Sleepy Hollow Country Club- Alliance, Ohio- Can It Rebuild? We hope so!

Down through Alliance, near the old railroad tracks, heading toward Salem Ohio, make  a slight turn and find yourself at one of the underdogs of the northeast Ohio golf courses.

The layout is amazing, but recent troubles brought in a new owner, and there is quite a bit of work to be done.  However, with some time and the estimated 1 million dollars the new owner claims to spend on the course, by 2015 we hope the course plays up to its’ capabilities.

It was a nice Saturday morning in June 2014, and we went to play 18 holes at Sleepy Hollow in Alliance Ohio.  Getting a tee time was not a problem, as there were only a handful of cars in the parking lot upon arrival.  The price was right so we thought we got ourselves a good deal.

The first hole is a dogleg to a 20 foot drop to the green. A tough first hole if you do not place the ball in the right spot off the tee.  There are other quality holes on the front side including a difficult par 3 third playing about 170 yards. There are some birdie chances along the way until you reach the long par 4 9th with a creek running toward the green.

The back starts off with a par 5 that is reachable. Start with at least a birdie here as the next few holes a par will do just fine. The par 4 16th is another notable hole with trees on both sides of the fairway and a water hazard about 270 out. The green is tough and elevated and a par will do good here. The 18th is about 310, but water runs from about 200 – 265 yards down the right side. Either layup short or try to bomb a drive for a easy birdie.

The course layout is impressive, however the condition of the course was not.  The fairways were not tightly mowed and the greens were rather slow.  It looked like the beds and surrounding areas have not been weeded in quite some time.  A few tee box markers were missing and the tee boxes themselves were in rough shape.  A few thousand man hours would do the course wonders. We are hoping with the new owners they can bring the course up to the potentially good course it could be.