Monday, April 26, 1999
Tristate's new designs are among the best
BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
“Mission Possible,” the headline read.
Find and rank the Top 10 public golf courses in the Tristate. It was my mission last week.
I put 484 miles on my '87 Celica, sacrificed two dozen Top-Flites to the golfing gods and dug up enough dirt-and-grass to sod Cinergy Field.
But you want conclusions.
So, here they are ...
The brand-new Greg Norman golf course (Elks Run in Batavia) is not only my new favorite public course in the Tristate, it is the best course I've ever played.
Lassing Pointe in Union narrowly edges out Shaker Run in Lebanon as my second favorite public course in the Tristate.
And Aston Oaks, three miles west of Addyston, and Legendary Run, in Clermont County, both are strong candidates to break into the Top Ten as soon as they open the back nines of their new, 18-hole layouts.
I've got more conclusions where those came from.
And I fully expect you to disagree with me.
But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
And I'm just glad the behold-ee can't talk.
Having me rank the 10 best public courses in the Tristate is akin to asking Pee Wee Herman to rank the 10 best paintings in the Cincinnati Art Museum. But it probably wouldn't stop him.
And my 15-handicap won't stop me.
Besides, the editors told me to do it.
Otherwise, where was I for a week?
It was a dream assignment ... one I didn't fully learn of until I got out of bed last Monday morning, poured myself a bowl of Cheerios and opened my Enquirer to the sports section.
“While his co-workers are facing daily deadline pressure ... Erardi will be out playing golf all week.”
I read that sentence three times to make sure it said what I thought it said. I had known since the previous week I was going to get to pick a Top 10, and that I was going to get to play some golf.
But a week of it?
Had the editors lost their minds?
I wasn't going to call to find out.
Besides, I wasn't supposed to be home.
I was supposed to be out playing golf all week.
I made a mental note to wake up my daughter an hour early — what's a little sleep deprivation to a two-year-old?; that's what naps are for — and quickly scanned the names of the 60 public courses listed in The Enquirer's “Spring Golf Guide.”
I hadn't been a regular on the weekend public-golf circuit for the last few years, but I had maintained my status as “ceremonial golfer,” a title I'd borrowed from Jack Nicklaus. Jack told us he would still play the majors, but wouldn't be playing every weekend. I'd still make my annual spring pilgrimage to the southland, and I would play the new, highly regarded local venues.
I already knew well Blue Ash, Weatherwax, Hueston Woods, Kings Island, Sharon Woods, Glenview and Fox Run at Kenton County, because I had played them with Champagne Tony, Doogs, Slimbagger and the Godfather back in the good ol' days when we were on the circuit. (Whatever happened to those days, anyway?)
I called Enquirer contributor Carey Hoffman, whose opinion of golf courses I respect above those of even the great course architects Pete Dye, Robert Trent Jones, George and Tom Fazio.
Besides, I didn't have those other guys' phone numbers.
Carey knows his stuff. He had played all of the courses in The Enquirer's Spring Golf Guide except Walden Ponds in Hamilton, and the newest of the new: the Greg Norman design in Batavia (Elks Run); the Nicklaus design at Aston Oaks and the Arthur Hills design at Legendary Run.
I made a note to visit those four.
And I wanted to re-visit Lassing Pointe, because of its beautiful layout and country setting. Five. And Shaker Run, whose reputation as a resort-quality venue is huge. Six. Plus, there's a new course there. Seven. A nine-hole track called “The Meadows,” scheduled to open in late May. Plus Shaker's greens fees are $62, and I could charge it to The Enquirer.
I also wanted to see Heatherwoode in Springboro, site of a Nike tournament; Sugar Ridge in Lawrenceburg, Ind.; refurbished Carolina Trace — now called Grand Oak — in West Harrison, Ind.
Eight, nine, ten.
Ten courses in five days.
I would play five and tour the other five by cart and on foot: eye-balling vistas, topography and utilization of hazards (man-made and natural); judging club selection; deciding when and when not to go for it (i.e. what the architects refer to as “risk-reward”); rating the greens, fairways, rough and bunkers; determining the bang for one's buck.
Those would be my criteria: aesthetics, layout, conditions and value, all of them wrapped up in the big box called enjoyability.
After all, golf is a getaway, isn't it?
But, the bigger question is this:
Could I do it?
Could I come up with the best 10?
Could I come up with a well-informed No. 1?
I don't know. Go out and play them.
I liked the open, meadow-like quality of Shaker's new nine ... and the Scottish feel of Legendary Run's front nine (and its contrasting back nine that is cut out of the woods and slated to open in mid-May) ... and the vistas at Aston Oaks (plus its eye-popping seventh hole, with an approach over a wide creek complete with 20-foot-high rock facing)...and the glorious redbud trees and white birches at Sugar Ridge.
It was a great week.
It began with me failing to brace myself when I hoisted my daughter into the restraining seat in the rear of my car, and felt a twinge of pain in my back, almost always the dreaded precursor to bigger problems. (I immediately thought of Chevy Chase's line in “Caddyshack” when he accidentally slams the car door on his hand before the big tournament: “I didn't just do that!”).
But the back held up pretty well, and I got to all 10 courses, playing 90 holes and viewing 72. To assuage my guilt for being on the golf course — “you're the only guy this side of the PGA tour getting paid to play golf this week, the difference being those guys have to earn their checks,” Hoffman told me — I made (and kept) first-day promises to myself to eschew my normal golf-bag accessories of artichokes and cold beer, and to not wear shorts. (Is it work if you're wearing shorts?)
I failed to keep my vow of no-cussing, but I can live with that. (Is it work if you're not cussing?) Besides, Francis of Assisi himself would have cussed if he left a 3-foot birdie putt short on No. 12 at Grand Oak after knocking a three-iron stiff into the wind, 172 from the blues, all carry. (OK, so I banana-ed the tee shot; I still had 3 feet.)
For the week, I had one birdie and three snowmen (8s), not to mention the “11” I somewhow carded at No. 18 at Shaker Run. (Maybe it was the three tee shots I hit into the lake.)
The week ended at dusk Friday at Lassing Pointe's 18th green, next to which a Revolutionary War soldier is buried. The marker says “Private Hugh Steers emigrated from Ireland at the age of 18 ... Born May 6, 1756; Died Jan. 1, 1846.”
It was over for Hugh and me.
At least Hugh had broken 90.
Sports Stories
The right way works
Slow starters beware: Bowden watching
Williamson gets save to match his stuff
REDS NOTEBOOK
