With spring weather comes golf season, and this year’s a little different than most. There are several rule changes this year that, if you don’t get out too often you might not even know about.

“They made an aggressive move to make the game a little bit more simple for the user, to more modernize the game and make it play a little bit faster, which is a couple of the knocks against the game of golf,” said Brian Tolnar, the PGA golf and recreation director at Mill Creek MetroParks. 

The most noticeable change for 2019 is that you can now putt with the pin still in the cup.

“Now it’s just a routine part of finishing out the hole,” said Tolnar.

It’s not the only difference on the putting green; you can now tap down spike marks and get a do-over if your practice putt gets a little too cozy with the ball.

“I’m practicing my putting stroke… I accidentally hit the ball. I wasn’t attempting to make the putt. The ball was outside my line of putt. Now I can return that ball back to the spot where it was at under no penalty,” said Tolnar.

In the bunker, you can escape a bad lie and take a drop with a two-shot penalty. You can also clean up a little if there is a twig or leaf sitting right next to your ball.

“Now we have the option to remove loose impediments. Unlike years past, we’d have to hit the shot the way it was sitting in the bunker… Now you get to have the to option of removing those,” said Tolnar.

Let’s say your tee shot flies into the woods. Instead of a one-stroke penalty and another tee shot, which could very well land in the same place, you can now take a two shot penalty and just drop it in the fairway.

As for the way you drop the ball, even that has changed. With the new rules, you will drop the ball from knee height instead of from the shoulder.

“We first started with dropping over our back many many years ago, to shoulder length, to now we’re going to drop at knee height,” said Tolnar.

One of the rule changes you’ll quickly become familiar with if you tend to hit the ball into the woods is how long you have to look around for a lost ball. It used to be five minutes. Now you only have three.

Tolnar says when you add all these little changes together it makes the game faster and ideally more appealing for the next generation.

“Change is a great thing. Especially if you think about the era that you grew up as a kid, it’s completely different than the era that we’re in now. It’s more fast-paced,” said Tolnar. “I think it certainly makes the game more modern. It makes the game more friendly from a playing component and easy to learn and easy to know.”

Mill Creek is part of this push to make the game more appealing with its “Let’s Play Golf Youngstown” initiative. They have special deals and programs for kids and families, trying to get more people into the game of golf. You can learn more on the Mill Creek Golf Course website. 

View the full article at wfmj.com

The following roads in Mill Creek MetroParks will be closed to vehicular traffic as well as cyclists and pedestrians from approximately 6:30 a.m. until Noon on Sunday, April 14, 2019 for the Run Y-town 10 Mile Run:

• Old Mill Drive

• Kreider’s Entrance

• West Newport Drive

• East Newport Drive

• Chestnut Hill Drive

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Several Mill Creek Park police officers were honored at a board meeting Monday night for their life-saving actions.

Mill Creek Policeman Nathan White was honored for taking a convulsing woman to the hospital.

Her Epipen wouldn’t work and she was in anaphylactic shock, so White called 911. They said it would be a while before an ambulance could get there, so he took her to the hospital himself.

The hospital staff said without his action, the woman would not have survived.

Five other officers were also honored for giving naloxone to a woman who was overdosing in the Idora neighborhood near the park.

Those officers were Alex Wharry, James Shirilla, Christian Hunter, Bryce Lapierre and Sgt. Robert Vukovich.

View the full article at wytv.com

The Mill Creek MetroParks commissioners promised Monday night to keep the Buckeye Horse Park for horses. But at least for now, it will be run by the MetroParks and not Buckeye.

After 25 years, the Buckeye Horse Park on Route 224 west of Canfield will be run by Mill Creek MetroParks, though people involved with the horse park still hope further negotiations will change that plan.

Fifty people from the Buckeye Horse Park Association sat on one side of the room at Monday night’s Mill Creek MetroParks Board meeting.

Executive Director Aaron Young said the horse park is being taken over by the MetroParks.

“The goal of the organization is to operate that facility in the same manner in which we had previously. This time, without a third-party partnership agreement.”

“I would simply ask the board, however, to take a breath and I think that this can still be resolved,” said Atty. Darrell Markijohn, who represents Buckeye Horse Park.

Markijohn explained the reasons the association couldn’t agree to a new lease were because of demand by the MetroParks to deny horses access at any time and the stopping of overnight stabling during horse shows.

“Overnight stabling is a necessity for an equine facility,” Candice Murton-Bradbury said.

“Stipulations that were put on the Buckeye Horse Park made it almost impossible for them to accept that lease agreement and for them to use that property. They were more or less forced out,” Chris Jones said.

Bill Pintaric questioned if the MetroParks had the expertise to run a horse park.

“I think you’re going into this agreement without the knowledge necessary to actually maintain that facility because you don’t have anybody that knows what to do with it,” he said.

The people from the Horse Park Association asked for a meeting with the board to try to work things out.

“I want people to understand that, for 25 years, the volunteers have put their heart and soul into this equine facility,” Diane Byers said.

The MetroParks Board listened but didn’t promise anything. It was decided that attorneys for the two sides would meet, but no date was officially set.

View the full article at wkbn.com

With the arrival of spring, many in the Valley are looking for a way to get out and enjoy warmer temperatures. 

For bicyclists in the area that have missed the fourteen-and-a-half mile ride along the entirety of the Mill Creek MetroParks Bike Trail, you’ll likely be in luck soon. 

MetroParks officials say the bike trail is anticipated to open a detour near the Kirk Road Trailhead sometime next week. 

The trail has been closed between Kirk Road and Herbert Road since July 2018. 

According to park officials, the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission was working to replace the turnpike bridges over the Bikeway. 

OTIC replaced the bridges with a large concrete arch culvert, thus creating a tunnel for the bikeway under the turnpike. 

Officials say contractors were out Thursday paving a portion of the new detour. 

Following the paving, crews have some final touches to put in, including fencing, barrier walls, and other safety features. 

Park officials say the official date of the opening of the new detour will depend upon the weather and when the crews can wrap up the final measures. 

During the closure, other sections of the bike trail have remained open, including from Western Reserve Road to Herbert Road, and from Kirk Road north into Niles. However, cyclists have not been able to travel the full length of the trail. 

The actual trailhead under the turnpike is expected to be completed and reopened at the end of 2019.

View the full article at wfmj.com