The third rankings list we offered to our readers this past winter was a Hot List vote. That vote covered five categories that are typical considerations when picking a public course to play.
The categories were Best Greens, Best Overall Course Conditions, Best Layout / Architecture, Best Golf Value for the Money, and Best Golf Fun Day.
But unfortunately, the voting didn’t quite work out the way we planned. And that’s completely our fault; we should have thought more about voting scenarios.
The many guys who play weekly at Pine Hills Golf Club in Hinckley rallied all their buddies to vote, and that unexpected coordination dwarfed the voting of the rest of the public.
(And to be 100% clear, no one did anything wrong by asking people to vote — that’s pretty common with ‘Hot Lists’.)
Couple those efforts with the fact that many, many different courses received one or two votes in each category, and that wide distribution helped Pine Hills blow away the field in each category.
So Pine Hills won every category of the 2021 Northern Ohio Golf Hot List at banana republic levels.
Perhaps we’ll try to figure a way to change the process next time. Or maybe we’ll just stick with the Top-25 lists in the future, as the voting process there worked exactly as expected.
Just for giggles, below are the top-5 vote getters in each category. The lists of results show the Rank, Course, Votes Received, and Percentage of Votes:
Best Greens
1 Pine Hills Golf Club, Hinckley 43 43.43%
2 Turkeyfoot Lake Golf Links, Akron 9 9.09%
3 Chippewa Golf Club, Doylestown 6 6.06%
4 Skyland Pines Golf Club, Canton 5 5.05%
5 Manakiki Golf Course, Willoughby Hills 5 5.05%
Best Overall Conditions
1 Pine Hills Golf Club, Hinckley 41 47.67%
2 Chippewa Golf Club, Doylestown 11 12.79%
3 Avalon Lakes Golf & Country Club, Warren 5 5.81%
4 Boulder Creek Golf Club, Streetsboro 3 3.49%
5 Manakiki Golf Course, Willoughby Hills 3 3.49%
Best Layout / Architecture
1 Pine Hills Golf Club, Hinckley 18 24.32%
2 Boulder Creek Golf Club, Streetsboro 9 12.16%
3 Sleepy Hollow Golf Course, Brecksville 9 12.16%
4 Quarry Golf Club, Canton 6 8.11%
5 Fowlers Mill Golf Club, Chesterland 6 8.11%
Best Golf Value for the Money
1 Pine Hills Golf Club, Hinckley 10 14.71%
2 Rawiga Golf Club, Seville 4 5.88%
3 Windmill Lakes Golf Club, Ravenna 3 4.41%
4 Sugar Bush Golf Course, Garrettsville 3 4.41%
5 Turkeyfoot Lake Golf Links, Akron 3 4.41%
Best Golf Fun Day
1 Pine Hills Golf Club, Hinckley 15 24.19%
2 Turkeyfoot Lake Golf Links, Akron 5 8.06%
3 Eagle Creek Golf Club, Norwalk 4 6.45%
4 Black Diamond Golf Course, Millersburg 4 6.45%
5 Quarry Golf Club, Canton 3 4.84%
