Inverness Club - Ohio - USA

I was fortunate enough to play Inverness this week and, to steal from my Aronimink review, would surely describe it as a Championship Golf Course. Ross surely got everything he could out of the piece of land.

Having played poorly (a common theme when I visit Top 100 courses), my remarks should be taken more from a birds eye perspective.

The first and 10th tees mixed with the putting green is a super cool feature. The member mentioned that they actually used the same tee marker in the center for both holes in the Solheim Cup last year - very cool.

A few holes that stood out for me were:

#1: Make sure to trust your caddie on what to hit off the tee because if you don't hit this fairway, you'll have trouble hacking it to the uphill green with a mid-iron.

#4: Bunch of options off this tee but anything aggressive brings fescue and double into play. Live with the mid iron in and aim down the right side short of the cross hazard.

#7: Great golf hole. Pretty tee shot. Well worth it to aim over the crossing water to give yourself the angle.

#10: If you looked at just google flyover, it looks like the same hole as #1 but it's incredibly different. Tiny green and the moguls left of it are dead (I should know).

#17 I loved the lines off the tee and the postcard downhill entry to the green

#18: What a backdrop. Great history. The green really moves.

Our group found the greens somewhat tricky. I'd think a few rounds would yield enough knowledge to putt them well. I really enjoyed the golf course but I will say that 2/11/14 play kind of like the same hole from tee to green. Like I said, I think DR got everything he could out of the routing and I think the Championship nature of the course creates that sometimes.

I loved being able to see the whole course from most of the property. I watched the final round of the 1979 US Open on YouTube and it seems like an entirely different place. I had no idea there was a pond on #3 at one point! And, so many more trees! It's much better looking now.

Although I hadn't played Inverness before Andrew Green got his hands on it, I've seen plenty of photos. It's night and day. He and his crew did an incredible job, especially since it was only supposed to be a bunker renovation. Ohio is stacked with great private golf courses and this could be the best.

Unreal course. Get on a plane and go. USGA needs to give this course another shot a hosting a US Open. Checks all the boxes.

A return visit to the Inverness Club was a must because of the recently-completed major Andrew Green-designed renovation.

Inverness was founded in 1903 with a nine-hole course that soon became 18 holes. Donald Ross did a major redo in 1916-1919, and subsequent revisions were done by Tillinghast, Dick Wilson, George and Tom Fazio, and Arthur Hills. Before the 1979 U.S. Men’s Open, the USGA was concerned about crowd control on this compact course. The Fazios’ answer was four brand new holes. Unfortunately, they bore no resemblances to the remaining 14 Ross holes. They seemed totally out of place and were jarring to the eye.

Andrew Green was hired in 2016 to consult on bunker renovation. However, after doing considerable research on Donald Ross and Inverness, he convinced the club to do a major renovation of the whole course based on Ross’ design philosophy. Construction started in May 2017 and was completed only a year later. The club took a risk in hiring Green because this was his first solo renovation effort on a World Top 100 course. The decision proved farsighted as not only did Green do an excellent job at Inverness, but several other highly-ranked courses have signed up for his services – Oak Hill, Congressional, Scioto, and Wannamoisett.

Green blew up three of the four Fazio holes and the green on the other was moved and redesigned. Three totally new holes were built (#s 3, 4 and 5), another was lengthened 100 yards, bunkers were rebuilt and repositioned, and greens were expanded to allow for more hole locations.

Inverness is a difficult course to score on from three major standpoints. First is its unusual par distribution. Par is 71 — 35 on the front and 36 on the back. However, Inverness has an unusual number of par-4s: 13. The front has two par-3s and one par-5. But the back has only one par-3 and one par-5.

The second difficulty is Inverness’s new length. In the club’s last three major championships the distances were: 1979 U.S. Men’s Open at 6,982 yards; 1986 PGA Championship at 6,982 yards; and 1993 PGA Championship at 7,025 yards. The new yardage is a whopping 7,730 yards! The front side yardage is 3,934, par 35. The back side is 3,796 yards, par 36. Certainly, these tees are only for the elite player. Mere mortals can enjoy the next set of tees at 6,990 yards. The important point is Inverness now has the tee setup flexibility of 7,000 to 7,700 yards to handle every level of high-quality player.

The third major challenge is its very small greens (6,000 square feet being typical). Inverness greens average 21% smaller at only 4,840 square feet. The first nine greens average 5,372 square feet, and the second nine average only 4,308 square feet. The largest is #7 at 7,400 square feet for a par-4 at 481 yards. The smallest is #17 at 3,800 square feet for a par-4 at 483 yards. The deepest greens are #s 3 and 4 at just 35 yards. The widest green is #7 at 36 yards. The overwhelming best advice given by Inverness members is to play for the middle of the greens where you will always have a birdie putt.

The newly-rebuilt greens of Pure Distinction bent grass feature noticeable contours including some steep slopes. There are some steep falloffs on all sides requiring delicate chipping/pitching options. Today the greens were in beautiful conditions – running smooth and true at about 11 on the Stimpmeter.

