Golf in Ashtabula

A towering dome dedicated to golf practice looms over The Golf Dome’s multifaceted grounds, serving as the gravitational center of a facility dedicated to recreational golf and baseball practice. Inside the vaulted white roof, golfers stroke drives from one of 34 hitting bays at the indoor, two-tiered driving range, where distance-reading software flashes instant readouts of shot trajectory and the pain inflicted on each practice ball. The dome further facilitates climate-controlled clubbing with a putting and chipping area and Full Swing golf simulators, which allow golfers to play digital recreations of more than 30 of the world’s top courses.

Outside, a scenic, 20-foot waterfall draws players to the 18-hole miniature golf course, where contoured greens run between rocky outcrops, interrupted by water that comes into play on 14 holes. The din of sharply struck line drives echoes throughout the grounds, sonic evidence of the six adjacent batting cages, where players swing at high-arching softballs, baseballs hurled at up to 75 miles per hour, and tiny meteors raining from the sky.

Sling a quiver of nine-iron bows and dimpled, spherical arrows over your shoulder and hit the 18-hole New Castle Country Club Course for a game of golf (a $100 value). Designed by famed course designer A. W. Tillinghast and built in 1923, the 6,600-yard course, easily traversed by your included golf cart ($25), offers ample opportunity for both exhilarating eagles and disappointing duffs. Walter-Hagens-in-training will refuel with a boxed lunch of ham or turkey croissants with snacks and drink ($10), and rue that shank on the 14th hole at the locker room, driving range, or bag service area ($15 value for use of all three). If you care to sip on some alcoholic refreshment, those alongside other menu items are available for separate purchase. Put on your favorite tam o'shanter and hit the links at New Castle Country Club for a round of the thinking man's polo.

Golfdealz.net grants discounted greens fees for golfers looking to split fairways and sink putts at some of the state’s best golf courses. The pass offers multiple discounts at 26 participating courses, with bargains ranging from buy-one-round, get-one-free to greens fees for four players for the price of three to half off bedazzled rhinestones to glue onto golf gloves. Certain courses even offer special deals for tee times scheduled before noon on Saturdays and Sundays. Golfdealz.net's scorecard outlines each deal and also serves as the punch card that players show to pro shop staff members to redeem each round while preserving the retirement fund for their aging putters.

Sculpted into the Ohio countryside in 1928, Maplecrest Golf Club’s course spans 6,312 yards of immaculate fairways that arch over gentle hilltops for a par 71 round. The club’s intrepid greenskeepers work hard to keep the course in pristine condition, including maintaining an onsite greenhouse where they grow all the course’s plants, trees, flowers, and sand-trap rakes before incorporating them into the layout. Throughout the course, fairways tunnel through imposing tree lines, so players should consider making a preround stop at the club’s driving range or bribing the oldest oak in their neighborhood for favorable treatment from its fellow timbers.

The soft pop of clubs connecting with golf balls drifts across The Range’s three locations. From heated, covered tee areas at the Boston Heights outpost, the spheres soar across bottle-green expanses towards laser-measured targets. Valley View’s 80 hitting stations provide ample room for mobs taking a break from chasing unnatural creations of science, and a mini-golf course sharpens putting skills. The outfit replaces the entire fleet of range balls each year, so golfers rarely tee up a misshapen sphere. Lights shine from above to allow nighttime repetitions, and bunkers and practice greens enable focused work on the short game. At a pro shop, steely bouquets of clubs from Callaway and Top Flite stand in corners, overseen by trainers and staff members.

The Range's rates vary throughout the week.