Darby Creek Golf Course

I typically play about 50 golf rounds during Ohio’s Golf season (April to November). Darby Creek is a course where I play at least 12 of those rounds. It’s an excellent course with challenging layout (especially the back 9) that is well maintained and has done of the fastest and truest greens in Central Ohio.

The club’s staff are some of the nicest down to earth people you could meet and the food is excellent. The only knock on this course and this only started happening this past season is the pace of play has gotten awfully slow especially on the weekends for tee times before 3:00pm - it was so bad that a 5+ hours round was more like the norm and not the exception.

The main reason for slow play is the Club’s staff are too nice to enforce pace - and it’s understandable to be friendly to all clients (with all skill levels) - it would be better business practice and more conducive to get more return business from frequent players if pace of play is monitored.

A lot of times pace play is the result of high handicap players insisting on playing from the back tees or trying to reach Par 5s in 2 shots when they don’t even have a prayer!! Since on weekends they start rounds 9 minutes apart 2 or 3 slow groups can compound the slow play and adversely impact the play for all other groups on the golf course . This is especially annoying on hot summer days. This past season out of the 12 rounds I played I quit before finishing at least 4 times because when I got to the 1st par 5 on the back 9 (14th hole) there were 2 or 3 foursomes stacked waiting at the Tee box because the group in front of them is attempting to get home in 2.

Nice layout. Course is in mostly great shape. Tees, fairways and greens are excellent. Only issue was with some of the bunkers. Good pace, but lots of high school golfers are there for matches starting about 3, so play earlier than that. Will be back.

A few friends of mine said if you're ever in Marysville this course was a must play. I liked that there were two different styles of courses. Front nine was a links style course and the back nine was a more of a traditional course with trees and narrow fairways/bunkers.

Fairways were immaculate and greens were in top shape. Bunkers were well maintained. A lot of open fairways on the front nine, so you could grip and rip it and be ok. Back nine you have to hit the ball straight to stay out of trouble.

I actually shot better on the back nine than the front nine. Finished with 4 pars and 1 birdie so I cannot complain. The only thing I would change if I could was the weather. It was a scorcher. The last 4 or 5 holes we were dying. Kudos to the staff that gave us water, much appreciated and it kept us hydrated.

Would definitely golf here again and recommend it to others.

I have played nearly all the courses in central Ohio, but this course is a must for those that love very nice, fast greens. It is a treat to putt on them, and they are extremely well maintained. Kudos to the Superintendent.

The day we played was cart path only and bunkers were full of water due to excessive rain the previous two days. However, the greens, staff, and price made up for it. Keep up the good work, Darby!

Our group has played here three or four times this year, and something keeps us coming back. The staff is excellent. Greens are very well kept, and the bunkers are maintained. You see too many courses neglect the bunkers, which to me is a sign of a bad course. The layout is awesome, with reachable par fives and well guarded par threes. This course has worked its way into my top five in the area, and I have played most of them. The only knock I have is that the ranger is non existent. The starter is all over getting you off on time, but then pace of play can be slow. However, this is a very well-maintained and laid out course.

Was in town with some buddies for the Memorial, and decided to check out Darby Creek.... nothing short of awesome. This course was incredible for the price and we replayed it for $11!!!! Staff was awesome and the drinks were cheap as well. Would highly recommend this to any golfer.

Fun course. Links 9 greens are incredibly subtle and difficult to read. Woods 9 greens a little easier, but the fairways are narrower. All of them seemed to roll true. I enjoyed this course a lot, it was in great shape, and plan to return and work it into my central Ohio rotation.

First off this review might be a little unfair, but this is because it was 45 degrees and raining all day, its Ohio, can't expect much. At Darby Creek the front and back differ, where the front is links style, which I prefer, and the back is American style. I did much better on the front by 10 strokes, its wasn't a good score today. Anyway the green on hole 13 was soaking wet, you could see there would be standing water any minute, that wasn't a good sign. The course had lots of bunkers, so keep that in mind. Afterwards, I went into the pro shop and found a double dozen of Nike Mojos for $16 what a steal! And the guy behind the counter picked up the 17 cents in tax, just a little extra friendliness. If the weather was different I'm sure I would love this course.

Played only the front 9, which is the links-style 9. Every hole is different, which is good, and the course was in very good condition. Greens were consistent. The staff was outstanding! Greeted warmly in the pro shop, the starter was very friendly as was the woman who sold me a hot dog. My only complaint is that I had a hard time finding the course. Could use a few more road signs. But...if you find it and play it you will like it.