In counting the number of bunkers, I discovered something unusual. Because the course is so compact Inverness benefits from having some bunkers serve two holes. Holes 1 and 10 are parallel and run north/south. Four fairway bunkers on the left side of #1 also act as four bunkers on the right side of #10. The 2nd and 11th holes are also parallel and run north/south for the first two thirds of the second hole. They share one fairway bunker. The other shared bunker is on the left fairway side of #2 and also extends to the left to be the right greenside bunker on #11. In all, there are 45 fairway bunkers and 45 greenside bunkers with grassed faces and attractive wrinkled edges. Many of the bunkers pinch the tee shot landing areas and others pinch or completely block shots to greens. Pin point accuracy and distance control is a must at Inverness.

A meandering stream (or ditch) comes into play on nine holes. Overall, there is not much water involved, but the grass-covered steep banks are to be avoided. The stream appears on the side of fairways, in the middle of fairways, and in front of greens. In addition, some fairways are interrupted by rough so there is an aspect of playing from one island part of a fairway to another island — a feature found on a few holes at Pine Valley.

What I saw last year was another terrific renovation program. There is no question Green has greatly improved all aspects of Inverness. The Fazio eyesores are totally gone. Now all 18 holes flow with a really nice rhythm. More shot options have been added to test every level of player. The course is definitely more difficult, so bring your “A” game.

The Odyssey

Overall a very fun and historic course to play. The recent design improvements by Andrew Green make this more strategic and returns a few holes to its original Donald Ross design.

An excellent course! I was completely blown away with the hills on this property. I've been going to NW Ohio my entire life, and I had no idea hills like this were to be found anywhere!

The course has a history that is just about unmatched. There are a few courses that have hosted more majors, but after the renos that have just been completed at Inverness, I look for Inverness to be hosting more majors.

Holes 1, 4, 7, 8, 10, 13, and 18 are particularly strong. There are other good holes, too.

Ohio has so many good courses. Inverness certainly holds its own!

Your correspondent mistakenly believed for years that the Inverness logo featured an elephant and an elk, confusing the flourish of the knight’s helmet to be antler’s on the stag’s head. It seemed odd, at first, to learn the beast’s true identity was a camel. After all, one’s nobility is typically held in higher regard than the other’s. Having played the course, I now fully endorse the decision.

Glaciation’s role in forming Ohio golfland is well-established, generally for the better. The bubbling slopes of fairway seen looking back at holes such as No. 13 or No. 7 are blessings left in the form of glacial moraine (the namesake for another fine Ohio golf club). Glaciers, being non-sentient beings, did not necessarily do everything correct when shaping land for golf, however (better luck next time, guys). At countless clubs across Ohio, the result is a singular valley surrounding a creek that was at one point much larger, and much more frozen. Unfortunately, such a feature stumps lesser-level architects into making repetitive holes back and forth across the property.

Donald Ross is no lesser-level architect. The shape of the Inverness property was going to inevitably force many north/south holes, and indeed eight holes cross the Deline Ditch (actual name) and its burn. Ross’s ability to avoid boredom with a variety of challenges and approach types — holes where running down the hill’s fairway is ideal and holes where it is not; holes requiring carries to greens perched on the rim, and holes requiring (forced) carries over the burn to greens down in the valley; approaches with blind bunkers lurking upon approach, and greens making the challenge of their well known. And again, this is just eight holes, playing over an identical landform. I imagined the camel as I struck from one hump, hoping my ball reached the green atop the next.

(The elephant is perhaps represented in the championship-level strength this club intends, personified best by the daunting “Sunken Pits with Raised Faces," as Ross described the bunker style in his ‘Golf Has Never Failed Me.’ They are not casual hazards for those of poor approach).

The camel’s humps become a less fortunate symbol with regards to Inverness’s history as a course, however. I’ve seen maps of the Fazio holes, compared to Andrew Green’s reimagined/restored Ross holes and shaken my head. Worse yet, I’ve seen comments like poor John Sabino’s, who summed up the course as “small greens” circa 2016. I hope he has the opportunity to return soon, as Green’s restoration will surely be invigorating. Placement of one’s approach is still essential, but now it is not enough to simply find the green, but to find the correct place on the green...one of the core tenets of strategic golf.

Inverness began high on the back of Ross’s splendid work, descended into the valley of architecture’s dark ages, and has risen again atop the camel’s next hump.

(As a side note, after my misunderstanding on Inverness’s logo, now I’m concerned The Golf Club’s logo may also be some hoofed animal aside from a stag! If anyone cares to give me a closer look…)

Fascinating routing with lots of parallel holes featuring a steep ravine with a creek. Ingeniously routed to provide variety in how each hole utilizes the ravine at different points in the hole to limit repetitiveness. Case in point are the 1st and 10th hole which play side by side. With the 1st green on top of the ravine and the 10th down it, the holes play completely differently. The greens were very small, but I thought they were challenging without being over the top. My favorite stretch of holes was 4-8, mostly on the back half of the property. I especially liked the 8th hole, where a well placed drive that catches the edge of the ravine funnels down into the valley for a good chance to go at the green in two.

I recently played Inverness after the renovation. The improvements definitely increased my already favorable opinion. Not only does the course have a variety of holes and shots required, it has some of the best greens in the U.S.

Worthy of a top 150 course in the U.S. The greens are the highlight of the course. The small greens are extremely challenging to hold when firm and fast. Great variety of holes.