Another Two Bite the Dust (Dayton, Ohio Closes Two Municipal Golf Complexes)

[Billsteele]

In the midst of the pandemic, the public health crisis may have hastened the demise of two municipal facilities run by the City of Dayton, Ohio. Madden and Kittyhawk will not reopen. The Community facility (36 holes) will remain open.


Madden was an interesting course. I have seen it attributed to Alex "Nipper" Campbell, who designed Moraine. However, I am not sure how accurate that information is. It began on a flat piece of ground near the clubhouse and then climbed to a plateau where the majority of holes were located before returning to the lower part of the property near the clubhouse. It was a decent golf course which suffered from a less than desirable location near a wastewater treatment plant.


Kittyhawk was a brawny complex of 54 holes built in the early 1960's. This included an executive course. Robert Bruce Harris is credited for the design. Relatively flat, it was representative of most designs of the era: larger greens, some water features and serviceable...nothing too memorable.


I am including a link to an article from the Dayton Daily News detailing the city's rationale. Interestingly, a shockingly small number of those who played on the Dayton munis were residents of the city (two percent according to the article). It appears that the financial losses these facilities incurred, as well as the price tag for needed improvements and upkeep, are the main culprits. However, in this city which mirrors much of the industrial Midwest in its loss of industry and a loss of taxpayers who have moved to the suburbs, the impending loss of revenue due to COVID 19 seems to have pushed these facilities over the edge.


The lone remaining Dayton municipal golf complex is Community: two 18 hole courses designed by "Nipper" Campbell. It is the only golf facility run by the city that makes money.


https://www.daytondailynews.com/news/local/dayton-permanently-close-golf-centers/cpjHAPwt3lN5wlfw7s8KtN/

[John Emerson]

Moraine is spectacular.  If these have any bones remotely close to moraine then we may have an argument right?

[MCirba]

Bill,


Sorry to hear that.  The muni I grew up on in Scranton, PA just closed this month too.


Regarding both courses at Community GC, the following is a thread I started a little while ago because Joe Coble from Cobb's Creek won the 1924 US Public Links there and I went on a pilgrimage and played the Hills course (where that tournament was played which hadn't changed much since 1924).


Be well.  .


https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,63914.msg1606286.html#msg1606286

[JLahrman]

Moraine is spectacular.  If these have any bones remotely close to moraine then we may have an argument right?

Narrator voice: "They don't". Not Kittyhawk at least.


Decent local place to play but nothing much to miss architecturally.


I never played Madden.

[MCirba]

Bill,


Here was my review of the Hills course at Community GC from last year. 


Community Golf Course (Hills Course) - Dayton, OHJoe Nicoll 1914,1918,1922, Earl Shock/Donald Ross 1923, Alex Campbell 1927Doak Scale Score - 4The winding 3rd hole features a steeply uphill approach to a green that runs from front to back.Back in 1924, a true Rocky story happened in Philadelphia only it didn't involve boxing, but rather golf.   Italian immigrant Joe Coble came to the United States with his brothers at age 11, landed in New Jersey and soon was caddying at Baltusrol.  Incredibly, he caddied for Jerry Travers when the latter won the 1915 US Open there. Coble went off to Europe to fight in World War I and when he returned moved to Philadelphia.   Learning there was a public golf course available to him a Cobb's Creek, Coble took a job just down the street near 69th street station working as a waiter in an all-night restaurant.   Enamored (obsessed?) with golf, Coble would leave his job in the middle of the night, sleep 3 hours, walk in the dark to the golf course where he would practice and play and practice and play virtually every day.   Somehow he also had time to fall in love and get married to one of waitresses who was several years older than him, and they had two daughters.Before long Coble was setting scoring records at the course and some folks entered him in tournaments at nearby private courses where he performed exceptionally well.   In 1923 he went to the US Public Links tournament losing in the semi-final but the following year when the tournament was held in Dayton, Ohio at the Hills course of Community Golf Club he managed to win despite the crowd openly rooting against him largely because of his silent, stoic nature.   There's much more to the story but that will have to wait for the book.    Joe Coble driving from the first tee at Community Golf Course during the 1924 U.S. Public Links tournament.In any case, once I learned that not only did Community Golf Course still exist, but that it was virtually unchanged from the course Coble played, I made it a personal mission to get there.   People at the clubhouse seemed surprised by my zeal when I arrived Coble-like at the crack of dawn but sometimes I think it's a case of not fully appreciating what you have.   For indeed, despite less than manicured conditioning, the golf course itself was quite good, and in places, thrilling.   The course(s) were a gift to the city from John D. Patterson, who started the National Cash Register Company.   Set on a parkland property that climbs into some rather hilly terrain, two courses (the Hills and Dales) were fashioned here. (the full story can be found here https://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,63914.msg1606286.html#msg1606286 )The Hills course essentially plays around the perimeter of the property which is by far the most interesting and challenging terrain while the shorter Dales course sits mostly in the flattish plain in the middle.   There's a lot to like here, and I found myself very impressed by the ability of Coble and his opponent Henry Decker playing a 36 hole finale on foot, with the Coble winning 2&1.   These guys were made of sterner stuff.So if you find yourself in Dayton with a few hours to spare, take a walk in their footsteps, or maybe even ride, and see if you don't find the same charm in the low-key setting surrounded by history and some rather good golf. 