Not a house in site. Out in the farmland. Front nine sort of "links" like. Back nine more traditional "american" golf. I personally preferred the back with large trees and rolling hills. Im not a big fan of the links style course, with only bushes and smallish trees. Nothing to "frame" the fairways and the greens sort of bothers me.That said, its still a very nice course, just not the "perfect" course for me. Nice variety of holes and varying lengths. The greens roll very nicely and are among the fastest I have played all summer. Quite a lot of undulation. Very challenging, to the point of being a bit frustrating after playing a lot of public golf this summer with boring slow greens. Absolutely show up early and spend some time putting on the practice green if you wish to score well. The front nine is very exposed and I'm told its usually windy so Id practice the knock downs and punch shots before your round. It was only modestly breezy the day i played so the wind wasn't a big factor. Just a club up or down depending on direction, but I could see it playing very tough if it got much above 15-20 mph. If your short game is on you can score here. Not terribly long and somewhat generous fairways, but the rough is definitely just long enough to be a half shot penalty. A very good test of golf, especially on and around the greens. I will play it again despite not loving the front nine. Its a quality place.

A fun course to play in great condition.
Greens were in wonderful shape. If you're looking for a challenging but fair course I highly recommend this course.

I've played this course several times. It's always in good shape. Weather has been dry, but the tee boxes, fairways and greens were in really good shape. Played in the middle of the day Sunday, so a couple of the part 3 tee boxes were chewed up, but that's to be expected. A couple of the bunkers were more dirt than sand, others in good shape. Ranger was informative about conditions and groups ahead and behind. I would play more frequently, but it's 45 minutes away.

If you want a challenge, play from the blue tees. Way tougher than I thought it would be. Enjoyed the course...September golf in Ohio is the best!

Don't often make it to Darby Creek because of distance, but I enjoy it every time. Course was in great shape and I only had to pass one 4some(who didn't let me play through)- but that wasn't the courses fault. More inconsiderate boobs everywhere these days.

Staff could not be friendlier or more helpful, had only great interactions with them. Course was in great shape and pretty challenging, but fair. I liked the open and hilly layout of the course. Only negative was there were no rangers on the course to keep pace moving. One foursome a few groups ahead was playing appalingly slow--we all know how that goes, just no golf courtesy or etiquette, standing around on greens and waiting too long to take their shots. Took over 2.5 hours to finish our front nine and when we realized that it was literally a bottleneck of 2 or 3 groups being held up, I asked if we could just play the front nine again since it looked like no one was going off anytime soon. Friendly staff allowed us off the front again and we finished the same nine in about 1.25 hours, making it clear that we had some pace issues on the course.

Besides the mildly infuriating pace, I think this was a pretty good value. Will definitely be back at some point, it's not like they can entirely help pace issues.

This course is perfect. This course jumped to the top of my list for central Ohio courses. Chapel Hill had a strong hold on it for awhile but now I discovered Darby Creek. This is a true golf course. You have to think about every shot with a lot of traps to work around and a few water hazards. The greens are clean and roll true. Most greens are elevated from the fairways so you need to add a little extra on your approach shots. The traps are actually playable unlike most courses. We played from the tips which was bad idea on my part since they played 7,000 yards. The clubhouse is nice with a very friendly staff.

This course was on my bucket list and it did not disappoint. Beautiful conditions although the greens ran a little slower than expected. They were still treacherous if you were unfortunate to have a downhill putt. I felt the front 9 (links style) played a little easier but it still was no walk in the park. The back nine (trees) played longer and several holes had demanding approaches. Overall, you have to have your "A" game to score well here.

By poor play, I meant my own. What a waste, playing on such a great da on such a great course but not having enough practice to keep it on the fairway most of the round . It was maddening. This course always has well-groomed fairways and the most consistent rolling greens in the area, at least among public-play courses. And Ken and Scott in the clubhouse are always super friendly, remembering you by name from the last time.

Excellent value. Good condition. Greens rolled pretty true, decent speed. Good tees and fairways. Can play the ball down in the fairway with no problem. Mix of long and short holes. Bunkers, trees, water. No tricked up holes for the most part. It can be as challenging as you want depending on the tees you play. Quite setting in the country, not a house or building in sight. Beverage cart showed up 3 times during rounds. Would recommend.