FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CINCINNATI, OHIO, JUNE 18, 2019- During the Spring of 1919, the Board of the Hamilton County CC accepted the recommendation of member Tom Otterbein and hired Donald Ross of Pinehurst NC to redesign their course in suburban Cincinnati, OH. 1919 was a busy year for Mr. Ross as he prepared Inverness for the 1920 Open and on the rail line between Toledo and Cincinnati he worked on three other projects (Dayton CC, Miami Valley CC and Mohawk GC in Tiffin OH). The Hamilton County CC had originally started as the golfing part of Avondale Athletic Club in 1897, moving its operation to Bond Hill and occupying Tom Bendelow’s new 6,000-yard course in 1910.
Ross’s complete 1919 redesign and re-routing also started operation with a name change to Maketewah CC – the Shawnee name for the local Mill Creek that was Cincinnati’s main commercial artery to the north in the 1700’s. Ross also returned in 1929 to redesign two new holes and completed the routing that is in place today.
Since that time, Maketewah CC has been a key part of Cincinnati’s golf history. It has been one of the USGA’s longest tenured US Open Qualifying sites, first operated in 1931 and now continuously running since 1976 except for one year. Site Qualifiers include amateur Jack Nicklaus in 1958 and numerous PGA Touring Professionals. The club has also hosted the first Ohio Open (in 1917) as well as two other Ohio Opens and two Ohio Amateurs.
It was also the home course for amateurs such as Maurice McCarthy, Marion Miley and Tony Blom. And it has been the course used most for the city’s amateur championship (the Met) – fifteen times – while having the most individual members to have won the championship (ten). These include 2017 winner Alex Rodger and 2018 winner, Palmer Cup player, and two-time US Open player Will Grimmer.
The course is unique as the only Ross course with Holes #9 and #18 as par 3’s. Known for its challenging greens, Ross characteristics that feature risks and rewards and the requirement to use all of the clubs in the bag, its layout of less than 7,000 yards typically will defend Par of 71, even during the Open Qualifiers.
The club also shares practice facilities with Xavier University that include a new indoor facility that includes a 5,000-foot putting green, four hitting bays and an indoor video room. It has been voted one of the nation’s fifty best practice facilities by Golf Range Association of America.
Maketewah Country Club is ranked among Ohio’s finest courses and is honored to celebrate 100 years as a masterful Donald Ross design.
If you would like more information, please contact: Gerry Lanham at glanham560@aol.com.
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