06/04/2007

Ohio State ATI Acquires Hawks Nest Golf Club

Source:

Frances Whited, ATI
whited.16@osu.edu
(330) 287-1216

WOOSTER, Ohio - On June 1, the Ohio State University Board of Trustees approved the gift of Hawks Nest Golf Club in Creston, Ohio, to Ohio State Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI). The course will be renamed Hawks Nest Golf Club at Ohio State ATI. The gift, worth $4.1 million, is the largest in ATI's history.

The 193-acre public course was founded by Earl and Betty Hawkins of Wooster. The first nine holes opened in July 1993 and the second nine in May 1994. A mere two years later, Golf Digest ranked Hawks Nest among the top five public access courses in Ohio. In 2004, Golf Digest's Places to Play awarded Hawks Nest a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars, placing it among North America's 201 best public-access courses. Only 16 courses, including legendary courses such as Pebble Beach and Pinehurst No. 2, achieved all five stars. Ohio Magazine has rated the course among the 10 best public courses in the state.

The acquisition is a perfect fit for Ohio State ATI, which has one of the top-ranked turfgrass programs in the country. Students can earn either an associate of applied science degree in turfgrass management or an associate of science (transfer) degree in horticulture science, which transfers into the turfgrass science bachelor's degree program on the Columbus campus.

"We are very excited about the possibilities Hawks Nest holds for us," said Ohio State ATI director Stephen Nameth. "Having our own course will be an excellent complement to our internship program and provide our turfgrass, landscape, environmental sciences, and business students many more opportunities to gain real-world experience."

Details regarding when Ohio State ATI will assume operation of the course, which will remain a public access facility, are still being finalized.

Ohio State ATI, ranked No. 1 in the nation among two-year schools in the awarding of degrees in agriculture and related sciences, is a degree-granting program within the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State University. Students participate in a curriculum that includes general and basic studies, hands-on experience and a paid industry internship. Ohio State ATI is the largest institution of its kind in the United States, enrolling approximately 800 students and offering 28 programs of study. Ohio State ATI maintains a 99 percent job placement rate for all graduates within four months of graduation.