[Jason Thurman]

How long ago was Granville's renovation?

[Brent Hutto]

How long ago was Granville's renovation?

I knew at one time but can't recall. Something in the mid-late 80's sounds about right.

[Tim Rooney]

Early to mid 80's renovation for housing.Hole#18,originally #17,had a tee visible fairway inducing extra testosterone to bust(T/Ball) into the next county.What a Golf Course.
 

[BHoover]

Granville was just recently gifted to Denison University by its (now or soon-to-be former) owners. The University has stated that it intends to keep the course in operation. Hopefully, the university, with its rather sizable endowment and resources, will decide to do a restoration at some point. I know that the original holes cannot be restored as such because some property was sold for development when the renovation took place. But perhaps a restoration could bring back the "spirit" of Ross to the new holes. I have no inside information, for the record; this is merely my wishful thinking.

An earlier post asked what Longaberger would look like if Pete Dye had done the course. The property is somewhat reminiscent of Pete Dye GC, so I have to think Longaberger would look something like PDGC had he done the work.

[Doug Ralston]

Why do folk here continue to do that? I mean the fantasy about Art Hills course sites; "if [add your favorite archie] had done this site it would
have been glorious". Gets a bit old after while. If you do not like a designer's product, no reason you should not say so. But to pretend YOU
know what would have been better is unproven and unprovable. Michigan, and now here ....... it just gets old. Wish Art was here to defend
his designs, anyway.

I am still hoping someone who played it will comment on Players Club, which I think deserves mention among the best publics in the Columbus area. 

Doug

[Brent Hutto]

Why do folk here continue to do that? I mean the fantasy about Art Hills course sites; "if [add your favorite archie] had done this site it would
have been glorious". Gets a bit old after while. If you do not like a designer's product, no reason you should not say so. But to pretend YOU
know what would have been better is unproven and unprovable. Michigan, and now here ....... it just gets old. Wish Art was here to defend
his designs, anyway.

I am still hoping someone who played it will comment on Players Club, which I think deserves mention among the best publics in the Columbus area. 

Doug

Doug,

That's the place down in Grove City, right? Maybe has two courses?

I've played the one I believe is called "Players Course" about three times over the years and really like it. There's a stretch on the back nine that gets really narrow and tree-lined. Sort of like a hillier, narrower Firestone maybe ;-) If the entire course were like that stretch, probably no sale for me. But it's actually a quite varied course by central Ohio standards with an interesting mixture of hole lengths, green complex types and an excellent amount of rolling elevation change without any huge hills to climb.

Am I remember the right course? It's been the better part of a decade since I was last there.

[Richard Hetzel]

Why do folk here continue to do that? I mean the fantasy about Art Hills course sites; "if [add your favorite archie] had done this site it would
have been glorious". Gets a bit old after while. If you do not like a designer's product, no reason you should not say so. But to pretend YOU
know what would have been better is unproven and unprovable. Michigan, and now here ....... it just gets old. Wish Art was here to defend
his designs, anyway.

I am still hoping someone who played it will comment on Players Club, which I think deserves mention among the best publics in the Columbus area. 

Doug

Doug,

That's the place down in Grove City, right? Maybe has two courses?

I've played the one I believe is called "Players Course" about three times over the years and really like it. There's a stretch on the back nine that gets really narrow and tree-lined. Sort of like a hillier, narrower Firestone maybe ;-) If the entire course were like that stretch, probably no sale for me. But it's actually a quite varied course by central Ohio standards with an interesting mixture of hole lengths, green complex types and an excellent amount of rolling elevation change without any huge hills to climb.

Am I remember the right course? It's been the better part of a decade since I was last there.

Yes, they have 2 courses at Foxfire. Foxfire Course and the Players Course. I have only played the lesser of the two courses there (Foxfire), I need to stop there and try the Players course soon. It is sort of out of the way and not really close to ay exits off of I-71.

[Josh Bills]

I have played the Player's Club and Foxfire courses numerous times.  The Foxfire is great for drinking and having fun, but honestly not a lot there.  My favorite holes on Foxfire are the back to back par 5s, 16 and 17.  The Player's Club has some holes that encourage you to think.  Brett, holes 14, 15 and 16 are like playing in a bowling alley, though I personally enjoy them.  There a couple great short par 4s as well that entice you to have a go, holes 3 and 6.  3 of the 4 par 3 holes are over water and are not the best part of that course.  I like all the par 4s and find Player's to be a solid course overall. 

As far as top in the area, I would go with Granville and Longaberger.  Indian Springs is a nice option and one I grew up playing, but lack of maintenance over the last few years has hurt it.   They recently did a ton of tree removal, some of it, not necessary and frankly may have detracted some strategy from holes 3 and 5 as there were great old Cottonwoods that required you to execute a shot to one side of the fairway in order to have the best angle of attack though the trees were large enough you could still shape a shot around them.  A solid layout overall and worth the trip if in the area.  I grew up on Woodland Golf Club about 45 minutes from Columbus near Indian Springs and it is a Jack Kidwell Design.  I would put in the sporty category with a few nice holes, but nothing worth making a trip on its own.  Not a long course, but some fun holes. 

