Sunbury Golf Course: A return from the weeds, Fall of 1987.

When Jim and Sue Hamilton arrived at Sunbury Golf Course in the fall of 1987, three-foot-high grass covered almost the entire layout.  Weeds had taken over the greens, the irrigation system was nonexistent and the clubhouse was in serious disrepair.

Sunbury Golf Course, built in the 1920s and among the area's oldest courses, was out of business.

Things were so bad a neighboring farmer was called in to mow the course and bale the grass; rough mowers then came to finish the job.

Today, the Hamiltons can say they have revived a bit of Central Ohio golf history.  Sunbury is beginning its twenty-first season since the Hamiltons rescued the course.  Sunbury's comeback story begins in Zanesville, where Jim managed the Vista View Golf Course and Sue worked in its snack shop.  They lived near the nephew of Dorothy Butler, Sunbury's owner, and learned the course was up for lease.

A deal was struck.  Then the hard work began.  The Hamiltons had had plenty of golf-course experience; Jim has been in the business since 1956, and they also own the Windy Acres Golf Course in Marion, which their son, Mike manages.

"During its time, Sunbury has had a brief association with two of golf's greatest players: Bobby Jones and Jack Nicklaus."

Sunbury, though, was their biggest challenge.  Since 1987, the Hamiltons have practically rebuilt the course.  Jim re-sodded seven greens with grass from another closed course, Indian Run, which was being torn up to build The Lakes Club.

The irrigation system was inoperable, and later had to be replaced.  During the first year, Jim watered the greens with a borrowed 1,000-gallon water tank strapped on a trailer.  " I ended up losing some of them 'cause I couldn't keep getting enough water on them," he says.

The Hamiltons also planted 150 pine and crabapple trees, added sand traps to three holes and renovated the clubhouse.

When Sunbury reopened in 1988, people who played the course long ago came to visit.  "These people were 80-something years old and stopped in to wish us luck on the place," Jim says.

One such link to the past is 85-year-old Crawford Carter.  He first played Sunbury in  1928, less than a decade after Dorothy Butler's father-in-law, George, turned part of his 69-acre farm into the beginnings of a golf course.

George Butler built the course for his three sons.  "They had several greens built and it just evolved," says Dorothy Butler, who believes the course began with three holes.

Carter recalls a log cabin standing at the site of the present clubhouse.  He says goats helped keep the grass low and provided milk for the golfer's coffee.

The course also had closed once before, during World War II, and successfully reopened in 1946.  "It used to be awful crowded," says Carter, recalling how golfers would play cards while waiting at the tees.

During its time, Sunbury has had a brief association with two of golf's greatest players.  Stories are told that Bobby Jones once stopped at Sunbury for a practice round before a PGA event in Chillicothe; Jack Nicklaus is said to have played at least one high school match there.

The Hamiltons' stake in the course is much higher now; they have redesigned several holes.

They are satisfied with their progress.  As Sue Hamilton says, "It's gratifying to know that people are pleased with what we've done, the way the golf course is coming along."

Big Walnut High School Golf Team Mid-Ohio Champs 1972

Sunbury Golf Course