[Chris_Blakely]

The three courses at Kittyhawk are nothing special.  The longer course, Eagle had a few decent holes.


Not sure what there plans are but I thought all the ponds /lakes on the course are overflow during storms.


Madden is a solid course with nice terrain and is a loss.

[Mark Jackson]

Another golf course in the Dayton area has decided to close permanently - Cliffside Golf Course near Tipp City shut down a couple of weeks ago.


https://www.whio.com/news/cliffside-golf-course-feels-impact-covid-19-closes-permanently/IM3VI6RMK5COLINIRWV4EP64WI/#:~:text=Cliffside%20Golf%20Course%20in%20Bethel,7th%20they%20would%20be%20closing.&text=%E2%80%9CMy%20first%20thought%20is%20what,%2C%20Bethel%27s%20golf%20coach%2C%20said.


Cliffside was more of a mom-and-pop place. It never had a good reputation in the area and mostly served locals seeking inexpensive golf. Although I grew up in Dayton, I only played the course three or four times and it was always during high school golf matches. Conditioning was rarely good at Cliffside and there was always speculation that the high school teams that used Cliffside as their home course selected it so they would have a distinct "home field" advantage.
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Combined with the loss of Madden and Kittyhawk, there aren't too many public golf options left on the north or west side of Dayton. I can recall all of the holes at both Madden and Kittyhawk as, when I first started playing the game, I primarily played at the Dayton municipal facilities (both Madden and Kittyhawk as well as Community Golf Course - which is remaining open). In the early-to-mid 1990s, the Dayton Muni courses had a $6 18-hole junior rate or $3.50 for nine holes. Was a tough deal to beat.

I agree with the above descriptions of Madden and Kittyhawk - Madden had the better set of holes and land compared to Kitthawk. What I remember most about playing Madden was that former PGA Tour player Pete Brown (first African American to win a PGA Tour event) was the head professional there during the 90s. Mr. Brown would be at the course [/size]working in the golf shop almost every day from the time the course opened until 5:00 or 6:00 pm when the leagues went out to play. He was a very nice and supportive of the junior golfers that came out to Madden, and the regulars were very proud to have Mr. Brown at the course.
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[/size]Kittyhawk's closure hits a little closer to home for me. My grandfather began teaching me how to play golf the summer after I turned 14-years-old. Although we lived on the other side of town, he primarily liked to play at Kittyhawk. He loved to walk when he played and Kittyhawk was pretty much dead flat except for its pushup greens - it was an easy walk for us even when it was hot outside. My grandmother also played quite a bit when went and there weren't too many water hazards on the Hawk course that got in the way of play, so it was pretty friendly for her to play as well. The other aspect of Kittyhawk that my grandfather enjoyed was that the turf there in the summer was hard as a rock because the city only seemed to water the greens. He would hit his 200-yard Hogan Radial 3 wood with a slight fade and it would run for miles on those flat/firm fairways. I can conservatively say that I played Kittyhawk at least 200 times with may grandparents.
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[/size]My grandfather passed away in 2009 at the age of 80 and it had probably been five years before that since I last played Kittyhawk with him. Despite it not having much architectural merit, I certainly had many fond memories playing Kittyhawk.