NE Ohio Public Courses

YSUGOLF · March 10, 2010

Best and most affordable

Anyone play any course in the Youngstown/Warren area? What are your favorites? What about the private clubs? What do you think about the 3,000 deal for Avalon Lakes that includes privileges at Squaw Creek and Sharon CC?

Volcanicstrad37 · April 8, 2010

Wow, where do I begin. First I know nothing of the Avalon Lakes deal, so I cant help you there. I grew up in Youngstown and have played many courses there. I still have family there so I regularly return and get some golf in. Courses I play frequently:

[b]Copeland Hills in Columbiana[/b], best bet to make a tee time when other places are busy. It doesnt see as much play as some other course in the area. It was my home course in High school and can play around 7000 yards. They have made a couple changes to make it play a little more open. Not the prittiest course around..lack of bunkers and lack of thick tall rough. That being said it does get dry out there for good roll off the tee as well as fast greens and a lot of hard pan lies. Great to work on the ball striking.

[b]Mill Creek Course both North and South[/b]...This course annoys me to the point of wanting to get an article printing the Vindicator (local news paper) about the potential this course has to being one of the nicest courses in the area. It is run by a handful of grumpy old men who seemingly have no respect for the patrons of their course. Just this past weekend my brother and I were walking to the first tee, a group was already teeing off and their was no starter in sight, so we begin walking to the tee as the other group leaves when we hear a loud "HEY!" coming from a starter driving up to the tee box. He checked our tickets and let us out. Now, we did not even set our bags down yet and he was screaming like we were trying to sneak on the course and already were running for our tee shots. OK, so no what you are getting into there, the customer services is very poor.
The course is one of the nicest layouts around and provides some challenges for accuracy the only big complaint is the greens are very slow. Now I found out a couple of years ago why that is. First sticking with the lack of respect, about 6 years ago when I was a senior in High School I asked them why they kept the greens so slow and long and was told that "they had someone out from the USGA and they were told that the length was standard and that it is as short as that grass is able to be cut" Now with some more knowledge under my belt I know that was a load of BS.
About 3 years ago I was at home and played out there and as I was finishing up I caught up with a twosome and we finished out the last couple of holes. That day was interesting because the greens were running great and MUCH faster than I have ever played them in the 10+ years I have been playing there. I ask the two guys if they played there regularly to start up a conversation about the green speed and they said they were grounds crew employees. I asked about the speed and they said "OH probably because we double cut them yesterday for a tourney" I said "wow, why doesn't that happen more often these are running great" They responded with "The Greenskeeper just doesn't give a $hit, plain and simple." That pretty much sums up my experiences there, sorry for the rant. Oh, lastly it gets wet and stays wet....all year. The South closes frequently after a storm and on a busy day the course moves like molasses.

Other course I will play on occasion,
Pine Lakes in Hubbard, Oak Tree CC (great course and can usually get a good deal, it is now a public course), Yankee Run is a fun course but I for some reason never trust the gps on their carts, my laser gives me different number even to center flags.

As for Private clubs, I have a good friend who belongs to Youngstown Country Club, and I also worked there for a summer. I love that course, it is not very long but it has some challenging holes with very great small greens. I believe one year they did a big qualifying event there (cant remember which one). I haven't played more than one or two times since they got a new Greenskeeper so I am not too sure how the course looks these days, I'm sure it still is doing well, they have lots of Y-town old money at the club.

Feel free to ask any specifics for other courses I have played ever course in the area many times and can give you a bunch of info on them.

DaSportsGuy · February 23, 2012

^Mill Creek is a great course. Played there the last two years in a high school golf tournament. Both times it was in absolutely fantastic condition. One of my favorite courses and I played pretty poorly both times. Not a real difficult course, but it requires alot of thought and good execution to score well.

DomenicC36 · February 23, 2012

Born and raised here in Poland too! Reserve Run, Kennsington, and Knoll Run are all courses you need to visit around here. I play all very frequently.

DaSportsGuy · February 24, 2012

[quote name='DomenicC36' timestamp='1330048865' post='4363341']
Born and raised here in Poland too! Reserve Run, Kennsington, and Knoll Run are all courses you need to visit around here. I play all very frequently.
[/quote]
Do you go to Poland? I played with a kid from Poland in a tournament last golf season.

SadTrombone · February 24, 2012

I used to be a member at Avalon. It's not as great as it seems. Would I do it again? No. Too many good courses in the NEOH/NWPA area. I live just down the road from Yankee Run so I'll probably spend this summer there when I'm not out playing in a tournament. I'd also like to go play Kensington once or twice. I try to get to Oak Tree every year once or twice and Pine Lakes is...it's just okay, IMO.

