Urbana CC, Urbana, Ohio (Paul F. Dye 1922 and PB Dye 1992 )I finally was afforded the opportunity to play Urbana CC last week. Quite simply, this is a fun golf course. A real tale of two nines. The weather was perfect for a mid-October Fall day, albeit it was quite windy. Urbana could be considered short by modern design standards, and that’s OK with me. It might stretch its legs to ~6600 yards from the tips, but we played it at around ~6100 or so. If you can’t be happy playing here all the time, then I don’t know what would make you happy. Urbana has a really nice vibe and I felt at home here pretty much right away. If it was closer to Cincinnati I would certainly join. It’s been stated over here on GCA previously, the course was originally designed by Paul Dye, Pete’s Dad. The newer nine holes were added ~70 years later by Paul’s Grandson, PB Dye. So the club having a full 18 holes certainly comes full circle for the Dye family. PB still owns a home right near the number 2 tee box. The course played fairly firm and the greens had already recovered from their Labor Day aeration. Fallen leaves were just starting to be a problem on the back nine with a lot more trees in play. I thought I would post some pictures of the course since I can’t seem to locate very many on the site.
Hole Number 1The par four opening hole at Urbana CC is a fairly straight forward affair with ample landing room off the tee. For your approach shot the hole somewhat funnels in a bit towards the green with some trees on both sides, a bunker a few yards from the green on the right.
Hole Number 2PB gets a little creative here and uses a pond (unsure if man made or not) directly in front of the tee box (not really in play, but it is if you top the ball) and some elevation drop (you'll need to ring the bell for the next group) as well as a dogleg right to trip you up off the tee. The opening into the fairway is somewhat narrow here. A straight tee shot or a nice power fade will place you in a nice spot to attack the green. Going left makes the hole longer, going right (like I did) will find you in some trees and further right (me) places you into the number three fairway, which was my landing spot. This gives you some other options at least instead of taking your medicine and punching out from under the tree and probably taking a par off the table. You can play down number three towards the tee box or you can hit the ball back over the trees and get on or close to the green.
Hole number 3 This long, somewhat uphill par three is a tougher go than it looks. Especially into the wind. We played this hole at ~205 yards. If you miss or roll off the green you’ll be in a nice swale that stretches itself all the way around the sides and rear of the green. Good luck.
