This is a tale of two cities that collect green fees in green spaces.
One is North Canton, which has owned Arrowhead Golf & Events Center for 20 years.
The other is Green, which bought Raintree Golf & Events Center in 2018.
How is the golf business progressing for them in these unusual times of, on one hand, increased player participation, but, on the other hand, many courses closing? It depends on which city you ask.
Looking for new places to play? The 10 best public golf courses in Ohio, according to Golfweek
It’s not unusual for government entities to own golf courses. Cleveland Metroparks operates eight of them.
Closer to home, we present Arrowhead and Raintree − city-owned courses fairly near each other on near Interstate 77 − by way of example.
Arrow pointing up for golf business in North Canton
Many golfers barely knew Arrowhead existed when it was a private country club with a predominantly Jewish membership. The property was tucked in a residential neighborhood just far enough from the Belden Village development to be unnoticed.
Arrowhead was in the process of closing and putting its 103 acres up for sale in 2000 when Daryl Revoldt was North Canton’s mayor. Revoldt said a charitable foundation offered financial support if the city turned it into a park.
“I had a landscape architect out of Columbus lay it out as a park,” said Revoldt, now a city councilman. “Features included a large splash water pad, a concert area, a walking path and a new home for the Hoover High School girls softball team.”
Revoldt’s last year as mayor was 2001. In July of 2003, North Canton bought Arrowhead for $4.2 million and bought it a golf course.
“The city bought it with the idea that underneath the golf course there are water sources,” said Patrick DeOrio, who was a councilman from 2005-11 and has been North Canton’s director of administration since 2018. “It was thought the city might need to lose the sources for its water supply some day.
“In purchasing the property, the city had a golf course and needed to find people to operate it.”
Sustaining Arrowhead hit periodic and sometimes serious snags, coming to a head in 2019 when the city changed management companies.
Stephan Wilder knows Arrowhead’s story better than most. His father-in-law, Al Harris, was a founding member when it opened as a country club. Wilder was elected North Canton mayor in 2019 and is up for election for a third two-year term this November.
“When I got into office we had to make some tough decisions,” Wilder said. “… We inherited something, and our thinking was, ‘We have this. Let’s make it work.'”
DiPietros draw on Skyland Pines experience
In 2019, the city hired a group headed by industry veteran Steve DiPietro to manage Arrowhead. The main building from the country club days was to be conditioned into a competitive banquet venue.
“With Steve’s knowledge of golf courses and banquet facilities, we thought he was a natural fit to work for us,” Wilder said.
“We were looking at this as a food and beverage operation where golf was played,” DeOrio said. “The food and beverage business makes it much more sustainable.”
The DiPietros owned and operated Skyland Pines as a golf course, pro shop, driving range, swim club and banquet facility.
“Their experience was in our sweet spot,” said Revoldt, noting that Arrowhead’s array of offerings is similar to Skyland’s, albeit without a driving range − the nearest range is at Raintree.
Arrowhead golf traffic increased in 2020 and again in 2021, but cash flow was offset by the cost of building and course improvements.
“Last year, we tore down the old pro shop and made a new one,” said Bryan Scarpino, the Arrowhead general manager employed by the DiPietro group. “There’s a new bar in the pool area. We redid the indoor bar and grill area. We’re doing the patio, doing landscaping, redoing the parking lot.
“We have a new entrance and signage. We’ve added pickleball courts. I think we’re going to be here a while.”
Scarpino said golf traffic increased in 2022, when new leagues arrived and season memberships increased.
“People who were in leagues at Seven Hills have approached us about operating their leagues here next year,” he said. “Seven Hills probably won’t be around.”
The city’s five-year contract with the DiPietros expires late in 2024.
“If the golf remains profitable and the events keep happening, we’ll likely renew the contract for another five years,” DeOrio said.
Mayor Wilder is on board with that.
“I thought Arrowhead was a great asset that could be a better asset,” he said. “We started investing, and I think we have a good thing going.”
North Canton’s ongoing Arrowhead question: Stay the course?
Steve DiPietro is open to a contract extension.
“Arrowhead is doing well,” he said. “The city has been a fantastic partner so far. They really invested in the golf course. They addressed the clubhouse, golf carts, the pro shop, and equipment. We removed quite a few trees and improved the turf.
“Leagues are full. Naturally with the decrease of public golf courses, there’s going to be an increase in play for what’s left.”
The last two Stark County courses to close were Seven Hills, which went up for sale in March at an asking price of $4.3 million, and Skyland Pines, which was sold by the DiPietros in 2021 and turned into an Amazon hub.
