There certainly was a rumble in Trumbull on the day we played with the grey skies threatening rain.

Trumbull Country Club is part of the Penn Ohio Golf Trail.  Driving down the long driveway, into a welcoming neighbourhood setting with the course on the right and residences on the left.

Further along the driveway and the mock Tudor style (in places) clubhouse sitting comfortably in it surroundings behind a good sized practice putting green.  The flag pole proudly flying the stars and stripes alongside the state flag.

It has to be said that the clubhouse doesn’t reveal all until you venture inside and realise that this place is not only comfortable and relaxing but a place for all – golfers and non golfers alike.  Families are encouraged to get involved and there is a nice, almost familiar atmosphere about the club.

After an incredibly hearty lunch and our first taste of the long discussed wedding soup*, we then had to try and play golf on a full stomach.  Not only that we had to race against the threatening rain looking menacing in the distance.

With the course undergoing new routing and a few more changes, you could go slightly awry due to the lack of signage. But a good course of action was to follow your nose, well, the cart path, so we did find our way around the course OK. This is only a temporary blip, awaiting new signage.

The first takes you away from the clubhouse on a friendly unassuming opening hole, which we both parred.  Now bearing in mind I was 0.5 and Steve 1.5, I knew today was an important match in the early days of our Penn Ohio series!

So off we trundle, or would that be Trumbull!   Keeping a watchful eye on the weather and playing the best we both could; whilst also assessing the course, taking photos and videos and enjoying this lovely established parkland (woodland in places) course.  

With roots dating back to 1915, Canadian course designer Stanley Thompson put his mark on this course alongside seven more courses in Ohio.  Not really a course designer I knew much about before this trip, it was great to see Thompson had adopted the traditional style of golf : playable if sensible!

Knowing sensible isn’t always my style of play, it remained to be seen what this game would bring, especially as the course was tight in places!  

Being a woodland  x parkland style course, playing off the 4th tee was like playing off bubble wrap, with its acorn potted tee box as you tried to get a good stance.  In many respects playing Trumbull Country Club was very similar to playing golf courses in the UK, and most probably why we endeared to it.

The 9th fairway dissects the entrance road in, but stood on the tee of the 9th, you don’t really get the feel the road is in the way or even in play.  A par 5 from the forward tees and a par 4 from the rest of the tee positions, there was plenty of space, so long as you were going forward and not sideways into the trees!  Crossing the road to the large receptive, but fairly flat green certainly showed the clubhouse in it’s full glory on the left.  All the greens were in great condition.

Maybe at this point we should have taken refuge, but looking down 10, it looked far too inviting.  A fairly straight par 4 with a little pond to the right of the tee, we decided to carry on, heading towards the darker skies, with our fingers crossed.

The 10th sits alongside the entrance road the course, as such the houses sat on the other side of the road and weren’t really in play.  Somehow we managed to put them (rather their gardens) in play as we found Steve’s golf ball in the front garden of one residence.  Gingerly walking across the open plan garden, we bought it back into play by placing it back on the fairway and carried on – quickly!

Got to say Steve wasn’t haven’t his best golfing moments on the back, and as we’d halved the front nine, I wasn’t going to make it worse by “helping”

Hole 12, a lovely par 3 over water at only 101 yards forwards tees and 130 for mid tees, water in front and the busy main road to the right, the rain started to become a little annoying.  On the green in one and two putts made me the winner of this hole.  With a blob and the rain pouring down now, the game was over in more than one way for Steve.

We did actually tee off 13, but the rain got the better of us as we scooped up the balls and made a beeline to the clubhouse, sodden.

We stopped after playing 12 with the promise to return if we could find a gap in our schedule for the remainder of our trip.

Sadly we didn’t get that opportunity, so the win was chalked up to me and the Penn Ohio match now again all-square at 1.5 to 1.5

In summary, I wished we had got the opportunity to return, as playing Trumbull Country Club wasn’t just about the nice course.  It was about the whole experience; from the friendly welcome in the pro-shop, to the great food and club atmosphere in the clubhouse. 

Sarah Forrest

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*Wedding Soup

Peculiar to Ohio and Pennsylvania, although it can be found in other places.

Wedding soup or Italian wedding soup is an Italian soup consisting of green vegetables and meat. It is popular in the United States, where it is a staple in many Italian restaurants

The name wedding comes from the Italian phrase minestra maritata which means ‘married soup. ‘ Why is it married? It’s the marriage of ingredients, and the resulting delicious flavour, in the soup! All wedding soups are going to have green vegetables and meat and as we discovered varies from one restaurant/household to the next!