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Larry_Keltto

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Fowler's Mill/TRW questions
« on: May 25, 2007, 11:23:25 PM »
Tonight I was recalling a course I played a couple times in the late 1970s -- the TRW course in Chesterland, Ohio. I was in junior high at the time, so the architectural details were lost on me, but I remember that people in Northeast Ohio regarded it as an excellent course.

I did a search and found out it's now a 27-hole public course, Fowler's Mill, and Pete Dye was the architect.

Could those who have played it give me an idea of its quality, and its significance -- if any -- in Dye's career? Was it 27 holes from its opening?

I'm also curious about who at TRW pushed to have it built, and how it came to be a public course.

Billsteele

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Re:Fowler's Mill/TRW questions
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2007, 10:29:03 AM »
Larry-Fowler's Mill was opened in approximately 1970. I have only played it a couple of times and the last time was about eight years ago so my perspective is a bit distant. The championship configuration is the Lake and River nines. From what I remember, it is fairly representative of Dye's design style/philosophy at that time...not overly penal but presenting a number of risk/reward options based on the angle of play (a sort of Harbour Town lite). Two holes that I recall as being pretty good : The Lake's #4 a hefty cape hole playing left to right and the River's #3 a short par four with a split fairway created by a creek. I remember enjoying the course but recall very little other than those two holes. The Maple nine is shorter and supposedly much more user friendly (I don't know since I never played it).
    My understanding is that at one time there was a tax advantage that a corporation could utilize if they provided recreational facilities for their employees. In Ohio, you had Firestone, NCR, TRW (now Fowler's Mill) and Armco Steel (now Shaker Run) which operated golf courses. In fact, Timken Roller Bearing, where my father worked, had an extensive recreational program for employees and their families. The park (with about 10 softball and baseball diamonds) sat in the shadow of one of their steel mills. In the late 1970's, early 1980's, the tax benefit was eliminated. The economic conditions of the times may also have played a role. However, most of these corporations sold their courses to private entities to be run exclusively as a golf operation (I am not sure of the situation at NCR). While I have no specific information about Fowler's Mill, the time line of course development and the shift to a public golf course suggests that it befell a similar fate to the other courses mentioned.

Doug Ralston

Re:Fowler's Mill/TRW questions
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2007, 03:25:39 PM »
Here is an excellent site with some great pix of Fowler's Mill and many other courses.

http://www.golfclevelandohio.com/G2003-main.htm

Doug

Jay Flemma

Re:Fowler's Mill/TRW questions
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2007, 12:19:37 PM »
I enjoyed Fowlers alot when I was there.  Tough but fair with some interesting holes.  I like the hazard pewrp. to the line of play on 9 and 12.