What is the deal with Dublin, OH..

[JakaB]

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..

[Lou_Duran]

Barney,

Given its size and population, Ohio may have more high quality courses than any other state.  That part of central Ohio has pretty good soil, rolling terrain, some nice elevation changes, numerous creeks, and a bunch of specimen trees.  Jack Nicklaus may also have a little to do with the popularity of the locale among well-off golf enthusiasts.  I am surprised you don't have a condo there next to John Cook's (where he lived while attending OSU).

[Geoffrey_Walsh]

John,

My Dad almost fell off his chair when I told him we were going to Columbus for one of our golf trips a few years back.  After the trip, he was floored at the quality of the courses there.

All of the major courses are connected in one way or another through history or local legends.  Nicklaus obviously grew up at Scioto, played his college golf at the Scarlett Course and built Muirfield Village.  Locals we talked to said Nicklaus was not pleased after they made changes to Scioto for the '67 (?) Amateur (without consulting him) and as a result started to distance himself from the club, accelerating his plans for Muirfield Village.

Local legend also said that a member at Scioto was so displeased when a group of women wouldn't let his group play through at Scioto that he founded his own club... The Golf Club.  Then a member at TGC wanted to build a house/cottage out at the course (ala PVGC) but was told he could not due to the club's charter specifically forbidding any housing on the premises.  He left and founded Double Eagle.

Wouldn't life be easier if everyone could just build their own golf club every time they had a problem...

[Doug Sobieski]

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

[Joe Hancock]

Doug,

With your description of the land still available in the area, it sounds like quality golf will remain in those courses already built. How is the golf market in that area? Is there a demand for more "quality" golf clubs?

Regards,

Joe

[Ryan DeMay]

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..

Neither The Golf Club or Double Eagle Club are close to Muirfield.  The Golf Club is on the other side of town (northeast) in New Albany; approximately a 15 minute drive from downtown.  Double Eagle is located approximately 20 miles directly north of downtown.
 
As Mr. Sobieski alluded to, Tartan Fields sits on the last good piece of land in northwest Columbus.  The only other good property in that area was developed into Wedgewood G&CC (RTJ   Jr.) in 1991.  The Dublin/southern Delaware county area is saturated with golf courses, some good and others not so good, and will continue to be as new courses are being planned.  The novelty in these areas are the address that goes along with the house.  Dublin and Powell are big names when it comes to suburbs of Columbus.

Any further development of so-called "good" sites will have to come to the south and east of town.  The market for high-end facilities is still being established in those areas as they become more developed and population shifts.  If there is to be a new "quality" club I suspect it would be in one the aforementioned areas.  The north side of town (especially the northwest side) is very saturated with quality clubs and second tier clubs, with more on the way.  The second tier golf market in Columbus basically consists of upper middle class housing developments with golf courses built in and around them.  

There are definitely great sites within an hour drive of Columbus that have yet to be developed.  Longaberger (Arthur Hills) proved to a lot of developers that customers were willing to travel to out of the way locations to play golf.

The high-end to ultra high-end daily fee market is one that has yet be exploited in Columbus.  

- Ryan DeMay

[Doug Sobieski]

Doug,

With your description of the land still available in the area, it sounds like quality golf will remain in those courses already built. How is the golf market in that area? Is there a demand for more "quality" golf clubs?

Regards,

Joe

Very funny, Joe. Very funny.    

FYI, I may try to pick a day in the next couple weeks for David and I to head up to Pilgrim's Run as we visit a few places. I'd certainly like to have you join us, as well as show us The Mines.

Regards,

Sobe