Firestone

[Jason Topp]

I played in a member guest at Firestone last weekend.  We wound up playing each of the three courses twice over four days. 


I had not played a tunnel of trees type course in a long time.  Minneapolis/St. Paul had a score of such courses twenty years ago but tree removal projects have pretty much eliminated them and newer courses are no longer built that way. 


I must admit, I found the experience pleasant.  While such courses are not my preferred style, each of three courses had its own character, the conditioning was excellent (although soft due to about three inches of rain over the four days) and the greens were very interesting.  It was fun to revive the punch shot which was a staple of the game not too long ago.  Fairway corridors were wide enough to make the course playable.


I am of a view that variety yields the best golf experience.  Even if this style of golf is out of favor, it has a place in the game and is a nice change of pace.

[Tim Gavrich]

Totally agree, Jason. I spent a couple of days at Firestone in May and played each course. I enjoyed all of them more than I expected to. The South in particular is more interesting than I expected, thanks to the terrain, which we all know never shows up well on TV broadcasts. The first three holes in particular are really good, IMO.


Overall the golf at Firestone is very meat-and-potatoes, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.


What impressed me most about Firestone was the hangout atmosphere. Staying on property is a lot of fun. Fuzz, who minds the bar at the top of the clubhouse and verbally abuses everyone who crosses his path, is a great character as well.

[John Kavanaugh]

Shade is King this summer. How do they handle Tiger’s accomplishments?

[Jason Topp]

Shade is King this summer. How do they handle Tiger’s accomplishments?

Extensively. 

[Jason Topp]

What impressed me most about Firestone was the hangout atmosphere. Staying on property is a lot of fun. Fuzz, who minds the bar at the top of the clubhouse and verbally abuses everyone who crosses his path, is a great character as well.

My room was in the locker room which was quite an experience!

[Billsteele]

Jason-I would be interested in your thoughts on how the courses differ. To me, the South is a bit of a slog with the parallel fairways, long par fours and deep bunkers. With the exception of the 5th and 6th hole, every corridor of play runs North and South (or vice versa). I do like the 3rd and 16th holes (with ponds fronting the greens). It is demanding but certainly not charming. The North is where I would spend most of my rounds on the property. It has a nice variety of holes and is quite a bit more fun than the South. It too is a challenging layout but a bit more varied to me. The surprise to me is the West. It is wide, playable and the ridge line on the back is some of the best land on the property. It is the least difficult of the three courses (but by no means a pushover) and probably the most pleasant round on the campus.  I am not a huge Fazio fan but he did a nice job on the turf that once occupied a Bob Cupp design. Thanks for weighing in on the Rubber City Member-Guest.

[DFarron]

Used to live near Firestone, used to enjoy all 3 courses (especially South) a lot. They also have a great range.


I agree, I like a variety of courses.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Firestone is a wonderful facility. I've played the South course a half dozen times and North and West three or four times each. The South Course gets a lot of grief from GCA folks, but I found the terrain excellent, the shots into the greens demanding, and the bunkering good. There is a speed slot on 16 that can shoot your ball 50 yards ahead if you get it correctly. One day I hit a dozen drives until I got it perfectly. It has a great history back to the old World Series of golf, and you can't miss it when you are on the course.  watched Arnie, Jack, and Gary play in it many times. Would I like to play it every day? No, but I enjoy it whenever I get to town.

[Jason Topp]

Jason-I would be interested in your thoughts on how the courses differ. To me, the South is a bit of a slog with the parallel fairways, long par fours and deep bunkers. With the exception of the 5th and 6th hole, every corridor of play runs North and South (or vice versa). I do like the 3rd and 16th holes (with ponds fronting the greens). It is demanding but certainly not charming. The North is where I would spend most of my rounds on the property. It has a nice variety of holes and is quite a bit more fun than the South. It too is a challenging layout but a bit more varied to me. The surprise to me is the West. It is wide, playable and the ridge line on the back is some of the best land on the property. It is the least difficult of the three courses (but by no means a pushover) and probably the most pleasant round on the campus.  I am not a huge Fazio fan but he did a nice job on the turf that once occupied a Bob Cupp design. Thanks for weighing in on the Rubber City Member-Guest.

Bill:


I liked the South the best.  I agree that the holes generally run the same direction which I expected.  What I did not expect was the undulation of the land and the interesting green complexes.  The course generally sits on a broad slope that makes the holes away from the clubhouse play much longer than the yardage and the return holes much shorter.  I am not a huge fan of greenside ponds but I really did like the short par 4 (maybe 6?) that rewarded an accurate drive with a pretty straightforward short iron over a pond. 


The West was my second favorite.  There is more room to play and some nice variety in hole lengths.  The challenge varied compared to the South which was generally just demanding from start to finish.  The par threes on the back nine were particularly strong.


I liked the North the least, primarily for the water holes that felt like Florida golf.  I did like the holes in the pine trees and hills pretty well although there was one stretch of par fours that was way too long for me.   I hit the ball 230 off the tee on a course with good roll in the fairways and we played that course from over 6700 yards on a soggy weekend.  I have never played so many par fours as par fives as I did on that one.  I doubtless would have liked it better from the white tees.  I also thought the corridors were a bit narrow in spots.  The green on the hard dogleg left has to be one of the most severe I have experienced.  I twice stopped watching balls that I thought were in the middle of the green only to see them off the front when we arrived at the surface.


I do not know how a club picks tees for an event such as this.  Handicaps ranged from +2 to 20 and driver lengths varied from 200 to 320.  At least I could reach the fairways on all the holes but I am not sure everyone could.  In contrast, others were reaching par fives with short irons. 

[Jason Topp]

Firestone is a wonderful facility. I've played the South course a half dozen times and North and West three or four times each. The South Course gets a lot of grief from GCA folks, but I found the terrain excellent, the shots into the greens demanding, and the bunkering good. There is a speed slot on 16 that can shoot your ball 50 yards ahead if you get it correctly. One day I hit a dozen drives until I got it perfectly. It has a great history back to the old World Series of golf, and you can't miss it when you are on the course.  watched Arnie, Jack, and Gary play in it many times. Would I like to play it every day? No, but I enjoy it whenever I get to town.

Good summary Tommy!