Maketewah Country Club

Maketewah has developed a reputation as one of Cincinnati’s best player-clubs, boasting a membership of some of the best amateur golfers in Ohio. The course is also remarkable for the heavily jiggered topography. The clubhouse, ninth and 18th greens reside on an elevation at the center of the course, falling down into valleys that crisscross the property at different angles. Original architect Tom Bendelow’s 1910 routing is inspired by the way it traverses and plunges through the ravines toward high greens, and a 1929 Donald Ross renovation brought the bunkering and short game concepts into strategic focus. Even though Maketewah had been altered over the decades, it had never been considered one of Ross’s major works. That assessment must be reconsidered following Brian Silva’s 2022 remodel that reestablished the need for tactical play through the introduction of gorgeous Golden Age-style bunkers that cut into fairways and flank greens. The bunkering adds to the visual charm of standout holes like the long fifth, uphill par 4 16th and the trap-door fairway 17th. Silva also moved the location of the 10th green and restyled the 11th into a short par 4 with posing different lines of attack, including the option of going for the peekaboo green tucked behind bunkers and a kicker mound.