It has to be more than the home of Wendy's...Everbody knows about Muirfield Village being a sweet little housing development, I just saw a special on the home network about Tartan Fields which may not be much of an Arnold P. course but the homes looked delicious. Is Tartan Fields better than this site would lead you to believe and what explanation can be had for all the great clubs in what I though would just be another midwestern town and surrounds. Is The Golf Club and Double Eagle just a short drive away. Why those guys, it's Ohio for Gods sake..
Barney:
I was the first Director of Golf at Tartan Fields, and was there for most of the construction. It's very typical of the work PCDC does. VERY wide fairways, some fairly severe green contouring, beach bunkers, island greens, etc., etc. There are a few too many holes that you could wear a blindfold and still make par. Some of the weaker holes could have been better, but during construction, the ownership structure was disassembled, and the guy left owning the golf course thought he was an architect, and made some changes on his own (Literally having the shaper change things when the PCDC guys were not around.... It wasn't a good scene when they got back!!). That made the course worse/more boring in my opinion. There are a few greens that are much too shallow for membership play, and it's a tough course to walk because of a bridge crossing.
It was a decent piece of land, and probably one of the last good pieces that you can find in NW Columbus. It's amazing that the developer was able to piece together 500+ acres adjacent to Muirfield Village. For the most part, as Dublin continues to grow toward Marysville, everything remaining is as flat as a pancake. You are correct that there is some good residential architecture in the neighborhood (I enjoyed learning about residential architecture during my time spent working from the real estate trailer!!). The real estate aspect of TF was very successful. The club itself continues to be an enigma, with poor membership morale and a lot of turnover largely due to the ownership.
Columbus in general is, as you said, a great city for private golf, but public golf is not very good. You could visit MVGC, Scioto, Double Eagle, and The Golf Club (and the Scarlet, too) with about an hour of driving time. And the second-tier clubs are of a surprisingly good quality.
Regards,
Sobe