If you venture a little farther (CAK/CLE areas) there's Tam O' Shanter (not the one in PA...avoid like the plague) with 36 pretty decent holes. I liked Little Mountain. Didn't think it was great, but pretty good. I also liked Sweetbriar (Legacy). Nice course. A little too residential for me, but still a nice course. This summer I'm planning to play:

Chardon Lakes
Boulder Creek
Little Mountain
Pittsburgh National
Manakiki (for some reason I think I'm the only person on the planet that thinks Manakiki is a poo-hole)
Windmill Lakes (perhaps...I like the layout but idk if I'll be able to get a group for that)
Stonewater
Kensington
Oak Tree
Yankee Run

If anyone's interested in playing any of these courses, drop me a PM. My "friends" are pretty much tied in to a course I won't play anymore (previously mentioned in this post) due to their league and I like to go around to different courses.

Anyway, lots of good courses in the area. Way too many to be tied down to the Avalon deal.

DaSportsGuy · February 24, 2012

[quote name='minitour' timestamp='1330110504' post='4367981']
I used to be a member at Avalon. It's not as great as it seems. Would I do it again? No. Too many good courses in the NEOH/NWPA area. I live just down the road from Yankee Run so I'll probably spend this summer there when I'm not out playing in a tournament. I'd also like to go play Kensington once or twice. I try to get to Oak Tree every year once or twice and Pine Lakes is...it's just okay, IMO.

If you venture a little farther (CAK/CLE areas) there's Tam O' Shanter (not the one in PA...avoid like the plague) with 36 pretty decent holes. I liked Little Mountain. Didn't think it was great, but pretty good. I also liked Sweetbriar (Legacy). Nice course. A little too residential for me, but still a nice course. This summer I'm planning to play:

Chardon Lakes
Boulder Creek
Little Mountain
Pittsburgh National
Manakiki (for some reason I think I'm the only person on the planet that thinks Manakiki is a poo-hole)
Windmill Lakes (perhaps...I like the layout but idk if I'll be able to get a group for that)
Stonewater
Kensington
Oak Tree
Yankee Run

If anyone's interested in playing any of these courses, drop me a PM. My "friends" are pretty much tied in to a course I won't play anymore (previously mentioned in this post) due to their league and I like to go around to different courses.

Anyway, lots of good courses in the area. Way too many to be tied down to the Avalon deal.
[/quote]
I've been to Tam O'Shanter quite a few times. Just a 10-15 minute drive for me. Not a great course, but a good, solid course and good rates. 36 holes as you said, the Hills side and the Dales side.

If you want to play Oak Tree CC some time, I'm getting some WRX'ers together for a PA vs. OH "tourny" type setting. Check out this thread if you're interested: [url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/571381-western-pennsylvania-golfers/"]Click here![/url]

Also, if you want to play The Quarry, the #4 public course in Ohio, we're having a GolfWRX Outing there on Saturday, June 23rd. Tee times start at 10:30am and we have six tee times. So far we've got 21 WRX'ers planning to come. [url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/538519-ohio-golfwrx-outingsat-june-23-2012%3B-1000am/"]Click here[/url] to go to that thread.

I'm always up for playing new courses and the only courses I've played that you listed are Tam O'Shanter and Little Mountain. Of those courses, I'm planning to play Boulder Creek, Oak Tree, and Windmill Lakes next year so we'll definitely keep in touch.

SadTrombone · February 24, 2012

[quote name='DaSportsGuy' timestamp='1330111825' post='4368215']
[quote name='minitour' timestamp='1330110504' post='4367981']
I used to be a member at Avalon. It's not as great as it seems. Would I do it again? No. Too many good courses in the NEOH/NWPA area. I live just down the road from Yankee Run so I'll probably spend this summer there when I'm not out playing in a tournament. I'd also like to go play Kensington once or twice. I try to get to Oak Tree every year once or twice and Pine Lakes is...it's just okay, IMO.

If you venture a little farther (CAK/CLE areas) there's Tam O' Shanter (not the one in PA...avoid like the plague) with 36 pretty decent holes. I liked Little Mountain. Didn't think it was great, but pretty good. I also liked Sweetbriar (Legacy). Nice course. A little too residential for me, but still a nice course. This summer I'm planning to play:

Chardon Lakes
Boulder Creek
Little Mountain
Pittsburgh National
Manakiki (for some reason I think I'm the only person on the planet that thinks Manakiki is a poo-hole)
Windmill Lakes (perhaps...I like the layout but idk if I'll be able to get a group for that)
Stonewater
Kensington
Oak Tree
Yankee Run

If anyone's interested in playing any of these courses, drop me a PM. My "friends" are pretty much tied in to a course I won't play anymore (previously mentioned in this post) due to their league and I like to go around to different courses.

