You do have a couple options. We deal with this in development all the time in central OH. The cheapest by far is trying to grade some swales from your problem spots. This isn't too bad if you have some elevation to work with, just takes time and some reseeding.

If your land is pretty flat, you can try french drains. If you don't have a good place to outlet them, you're going to have to use drywells too.

Just a word of warning, in Ohio it's against the law to divert drainage from your property to another's if it doesn't naturally drain there.

 

I wished WV had that law. My neighbor drives me crazy with his digging his property up that is on a hill and now ALL of his mud/water drains to my farm. I am going to have to install a French drain/drywell to end my problem.

 

Central Ohioian here with a wet lot...

French drains can be your best friend!!! Not a 100% cure, but properly sized and installed they have helped me manage lots of water issues on my flat property WITHOUT transferring the problem to a neighbor.

Jason


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I have clay soil also and here's what I did.First you need to aerate your lawn.This helps the roots of the grass get deeper and thicker.During the growing season more roots need more water and this help in drying the lawn.Next drain your low areas.I added drain tile in low sections that the water is pitched to.I just used surface drains.Don't have the tile too shallow,the mice will use it as a highway and chew openings like where the french drains are.I don't recommend the the black flex pipe.Go with the SDR 35.I used the triple wall pipe for mine due to I got it cheap from a leftover job and they didn't want to return it.
Here are a few picks of the job.

 

Nice job . Kept the turf separate and put it back