Loss of Driving Ranges is Par for the Course

While out in Olmsted Township a few weeks ago, I noticed that Golden Tee Golf Range located on Bagley Road at Stearns was for sale, and I felt a little wistful.

You see, many years ago when I was trying to become a golfer, I used to enjoy hitting a bucket of balls at these little practice ranges, which were all over Northeast Ohio. They were often located in a quaint rural setting or on the outskirts of town, where land used to be cheap.

It was an easy seasonal business to get into. All you needed was some acreage, distance markers, lots of golf balls and maybe a roof over the tees.

Now with the land on which these ranges were located becoming valuable thanks to urban sprawl, driving ranges are being, well, driven out much like drive-in movie theaters.

With the former Golden Tee property located so close to the Ohio Turnpike and I-480, and offered for sale along with a huge adjoining piece of land, I’m sure that the days of working out the kinks in a golf swing there are gone forever.

West Pines Golf Range on Chester Road over in Avon is another one that area golfers will miss. It sold just before last Christmas for $4.5 million to a developer who plans to build an office park on the site.

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Golf practice ranges have been around a long time.

In Lorain, the listing first appeared in the phone book in the 1948 edition. There were two listed.

One was located on the east side of Oberlin Avenue, near the Airport Tavern (today’s Mutt & Jeff’s). Back then, that area was pretty much out in the country, well past the city limits at Meister Road. The other golf range was on US 6 on the outskirts of Vermilion, just east of where the Vermilion Farm Market is today.

It took a while for other practice ranges to show up in the phone book. By 1970, Hillcrest Golf Range (at 32625 Detroit Road in Avon) and Midway Golf Club & Driving Range in Amherst on Leavitt Road were the only two listed.

June 8, 1969 ad from the Chronicle-Telegram

Others followed in the later 1970s, like Tiny Pines on Lake Avenue and Pheasant Run in LaGrange.

Ad from the 1975-76 Lorain Phone Book

Aqua Marine in Avon Lake advertised its own lighted driving range in the 1980 phone book.

The 1980s and 90s saw a slow, gradual increase in the number of local practice ranges. Here’s the listing from 1990.

1990 Listing

One of the biggest and nicest local ranges was The Range at Avon at 1325 Center Road, with 115 practice tees. Today, its former location is home to the Avon Crossing shopping center.

Many of the old ranges have closed; Hillcrest Golf Range is now the home of Hope Christian Church. Others have thrived under new ownership, especially when part of an established golf course. 

One of the oldest – the former Midway Golf Club and Range (later Deer Track Golf Club) is still around. Today it is known as Dragon Ranch Golf Club. Click here to read a nice history page on its website.