The Best Country Clubs and Golf Courses in Northeast Ohio

Ohio is home to a handful of world-renowned golf courses. Muirfield Village, The Golf Club, Camargo Club, Inverness Club, and Scioto Country Club are nationally-ranked greens that give the most avid Ohio players everything they could want in a course. However, these courses fall outside the bounds of Northeast Ohio. So, golfers living within the greater Cleveland area might prefer practicing on less faraway fairways. To locate the top links for working on your swing over the weekend, refer to this list of the best country clubs and golf courses in Northeast Ohio.

Best Private Country Clubs and Golf Courses in Northeast Ohio

Canterbury Golf Course

The Canterbury Golf Course in Cleveland is one of the finest courses in Ohio and the United States. Designed by Englishman Herbert Strong in 1922, Canterbury is a traditional Scottish course that celebrates the area’s topography with a variety of memorable holes. Golf Digest, Golf, and Golfweek magazines have recognized Canterbury as one of America’s premier golf courses.

The exacting but fair course has hosted 13 Major Championships, from the 1932 Western Open to the 2009 Senior PGA Championship. Greats such as Bryson Dechambeau, Jack Nicklaus, and Arnold Palmer have completed the course. Local players rave about the last four holes in particular.

Canterbury is one of only two clubs to have hosted all five men’s Major Championships that rotate sites. These include the US Open, the PGA Championship, the US Amateur, the Senior US Open, and the Senior PGA Championship.

Kirtland Country Club

The Kirtland Country Club in Willoughby is another course with a rich history, as Kirtland is also over 100 years old. The club opened in 1921, while the golf course designed by English architect Charles Hugh Alison opened in 1922. Alison conceptualized several beloved courses across America, South Africa, and Japan. A tender restoration completed in 2008 enabled Kirtland to retain many of Alison’s original design features.

The course lovingly incorporates the landscape, as the Chagrin River runs through the inward half and the outer half stretches over rolling hills. The incline from the 17th to the 18th hole is 150 feet. So, players can either climb the steep hill or ride a funicular to the top.

Kirtland is highly praised by past players. Furthermore, many Ohio residents regard it as one of the best-kept golfing secrets in the country.

The Country Club

The Country Club in Pepper Pike is so old that it predates our modern rubber core golf balls. The Club was founded in 1889 and incorporated golf in 1895. However, the Club’s young course was rendered obsolete soon after Club member Coburn Haskell invented the first rubber-cored, rubber-wound golf ball in 1898.

After moving to its current location, the Club hired William Flynn to redesign the course in 1928. The updated links formally opened in 1930. In 1935, the Club hosted the National Amateur Tournament, during which Lawson Little completed his “Little Slam” by winning both the US and British Amateur titles in two successive seasons. The Club was also the site of the US Women’s Amateur title in 2012, which Lydia Ko won.

Recently, The Country Club completed a historic restoration under the guidance of Gil Hanse. Bobby Jones included the Club’s No. 15 in a list of holes for his “ideal” course. Area golfers have also commended the classic course for its trees, consistency, and old-school charm.

Pepper Pike Club

Like The Country Club, Pepper Pike Club is located in Pepper Pike and was also designed by William Flynn. However, Pepper Pike Club is smaller and more exclusive. The founders formally opened the club in 1925, and it has 240 members today, many of whom are company leaders.

Pepper Pike Club completed a 4-year, $1.5 million upgrade to the golf course in 2020. The layout of the links is now as close as can be to what William Flynn originally intended when the course debuted. Those who have been lucky enough to play there call Pepper Pike Club a hidden gem that offers a supremely pure golfing experience on a pristine green.

Shaker Heights Country Club

The Shaker Heights Country Club in Shaker Heights offers a family-friendly environment in which a great golf course is one of many premium amenities. The club originated in 1913, and the fairway opened in 1915. Scotsman Donald J. Ross designed the course just as his career was beginning to take off. Other notable greens Ross designed include Inverness, Pinehurst #2, Aronimink, Seminole, and Scioto.

