Golfing, etc.:
“The Kingdom” of Northeast Ohio
Story and photos by Ronald S. Montesano

Quail Hollow in Painesville. .

One of the lessons learned from three years spent in Ohio is weather-related. Spring arrives a bit earlier and fall extends later in the gateway to the Midwest. For those of us champing at beginning the tourist and golf seasons in late March, or extending them into late November, Ohio provides an excellent destination, especially an area I like to call the “Kingdom.” It’s loaded with excellent golf at a variety of levels, along with a series of interesting and diverse non-golf attractions.
Little Mountain Country Club in Painesville.
The Beecher Center at the
Butler Institute of American Art.
The Butler Institute of American Art.
Fowler’s Mill in Chesterland.
For our purposes, we’ll define the Kingdom of northeast Ohio as north of I-80 and east of I-271. Others might call it the I-90 corridor, extending from the Pennsylvania-Ohio border to Cleveland. By county, the area stretches from Ashtabula in the far northeast, through Lake, Geauga and Trumbull, ending at Cuyahoga, Portage, and Mahoning. The region is defined by Cleveland to the west and Youngstown to the east. There is much to do in both cities, so if your relaxed pace needs a bit of energy, take a break from the Kingdom and head into either city.

More than golf (but golf, too)
Lake County Metroparks Consortium (www.lakemetroparks.com) is an organized sequence of parklands throughout a portion of the Kingdom that borders Lake Erie. The twenty-six parks include areas for wildlife observation (birding and other fauna and flora), hiking, camping, and a little golf. The outdoors enthusiast can choose from forests, trails, and estuaries for viewing and exercise purposes. Penitentiary Glen includes a deep gorge for hiking and habitat viewing, while Hell Hollow, also a ravine, gives glimpses of shale cliffs left behind after glaciers retreated. Both Erie Shores and Pine Ridge (members of the consortium) are eighteen-hole golf courses with affordable (below $25) green fees. Located next to Penitentiary Glen, on the border of Lake and Geauga counties, is the Holden Arboretum (www.holdenarb.org), a seventy-seven-year old plant and tree labyrinth that extends over 1,000 acres.

Art aficionados might enjoy a visit to the Butler Institute of American Art’s branch campus, located less than a mile from Avalon Lakes, or the Trumbull Art Gallery, found on the same road, in town. For those traveling with children, Geauga Lake’s Wildwater Kingdom is a terrific respite from the grind of golf and adult-oriented activities. The seven rides at the water park, ranging in fear factor from Coral Cove to Liquid Lightning, cool down a steamy summer day. For a step back in time, visit Century Village and Museum in Burton. Located in the heart of Ohio’s Amish country, the Village and Museum contain twenty buildings on over sixty-five acres of land.

Some thirty golf courses dot the landscape of northeast Ohio. The three finest, in terms of conditioning and challenge, are Little Mountain Country Club in Painesville (Lake County), Fowler’s Mill in Chesterland (Geauga County), and Avalon Lakes in Warren (Trumbull County). All three are public-access courses with championship routings and conditioning. Avalon is the priciest of the three ($80–$130), with Little Mountain ($50–$80) and Fowler’s Mill ($50–$80) going a bit easier on the wallet. Each offers special twilight rates and spring/fall discounts. On the other end of the financial ladder, Hemlock Springs in Geneva (Ashtabula County) and Willoughby Hills’ Manakiki (Lake County) offer excellent golf at rates that top out at $45 with cart. Twilight and replay rates drop the cost to under $30 per player. Manakiki is ranked seventeenth in Golf Cleveland Ohio’s reputable top-twenty course rating list. One good centrally located base of operations is Quail Hollow in Painesville. The resort sits hard by I-90, offers a variety of rooms, and boasts two championship golf courses for its guests, although access is limited to those staying on the premises.

Design triumphs
Avalon Lakes and Fowler’s Mill were designed and built by Pete Dye, the most-recognized American-born contemporary golf course architect. Avalon Lakes was completed in 1967 and Fowler’s Mill, four years later. Since both courses date from Dye’s early years, it is important to note that they are principally his work (as opposed to being the efforts of his associates). Created by Columbus-based architect Michael Hurdzan and his team and opened in 2000, Little Mountain Country Club is a pup by comparison. Avalon Lakes and Fowler’s Mill reside in a lower topographical of the Kingdom, dotted with a multitude of bodies of water. Each benefits from Pete Dye’s vision of extending peninsula greens along or into ponds and lakes. Bunkering serves to frame holes rather than to excessively punish. It is the wiles of each player that will determine the course of the round.

Little Mountain sits in an enormous housing project, about five minutes from the Quail Hollow resort. The course is quite narrow, running up and back a spine of golfable land. In spite of the abundant treachery that threatens the too-bold shot, Hurdzan was able to broaden the landing areas for tee shots and approaches. This expansion of width accommodates both weaker and stronger golfers, affording all an opportunity to enjoy the experience. Don’t take that admission to signify that Little Mountain is a walk in the park; you’ll get some vistas and some challenges that invoke triple bogey if you’re not careful. As seen at Hurdzan’s two recent Western New York creations (Diamond Hawk and Harvest Hill), championship golf can simultaneously afford average golfers the enjoyment they demand and top-shelf golfers the challenge they crave.

Beyond Cleveland
When people discuss Ohio, conversation invariably centers around four cities: Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, and Cincinnati. No doubt these metropolitan areas have much to offer the visitor, but it’s usually the path less explored that bears the most fruit. Whether it’s southeast Ohio or the badlands west and south of Columbus, the Buckeye state is much more than four, densely-populated areas. A “golfing, etc.” trip to northeast Ohio will provide an opportunity to play a half-dozen top-tier public golf courses and enjoy a nature-lover’s paradise. If you play your golf, see your sights, and time still remains, you have our permission to visit Cleveland.

Ronald Montesano directs buffalogolfer.com, the online guide to golf in Western New York and beyond.


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