Best golf courses: Ohio (North & Central)

Quite a few of Ohio's golf courses that have made our list are private golf clubs with impeccable amenities. The best public golf courses here include the Avalon Lakes course, a lovely tree-lined layout with challenging holes, the top-rated Virtues Golf Club, and the championship layout at Sleepy Hollow Golf Course. To make the most of your golfing trip, and to help in your planning, you can look up the location of the best courses in Ohio on our customised maps.

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Toledo (OH)
Hills, Arthur

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Toledo (OH)

Designer

Arthur Hills
4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Cleveland / Akron
Huntley, Brian

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

Brian Huntley
4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Cleveland / Akron
Ross, Donald

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

Donald Ross
4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Cleveland / Akron
Ault, Ed

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

Edmund B. "Ed" Ault
4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Cleveland / Akron
Salemi, Joe

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

Joe Salemi
4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Columbus (OH)
Ross, Donald

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Columbus (OH)

Designer

Original design by Donald Ross (1929), later revised by Jack Kidwell.
4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
(Closed in 2020)
Columbus (OH)
Hills & Forrest

Visitors?

(Closed in 2020)

Nearest city

Columbus (OH)

Designer

Arthur Hills & Steve Forrest

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Columbus (OH)
Ross, Donald

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Columbus (OH)

Designer

Original design by Donald Ross (1916); updated by Dick Wilson (early 1960s) and renovation by Jack Nicklaus & Dr Michael J. Hurdzan (2008).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Columbus (OH)
Dye, Pete

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Columbus (OH)

Designer

Pete Dye

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Cleveland / Akron
Flynn, William S.

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

Current layout designed by William S. Flynn (1928).

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Stay&Play possible
Cleveland / Akron
Jones, RT Sr & Tom Fazio

Visitors?

Stay&Play possible

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

South course: original design by Bert Way (1929); redesign by Robert Trent Jones Sr (1960).
North course: Robert Trent Jones Sr (1969).
Fazio course: Tom Fazio (2001; 2021).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Cleveland / Akron
Alison, Charles Hugh

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

Charles "Hugh" Alison, long-time design associate of Harry Colt.

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Columbus (OH)
Weiskopf & Morrish

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Columbus (OH)

Designer

Tom Weiskopf & Jay Morrish

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Columbus
MacKenzie, Alister

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Columbus

Designer

Original design by Dr Alister MacKenzie (1939); renovated by Jack Nicklaus (2005).

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Columbus (OH)
Hills, Arthur

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Columbus (OH)

Designer

Arthur Hills

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Columbus (OH)
Nicklaus & Muirhead

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Columbus (OH)

Designer

A Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course designed by Jack Nicklaus, with input from Desmond Muirhead and Pete Dye.

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Toledo (OH)
Ross, Donald

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Toledo (OH)

Designer

Original design dates from 1903. Course remodelled by Donald Ross (1919); modifications by George & Tom Fazio (1979), Arthur Hills (1999) and Andrew Green (2018).

Private: A course for members and their invited guests only.
Private club
Cleveland / Akron
Strong, Herbert

Visitors?

Private club

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

Herbert Strong (1922); modifications by Bruce Hepner (2016).

5-star: Fabulous – courses don’t get much better than this.
Visitors welcome
Cleveland / Akron
Dye, Pete

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

Pete Dye

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Cleveland / Akron
Dye, Pete & Roy

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

Pete Dye & brother Roy Dye designed the original Lake and River nines.
4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Cleveland / Akron
Hurdzan/Fry

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

Hurdzan/Fry Design (Dr Michael J. Hurdzan & Dana Fry).

4-star: Above average course - well worth a visit.
Visitors welcome
Cleveland / Akron
Thompson, Stanley

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

Stanley Thompson

4-PLUS: Must play course - excellent standard; worthy of 4½ stars.
Visitors welcome
Cleveland / Akron
Thompson, Stanley

Visitors?

Visitors welcome

Nearest city

Cleveland / Akron

Designer

Stanley Thompson

Find a course

Or

Tournaments

124th US Open: the No.2 Course at Pinehurst once again plays host to this most illustrious championship (June 13-16). Wyndham Clark defends his title, having won at Los Angeles CC in 2023.

79th Women’s US Open: the second women’s major championship of the season gets underway at Lancaster CC in Pennsylvania. It’s the second time the championship has been held here.
(May 30-June 2).

Who's Who

Nelly Korda: won the Mizuho Americas Open (May 16-19) at Liberty National GC, continuing her extraordinary form in LPGA events. This was her sixth win in seven starts in 2024.

Xander Schauffele: recorded his first major championship win, and second record-equalling low score of 62 in a major. Only he, Branden Grace, Rickie Fowler and Shane Lowry have achieved this feat in a men’s major championship.

Marco Simone Golf & Country Club

Marco Simone Golf & Country Club: With a clubhouse that might befit a Roman Emperor, and a golf course to match, you can be sure of a memorable outing at Rome's most talked about golf facility.

Jim Fazio's original layout was much changed to create a modern Ryder Cup course ... now one of the Eternal City's (and Italy's) most revered.

Prince's Golf Club, Kent (UK)

Here at Prince’s Golf Club you'll find 27 excellent holes of links golf. Just over the fence and sharing similar terrain is Royal St George’s; but Prince’s is far from overshadowed by its venerable neighbour. The three nine-hole loops at Prince's, laid out over gently undulating terrain, are sure to bring a smile of satisfaction to all lovers of links golf.

Stay&Play at Prince's: excellent onsite Lodge accommodation available

Popular videos

You can subscribe to the Where2Golf channel on YT if you like to see more video content. You'll find a "Subscribe" button on any of our YouTube videos. Or if you want a quick and direct access subscribe here. Once done, any new published videos will show up in your Subscriptions feed.

Whistling Straits (Wisconsin, US)

Hamburger GC - Falkenstein, Germany

Littlestone Golf Club (Kent, UK)