Best Public Golf Courses in Cleveland

Manakiki was Howard Hanna's summer estate before it was a country club, and Donald Ross laid out the golf course on it in 1928. Cleveland Metroparks bought the property in 1944 for one dollar on the condition that it stay a golf course, then let the private club play it under lease until 1960. It has been open to anyone since January 1, 1961.

It runs 6,625 yards to a par of 72, rated 71.4 with a slope of 128, over ground that tumbles more than most of the county. The bentgrass greens are why people come back: golfers describe them as elevated, fast and full of breaks that do not reveal themselves until the ball is moving. Drainage is good enough that it plays after heavy rain. There is no driving range, so bring your own warm-up plan, and the same reviewers who love the course complain about the pace on busy mornings. It is a walkable but genuinely hilly round, and not the place to learn the game.

Recent rates have run $30 to $67. It is also the hardest tee time to get in this guide, with a larger share of posted times disappearing here than at any other course on the list, so look at Manakiki tee times well before the weekend you want.

Fowler's Mill exists because TRW went looking in the late 1960s for a corporate course to sit alongside what NCR and Firestone had. The company hired Pete Dye, an Ohio native, and he built 27 holes in Chesterland with his brother Roy between 1969 and 1971. The Maple is one of the three nines.

Bentgrass greens, bluegrass fairways, mature trees and the sort of bunkering Dye was doing before he became famous for doing it. Golfers praise the routing and the range of shots it asks for, and the staff's handling of visiting players; the criticism lands on bunker upkeep and on greens that have had rough patches. Proper golf attire is required, there is a driving range and a putting green, and it is one of the few courses here that lists a year-round season.

See what is open on the Fowler's Mill Maple tee sheet.

Stanley Thompson, the Canadian architect best known for his work in the Rockies, routed Sleepy Hollow through the hills above the Cuyahoga River in the 1920s. GOLF Magazine ranked it the 13th best municipal course in America. It is bentgrass tee to green, 6,893 yards to a par of 71, and at a 73.0 rating with a slope of 133 it is the stiffest test in this guide.

The architecture is old in the useful sense. There are forced carries over the valley on some holes and ground you can run the ball onto at others, and the walks from green to tee are short. Golfers rate the layout and the fairways highly and are more mixed on the greens, which several describe as slow and bumpy rather than quick, and on soft conditions after rain. There is a driving range, which not every Metroparks course has, and the course is walkable.

Sleepy Hollow tee times are worth checking early in the week.

Highland Park is a 36-hole facility owned by the city of Cleveland, opened in the late 1920s, with both the Blue and the Red credited to Sandy Alves. In June 2023 the city brought in Troon, through its Indigo Sports arm, to run golf and food and beverage alongside the nonprofit foundation leading the restoration.

The Blue is the longer of the two at 6,740 yards, par 71, rated 71.7 with a slope of 119. Golfers who have played it since the handover keep describing the same thing: better greens, better tee boxes, better fairways than the course had a few years ago. The complaints are about what has not been fixed yet, mainly water standing on fairways and in front of greens after rain, broken cart paths, and the lack of a clubhouse or much to eat and drink. A collared shirt is required and there is no driving range.

Recent rates have run about $16 to $51, among the lowest starting points on this list. Highland Park Blue tee times.

Pleasant Valley kept the country club name and takes public play. Jack Kidwell laid it out in Medina in 1970, bentgrass tee to green, 6,912 yards to a par of 72. Its 73.4 course rating is the highest in this guide, though a slope of 123 suggests the difficulty is in the length rather than in punishment for a missed fairway.

There is no driving range, a collared shirt is required, and the season runs March to November. Recent rates have run $28 to $74, the widest range of any course here, and tee times hold on the sheet longer than anywhere else on this list, which makes it the realistic option for a weekend morning booked late. Pleasant Valley tee times.

Grey Hawk opened in 2004 in LaGrange, well west of the city, to a von Hagge, Smelek and Baril routing. At 7,080 yards it is the longest course in this guide, bentgrass tee to green, par 72, rated 71.0 with a slope of 130.

It is a modern course and plays like one, with water, sand, mounding and rough thick enough that reviewers keep repeating the same warning: find the fairway or you will not find the ball. The greens are fast and true and do not hold much, so plan on landing the ball short and letting it run. High handicappers find it a hard day. Golfers still call it one of their favorites in northeast Ohio, with the usual grumble about five-hour weekend rounds and inconsistent service.

Recent rates have run $30 to $70. Grey Hawk tee times.

Little Met is a nine-hole Metroparks course in the Rocky River Reservation, par 35 over 2,599 yards, with Stanley Thompson's name on the original layout. It is short, flat enough to walk easily, and the course regulars name when somebody asks where a new golfer should start.

Reviewers say the condition is far better than it was years ago, and the bentgrass greens hold to the standard the Metroparks keep across the system. It gets crowded on Saturday afternoons, so play it in the morning if you can. There is no driving range. Some golfers report brusque treatment in the pro shop, and most of the same reviews say it did not spoil the round.

Recent rates have run $18 to $40. Little Met tee times.

Mastick Woods is a nine-hole executive course in the Rocky River Reservation, dating to 1926 and credited to Stanley Thompson, and Cleveland Metroparks points juniors, new players and anyone wanting a quick walk at it rather than at the full-length courses. It putts on the same bentgrass as the rest of the system, and it drains well enough to be playable early in the season when other courses are still soft.

Mastick Woods tee times.

Briardale Greens opened in 1977 in Euclid to a Pat Laconte design, 6,058 yards and par 70, rated 69.2 with a slope of 120. It is short by the standards of this list, but the bunkering is placed where it makes you think and the greens have more in them than the green fee implies.

Those greens are what golfers single out, more than one calling them the best they have played in the area, and they are reported to be in shape early in March when other courses are not. The complaints are structural: water ponding after heavy rain, holes routed close enough together that a stray shot is a safety question, no ball washers, and slow play on days when nobody is out marshalling. There is a driving range.

Recent rates have run $14 to $53, the lowest starting point in this guide, and golfers say the day-of online rates are where the value sits. Briardale Greens tee times.

Shawnee Hills is a Cleveland Metroparks course in Bedford, opened in 1957 to a Ben Zink design. It runs 6,175 yards to a par of 71, rated 68.7 with a slope of 112, which makes it the most forgiving full-length course in this guide and a sensible first 18 for somebody graduating off the short courses.

Golfers consistently describe the front nine as straightforward and the back as the half that asks real questions, and they report the course holding its condition well into late October. The recurring criticisms are bumpy greens that need smoothing and inconsistent service in the clubhouse. There is a driving range and the course is walkable.

Recent rates have run $26 to $51. Shawnee Hills tee times.