With a packed crowd in Mercedes-Benz Stadium looking on Monday night, and millions more at bars and on couches tuning in to 4K Smart TVs, Notre Dame and Ohio State will battle for the national championship of college football.
But exactly who wins the other turf battle? Golf Travel Wire took a deep dive into who has the best golf course between the two football powers.
LOCATION
Edge: A draw
It’s safe to say South Bend and Columbus aren’t exactly Palm Springs this time of year. Both courses are now frozen, with temperatures Monday night expected to be hovering around zero at the Midwestern schools separated by 250 miles.
COURSE ARCHITECT
Edge: Ohio State
This is a close call with each course designed by legends in the business. Ohio State’s two courses were originally designed by Alister MacKenzie, who was also the architect at Augusta National and Cypress Point. Enough said. Then, in 2005-06, Jack Nicklaus completed a renovation of the Scarlet Course.
The Warren Golf Course in South Bend was designed by the architectural team of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, arguably the best duo in the business over the last three decades – but it’s hard to stack up to MacKenzie and Nicklaus. “Not too many people can say they have architects like MacKenzie and Nicklaus,” said Ohio State Golf Club general manager Marc Lucas. “That’s pretty cool to have.”
ACCESSIBILITY
Edge: Notre Dame
While Ohio State has 36 holes of golf, you have to be affiliated in some way with the university, i.e. student, alum, or professor, to gain access and the courses are 1.5 miles from campus. Bummer.
Meanwhile, the Warren Golf Course, celebrating its 25th anniversary, is a 10-minute walk for students from one of Notre Dame’s quad areas and is open to the public. “Our kids can ride their bikes or walk to the course. It’s one of the things that we hold dear here on the property as we want people to come enjoy the golf course,” said Warren head professional Kyle Demeter. “We get people from all over the country, and frankly from all over the world playing here given the university’s history, so we get a fair variety of perspectives on the likability of the property and golfers just love this course.”
FAMOUS GOLF ALUM
Edge: Ohio State
Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf, John Cook and Joey Sindelar all teed it up on OSU’s golf courses, while Notre Dame hasn’t produced many recognizable professional golfers. “Billy Casper went here for a semester, does that count?” joked Demeter.
ON-COURSE EXPERIENCE
Edge: Notre Dame
How many of you have stepped on a tee box with a tight landing area and said a little prayer, asking the Big Man Upstairs to guide your ball to some short grass? Well, on the Warren Course you can actually see Notre Dame’s iconic Golden Dome. How cool is that?
“When you go onto our campus you have a feeling of a rich tradition,” Demeter said, “Our architecture and just that collective look we have on our property kind of seamlessly flows into the golf course design. The course has that old look to it with high grass overhangs on the bunkers and tall fescue and square tee boxes. It’s really a unique feel.”
TRADITION
Edge: Notre Dame
The longstanding motto of the Fighting Irish is actually incorporated at Warren. Demeter says the “Play Like a Champion Today” phrase is next to the first tee box so guests can take a photo or slap the sign as they begin their rounds.
The Ohio State golf clubhouse hosts a football team dinner Fridays before every home game, but that pales in comparison to touching that sign, sending chills down the spines of many.
AWARDS AND HONORS
Edge: Ohio State
Golf Digest has the Ohio State Scarlet course ranked fourth among the magazine’s 25 Greatest College Golf Courses in America, while the Warren layout is ranked 11th. “We take a lot of pride in that,” Lucas said. “We’re Ohio State so we want to be the best at everything. Without being too arrogant about it, our golf coaches go to Notre Dame and all the Big Ten schools and they come back and say that we have one of the best layouts and conditioned golf courses in the country.” The Scarlet course also hosts a Korn Ferry Tour event each year. “The last two years we’ve been voted the best Korn Ferry Tour course the pros play,” Lucas said.
BACK STORY
Edge: Notre Dame
Bill Coore recalls the job of building the Warren Course being “a bit complicated” because business partner Ben Crenshaw went to Texas and those two football programs had a huge rivalry. “I remember walking across a parking lot in Austin, Texas, and having former Longhorn football coach Darrell Royal stop me and say, ‘Bill, where is this place I hear you boys are going to be building a golf course?’’ Coore said. “I just looked at him and I said, ‘Well, Notre Dame, coach.’ And he just started laughing at me and talked about how much respect he had for Notre Dame. It turned out to be just a fantastic honor to be able to work at that school and literally build a golf course on campus.”