Anyway, lots of good courses in the area. Way too many to be tied down to the Avalon deal.
[/quote]
I've been to Tam O'Shanter quite a few times. Just a 10-15 minute drive for me. Not a great course, but a good, solid course and good rates. 36 holes as you said, the Hills side and the Dales side.

If you want to play Oak Tree CC some time, I'm getting some WRX'ers together for a PA vs. OH "tourny" type setting. Check out this thread if you're interested: [url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/571381-western-pennsylvania-golfers/"]Click here![/url]

Also, if you want to play The Quarry, the #4 public course in Ohio, we're having a GolfWRX Outing there on Saturday, June 23rd. Tee times start at 10:30am and we have six tee times. So far we've got 21 WRX'ers planning to come. [url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/538519-ohio-golfwrx-outingsat-june-23-2012%3B-1000am/"]Click here[/url] to go to that thread.

I'm always up for playing new courses and the only courses I've played that you listed are Tam O'Shanter and Little Mountain. Of those courses, I'm planning to play Boulder Creek, Oak Tree, and Windmill Lakes next year so we'll definitely keep in touch.
[/quote]
Definitely keep in touch with me. If you want to PM me I can give you an e-mail address if that works.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to commit to much this early out (work) but the 23rd looks like it works so far. I've heard really solid things about the Quarry. I also don't mind traveling down to the c-bus area. I played Delaware last year which was nice, also have played Longaberger (wasn't super impressed...nice but not great) and a few other courses in the c-bus area. I'll pretty much go anywhere within 3-ish hours if the course is nice enough. I'm not going to drive > an hour to play a pasture...I've got those < 5 minutes away

DaSportsGuy · February 24, 2012

[quote name='minitour' timestamp='1330112391' post='4368323']
[quote name='DaSportsGuy' timestamp='1330111825' post='4368215']
[quote name='minitour' timestamp='1330110504' post='4367981']
I used to be a member at Avalon. It's not as great as it seems. Would I do it again? No. Too many good courses in the NEOH/NWPA area. I live just down the road from Yankee Run so I'll probably spend this summer there when I'm not out playing in a tournament. I'd also like to go play Kensington once or twice. I try to get to Oak Tree every year once or twice and Pine Lakes is...it's just okay, IMO.

If you venture a little farther (CAK/CLE areas) there's Tam O' Shanter (not the one in PA...avoid like the plague) with 36 pretty decent holes. I liked Little Mountain. Didn't think it was great, but pretty good. I also liked Sweetbriar (Legacy). Nice course. A little too residential for me, but still a nice course. This summer I'm planning to play:

Chardon Lakes
Boulder Creek
Little Mountain
Pittsburgh National
Manakiki (for some reason I think I'm the only person on the planet that thinks Manakiki is a poo-hole)
Windmill Lakes (perhaps...I like the layout but idk if I'll be able to get a group for that)
Stonewater
Kensington
Oak Tree
Yankee Run

If anyone's interested in playing any of these courses, drop me a PM. My "friends" are pretty much tied in to a course I won't play anymore (previously mentioned in this post) due to their league and I like to go around to different courses.

Anyway, lots of good courses in the area. Way too many to be tied down to the Avalon deal.
[/quote]
I've been to Tam O'Shanter quite a few times. Just a 10-15 minute drive for me. Not a great course, but a good, solid course and good rates. 36 holes as you said, the Hills side and the Dales side.

If you want to play Oak Tree CC some time, I'm getting some WRX'ers together for a PA vs. OH "tourny" type setting. Check out this thread if you're interested: [url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/571381-western-pennsylvania-golfers/"]Click here![/url]

Also, if you want to play The Quarry, the #4 public course in Ohio, we're having a GolfWRX Outing there on Saturday, June 23rd. Tee times start at 10:30am and we have six tee times. So far we've got 21 WRX'ers planning to come. [url="http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/538519-ohio-golfwrx-outingsat-june-23-2012%3B-1000am/"]Click here[/url] to go to that thread.

I'm always up for playing new courses and the only courses I've played that you listed are Tam O'Shanter and Little Mountain. Of those courses, I'm planning to play Boulder Creek, Oak Tree, and Windmill Lakes next year so we'll definitely keep in touch.
[/quote]
Definitely keep in touch with me. If you want to PM me I can give you an e-mail address if that works.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to commit to much this early out (work) but the 23rd looks like it works so far. I've heard really solid things about the Quarry. I also don't mind traveling down to the c-bus area. I played Delaware last year which was nice, also have played Longaberger (wasn't super impressed...nice but not great) and a few other courses in the c-bus area. I'll pretty much go anywhere within 3-ish hours if the course is nice enough. I'm not going to drive > an hour to play a pasture...I've got those < 5 minutes away
[/quote]
Sounds good man. I'll PM you my e-mail.