If you wanted to turn a cornfield into a world-class golf course — in other words, if money wasn't an issue — the first person you would call is Tom Fazio.

        And what resort entity has more money than a casino?

        The good news for Greater Cincinnatians is that the Fazio-casino combination is only an hour's drive from Fountain Square.

THE TOP 10

Tom Fazio has 10 courses in Golf Digest's 100 Greatest Golf Courses in America. Cincinnati has one: Camargo Country Club in Indian Hill. It is rated No.75. Fazio's top course — Shadow Creek in Las Vegas — is rated No.31.   Coldstream in Anderson Township, which had been a staple in the Top 100, last made the list in 1996; it was bumped out by a wave of new courses. Coldstream, however, still is highly regarded: No.56 in GolfWeek's Top 100 Modern Courses in America. Here is Golf Digest's top 10:   1. Pebble Beach (Calif.)  2. Pine Valley (N.J.)  3. Augusta National (Ga.)  4. Cypress Point (Calif.)  5. Oakmont (Pa.)  6. Shinnecock Hills (N.Y.)  7. Merion (Pa.)  8. Winged Foot (N.Y.)  9. Pinehurst (N.C.)  10. Oakland Hills (Mich.)

        Belterra Casino Resort's Championship Course in Switzerland County, Ind., doesn't open until July 3, but famed golf-course architect Fazio will make a free public presentation at 8p.m. today in the Center Stage showroom. For reservations, call 1-888-235-8377. (Tee times can be made at the same number.)

        Fazio is arguably America's top golf-course architect. If Golf Digest's Top 100 Courses in America is the barometer, he's the undisputed king, with 10 courses in the Top 100. No other architect has as many.

        “He's my favorite architect,” said Coldstream head golf pro Geoff Hensley. “Everything's fair, right out in front of you. No hidden bunkers or railroad ties. His courses are always beautiful.”

        The golf won't come cheaply at Belterra — $100 for 18 holes, including a cart and unlimited range balls. But for a top Fazio resort design, that's not steep.

        As head Belterra pro Jim Newton noted: Greater Cincinnati golfers soon will have something that has been hard to come by without a lengthy car or plane trip to one of the distant golf and entertainment meccas — great golf, gambling and first-rate lodging.

        The next closest public-access Fazio golf course is in Michigan.

        “I've played eight to 10 of his courses, and one constant is he keeps the holes separated from one another. You feel like you're on your own golf course,” Newton said. “He moved a million cubic yards of dirt to build this, but it doesn't look unnatural. It fits into the surrounding area.”

        But it's also like nothing else you'll see in the Tristate. Fazio created a lot of marshy, self-sustaining wetland-like areas that he filled with aquatic plants. Usually, architects wrestle with creating a golf course around wetlands; here, Fazio did the opposite.

        “There is dense vegetation along the Ohio River, and on the far point of the property is more dense vegetation, and it frames the outside edges of the golf course like a picture frame,” Fazio said. “In between is dead-flat terrain. It gave us an opportunity to create something distinctive — by shaping and molding and creating new land forms. How do you do that? By digging.”

        A long trench was dug through the middle of the property and turned into a combination drainage/marsh area.

        Landforms were contoured around it and then landscaped. No fewer than 2,200 trees were clustered about the course, as backdrops to tees, greens and bunkers.

        “The challenge was to create an interesting and unique experience as you move from hole to hole,” Fazio said. “You want to create the feeling (in the beholder), "I liked that last hole, but I really like this one.' And then, "I wonder what's next?'”
Cincinnati.com golf guide

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