As to Winding Hollow, I think the layout is nice enough, but seemed like every time I have played there (about 10 times) the course was really wet and overwatered.  Despite all those times having played there, no hole really stands out as all that memorable to me.  Whereas Granville and Longaberger, most of those holes are easily recalled. 

I think Columbus has a lot of good courses for the public, but some travel is required for what I feel are great courses.  The good news is that travel is an hour or less.   

[BHoover]

Why do folk here continue to do that? I mean the fantasy about Art Hills course sites; "if [add your favorite archie] had done this site it would
have been glorious". Gets a bit old after while. If you do not like a designer's product, no reason you should not say so. But to pretend YOU
know what would have been better is unproven and unprovable. Michigan, and now here ....... it just gets old. Wish Art was here to defend
his designs, anyway.

I am still hoping someone who played it will comment on Players Club, which I think deserves mention among the best publics in the Columbus area. 

Doug

For the sake of clarity, I'm on record in numerous posts stating that I DO like the current design at Longaberger. I'm not saying that Art Hills could not have done better than Pete Dye or any other architect. I enjoy his design. My own post was intended to say that I think it's interesting to speculate how another architect, specifically Pete Dye, might have used the property. I think it would have been similar to his design at PDGC because the properties are similar. But that certainly should not be interpreted that I'm saying Art Hills did not design a good course at Longaberger. I think he certainly did. I love playing there. I will continue to defend Longaberger.

The Players Club at Foxfire is a good course. A few strange holes that need more space due to overcrowding from trees, but it's always been worth playing. One of the better public options in central Ohio. I have not played its little brother, Foxfire.

[Tim Rooney]

Your response appears whiny and offended.Haven't you noticed this is a golf architectural website with varied opinions and disagreements, or join a religious site where no one ever ponders a world without God(AH).
Never played 'Players Club',having visited a tournament w/o walking or playing.The family owners are known to have attempted with this course and successors to improve Columbus area public golf quality.
My area (AH) preference is Winding Hollow with its' challenged flat terrain, encompassing smaller greens and much better and frequently balanced greensites-------holes#4-7,and total back except #17;whereas,Longaberger,other than water holes,utilizes single greenside bunkering(right/left).Winding Hollow showcases flair on hole#15, elevated greensite, presenting a magnificent,challenging short par (4).Prefer WH but will continue to play Longaberger (2X)yearly with its' phenomenal land parcel movement and Big layout experience.Wish the economy hadn't stymied the Weiskopf addition.   

[BHoover]

Your response appears whiny and offended.Haven't you noticed this is a golf architectural website with varied opinions and disagreements, or join a religious site where no one ever ponders a world without God(AH).
Never played 'Players Club',having visited a tournament w/o walking or playing.The family owners are known to have attempted with this course and successors to improve Columbus area public golf quality.
My area (AH) preference is Winding Hollow with its' challenged flat terrain, encompassing smaller greens and much better and frequently balanced greensites-------holes#4-7,and total back except #17;whereas,Longaberger,other than water holes,utilizes single greenside bunkering(right/left).Winding Hollow showcases flair on hole#15, elevated greensite, presenting a magnificent,challenging short par (4).Prefer WH but will continue to play Longaberger (2X)yearly with its' phenomenal land parcel movement and Big layout experience.Wish the economy hadn't stymied the Weiskopf addition.    

I didn't know that Weiskopf had a plan for another course at Longaberger, that would have been cool.

[Tim Rooney]

Cannot provide the dates but Weiskopf construction started (2X),however,basket business layoffs terminated the project.

[Billsteele]

With regard to Longaberger, the course opened in May of 1999. Given its enormous popularity (and revenue stream at that time), Dave Longaberger hired Weiskopf in 2000 to design the second course. It would have occupied the ground to the southwest of the clubhouse. In 2001, some rough shaping work had been started and the second course would have begun adjacent to or just to the west of the tenth tee. That part of the property is much less dramatic than where the Hills course sits but I believe Weiskopf's design was to be more of a faux links style golf course (relatively flat, few trees, with much more penal elements off the tee than the Hills design).  The last reference that I can find to it being completed indicates that they hoped to open in 2003. In the intervening time, Longaberger baskets, which are the epitome of a discretionary income item, have declined substantially in popularity. So too has the golf course. The other factor is that Dave Longaberger, who was not a golfer but thought that the husbands of his patrons should have something to do while their wives visited his Homestead project near Dresden, passed away. He was really the driving force behind the project and at one time had hoped to get an LPGA major at the course. Now, the Longaberger Company has sold the course to a private individual from Waverly, Ohio. It will operate under the Longaberger name for a while but beyond next year it may be called something else.

At the time the course opened, Longaberger would open tee times for the entire season (with early preference being given to their sales reps who could reserve them for their basket buying patrons). Within a day or two of the tee times being released, most of them were gone (with a few remaining in the early and late part of the season). Over time, the novelty wore off and few people wanted to shell out over $100 to play the course. You can now find tee times on Golfnow.com for around $50.

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