Scioto Country Club
Designed by Donald Ross
History
In the years just before America’s entry into the Great War, a group of Columbus businessmen set out to build something the capital city lacked: a private club worthy of national attention. They found their ground along the Scioto River in what would become Upper Arlington, and in 1916 the club opened its doors, taking its name from the waterway that bordered the property.
The commission went to Donald Ross, then at the height of his career and already responsible for laying out courses across the Eastern seaboard. Ross approached the rolling Ohio terrain with the same principles he applied everywhere — greens that demanded precise approach shots, natural land contours left largely intact, and a routing that asked golfers to think their way around rather than simply swing hard. Scioto became one of the clearer expressions of his design philosophy in the Midwest, and it did not take long for the golf world to notice.
The club’s reputation grew quickly once the championships arrived. Scioto hosted the U.S. Open in 1926, won by Bobby Jones, and the course would later stage the 1931 Ryder Cup and the 1950 PGA Championship, claimed by Chandler Harrison. Jack Nicklaus, a Columbus native, learned the game on these fairways as a boy, forging a connection between club and champion that has been part of Scioto’s identity ever since. Over the decades the course has seen renovation work aimed at restoring elements of Ross’s original design, a recognition among the membership that what was built in 1916 deserved preservation rather than replacement.
Playing Notes
Bring your full complement of long irons and hybrids — the greens sit well above most fairway lines and demand carry, not just distance, to hold their surfaces. Tree-lined corridors put a premium on tee shots that start and stay straight; there's little room to bail out wide and still see the green. The rolling terrain isn't severe enough to require a cart, but it adds up over eighteen holes, and the walk will test legs that haven't logged miles on natural turf. Bunkering tends to guard the direct angles into the flag, so shorter, more conservative approaches from the fairway often play easier than a shortcut over the sand. Expect the greens to run quick and to break subtly in ways that aren't always visible from the fairway — spend time on the practice green beforehand if you can, and favor packing extra sleeves of balls for water and out-of-bounds along the tighter holes.