Work on installing a long-needed irrigation system at Clearview Golf Club has begun and is expected to wrap up around early June. Photos courtesy of Mike Kuhn
When Mike Kuhn was first approached about helping Clearview Golf Club in East Canton, Ohio, get a much-needed irrigation system, he agreed before he even knew about its place in golf history.
“I didn’t know all that historic side,” says Kuhn, president of irrigation design consulting firm Michael Kuhn & Associates Inc. “I didn’t know about William Powell, about him being an African American and a war veteran and what he did.”
What Powell did at Clearview was unprecedented. It’s the only course in the United States that was designed, built and owned by an African American.
“My only regret is that I wasn’t able to push this through before Mr. Powell passed away,” Kuhn says of Powell’s death in 2009. “I wish he was a part of this now.”
The “this” in question is the installation of a for-real irrigation system, which, if it hews to the timeline, will get turned on around the time of a big fundraiser in June designed to help pay for it.
Working pro bono, Kuhn insisted on being involved in every aspect of the install, from design to sourcing to the hiring of the contractor to the install itself.
“People keep asking me why I’m doing all this,” Kuhn says. “Why do they deserve this? It’s my choice. I started on a grounds crew, and golf has given back so much to me and my family. You don’t have to give back. It’s a choice you make, and we’re blessed to be where we’re at and able to give back in this way.
“Giving back to me has always been important. And you couldn’t ask for a greater family than Renee and Larry.”
Kuhn, the president of an irrigation design consulting firm, has been involved in every aspect of the Clearview Golf Club irrigation installation, working pro bono.
Siblings Renee and Larry Powell represented the Powell family when they received GCSAA’s Old Tom Morris Award in 2019. Renee was the second African American to play on the LPGA Tour. She’s a member of 12 halls of fame — including the PGA of America Hall of Fame — and is Clearview’s golf pro. Larry Powell is Clearview’s longtime superintendent and a 51-year member of GCSAA.
All that time, Larry Powell has relied on rain and a makeshift “irrigation system” composed of a pump attached to a tractor and connected to a series of above-ground pipes and hoses to keep Clearview’s greens watered.
“A golf course can’t thrive without the right irrigation,” Kuhn says. “Infrastructure and drainage are the biggest pieces of that. How can you compete without the right conditions? I’m not saying you need a 3,000-head irrigation system, but you need an irrigation system adequate to provide the conditions you’re trying to achieve.”
Looking at Clearview, it was clear to Kuhn the course didn’t necessarily need the biggest system available.
“A lot of people said we needed to design some huge system,” Kuhn says. “I said, ‘No. Clearview is such a wonderful piece of property. What Mr. Powell did in designing that with no architect’s background, no agronomic background, was amazing. But they’ve got a small staff. You don’t give somebody like that a 2,000-head irrigation system. They’ll never be able to maintain it.’ I wanted to give them something they could handle and maintain for the next 20 years.”
Kuhn used his leverage as an accomplished, connected consultant to secure materials, often at a discount, and brought on LaBar Golf for the install. Work began in earnest earlier this year, and Kuhn reports all the mainline pipe is in the ground and tied to the pump station from Watertronics.
“We were starting from scratch,” he says. “All the greens are laid out right now. I know I have to get Larry water on his greens. Then in a couple of weeks we hope to get started on fairways and tees. I’m hoping by the first week in June we’ll be wrapped up.”
That timing would be perfect for Clearview, which will host a big fundraiser June 8 and 9. The Clearview Legacy Foundation will host a dinner honoring the late Franco Harris, a longtime supporter of the Powell family, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame on June 8. The event will be followed the next day by the Clearview Legacy Foundation LPGA Pro-Am.
Clearview Golf Club's previous irrigation system, which is in the process of being replaced. Photo by Ed Hall Jr.
“Mike has just been an angel,” Renee Powell says. “He’s like a godsend from heaven. You know, our dad built the golf course in 1946. This is the first time in 79 years we’ll have automatic irrigation. When we say we’re getting irrigation, most people think we’re just getting it replaced. No, we’ve never had it.
“And my gosh, Mike Kuhn is booked through 2030. After he learned about Clearview, he said, ‘This is so important, such a significant part of American history. I want to do this. I don’t have the time, but I’ll make the time.’ Not only that, but for him to donate his services … it’s huge. He’s an angel.”
Mark Jordan, CGCS, the 2021 GCSAA president and 38-year GCSAA member who now is semi-retired but still active with the Clearview Legacy Foundation, reports the foundation is roughly halfway to its goal of securing $1.5 million to pay for the irrigation system.
Kuhn, for his part, hopes by June the system will be all but complete.
“We just finished up a project at Oakmont this winter,” Kuhn says of the course in Oakmont, Pa., that will host the 2025 U.S. Open June 12-15. “Hopefully, if everything turns out good, I can go to Clearview for the fundraiser, then continue on to Oakmont for the Open. I want to be there (Clearview) for the fundraiser, so I can start turning things on, and they can see what this will really do for that family.”
For more information about Clearview Golf Club and the Clearview Legacy Foundation, visit clearviewgolfclub.com.
Andrew Hartsock is GCM’s editor-in-chief.