Hickory Sticks Golf Course

Campbell County sits on the southern bank of the Ohio River, directly across from Cincinnati, and the rolling hills that define this corner of northern Kentucky give Hickory Sticks its natural bones. The terrain here is classic Bluegrass State countryside — wooded ridges, uneven ground, and the kind of topography that rewards local knowledge and punishes a lazy approach shot.

The name itself carries a certain nostalgia, evoking the wooden-shafted era when golf was a rougher, more intuitive game. Whether that's by design or happy accident, it sets a tone: this is not a manicured resort showpiece but a course that asks you to work with the land rather than against it. A par of 71 suggests at least one unconventional wrinkle in the routing — likely an asymmetry of par-3s or par-5s that keeps the card from feeling formulaic.

For golfers in the greater Cincinnati metro looking to cross the river, Campbell County offers a genuinely different feel from the flatter layouts on the Ohio side, with northern Kentucky's hilly character front and center throughout the round.