Fresh improvements keep Bunker Hill Golf Course ranked as one of the best courses in the area
By Ken McEntee
The unique experience of playing Bunker Hill Golf Course has helped to make the course one of Northeast Ohio’s most popular for almost 100 years, suggests Chad Gibson, general manager.
“We give people the ultimate golfer experience,” Chad insists, citing the extensive improvements that have been made at Bunker Hill over the past few years.
Medina County’s oldest course, which was developed during a time when Calvin Coolidge occupied the White House, is bucking the recent trend of golf course closures to freshen up and build on its rich legacy.
“While many local golf courses are closing or changing hands around us, Bunker Hill is keeping the gas pedal down, moving forward with multi-million dollar investments to improve a 96-year-old course with fantastic tradition and roots to maintain our position as northeastern Ohio’s premier public course,” Chad says.
He credits owners Steve Ross and Arnold Ingram for making the investments needed to improve the facilities.
“It is very expensive to run a golf course, which is one of the reasons many are closing down,” he explains. “Prices of fuel, fertilizer, insurance and other costs are going through the roof. Steve and Arnold are committed to preserving the legacy of Bunker Hill and they want it to be around for a long time to come. We’re planning to take it to another level as we approach our 100th anniversary in four years.”
This year, players will notice some major changes to the course, most notably a new, 2-acre, 15-foot-deep lake at Holes 11, 12 and 13. The lake has a practical purpose—helping to supply the primary watering lake that irrigates the course—but also adds breathtaking scenery, Chad says.
“It’s a beautiful lake next to the par-3 tee box,” he says. “It just adds a lot of character through the three holes on the back nine with the sun glistening off of it. But most importantly, the extra water will ensure we can keep the course lush and green from edge to edge when we hit those dry months in July and August.”
Another new lake has been excavated on Hole 6.
“It will add character and toughen up Hole 6, which is a dogleg-left par-4 where golfers typically try to go over trees,” Chad says. “A lot of times the ball gets tangled up in the trees or just barely makes it over. There also was a kind of wet area there due to heavy shade, and golfers spent a lot of time looking for balls. The small lake just over the trees makes it more defined and very easy once you make the turn of the dogleg. Once you see the lake, if your ball is in the fairway, you’re in good shape.”
Meanwhile, a small lake behind Hole 12 has been filled in and mounded, providing more “eye appeal,” Chad says.
Navigating the course will be more appealing from the comfortable seats of Bunker Hill’s 76 new 2023 E-Z-GO golf carts. The carts are decked out with phone chargers, GPS for yardage and tournament scoring, plus a Bluetooth sound system to play music from a smart phone or FM radio. Rodney Dangerfield would have loved it.
This year’s improvements follow others made over the past two years:
• New concrete cart paths from tee to green throughout the course
• Renovated event center
• $100,000 in landscape additions
• Renovated green and surrounds on hole 18
• Refinished and striped parking lot
• New equipment for better mow on greens, fairways and rough
And more improvements are coming up, including:
• Converting hole 7 into a par-5 with a peninsula green extending into the lake at hole 15
• Changing hole 2 into a par-3, resulting in a par 72 course with two par-3s and 5s on each side
• Additional landscape and fountain upgrades
• Lengthening the tee box on hole 5
• $250,000 upgrade of the existing six indoor golf simulators to Tiger Woods Pro 2.0 Ion3 full-swing simulators.
“Our simulators already are phenomenal, but we’re going to take them to the next level in the fall,” Chad promises. “They will feature more than 150 championship courses to choose from, a driving range, Showdown Golf—which features fun arcade games for parties and events—and the most accurate feedback during lessons with The Greg Jones Golf Academy.”
The improvements are Bunker Hill’s way of “rolling out the red carpet for every golfer who comes to play,” Chad says.
You can learn more about golfing, special events and fundraisers at Bunker Hill Golf Couse at BunkerHillGolf.com, or by calling 330-725-1400. You also can keep up with the latest news on Facebook @BunkerHillGolf. Bunker Hill is located at 3060 Pearl Road, at Hamilton Road, in Medina.