Firestone Country Club (South), Ohio

The signature par five sixteenth, nicknamed “The Monster”, at the historic South course at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.

Earlier this year, while browsing silent auction items at the Catholic church in which we are proud parishioners, my wife and I came across one that immediately caught our eye. A two-night, three-round trip for four to Firestone Country Club suddenly became a must have for us, and we ultimately won the item with a last-second bid. My parents were a part of the auction process and made up the rest of the trip’s group of four.

Firestone, located in Akron, Ohio, is Invited’s premier country club. Invited is a group out of Dallas that owns a number of private golf clubs nationwide. We had experience with the company as members of Brookhaven Country Club when we lived in North Texas, and we were excited to cash in our certificate. We flew down to Cleveland on a Friday, spent some time with friends in the area, and headed forty-five minutes south to our final destination. We were blown away by the amazing amenities, the delicious food (most notably, the crunchy cream pie), and all the little details that made the experience unforgettable. There’s a nine-hole putting course that can be lit up at night, and each of Firestone’s dining options have their own unique, personalized golf tees.

Ohio as a whole has many incredible golf courses. There are modern stunners like Murifield Village, home to Jack Nicklaus and the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament; The Golf Club; and Double Eagle. Perhaps what the state is most known for is its litany of classic courses, a collection that includes Inverness, Camargo, Moraine, and Scioto.

Before we delve into our main review, let’s quick touch on the other two courses at Firestone Country Club. We were eased into the experience by playing the Fazio layout, the easiest of the facility’s three tracks, firat. The Fazio course is defined by its rolling hills, generous fairways, and expansive views of the property. We were informed that the fifteenth green is one of the highest points of elevation in the state. The North course, which opened is 1969, is situated on the opposite side of East Warner Road and is a course defined by a reservoir that surrounds much of the routing. In fact, there are ten holes in which the lake is considered in play. Just like the South course, if you can’t hit a ball straight on the North, you will be punished severely.

There’s one person I need to thank especially for making our already great experience that much greater at Firestore, and that person is our forecaddie Avery. Avery showed up an hour before each tee time and worked his absolute hardest to ensure all four of us were having a great time. I enjoyed getting to know Avery and hear about his journey as a college golfer, professional caddie, and, most importantly, a Christian. If you ever find yourself on the Firestone property, make sure you request him as your forecaddie. Avery, if you’re reading this, thank you so much. It’s hard for one single employee to standout at a place like Firestone, but you did.

Let’s talk about the hallowed South course. Firestone’s championship layout has hosted nearly every golf legend of the last century, from Hogan, Nelson, and Nicklaus to Woods, Mickelson, and McIlroy. Many of golf’s iconic moments have happened at Firestone. Tiger Woods hit his “shot in the dark” here on the eighteenth in 2000. Jack Nicklaus made a “miracle routine par” on the sixteenth in 1975. The course hosted three PGA Championships, the Tour’s WGC Bridgestone for several decades, and nowadays is the venue for the Champions Tour’s Kaulig Companies Championship, a major on the senior circuit.

In recent years, shiny new objects have surpassed the South in national rankings. The Robert Trent Jones layout is still rated highly by GolfWeek (156th in their ranking of the nation’s classic courses) and Golf Digest (ninety-first in their ranking of top 100 public, which makes sense now given their stay-and-play packages).

The course is incredibly difficult for an amateur golfer due to its penal, thick rough, tight fairways, deep bunker hazards, and its small, unforgiving green complexes. When it comes to choosing my favorite hole on the South course, I am decidedly biased. My wife, parents, and I stayed in a villa overlooking the sixteenth green, and so I’ll forever be partial to that spot. For those that don’t know, the sixteenth is a 667-yard undertaking from the tips, which makes it the longest par five in Ohio. The green is protected by two bunkers long and left and a pond just short of the putting surface. Arnold Palmer once called the sixteenth a monster. As such, Firestone South is now referred to as “The Monster” and a stone bridge that crosses the pond of sixteen is named for him. My dad and I played every yard of the signature hole, and I stuck one of the best five irons of my life from 220 yards out to ten feet. As I told Avery, I would have sat on the plane ride home hours later wishing I would have gone for the green, so I did.

Another great hole on the South course is the third. Playing 442 yards from the tips, this par four features a gentle dogleg right with a few well-placed trees on the right side that aid in defining its shape and strategy. The approach shot is played over a beautiful little pond to a tight little green. The ninth is a down-and-up 492-yard par four with a glaring false front. The most fun part of this hole—or nerve-wracking, depending on how you want to look at it—is that everyone eating their meals in one of the club’s four restaurants can see your approach and putt. Get it to the hole, otherwise you’ll end up like me and fail to get up and down for a par.

Of the par threes, the twelfth is easily the best. The scorecard may say it is the shortest one-shorter by thirty yards, but that in no way is an endorsement of it being the easiest. The area around the green is quite literally shaped like a volcano. The putting surface is tiny, and any errant golf shot off the tee will stick in the deep rough or one of the deep bunkers. Not only that, but the green sports a number of unfriendly contours.

A lot of naysayers opine that Firestone South is dull and repetitive from an architectural standpoint. Since most holes are tree lined and defined by penal bunkers and tangly Bentgrass rough, I can see where one might struggle to see variety. Having grown up in Minnesota, I love old, championship parkland golf, and the South stands as a notable example of that type.

I won’t beat around the bush: Firestone South is one of the toughest golf courses I’ve ever played. Avery let us know that the average golfer shoots, on average, around ten worse on the South than the North or Fazio courses. I played amazingly and still hit half a dozen shots more than my course handicap. That’s not to take anything away from the course, which strikes a strong balance between memorability and challenge. No matter one’s opinion, Firestone Country Club’s South course has cemented its stake as an important golf venue. That I was able to spend a long weekend playing golf with my wife and parents made the trip a bid worth winning.