Area golfers don’t have to venture far to play on the best public course in Kentucky. They’ve got it right here in their own back yard.
Golf Week Magazine this month released its annual state-by-state rankings of the best public and private golf courses around the country and Lassing Pointe Golf Course once again topped the list of public-access courses in Kentucky. Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville is the No. 1 private course. Valhalla is hosting the 2024 PGA Championship.
This is the fifth year in a row and seventh time in eight years Golf Week has honored Lassing Pointe with the No. 1 spot on the state’s list of best public courses.
Lassing Pointe, a 6,724-yard, par-71 municipal course, is located at 2266 Double Eagle Drive in Union. It opened in 1994. Course architect is Michael Hurdzan. Russ Gartner is PGA Director of Golf Operations. Justin Pack is Director of Golf Course Maintenance.
“We’re honored,” said Gartner, in his 23rd year at Lassing Pointe. “The No. 1 ranking is about golf conditions and Justin Pack does a great job with the course.”
Play at the venue is only going to get better.
“We renovated sand traps on nine holes last fall utilizing the Better Billy Bunker system,” Gartner said. “The response to the changes has been fantastic. We’re renovating the other nine holes this September and building new tee complexes on the par-3’s.”
Known for its links-style design with large fairways and enormous greens, it’s been a fixture at or near the top of Golf Week’s public list for 20 years. Lassing Pointe is home to a wide range of golfers because it offers enough difficulty to challenge any player while being playable for casual golfers and beginners alike due to its forgiving fairways and makeable elevated greens.
With a sister course at Boone Links, which has been given a 4-star rating by Golf Digest, Lassing Pointe has hosted several high-profile events including the Kentucky Open and Northern Kentucky Amateur. Lassing Pointe has also hosted NCAA Regional championships, KHSAA events, the US Kids Fall Tour Championship and the APT Golf Cincinnati/Dayton Tournament among many others.
The rest of the top five public courses in Kentucky behind Lassing Pointe are Kearney Hill Golf Links in Lexington, Nevel Meade Golf Club in Prospect, Cherry Blossom Golf Club in Georgetown and Heritage Hill Golf Club in Shepherdsville. The top two are unchanged from last year. Cherry Blossom and Heritage Hill moved down one spot from last year to accommodate Nevel Meade, which replaced Lexington’s Marriott Griffin Gate Resort & Spa in this year’s top five.
The remainder of Kentucky’s top five private courses behind Valhalla are Idle Hour Country Club in Lexington, The Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville and Audubon Country Club in Louisville.
Elsewhere around the links:
OLIVER IS GOLDEN AT CALIFORNIA JUNIOR OPEN: Oliver Golden, an incoming junior at Highlands High School, tied for first in the Greater Cincinnati Golf Association 1905 Junior Tour boys ages 16-18 competition at the California Junior Open in Cincinnati. Golden and Mason High School’s Blake Ernst both shot 8-over-par 78. Bishop Brossart’s Cody Simon tied for ninth at 87.
Golden is a returning player for the three-time defending regional champion Bluebirds with some state tournament experience under his belt. He picked up 110 points with the California Junior finish, putting him in 27th place in the GCGA 18-under player of the year points race. Simon is tied for 41st in the 18-under points race.
Also at the California Junior, Barrett McCullough of Diocese of Covington finished second in the boys 12-under nine-hole event, shooting 7-over-par 42, four shots behind the winner. McCullough is 27th in the GCGA 12-under player of the year points standings. Ryle High School’s Elizabeth Dickson tied for ninth in the girls 18-under event. Dickson is 15th in the girls’ 18-under points standings.
LOCALS AT THE METROPOLITAN: Top seeds and area players ran into some tough competition at the 114th Tony Blom Greater Cincinnati Metropolitan Amateur Championship at Elks Run Golf Course and Clovernook Country Club. Fifth-seeded Jeff Scohy, golf coach at Dayton, Ohio-area Bellbrook High School, captured his first Metropolitan, beating 22nd seed Bruce Podobinski from Mami University, 1-up, in the match-play final at Clovernook. Scohy, representing NCR Country Club, is known as one of Dayton’s best golfers with several Miami Valley Golf Association player of the year awards.
The top area finisher was 12th seed Landon Finn representing Boone/Lassing. The 23-year-old former Boone County High School and Thomas More University golfer advanced to the round of 16, where he lost to Scohy. Finn, a four-time Boone County team MVP and regional runner-up his senior year, was an all-conference player at Thomas More.
A half-dozen area players made the second-day, 64-man cut and qualified for match play, but only two were able to win an ensuing round of 64 match. Traditions Golf Club’s Kevin Tobergte, the 33rd seed and a former St. Henry High School regional champion, lost in the round of 64 to former Met champ and qualifying medalist Alex Rodger, formerly a college player at Pepperdine. Summit Hills’ Ian Asch, formerly of Covington Catholic and now playing at Wright State, lost to Andrew Flynn in the same round. Asch was seeded 30th.
Former Highlands standout Luke Muller was low scorer during qualifying among locals with a fourth-place total of 3-under-par 139. Muller, representing Highland Country Club, plays at Northern Kentucky University. He was upset by 61st seed Alex Holzapfel from Indian Hill High School in the round of 64. Holzapfel, a rising senior, is quality competition. He once made a hole-in-one in middle school.