Golf in Independence

Recognized as one of the 25 best public golf courses in Ohio by Golf Digest, Shaker Run offers a golfer's paradise of challenging holes, scenic environments, and top-notch instruction. Students will benefit from the swing-analyzing attentiveness of instructor Alex Martin, winner of the 2009 Ohio Amateur Championship and participant in the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach. With his extensive knowledge of competitive golf, Martin brings the same amount of passion to the golf course that the Cookie Monster brings to a bake sale. He develops a plan specific to each golfer and effectively massages the hooks and crooks out of swings with myriad methods rather than just one single philosophy. Under his instruction, golfers can achieve jelly-like grips and turn rigid stances into sphere-catapulting arcs that impress friends, caddies, and ducking gophers.

Forest Hills Country Club invites golfers of all skill levels to drive, chip, and putt their way around its private nine-hole course, buttressed by the Great Miami River and native forestation. The course measures 2,267 yards from the back tees and boasts five par 3s and four par 4s. Though it may not have any par 5s, Forest Hills makes up for distance in scoring difficulty, with just one par 3 measuring fewer than 150 yards and cups that sneeze every time a ball comes near them. After a round, players can visit the concession stand to replenish calories lost from swinging clubs or cartwheeling from hole to hole.

Glow-in-the-dark palm trees rise above Englewood Fun Center’s 18-hole miniature golf course, greeting guests as they arrive to partake in any of the center’s indoor or outdoor attractions. Clients don Hawaiian leis before taking to the 18-hole, custom-designed mini golf course, where they will lope through a tropical pastiche of tiki huts, misting waterfalls, two ponds, and multiple bearded Tom Hankses. Indoors, scampering tykes can slip on socks and tumble freely among the cushy walls and elastic floors of the inflatable bouncing area, or try their hands at skee-ball and other games in the arcade. The indoor facility also encompasses three batting cages, where hitters shoulder their favorite bat or oversized banana and swing at soft or hardballs delivered at adjustable speeds and heights to accommodate all ages and skill levels.

Led by Golf Range’s Top 50 Golf Instructor Ralph Landrum, World of Golf’s staff of game-improvement gurus help players lower their golf scores with an array of golf-related activities. Private lessons conducted inside a climate-controlled swing room allow students to launch golf balls out onto the range while four cameras capture bad habits such as flat takeaways or saying “um” too much during their follow-through. Afterward, players can use their instructor’s pointers to build muscle memory on the rest of the complex’s practice facilities, which include an outdoor range with 24 mat tees and two sets of grass tees, indoor hitting nets with eight stalls, and an indoor putting and chipping green.

As soon as golfers feel they’ve practiced enough, they put their newfound knowledge to the test on the executive 18-hole golf course, with 14 par 3s and four par 4s, or the miniature golf course. When weather renders either course unplayable, thwackers move indoors to the golf simulator, which recreates the look and feel of more than 50 courses or a hodgepodge of 18 famous holes but without the extremely long between-hole travel times. World of Golf keeps a busy schedule of lessons, classes, and leagues, all of which can be found on the calendar.

Golf balls soar above the driving range and roll over tricky putt-putt greens at Southwest Golf Ranch, a practice facility designed to help golfers improve the full spectrum of their skills. With 2.5 acres of bent-grass hitting areas and 20 heated, covered hitting stalls outfitted with synthetic-turf mats, the range lets players choose their hitting surface or conceal their swing adjustments from spy drones sent by rival golfers. The mini-golf course features colorful flags, Lilliputian ponds, and wooden bridges that arch throughout the 18-hole layout, which is lighted for after-hours play.

Helmed by PGA pro and Director of Instruction Dave Stanton, Southwest Golf Ranch’s staff of instructors puts the facility’s resources to use in lessons and golf camps. The resident aces groom golfers’ swings with the help of video analysis and FlightScope swing tracking, the same technology used in the Ranch’s club fitting studio, which pairs golfers with their ideal clubs without forcing them to meet random sand wedges on the Internet.

Colonial Pines Golf Club’s 18-hole course blankets 127 acres of tranquil Ohio Valley farmland for 5,966 yards of rolling hills and imposing hardwoods. Golfers traverse the par 70 layout on the backs of motorized carts or caddies hoping to improve their piggyback-ride form, steering balls away from a menagerie of hazards, including mounds topped with swaying heathers, woodsy thickets, and six lakes spanning 11 acres. The first tee shot aptly foreshadows a round in which avoiding water hazards and ingratiating oneself to ball-stealing fish will be critical, as drives must cross a pond that runs from the tee box to the beginning of the fairway.

Course at a Glance:

• 18-hole, par 70 course
• Length of 5,966 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 68.3 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 117 from the farthest tees
• Three tee options
• Link to scorecard