Northeast Ohio county loses another golf course, losses are troubling

As another one bites the dust, Don Nist leads the local golf crowd in wondering who’s next.

“It’s getting scary, isn’t it?” he said.

Owners of The Sanctuary Golf Club, which sits just north of the city of Canton and less than an hour south of Cleveland, say they will close the golf course “permanently” in October.

Elsewhere on Stark County’s public-course scene, bombshell closings of Tam O’Shanter, Skyland Pines and Seven Hills unfolded from 2018-22; Edgewood, Rolling Green and Lake View all vanished within the last 10 years.

Nist has witnessed local golf since the 1940s, caddying at Brookside, playing for Ohio State, winning three Ohio Public Links championships, and knowing most Stark County courses like the back of his hand. He circled back to membership at his longtime haunt, The Elms, after Tam O’Shanter closed.

Rumors of more closings make him nervous.

“These days,” he said, “you never know.”

Sanctuary’s recent sayonara got Steve DiPietro’s attention, of course.

“I completely understand,” he said.

His family sold Skyland to Amazon at about the time it purchased Prestwick Country Club. Sanctuary’s nearest golf course neighbor, Arrowhead, is managed by a DiPietro group.

What does DiPietro foresee as to other possible course closings?

“It will continue to happen,” he said.

But where?

Sable Creek’s Ray Headley was “surprised but not totally” to learn Sanctuary is bowing out.

“The surprise is more they decided to do it now,” said Headley, part of the family that owns Sable Creek. “It seemed like things were just on the uptick in the golf business, after we’d all been struggling for a number of years.

“I give the them credit for at least putting it out there, not like what Seven Hills did to their clientele, just kind of shuttering up with people on the tee sheets, and leaving a pro hanging.”

Sable Creek is 10 miles north of Sanctuary and three miles east of Seven Hills.

Headley reports business is booming at Sable Creek, where 35 leagues combine with regular golfers to keep three nines rolling at near capacity.

“Some nights our parking lot is full and people park in the grass,” Headley said. “It’s a good problem to have.

“We have no plans of going anywhere.”