Owner/Designer of Streetsboro S New Boulder Creek Took Library for Study of Historic Golf Greats

Crash course construction company, without lawyers or environmental consultants. He did it with his Owner/designer of Streetsboro’s new library card. Boulder Creek took library for study “I studied the masters,” he said. “Designers like of historic golf greats Ross Tillinghast and MacKenzie and others wrote books about what they did and explained Crain’s Cleveland Business Golf 2002 why they took certain paths, why some ideas were good and some were bad.” North east Ohio golfers get Christmas in July this season when Boulder Creek Golf Club in Salemi proved to be a conscientious student. Streetsboro opens its gates to public play. The first major challenged was routing the course. It was made more difficult by four gas Laid out on 200 softly rolling acres of farmland, wells on the property through underground. Boulder Creek will surprise and delight the After studying topographical maps and growing number of good players who seek great endlessly walking the property, the routing was courses but who draw the line at joining a settled on, and the real work of clearing the private club. property began. Design is by owner Joe Salemi, with assistance Salemi wanted the existing hardwoods to play from Donald Ross, A.W. Tillinghast and Allister an important role in the course. “We took our MacKenzie, among other ghosts. Therein lies a time clearing,” he said. “We have pines, of remarkable golf story – Salemi’s education and course, and oaks and maples, but tulip trees career had nothing to do with designing and and ash and cherry and a few black walnuts on building golf courses. the course too.” He acquired the first 100 acres of land in 1997, He also found an almost inexhaustible supply of then, his plans were not for a golf club but a water. “We have two lakes on the property that residential development, adjoining 100 acres we cleaned and enlarged. It’s a sand and gravel came on the market a year later, he started deposit area, which indicates a high volume of thinking about putting a golf club on the water. We sunk two, 170-foot wells and property. combined. They put out 1,000 gallons a minute. With the second parcel secure, the sirens of golf We have enough water to survive a three-or- began their seductive chorus. four month drought and still water the whole course.” Salemi took on a unique challenge of immense proportion, dedicated uncounted hours in a The holes glide up and down, take soft turns labor of love and wagered a seven-figure bet on and often provide striking views to players. his future. There is a true island green on it. “It turned out better than I thought it would,” he said. “I go to Along the way, he designed and built a quality some holes, places I’ve been a thousand times, addition to golf in Northeast Ohio and did it and it’s still as breathtaking as it was the first without a golf architect, without a golf course time. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it.” Shaping the holes meant moving more than one Salemi, a 1977 Ohio State University graduate million cubic yards of dirt, “but you can’t tell it,” took up golf only after college. Salemi said. “I love playing, and lots of the time, I would As a developer, he owned some construction stand on a tee and look at the hole and say, “I equipment, and when he needed more, he could build a better hole.” bought it. He was doing some of the rough dirt work when Matt Loos, a shaper, stopped by. His handicap was whittled down to a 12 when Loos had just finished working in the United he started Boulder Creek, named for two Arab Emirates and wanted to stay closer to prominent features on the course. However he home. Loos, a graduate of Pennsylvania State is unsure when he will have time to pick up his University’s turf school, loved what he saw at sticks again. “For the last couple years, golf has Boulder Creek and called his brother, Chris, who been a fantasy for me,” he said. joined the team because, “he’d never get an opportunity like this again,” Salemi said.

The greens are Salemi’s pride and joy. He hired Dick Pisalis and his son, Eric, of Hartville, a highly regarded team of greens builders that has served as consultants at Augusta National, Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., and Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania, among other courses. They built 7,500-square-foot greens, which are big-and expensive. The grass propagated at Augusta National. The new strain has been in recent U.S. Opens at Southern Hills Golf Club in Hawkinsville, Ga., and Pinehurst in North Carolina. Muirfield Golf Course in Scotland recently converted its greens to g/2 and Inverness in Toledo planted it as it prepares to host the 2003 PGA Championship.

The new strain of grass can be cut shorter without stressing it. That means faster greens. The tee boxes are just as carefully built here as the greens, and there are five tee boxes.

The course will play as short as 4,800 yards and as long as 7,200 yards. The first nine holes will open next month, and the second nine will be ready in July. There is a driving range with heated stalls and comfortable clubhouse.