Buckeye Hills Country Club in Greenfield serves as home to the Fairfield Lions and McClain Tigers golf teams

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Buckeye Hills Country Club is an 18 – hole championship golf course situated on the border of Highland and Fayette counties just outside of Greenfield, Ohio. The course, which opened to the public in 1971, has been a staple in the community for more than 45 years. Current owners; Steve Hunter, Rick Henson, and the estate of the late John Weller; have operated the club since their purchase of the property in 1984.

The course is home to both the McClain Tigers and Fairfield Lions golf teams during the local high school golf season that begins in August of each year. Buckeye Hills has been rated a 71.2 by the USGA with a slope rating of 125 from the white tee boxes, and a 68.6 rating by the USGA with a slope of 117 from the red, ladies, tee boxes. The slope ratings of a golf course indicate the playing difficulty of a course based on a scale that ranges from 55 (very easy) to 155 (extremely difficult); a 125 rating from the white tee boxes indicates the course in moderately difficult to play while the 117 rating from the red tee boxes indicates a standard playing difficulty.

The course features a total of 6393 yards with a par score of 71 from the white tee boxes, and a total of 4907 yards with a par of 72 from the red tee boxes. There are also gold, senior, tee boxes on the course featuring a total of 5882 yards and a par of 71.

Operating between the months of March and November Buckeye Hills Country Club sees an average of 14,000 rounds of golf played every year. Pro shop manager Toni Graves also indicated that the course hosts at least 40 outings on a yearly basis. Graves also said, “We consider ourselves a blue collar club, we welcome everyone here.”

One thing that visitors to the club will notice is the neatly manicured and well maintained greens and fairways, as well as an abundance of “wildlife areas” that the club has elected to minimize upkeep on in an effort to add challenge and definition to the course. The course also features paved cart paths throughout that allow players to play in most conditions.

Former McClain High School golf coach Danny Long praised the course saying, “It is a very well maintained course.” Long also indicated that scores for high school golfers can vary wildly at the club when he said, “Depending on the experience of the golfer scores can either be really good or really bad.”

Long, who has been playing golf at Buckeye Hills since he was a teen, indicated that the course has undergone some changes over the years. “The course is so much more defined than it used to be. You can really see where you are able to play from and where you aren’t, that is a big help to any golfer.”, said Long.

“Something that makes this course unique is that it is situated with the first nine holes in Highland county and the second nine in Fayette county. I have seen days where one side of the course is closed while players are still playing on the other side.”, said Long when asked about the uniqueness of the course.

Pro shop manager Toni Graves elaborated on the condition of the course by saying, “We put a lot of chemicals; fungicide, pesticide, herbicide to help control any kind of diseases and insect. We probably put double what most golf courses put on theirs, that’s why it is so pristine. The conditions this year have been all over the place, for us to be in this kind of position speaks for itself.” Graves went on to say, “I have had a lot of people from out of town say that our course is in the best condition of any course that they have played this year or last year.”

Graves also shared what makes her job enjoyable when she said, “Junior golf, seeing the junior golfers from Greenfield and Leesburg grow up and bring their kids here has been the most rewarding thing.”

Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.

The green on hole number seven, a par four at Buckeye Hills Country Club in Greenfield, glows in the morning sunlight on Tuesday.
http://www.timesgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2017/07/web1_BHCC-Hole-7.jpgThe green on hole number seven, a par four at Buckeye Hills Country Club in Greenfield, glows in the morning sunlight on Tuesday. Ryan Applegate | The Times-Gazette

A view of hole number five, at Buckeye Hills Country Club, from the tee box on Tuesday morning.
http://www.timesgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2017/07/web1_BHCC-Hole-5.jpgA view of hole number five, at Buckeye Hills Country Club, from the tee box on Tuesday morning. Ryan Applegate | The Times-Gazette

By Ryan Applegate

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