Boulder Creek

Boulder Creek represents the accomplished dream of Joe Salemi, a northern Ohio businessman who dreamed of designing and operating his own golf course. That goal is bold enough, so he saw no reason to make the holes flavorless either.

The progression of par threes at the public-access course will shed light on Salemi’s taste for adventure. No. 7 will require a tee shot across a pond to a green that sits on a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the drink. If that was too easy for you, the course takes a page out of Pete Dye’s book and installs a full-on island at No. 17. In this case, however, players will hit from elevated tees for truly terrific (slash terrifying) views.

A penultimate hole such as that requires a reasonably bold closer as well, so Salemi provides a 624-yard par five that has a green long enough to match the rest of the hole. Although this is the longest hole on the course, two other par fives will stretch beyond 600 yards when played from the tips, which stretch to just over 7,400 yards.

Just off the Ohio turnpike, Boulder Creek is yet another fine member of the Cleveland metro area’s collection of public courses.