About Us
Built on 150 acres of hilly farmland near Zanesville, Ohio, our course has rolling fairways, undulating greens and constant elevation changes. Numerous gorgeous waterfalls, and pristine woodlands of oak, maple, ash, locust, walnutand cherry trees add to its intrinsic beauty.
Dr. Michael Hurdzan, one of the nation’s most renowned architects, created a design that includes plush, bentgrass fairways and greens, protected by a total of 90 sand bunkers. Multiple teeing areas and larger putting greens ensure that the course is playable for all.
Challenging and compact at 6,500 yards from the blues, EagleSticks is a course that clearly favors accuracy over power. With more than 100 feet of elevation change, most tee boxes are located on the highest ground, so you’ll be treated to panoramic views on most holes before hitting down to the fairways.
“It’s very rolling and there is an elevation change on every hole,” says Kelly Morrow, former head professional, now General Manager at EagleSticks. “There is not a lot of water on the course – just a couple of holding ponds that come into play and a couple of streams that meander through the property. And from the standpoint of playing the course, we have very healthy bluegrass rough that is thick and demanding.
“We’re not a long golf course,” Morrow adds, “but because of the undulating greens and the severity of our rough — if you don’t play from the right spots,it’s hard to get the ball close to the hole.”
Navigating EagleSticks has everything to do with constant, hole-to-hole,elevation change; and no where is this more clearly manifested than on No. 11,which Morrow calls the club’s signature hole.
A par 5 stretching 591 yards from the blues, it plunges downhill, slightly right to left. A creek splits the fairway about 250 yards from the hole, and a stream runs alongside the left approach area to the green.”
It’s not only one of the toughest holes on the golf course, but it’s the one with the most character,” offers Morrow. “Five old corn cribs, formerly used to feed the horses that grazed here, were left over from the McClelland family farm. They split them into five sections to construct bridges, and three of those five are built into the bridge that traverses the creek on No. 11.”
The par 4, 437-yard No. 8 is probably the most difficult hole on the course for higher handicappers, says Morrow.
“You hit level off the tee, but the approach landing area is a mere 20 yards wide with out-of-bounds and a creek on the left. From that point, you hit upward 30-40 feet to a raised green that is well bunkered and slopes severely from back to front.”
The rising-plunging nature of the fairways at EagleSticks creates many opportunities for outstanding views, the best of which are saved for the end of each nine-hole round.
“The views from No. 9 and No. 18 are the best on the golf course,” adds Morrow. “You have a fantastic view out over the golf course from both of these raised tees. From tee to the fairway you drop about 50 feet on both holes.Beware of an old pot bunker on No. 18 that stands right out in the middle of the fairway.”
The popularity and achievements of the golf course continue to be reinforced by high rankings from golf publications and organizations throughout theindustry. Only 15 months after it opened, Golf Digest named EagleSticks “TheNation’s Third Best New Daily Fee Golf Course.”
Through the years, we’ve kept up the good work. In 1997, Golf Digest gave us the highest ranking among all public golf courses in Ohio.
With a highly professional maintenance staff dedicated to maintaining the course in superb condition, EagleSticks continues to be one of the most popular in the state of Ohio, as well as one of the most sought-after tee times among the thousands of golfers who visit the state each year.
