DUBLIN, Ohio — Clay Rose is 74 years old, and he will tell you without hesitation that Dublin is the best place to live.
“Ah yes, I love Dublin, Ohio,” Rose said. “It’s a great place to be.”
He’s lived there his whole life and has watched the area transform from fewer than 700 residents in 1970 to nearly 50,000 today. He credits a lot of that growth to one thing: the Memorial Tournament.
“Well, Dublin was here long before, but when Muirfield, when it was developed, it put a whole new part of Dublin in place,” Rose said. “There were visions that Jack Nicklaus had as far as how he wanted the area to be…it really set the standard for what Dublin did after that,” Rose said, whose a member of the Dublin Historical Society.
Clay Rose, longtime Dublin resident, Taylor Bruck/Spectrum News 1
A Vision for Central Ohio
In 1976, golf legend Jack Nicklaus brought the Memorial Tournament to Dublin with his newly designed Muirfield Village Golf Club. Working with landscape architect James “Jim” Bassett, they wanted to create something intentional and beautiful. Winding roads, stone and flowers and a lot of green space. Everything was designed to feel connected and walkable.
It was a vision born from Nicklaus’s own history with the land — places where he hunted as a child with his father.
As Dublin expanded over the following decades, the city’s leaders paid attention. They adopted those same standards everywhere.
“I don’t think the Memorial Tournament would be what it is without Dublin. I’m going to say it both ways,” Rose said. “Dublin has worked very closely with the golf course, with the Memorial Tournament staff, with everybody to make sure it was done right.”
Economic Transformation
The numbers tell the story of Dublin’s transformation. In 1976, Dublin had no hotels. Today Rose said it has over 20. Tourism is now woven into the fabric of the city. The tournament brings in nearly three million visitors annually and has sparked recent development — like Bridge Park. New restaurants and bars have opened, along with golf-themed establishments.
Today, the median home price in Dublin is $619,000 — more than double Ohio’s statewide average of $264,000, according to Redfin. Like a well-maintained golf course, Dublin is known to be well kept and affluent.
Rose said the contrast with Dublin’s past is striking. Before the Memorial Tournament, there was virtually nothing there.
“This was not a wealthy community prior to the Memorial Tournament getting here,” Rose said.
Historic Dublin (often referred to as “Old Dublin”) is the original 1810 village nestled along the Scioto River, Taylor Bruck/Spectrum News 1
A Ripple Effect
The tournament’s influence extends beyond tourism and real estate. It’s inspired entrepreneurs and business owners to create ventures tied to golf and the community.
Kyle Morris is a former professional golfer who met Jack Nicklaus in 2008. That single conversation changed the trajectory of his life.
Growing up nearby in Powell, Ohio, Morris said he fell in love with golf because of the Memorial Tournament. As a kid practicing at a local course, he could see the Goodyear blimp flying above Muirfield Village during tournament week. After retiring from professional golf, Morris built The Golf Room in Dublin, the nation’s largest player development facility.
“The Memorial Tournament has basically fed the fire inside my soul to be where we are and doing what we’re doing,” Morris said. “I couldn’t be more thankful to them for doing it. It certainly changed my life by having The Golf Room here.”
Morris said golf has become inseparable from Dublin’s identity.
“If you’re in Dublin and you’re not attached to golf in some way or another, it’s almost like saying you’re not an Ohio State fan,” Morris said jokingly. “It’s like, are you actually from Ohio? Like, you should maybe move.”
Morris said he’s as “Dublin-ite” as it gets. He loves the city and said he thinks The Memorial Tournament is a huge reason for its success.
“I don’t think there’s a better place to live in the world,” Morris said. “I think that the Memorial, what it has done for Dublin, but really just the city of Columbus, has transformed the city to something that could never be done by itself.”
Pride in Community
Rose said the tournament also shaped how Dublin residents take care of their community. Standards for quality and excellence became embedded in everything from architecture to landscaping to how people maintain their homes.
“They take pride in their community,” Rose said. “They take pride in what they own, where they live.”
Jack Nicklaus himself said he’s proud of what’s happened over the past five decades.
“Dublin’s done fairly well,” Nicklaus said. “I think we probably had a pretty big influence on that. We’re very proud of that. And we’ve had great support from the whole Central Ohio and actually the whole golfing world.”
Kyle Morris is a former professional golfer and owner of The Golf Room, Taylor Bruck/Spectrum News 1
A City Transformed
Fifty years ago, Nicklaus brought a world-class golf tournament to central Ohio. But what Rose said he really did was help create a world-class city — one that made Ohio competitive with the rest of the world.
“I’ve traveled a lot of places in this world, but I’ve never traveled some place where I say, oh, I should be living here instead of in Dublin,” Rose said.
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary
As the 50th anniversary of the Memorial Tournament gets underway this week, Dublin is showing the world what it has become. The city decorated for the event, getting everyone in the spirit of the tournament.
A giant golf ball is set up near Bridge Park, offering photo opportunities, and visitors can view the names of every previous winner on the bridge connecting old Dublin to new Dublin.
Fore!Fest is also returning this weekend with live music, food trucks, a drone show and much more.
For more information on all Memorial Tournament events, visit here.