The Golf Club

Pete Dye's 1967 design outside Columbus, an early showcase of railroad ties, native grasses and small abrupt rises that Jack Nicklaus watched take shape.

Founder Fred Jones asked Pete Dye for a course that would look like it had been there for 200 years. The Golf Club opened in 1967 in New Albany, northeast of Columbus. Jack Nicklaus, an Ohio native, served as an unpaid consultant, and the job is often cited as the start of his own interest in design. Dye was early in his career, and the course became a reference point for his later work.

It is one of Dye's earliest major works, and it shows ideas he would push further later: bunkers and water hazards edged with railroad ties, tall native grasses for contrast, and holes that create interest on flat ground through short, sharp changes in level. Tom Doak has pointed to the 10th and 13th, where a two-foot rise turns plain ground into a memorable hole. The club keeps a very low profile and has never hosted a significant tournament.

Holes to know

10

Built on flat ground, made distinctive by an abrupt rise of about two feet in front of the green.

13

Another flat hole that Dye animated with a small, sharp change in elevation; often cited alongside the 3rd as a standout.