared for that, too
Greg did the fitting and it was absolutely dope. I didn’t feel pressured at all and he basically let me hit whatever I wanted to start out. I was pretty agnostic about what I wanted and I think that led to a lot of options. I hit basically everything from a blade to a huge game improvement-type face.
One thing that I think they (the fitters) do to try and truly figure out where to start is they ask how many times you play a week. Whatever you answer, that’s where they get the idea and then one way or the other.
A friend of mine is the GM at a course just outside Louisville, Ky. on the I71 corridor going toward Cincinnati. He will be retiring at the end of 2021 and they are looking for an Assistant General Manager to come in and learn the ropes from him for the year and hopefully take over in 2022. If anyone is interested shoot me a PM and I can point you toward the best way to apply.
@Magis00 Have room for another on the WhatsApp/other platform thread? I live in Cincinnati but play mostly with friends from Columbus and Dayton. Hoping to stay more local this year. Would love to join up!
I moved to Cincinnati because I was sick of the drive to work, but sometimes I wish I hadn’t. The city is great, but the Dayton public golf scene is superb and I find myself driving to Dayton to play with fellow Flyers fairly often. Yankee Trace, Heatherwood, Meadowbrook, Pipestone, and even Community is a decent little ‘strapped’ track. The Gem City is a public golf Mecca.
