Ohio Golf Journal May 2020

The LPGA Tour announced their latest schedule changes April 29. The ladies are shooting to resume the 2020 schedule in Midland, Michigan for the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational. The Marathon Classic has been moved from its original July 9-12 date to July 23-26. I t is always a sad day when a golf course closes, but especially when one the caliber of Red Hawk Run in Findlay, Ohio was forced to close in April. Red Hawk Run was an upscale 18-hole championship course, designed by Ohio native son, Arthur Hills. It opened for play in 1999 to rave reviews. The 14 original investors asked Hills to design a course suitable for tournament play and envisioned a professional event being held there. That never materialized, but the course did host many outings, as well as, college and high school golf tournaments. The PGA TOUR Champions also has moved the Bridgestone Senior PLAYERS Championship to August 12-16 and will still be played at Firestone Country Club in Akron. The first event now scheduled for the Symetra Tour is the Prasco Charity Championship to be held July 8-10 at TPC River’s Bend in Cincinnati. The eight-acre practice range and facility were state-of-the-art and the best in the area. It received several awards from golf publications and was named the 6th Best Affordable Golf Course in America by Golf Digest in 2000. It has undergone several ownership changes over the past few years and a last-ditch effort to find a suitable operator fell flat in early April. The current ownership group was requesting an upfront payment of $700,000 to operate the course. The course was in poor condition and required nearly $1 million to repair and update the irrigation system. These numbers proved insurmountable to anyone that was looking to invest.With uncertainty, due to the pandemic, plus the high cost of reopening the course, it is currently not open, nor is it expected to be open in the foreseeable future. Red Hawk Run Golf Club Officially Closes Ohio Golf Journal