Ashland Golf Club to celebrate past, present with centennial summer
ASHLAND — Steeped in the game’s tradition and evolution, it would come as no surprise if the roots of the Ashland Golf Club were just as thick as the trees that line its historic fairways.
The expansion of the course over time from nine to 18 holes – and the change from a private to public course a decade ago – is not unique to the game nationally. But turn the aging pages of the club’s archives and the rich, 100-year-old lore is unparalleled.
In the midst of prohibition, a two-time British Open champion designed it, and over the years, PGA Tour legends headlined by Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer and Lee Trevino played it.
The original clubhouse hosted mystery dinner theaters and the big-band sounds of unforgettable musicians like Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller and Maynard Ferguson. Some staff members even thought the more recent rendition of the clubhouse was haunted before it was torn down in 2013, the same year the course switched from private to public.
Those one-of-a-kind recollections will be just part of the story when the Ashland Golf Club enjoys its centennial summer with the public. A 100-day celebration calendar kicks off May 28 and will feature events, unique course and pro shop specials and giveaways, and 10 different “Parties on the Patio,” where attendees will be treated to music and food while they soak in the scenic views that overlook the course.
“The words ‘hidden gem’ are used a decent amount from players that come out here,” said the club’s eighth-year PGA golf professional Dennis North, who said rounds played have been up over 4,000 per year since he arrived in 2015. “They absolutely love the golf course.”
Unique in many ways
Known at its inception as the Ashland Country Club, the name was changed to the Country Club of Ashland in 1960 when a new ownership company was formed, then to the Ashland Golf Club following its private-to-public switch in 2013.
In 2016, Golf Advisor named it the No. 1 public course in Ohio (and No. 8 in the United States) with greens fees under $50.
The 18-hole, par-72 links feature rolling terrain and tree-lined, bent-grass fairways, maxing out at 6,699 yards. Many of the pines lining its fairways were Christmas trees planted after the holidays by club members in the 1950s.
Steve Paramore, a club member and Ashlander who won individual and team state titles as a golfer at Ashland High School, got some of his best training at the Ashland Golf Club during his rise to becoming one of the best linksters in Ohio.
“I’ve played golf courses that are as nice as Augusta National,” said Paramore, a 2003 Ohio State Amateur champion and four-time All-American at NCAA Division II powerhouse Florida Southern College. “… I know when I was even a 20-year-old guy, I always felt it was a true privilege to play (the Ashland Golf Club).”
“Then as I became more of a golf course architecture nerd, you realize this is a Willie Park Jr. golf course, who was one of the golden age architects,” he added. “Not a lot of people can say they’re a member of a golf course built by a golden age architect.”
Park, a Scotsman who also built well-known courses in Europe and Canada, designed the original nine holes in 1921. By then, he was just two years from the end of his course-designing days and four years from his death.
Park won the British Open in 1887 and 1889, and was the first pro golfer to write a book about golf (‘The Game of Golf,’ 1896). The World Golf Hall of Fame inductee had 170 course designs to his credit.
His Ashland course covered 143 acres of farmland and doubled to 18 holes in 1963, making this year the 60th anniversary of that expansion.
Even the course’s first golf pro was a Scotland native, Horace Armitage, who had been the pro at Mansfield’s Westbrook Country Club, itself designed by golden age architect and Scotsman Donald Ross.
Rich local history
Perhaps no family has experienced the history of the Ashland Golf Club more than Ashland’s Castor family.
The late Bob Castor joined the club in 1937, winning his first club championship that same year. He went on to win 15 club titles, the last in 1981.
Castor’s son, Tom Castor, has spent parts of eight different decades now as a club member. A state-champion golfer in 1968 at Ashland High School, he fondly remembers Ashland’s country club as a family-oriented social center.
New Year’s Eve parties, big bands and even county fair-like events that had dunk tanks were some of the regular occurrences.
“It was well-maintained and even though it was private membership, the community came out for some of the events that they had there,” Castor said.
And as for honing his golf skills on the course?
“I felt real blessed to have been able to have that kind of practice facility,” said Castor, whose son Bobby also won a state title at Ashland in 1999. “To be able to play it as a kid, it just really helped not just me, but countless kids that played on the high school teams.”
In the 1960s, the club became one of the first to host a multi-team high school tournament when Ashland welcomed powerhouses Upper Arlington, Barberton and St. Ignatius. A version of that event, known as the Weiss Invitational, continues to this day as one of the longest-running invitationals in Ohio.
In 1961, the club planted its flag with another noteworthy event known as the Amateur-Amateur Tournament, which would feature the best amateurs in Ohio playing on two-man teams in a best-ball format.
Ashlander Dick Smail, another AHS golf standout, founded the event. The course hosted it for 53 years and it featured guys like 1973 British Open champ Tom Weiskopf, 1977 Ryder Cup Team USA member Ed Sneed and seven-time PGA Tour winner Joey Sindelar, among many others.
Despite all the statewide talent annually descending on the course, the tournament record was held by local club members Tim Rhoades and Dan McAllister (9-under-par 63). The individual course record also is 63, set in 2012 by Marc Matteson, a former Ashland High School and Ashland University standout.
“It’s a very good challenge, even though it’s a short golf course, just due to the difficulty of how tight the place is,” said North, who coaches the men’s team at Ashland University, which claims the Ashland Golf Club as its home course.
Links to the pros
Leo Biagetti, who was the club’s pro when the Amateur-Amateur began, tried to get golfing legend and Upper Arlington native Jack Nicklaus into the event. The two knew each other on the PGA Tour, but Nicklaus never made an appearance.
Despite that, the Ashland club was no stranger to hosting golfing greatness. One of its hallmark days came June 4, 1973. Stars Arnold Palmer, Dave Marr, Bobby Mitchell and Jerry Heard played an exhibition match as a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts of Central Ohio.
Sam Snead and Lee Elder also played fundraisers at the course.
One of the most unique stories to emerge in the past century, however, was Ashland’s connection to Lee Trevino, the PGA Rookie of the Year in 1967 and the PGA Player of the Year in 1971.
In 1970, Ashland’s Faultless Rubber Company released a unique, solid ball to the market and Trevino became its spokesman, even using it during his second U.S. Open victory.
Faultless had been manufacturing golf balls for decades, with many using it when the Ashland club hosted its very first action in 1922, before its official opening.
The solid Faultless ball Trevino played was known for its accuracy, and he played multiple events at the then-Country Club of Ashland while endorsing the ball.
It’s just part of a deeply layered history for the course, which is now in its 10th public year.
“Going public turned out to be a great thing for the course,” Tom Castor said. “It really prolonged its existence and I would say the last few years they’re really thriving again.”
North said this summer’s 100-day celebration will be a fantastic one to add to the Ashland Golf Club record books.
“We’re real excited for the schedule that we’ve put together for (golfers) and some of the new tournaments we have for them,” he said. “We want this to be a great year for our members and our customers.”
Anyone walking the course can pay as little as $26 for 18 holes, depending on their tee time. Perhaps the best deal during this summer’s Centennial Celebration will be every Tuesday from May 30 through Aug. 29, when $50 will give golfers 18 holes with a cart, a bag of range balls and a hot dog and beer at the turn.
Keep up with everything going on at the course this summer by hopping onto its website (ashlandgolfclubohio.com) or following events, specials and updates on social media (Ashland Golf Club on Facebook; agc_ohio on Instagram; and @ashlandgolfclub on Twitter).
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland Golf Club to celebrate past, present with centennial summer
