No one can accuse architect Dave Zinkand of drawing up cookie-cutter golf course designs.
Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Zinkand Golf Design recently completed work on The Reversible, a unique nine-hole layout at Medina (Ohio) Country Club that is designed to appeal to scratch golfers while simultaneously providing an experience that should appeal to higher-handicap players as well as newcomers to the game.
As its name suggests, The Reversible features a pair of nine-hole loops that can be played in opposite directions. Built on the site of Medina's former nine-hole Lilac Course, The Reversible's Purple course is played in a clockwise direction from the first tee while the Green course runs counter-clockwise.
Each par-31 routing at the club near Cleveland begins with a downhill par-3 to one of two large double greens and continues in opposite directions along a collection of par 3s and 4s spread over rolling terrain before concluding with par 3s with double greens for the finish.
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Strategic bunkering and multiple routes to hole locations provide a test for low-handicap players, while wide landing areas provide plenty of room off the tee for less-experienced golfers. Ample green surrounds and rugged bunkering with fescue brows hearken to the game's past.
Zinkand said the idea for the reversible layout was not initially part of the plan, but was a design change he made after being hired by Medina to build a new nine-hole layout in a floodplain with a creek running through it.
"The land has just enough movement to make it ideal for reversible golf," Zinkand said.
Construction began in summer 2024 with Majestic Excavating of Seville, Ohio handling the earthwork, and Frontier Golf of western Pennsylvania completing the construction.
The project is part of a Zinkand-led master plan at Medina that also includes an overhaul of the club’s practice facilities complete with a state-of-the-art indoor/outdoor teaching academy. Construction has begun on a new clubhouse and the plan eventually will include a restoration of Medina's 18-hole golf course that opened in 1967.
Owner Bill Cosgrove, CEO of Union Home Mortgage, acquired Medina in 2022, and was the club's third owner in less than two years. The club had fewer than 60 members then and today boasts more than 400. Changes have been afoot at Medina ever since. A year after Cosgrove bought the property, the former Lilac course lost three holes to a training facility and other projects.
Zinkand Golf Design leans on three principles in its golf course projects: strategic options, sense of adventure and sense of place.
Mission accomplished.
It took club management time to even comprehend the plan when Zinkand approached them with the idea of a reversible layout.
"I remember seeing the renderings for the first time and it almost takes you a minute to wrap your head around it," Medina general manager Kirby Manown told Crain's Cleveland Business last year. "You see how it flows in one direction and you’re like, 'All right? What are the sight lines for the other direction?' It’s really almost like one big loop and the concept is just so unique about how you can come to the greens from different angles and different directions."