Scarlet at Ohio State University Golf Course
Rating Snapshot
About
Established in 1938, the Ohio State University Scarlet Golf Course is rated the best collegiate facility in the country by Golf Digest. It was designed by Alister MacKenzie.
Located two miles northwest of the main campus, the Par-71 golf course carries a rating of 76.1, with a slope of 142. From the championship tees, it stretches out to 7,455 yards of rolling terrain and contains a nine-and-a-half-acre lake and winding stream that create challenging play on several holes. The large contoured greens are surrounded by strategically placed bunkers.
In 2005 and 2006, the Scarlet course underwent a major restoration project overseen by former Buckeye legend Jack Nicklaus.
| Tee | Par | Length | Rating | Slope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buckeye | 71 | 7455 yards | 76.2 | 138 |
| Black | 71 | 7115 yards | 74.3 | 135 |
| Scarlet | 71 | 6664 yards | 72.0 | 130 |
| Gray | 71 | 6248 yards | 70.1 | 128 |
| White | 71 | 5752 yards | 67.4 | 123 |
| White (W) | 71 | 5752 yards | 73.4 | 132 |
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buckeye M: 75.6/139 | 435 | 472 | 429 | 575 | 233 | 618 | 401 | 202 | 427 | 3792 | 442 | 473 | 562 | 221 | 473 | 443 | 378 | 221 | 439 | 3652 | 7444 |
| Black M: 74.1/136 | 435 | 446 | 408 | 550 | 214 | 586 | 401 | 187 | 418 | 3645 | 414 | 437 | 542 | 195 | 473 | 414 | 378 | 205 | 417 | 3475 | 7120 |
| Scarlet M: 72.1/131 W: 79.1/144 | 415 | 427 | 399 | 527 | 159 | 568 | 379 | 174 | 410 | 3458 | 402 | 403 | 505 | 187 | 403 | 390 | 353 | 176 | 391 | 3210 | 6668 |
| Scarlet/Grey M: 71.2/131 W: 77.9/142 | 389 | 389 | 399 | 504 | 159 | 528 | 356 | 159 | 410 | 3293 | 402 | 403 | 505 | 163 | 403 | 390 | 326 | 157 | 391 | 3140 | 6433 |
| Grey M: 69.9/130 W: 77.1/140 | 389 | 389 | 371 | 504 | 159 | 528 | 356 | 159 | 397 | 3252 | 391 | 382 | 487 | 163 | 375 | 361 | 304 | 157 | 364 | 2984 | 6236 |
| White M: 67.3/125 W: 73.4/132 | 373 | 381 | 364 | 453 | 150 | 430 | 347 | 143 | 352 | 2993 | 375 | 270 | 448 | 149 | 355 | 343 | 290 | 141 | 331 | 2702 | 5695 |
| Handicap | 3 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 17 | 5 | 9 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 14 | |||
| Par | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 35 | 71 |
| Handicap (W) | 3 | 7 | 13 | 1 | 17 | 5 | 9 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 14 | 6 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 18 | 12 |
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Greens On Gray Make The Course
The Gray is the course that has not been bastardized by Nicklaus. Greens some terrific undulations and appear to have not been tampered with. Layout is very good with the course being shorter than the Scarlet!
I recommend trying to play both, but , the Gray has more of the original design remaining.
Wanted to Rate Course Higher
As an Ohio guy, I wanted to like the course more and rate higher! What Jack did, unfortunately was not a restoration. If only he could control himself!!
The hubris to think you can do things better than MacKenzie and Maxwell!! He moved and redid most of the greens and redid all of the bunkering and almost all of it does not match up with the original plans.
Course is still very good, but not as much of a fan of current version as original.
Good, not Great
A lot of hype around the Scarlet course considering the Korn Ferry makes it an annual stop, but it just didnt live up to the hype for me. Not a lot of memorable holes.
About as much touch as a bowling alley.
Either they’re having a greens keepers revenge thing or the greens keeper here needs to be fired. Everything is cut down WAY too finely. The fairway is like most greens and the greens are like most parking lots. Even the rough was like most fairways. It’s like the greens keeper was cutting like he was expecting torrential rain for days and not being able to cut for a week or something:
Even if all that happened the course would only then be in normal condition. I can see the Scarlet course being finely shaven on the surfaces that are supposed to be short. It’s supposed to be tough, plus the pros play on it. The gray course is supposed to be the easy one, though from the terrible job they do with the greens it’s hard to tell. Even the chopped up fairways they’re having people tee off from on the par 3s it’s like what’s the point of trying to “save” the regular tee boxes if you’re going to have people hit off that?
Normally I’d recommend to others but not in this way too finely shaven shape. Save your money and go play in a local parking lot.
Always a fun course
The course was in good shape considering the recent rain/melted snow. In peak season it’s a fantastic course that always rewards good play, but in this time of year you don’t get much bounce (as with any course in the area). The only quibble I would have at present is that the past few months they’ve mowed their greens much shorter than necessary, making it so getting touch is putts is next to impossible. Overall a really fun course that I would highly recommend to anyone who has access to it. The $25 offseason rate is great too!
This review is for the Scarlet Course.