For some people, the sport of golf is in their blood. For Paul McMullin, co-owner of Yankee Run Golf Course, his passion runs deeper than that.

Perhaps that's one reason Brookfield's Yankee Run recently was selected as Ohio's 2001 "Golf Course of the Year" by Mount Pleasant, S.C.-based National Golf Course Owners Association.

McMullin, literally, grew up in a home nestled 50 yards from the clubhouse on the course, which opened July 4, 1931. He and his cousin Gary are the third-generation proprietors, having purchased the business from their parents in 1982.

"My wife (Karen) and I built a home right next to my father; in fact, I'm looking out on No. 10 right now,'' McMullin said by telephone one recent sun-kissed afternoon.

"I don't have to drive to work,'' he quipped.

Today, you'll find McMullin -- "Mr. Inside,'' as he refers to himself -- at the family-owned facility six days per week.

Paul McMullin, who played collegiately at Purdue University for a season and once made a bid to enter the PGA Tour's Qualifying School, is the club's teaching pro, while Gary -- a former physical education instructor in Ravenna, Ohio, and fondly dubbed, "Mr. Outside,'' by Paul -- serves as superintendent. Those roles were handed down from their fathers, Ben and Bill, who served as pro and super, respectively, when they assumed the course's operation in 1947.

Yankee Run, a picturesque, par-70, 6,500-yard layout (from the blue tees; 6,100 from the white) was chosen by Golf Course Owners Association based on four criteria: course conditions/quality, course management, community involvement and contributions in promoting the game of golf. Yankee Run recently conducted its annual, highly-successful 5-man scramble, which featured a $10,000 purse.

Some of the other five finalists for the 2001 award, Paul McMullin related, were Millcreek and Ostrander, located northeast of Columbus; Medina's Bunker Hill, and Fox Den in nearby Stow.

"My father was one of founding fathers of that association a long time ago, so Yankee Run has been very involved with that (National Golf Course Owners Association) in the state of Ohio a long time,'' Paul McMullin noted.

Yankee Run's origin dates back to 1929 when Paul McMullin's great uncle, then a Cornell University student, returned home on break and announced to his sister, "They play this game in Ithaca, N.Y. -- it's called 'golf,' '' Paul related.

The McMullin and Jones families at the time owned a tract of land on which they farmed. Bill Jones, Paul's great uncle, was studying mechanical engineering at the time, but turned intellect and vision into golf architecture and designed a 9-hole golf course.

"He wasn't a golf-course architect, but he had tremendous insight into the lay of the land,'' said Paul in praising his uncle.

Bill and Ben McMullin worked on the course when they returned from serving in World War II, then purchased it in 1947, the year in which the second nine opened.

Since their purchase, Paul and Gary effected a change in the layout of Nos. 10 and 11 in 1989, and today, while acknowledging, "God did most of the work," Paul said Yankee Run, located on 150 rolling acres, "is noted for its extremely sloped greens, which are difficult to play,'' and "its course conditions and layout.''

All of Yankee Run's riding carts are computer-equipped with state-of-the-art Parview GPS technology.

According to the course's website, "GPS provides distancing from each tee to the center of the green, allowing golfers to view the distance of their drive or distance remaining to the pin. As a golfer approaches each hole, GPS displays a graphical overview of the hole, featuring distances to the pin, fairway hazards, landmarks, pro tips on how best to play the hole and an elapsed timer to monitor pace of play.

"As the cart approaches the green, GPS displays the current pin placement, with distances to the front and back of the green, and pin distance from the center of the green.''

The course also features an electronic scoring/live tournament leaderboard, "displaying the hole number, par, handicap, and player designation. The feature automatically adds each hole's scores and displays the current scoring total for holes played. During a tournament, participants can utilize the feature to see who the top leaders are at that very moment and what hole they are currently playing.''

Commendations are nothing new for Yankee Run. Golf Digest Magazine endowed its 4-star rating on the course both last year and this season, and the local layout also received a National Golf Foundation Public Golf Achievement award. In 1996, the pro shop was acknowledged by Golf Shop Operations Magazine as one of the country's 100 finest.

Regarding the Golf Digest honor, Paul McMullin admitted, "Anytime you receive an award, naturally it's a thrill. But that particular award is from my players, those who play the course, as opposed to my peers (course owners).''

After earning a degree in agronomy (turf/grass management) Paul took a shot at Q School in Pinehurst, N.C. and missed completing the first stage by four scant strokes. At the time, he decided he'd rather teach than serve as a course superintendent and his wife gave birth to the oldest of their three children, Sloan. From that juncture, Paul "started teaching (at Yankee Run), fell in love with that side of it and never looked back.

"I give those guys on Tour a lot of credit,'' Paul said. "They sacrifice a lot when it comes to family life. That's not an easy life.''

That's where his life-long relationship with Yankee Run has been most beneficial because it afforded him the opportunity to teach the game he loves to Sloan, 27, and his younger daughter, Jordan, 25, both of whom now reside in the San Diego area, as well as to the McMullin's 14-year-old son, Taylor, currently an eighth-grader at St. Joseph's who will be hitting the junior tourney trail this summer.

"I wouldn't change a thing,'' Paul admitted.

And when it comes to Yankee Run Golf Course, local lovers of the game would say the same.