Congress Lake (Ross) in Ohio

[Pete Garvey]

I have the opportunity to play Congress Lake Club in Hartville, Ohio soon.  It's a 1920 Ross design.  Wondering if anyone has played it?

Opinion?

Is it worth the drive?

[mark chalfant]

Pete,
Two  well travelled friends of mine speak highly of C.L.  I believe the routing is  hilly  and compact. There are, I believe,some  fun/contoured greens. I dont know the precise chronology but the course is one half Ross , and one half Willie Park jr. Probably worth playing.

Mark

[Jim Sweeney]

PLayed there many years ago, Pete. I think it nis worth the trip, but I think any chance to play is worth the trip.

Have fun.

[Brad Klein]

Pete, it's wonderful place. Short, a lovely walk, and you're always driving into or just over these little hills, with nothing straight and everything at a slightly off angle. Original Willie Park Jr. routing with at least nine additional holes by Ross. They'e got a Master Plan they'll be implementing by Ron Forse.

[Evan Fleisher]

Pete, it's wonderful place. Short, a lovely walk, and you're always driving into or just over these little hills, with nothing straight and everything at a slightly off angle. Original Willie Park Jr. routing with at least nine additional holes by Ross. They'e got a Master Plan they'll be implementing by Ron Forse.

I'll second that notion...just played there for my first time earlier in the summer.  I think the course will be much improved with the upcoming changes in the master plan (especially [hopefully] some tree removal), but the course was very fun to play and had some really fun holes.

I loved the uphill 2nd, a shortish par-3 tucked into an unusual spot...and as Brad pointed out everything is off-kilter just a tad making for some interesting angles into holes.  Greens were fun to putt as well.  Enjoy!

[Mike_Trenham]

Played it 6 years ago.  A very good course.  The fairways seem to have these glacial formations that rise up and cross the fairways often where an average length player would carry the ball.  Not sure how these effect the longer hitters but they came into play for us most of the round but it was also after two days of rain.

Their long time golf professional Don Miller told us that Ben Crenshaw had visted during one of the World Series events at Firestone and was very complimentary and told them to protect what they had.

This is not a golf course that needed radical surgery as I remember but more of a face lift and fix-up as much of the orginal design was in tact.

I'll see if I can find my pictures.

[Tim Rooney]

I've played CL (2-4)x/yrly the past (10)yrs and agree the most unique features are the green contours/speed.The course is quite tight requiring 3 metal/utility wood consideration, with the short/par 4,#16 a visually surealistic moment.Hogan ,supposedly, remarked very positively following his visit.