Peninsula Golf Course Could Become Open Space For Cuyahoga Valley Natl Park

The fate of a golf course on the edge of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park looks a little more clear today. The Trust for Public Land’s Ohio office says it may partner with CVNP to purchase the Brandywine Country Club. 

The 200-plus-acre club in Peninsula has been a question mark ever since last August when the owner, 24-year-old Ryan Yesberger, killed himself after a scuffle with a police officer.

The par 3 golf course straddles Akron-Peninsula Road in the heart of the national park with some greens and fairways on the banks of the Cuyahoga River.

The Trust for Public Land partners with parks to preserve land as it did in 2011 when it bought nearly 600 acres of surrounding Blossom Music Center from the Cleveland Orchestra for more than $9 million.  The park paid for it as funding became available.

Jennie Vasarhelyi, Chief of Interpretation, Education & Visitor Services at the national park, would not talk about plans for Brandywine but issued a statement saying they are working with the trust “to protect the golf course as open space.”

Just nine miles south, also on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, is the Valley View golf course. Summit Metro Parks bought it in 2016 for $4 million and is now restoring it as a park.

Such moves would likeley reduce the amount of lawn chemicals and fertilizers from washing into the river.