Muirfield Village Golf Club, USA

The 18-hole Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio is a private golf course that opened in 1974. Designed by Jack Nicklaus, Muirfield Village Golf Club measures 7392 yards from the longest tees and has a slope rating of 153 and a 76.9 USGA rating. The course features 5 sets of tees for different skill levels. The greens are bent grass and the fairways are bent grass.

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Muirfield in Scotland is the course of “The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers”, the world’s oldest golf club. It’s an architectural masterpiece and a layout that Jack Nicklaus thoroughly admires. His admiration turned into a love affair when he won the 1966 British Open at Muirfield and he decided to realise his dream by designing and naming his home-town course after the historic British Open venue.

“I set out to build not only an outstanding golf course for every level of player, but a magnificent course for watching a tournament… I thought the Masters was a great thing for golf and that I’d like to do the same thing in Columbus.” Commented Jack. Muirfield Village Golf Club officially opened for play on Memorial Day (27^th May 1974) with an exhibition match between big Jack and Tom Weiskopf. Needless to say Jack won with an impressive six-under par 66, a course record that stood until 1979.

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No expense was spared in the construction of Muirfield Village with bold bunkering, water hazards and narrow fairways that require pinpoint accurate tee shots. The plan was for Muirfield Village to become Ohio’s equivalent to Georgia’s Augusta National and, in some ways, that objective has been achieved. The design is at once thrilling and thoughtful and the conditioning is immaculate.

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In 1976, Jack inaugurated the Memorial Tournament which he hoped would develop into a fifth major and the event would be held annually at Muirfield Village. The tournament has not yet developed into a major, but it’s certainly a tremendous event that celebrates human golfing contributions and achievements. Bobby Jones was the first person to be honoured and Betsy Rawls and Cary Middlecoff were awarded honours in 2005.

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As most of us know, events do not always go to plan. The Ryder Cup was held here at Muirfield Village in 1987 and big Jack was the captain of team USA. Surely it would be apt and fitting for Jack to hold the Ryder Cup aloft on home soil and at his home club? Unfortunately for big Jack, Tony Jacklin had other ideas and Jacklin successfully marshalled team Europe to a narrow 15 points to 13 victory.