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In the Hocking Hills, the unique sport of park golf draws visitors for an annual tournament
By: Amanda Pirani
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LOGAN, Ohio (WOUB/Report for America) — Nancy Vititoe and Sharon Capasso are talkers — until it comes time for somebody to swing. They fall silent as Vititoe adjusts her stance and assesses the fairway before her.
She swings, and her ball stops just outside a hole marked with a white flag. Cheers break out from the players behind her.
“I get to drink for almost, because I never make it in,” Vititoe says, raising up a can.
Vititoe and Capasso are competitors in the Wormburner Open, a tournament that brought over 30 park golf players to Hocking Hills on Saturday. Several players came from New York state, where the country’s first park golf course is located.
What is park golf?
Maintaining similarities like natural terrain and 18-hole rounds, the game resembles a compact version of its traditional counterpart.
“The holes are between 100-200 feet long, and you just use the one club,” Shaw said. “It’s kind of built like a driver, but it’s shorter, like a putter, and the ball doesn’t really leave the ground so you don’t have to take a giant swing.”
The ball’s proximity to the ground during park golf earned the course its name. In golf, a wormburner is a shot that’s low and fast.
Shaw decided to open Wormburner on his family’s campground in Logan, after playing the park golf for the first time in New York. It became the second park golf course in the United States.
“We played one round, drove back the same day, and we knew we had to build a course,” he said.
Hocking Hills continues to see tourism growth
Shaw said interest in the sport has grown substantially since it first opened in 2021.
“It started out as kind of just like a little side project,” he said. “But as the seasons have progressed, it’s become an important part of our campground business. We’ve started to build this little community of park golfers.”
Shaw’s course is just one of many creative efforts to draw more people to southeast Ohio.
With that growth has come a rise in unusual local businesses, from tree house hotels to glass blown art.
“The more variety we have in our offerings, the more reason for people to come and to stay longer,” said Karen Raymore, executive director of the Hocking Hills Tourism Association.
After a history of extractive industries, some see ecotourism as the future of the region’s economy. But some local leaders have expressed concerns about the potential negative impacts of tourism, like rising housing costs.
A report prepared for the state by Tourism Economics found spending by tourists generated $162.9 million for the county in 2023, which sits at a poverty rate of 15.9%. That’s about three points higher than the statewide rate of 13.2%.
That income has impacts on tax revenue, allowing local governments to invest in schools, parks, roads and other community services.
“That’s kind of where the real gold in tourism is, is the economic impact in a community,” Raymore said. “In Hocking Hills, tourism has a very positive economic impact.”
Park golf gaining popularity
Capasso and Vititoe have been playing park golf since Shaw’s course first opened on the campground, where they were staying for the season with their families.
At one teeing area, she points to a post with a decorative plaque.
“This is our hole, the 614 camper gang right here,” she said. “That’s … for area code 614, out of Columbus. So that’s what we call ourselves.”
As they move through their second round of the competition, Capasso and Vititoe admit that first place is likely already secured by another player. But they still play with focus, groaning if their stroke doesn’t go as planned.
More than a win, Capasso said a love of the game and its community keeps them coming back.
“We’ve totally enjoyed learning how to play it over the last three seasons. And some of us should be better than we’re playing today,” she laughs. “But it’s truly fun.”
Park golf is gaining popularity in Midwest states, with four courses opening in the region within the last year. Two of those courses are in Ohio. Shaw said he’s hopeful the sport will continue to bring in locals and tourists alike.
“We had a 16-year-old playing against a 73-year-old, and I don’t know who won,” he said. “It’s like even playing ground, just because of how accessible it is, and in that way, I think, similar to pickleball, it could be a very big thing if it catches on.”
Amanda Pirani is WOUB’s Report for America Journalist covering Economic Livelyhood. For more information about Report for America, you can click here.