Shaker Heights hosted the World Championships of Women’s Golf from 1981-1984. What’s more, golfing greats such as Arnold Palmer, Walter Hagen, Fred Couples, Payne Stewart, and Mark O’Meara have completed the course. The links have been finessed in the last few years. And the facility also includes a driving range, putting green, and chipping areas.

Best Public Country Clubs and Golf Courses in Northeast Ohio

Sleepy Hollow Golf Course

The Sleepy Hollow Golf Course in Brecksville has been ranked Ohio’s #2 municipal golf course. Stanley Thompson, a member of the Royal Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, designed the course. Sleepy Hollow opened as a private club in 1924 and then opened to the public in 1963. Then, in 1998, the American National Park System instituted the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to acknowledge and preserve the beautiful topography of the area. Therefore, Sleepy Hollow is now a golf course that sits on national park land.

The course adheres to the classic “out and in” layout. This means the early holes in both nines seem shorter than the yardage dictates because they play downhill and downwind. Finally, Sleepy Hollow has hosted many amateur and professional events including the qualifying events for the USGA championships. The course has also hosted the Greater Cleveland Amateur Championship every other year.

Boulder Creek Golf Club

Boulder Creek Golf Club in Streetsboro ranks very highly among public courses in Ohio. It is an especially lauded course in the Akron-Canton area specifically. First-time golf course architect Joe Salemi purchased the property for the greens in 1997. Then, he turned to the works of many other masterful designers for inspiration. He was a northern Ohio businessman with dreams of designing and operating his own golf course. And the result of his efforts is a bold green.

Built to utilize the natural topography of over 200 acres, the course indulges Salemi’s taste for adventure with a peninsula, an island, long holes, and over 100 feet of elevation changes. With five sets of tees, Boulder Creek is playable for all levels. The facility also includes a driving range, putting greens, and chipping greens. Two of the chipping greens have sand and grass bunkers.

Fowler’s Mill Golf Course

Fowler’s Mill Golf Course in Chesterland is just 30 minutes east of downtown Cleveland. It has been ranked as the best public golf course in Ohio. Plus, the course layout and design have also been ranked highly on their own. The TRW Automotive Company acquired the property for the course in the late 1960s. Then, Ohio native and golf design great Pete Dye and his brother Roy constructed the course from 1969-1971. The 27-hole course debuted in 1972.

Trips he took to Scotland with his wife Alice in the 1960s compelled Pete to incorporate railroad ties, split fairways, and wooden bridges into the course. These elements have remained unchanged ever since. In 1986, the property was sold and needed a new name. The moniker Fowler’s Mill honors early grits mill owner and original settler Milo Fowler. The Western Reserve-style clubhouse opened in 1998.

The course comprises 3 9-hole circuits called Lake, River, and Maple. The premier 18-hole layout consists of the Lake and River circuits. The Chagrin River winds through the fairways, and the holes are consistent and fun.

Manakiki Golf Course

Manakiki Golf Course in Willoughby is another neighbor of Cleveland, as the course is only 17 miles east of Cleveland’s downtown. The course was built in 1928 and designed by Donald Ross. In 1944, property owners James and Fannie Brown sold the course to Cleveland Metroparks for one dollar. The terms of the sale included the condition that the area remain a golf course forever. A plaque honoring the Browns stands near the 18th green.

Manakiki was a private club from 1944 to 1960. When the country club’s lease was not renewed in 1961, the course opened for public play. Manakiki hosted the Carling Open in the 1950s. In 1990, renovations began with the goal of restoring much of the course’s original character.

Now, the course features several dramatic changes in elevation, two canyon holes, doglegs, water hazards, and more. While some debate the details of the greens, many Ohio golfers consider Manakiki to be a true treasure of a course.

Great Golf Courses in Northeast Ohio

These links are the best golf courses in Northeast Ohio to practice your game. And as we all know, practice makes perfect. The more experience you gain on the green, the better your golf scores will be.

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