The groupings and starting times for the 36-hole June 4th Columbus, Ohio U.S. Open Sectional Qualifier have been released, and because it’s being played the week after the Memorial Tournament it’s a who’s-who of Tour players who aren’t exempt into the U.S. Open. But there are some recognizable Northeast Ohio golfer names sprinkled in as well:
A first-hand account that the NEOHgolf.com Classified Ads work: I sold my TaylorMade R7 driver last night to a gentleman I had never met prior to our transaction. He now has the driver he’s been looking for, and I have money I can toss into the next big skins pot. Win-win. If you have golf … READ MORE >
In their meeting Monday night, the Aurora City Council approved an agreement to use Ohio EPA taxpayer funds to give a whopping $3.9 million to current Aurora Golf Club owner Hunter Banbury, so together they can shut down the golf course and turn it into a park and river restoration project.
Even with the inflated $3.9 million dollar purchase price, Banbury still retains ownership of the 10 commercially-zoned acres around the clubhouse and its main buildings — a sweetheart deal by any definition. Banbury paid $2.5 million for the entire property in 2007.
So what, if anything, can still be done?
It was an email break-up after an early April fling: sorry, it just didn’t work out.
Long time Chardon pro Dwayne Randall, who is now head professional at Peek-n-Peak Resort in western NY, received an email from The Big Break with the bad news last week that he had not made the final cut for the next installment of the golf reality TV show.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer ran a survey for the past six weeks asking for votes for the best this-that-and-the-other-category as it relates to golf in Northeast Ohio. On Sunday, the results were in.
UPDATED AFTER ORIGINAL POSTING: Ohio EPA response now included… — Two weeks ago, Northeast Ohio Golf wrote about how the Mayor of the City of Aurora was working with the Trust for Public Land to obtain financing to buy then close Aurora Golf Club for the purpose of ‘water conservation’.
The Mayor’s press release on the project seemed to infer that the $4.5 million dollars for the purchase was coming from grant sources being secured by the Trust for Public Land.
But thanks to the sharp eye of Aurora resident George Heisler, it is now clear that the Ohio EPA is the real source for the $4.5 million dollar ‘grant’ in the same way that the failed Fowler’s Mill ‘restoration project’ was to be financed back in 2010, and that the money is merely being passed through to the Trust for Public Land to provide political cover for the Aurora Mayor, the City Council and perhaps even the Ohio EPA.
Even more outrageous, the Mayor’s ordinance as written tries to force through the buy-and-close legislation as an ’emergency measure’ that only requires a single vote for immediate implementation if approved by six council members, thereby eliminating further public discussion on the process.