Skyland Pines closed because of land value, not golfer shortage. Many courses got deluged in 2020 when, as DiPietro put it, “Golf was one of the few things we could do while the country was shut down by COVID.”
“Other than Tiger Woods coming into golf,” he said, “COVID was the best thing for golf.”
The resurgence extends to Prestwick Country Club, a members-only venue owned by the DiPietros. Steve DiPietro said Prestwick membership is “full.”
Meanwhile, Arrowhead moves ahead as a golf course.
“We hear from people all across Ohio, developers wanting to know if Arrowhead is for sale,” DeOrio said. “There hasn’t been any conversation about the Arrowhead golf course being anything but a golf course.”
Green got into the golf business before an unforeseen upturn
John Rainieri Sr. opened Raintree as a public golf course in 1992 and sold it to the City of Green after a 26-year run.
The city paid $3.3 million for the 145-acre property in December of 2018.
“At the time, golf was in a bit of a decline,” Green Mayor Gerard Neugebauer said. “We valued a couple of things beyond golf at the time.
“One was the green space. It’s a beautiful part of our city. We didn’t necessarily want 300 houses on that piece of land.”
A widespread spike in play in 2020 somewhat eluded Raintree, where outings are a large part of the business. Outings got wiped out by COVID; spontaneous play was the thing.
Raintree’s big surge hit in 2021, and it has extended into 2023. Even in cold conditions on Good Friday, for example, more than 100 rounds were played.
Topgolf sparks interest in real golf, Green mayor says
According to an annual report presented to Green City Council, 38,174 rounds were played at Raintree in 2022. The golf operation, not to be confused with business at the events center business, turned a $230,067 profit after factoring in $1.9 million in expenses.
“Over the last three years, there are two significant factors as to why golf turned around,” Neugebauer said. “COVID had a lot to do with getting people out on the course. No. 2 was the Topgolf phenomena.”
Topgolf operates gigantic, net-enclosed, tech-heavy driving ranges at which hundreds of golfers can hit away from tiers of tees stacked one upon another.
“Everybody said golf course play was going to go away because of Topgolf,” Neugebauer said. “I believe it’s been the opposite.
“People are coming away from Topgolf saying, ‘I want to go do this on a course.'”
A BigShots driving range, along the lines of Topgolf, opened near Firestone Country Club, eight miles from Raintree, in 2022.
A Topgolf Swing Suite, an indoor virtual experience as opposed to a huge netted driving range, is being installed as part of the Hall of Fame Village in Canton.
City of Green extends contract with Raintree
Elected mayor in 2015, Neugebauer negotiated the 2018 purchase of Raintree. He won a second four-year term in 2019, edging Matthew Shaughnessy 3,291 votes to 3,104.
The city’s term-limit rule prevents Neugebauer from seeking a third consecutive term. Council members Barbara Babbitt and Rocco Yeargin are the mayoral candidates scheduled to be on the November ballot.
One of them will inherit a contract extension between the city and Indigo Golf Partners. Signed recently by Neugebauer, the extension runs through 2026.
Arizona-based Indigo Golf manages courses around the country. Raintree Operations Manager Patty Gaston works for Indigo but is very local.
Her father, Nick Petroff, was a football coach and golf coach at Glenwood High School. She worked at Tam O’Shanter for 25 years before it closed in 2018.
Her last day at “Tammy” was Dec. 18, 2018. Her first day at Raintree was Jan. 22, 2019.
She feels Raintree “is going to be around” as a golf course.
Golf near saturation point at Raintree
The Indigo group presented its annual report on Raintree to Green City Council on March 24.
In addition to a busy golf course, the report said 107 banquets and 27 weddings were used at the events center in 2022. The Raintree’s events building is larger than Arrowhead’s but is smaller than the Rustic Lodge that operated before Skyland Pines closed.
“These types of facilities aren’t all that plentiful,” Neugebauer said.
As for Raintree’s 38,174 rounds of golf in 2022, Neugebauer said, “I wouldn’t want to see many more rounds than that.”
The annual report projects 39,020 rounds for 2023.
“We want to make Raintree an incredible golf facility, and we’ve decided to reinvest profits into improving the course, the clubhouse, the cart paths, the bunkers… you name it,” Neugebauer said.
The mayor imagines long-range possibilities for the property, but he adds, “Maybe Raintree stays a golf course for 50 years.”
At this point, it has been a golf course for 31 years, and projections call for a busy 2023.
Reach Steve at [email protected]
On Twitter: @sdoerschukREP
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Cities of North Canton, Green own Arrowhead, Raintree golf courses