MyGolfSpy Experiences: Firestone Country Club

MyGolfSpy Experiences has said it before. The best golf buddy trip is the next one. But have you ever thought about the first one?

It’s the year 1557 in Scotland. Two shepherds, Hamish and Seamus, were rolling rocks into rabbit holes in their regular field. And they’re getting bored.

“Laddie, wouldn’t it be grand to head over to McTavish’s field?” asked Hamish. “We could knock some rocks into his rabbit holes.”

“Aye,” replied Seamus. “Grand it would be.”

And that, dear readers, is how the golf buddy trip was born.

And if Hamish and Seamus were planning their next buddy trip, they’d do well to keep the legendary Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, on their radar.

As should you.

MyGolfSpy Experiences: Firestone Country Club

“Firestone is one of the best-known brand names in golf,” Firestone GM Jay Walkinshaw told us. “But it’s also one of golf’s best-kept secrets.”

That seemingly incongruous statement is actually spot on. The Firestone Country Club dates back to 1929. Harvey Firestone opened it as a park for his employees at the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. Firestone has hosted three majors and for decades was a regular PGA TOUR stop. It was the home of the made-for-TV CBS Golf Classic in the 1970s and for years was Tiger’s personal playground at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

The original South course is Firestone’s centerpiece. The Robert Trent Jones-designed North course opened in 1969 and the West Course was added in 1989. Originally designed by Geoffrey Cornish and Brian Silva, the West was redesigned by Tom Fazio in 2002. It’s now known as the Fazio course.

Firestone is an easy 50-minute drive from Cleveland’s Hopkins International Airport. The club provides airport shuttle service for a fee. But if you want to hit the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, a rental car comes in handy.

 The Fazio Course

There’s no right or wrong order in which to play the Firestone courses but the Fazio is a fine how-do-you-do. It’s no cupcake but it is wider and more forgiving than the North and South.

The Fazio works its way around the perimeter of the South course and offers a nice mix of doglegs, elevation changes and sneaky length. The first four holes are a gentle welcome but double bogeys await if you’re errant. The Fazio starts to show its teeth on the par-4 fifth hole and doesn’t really let up.  

Fazio brought his A-game on the par-3s. There are five of them. The third hole can be one of those welcoming holes but a back pin turns it into a bear. It’s slightly uphill, 185 yards to a narrow, multi-tiered green. The sixth is a short-ish downhiller but a front pin placement leaves no room for error. You either hit the green or one of the front bunkers.

The back nine plays on the highest points of the property and rewards you with awesome views and awesome holes.

The Fazio concludes with a reachable par-5 17. If you’re precise, that is. If you aren’t, it’s bunker-town around the green. The par-4 18th is a tremendous finishing hole. It requires a mid to long iron into a narrow but crazy-deep green that you can’t miss left or right.

It’s generally considered the easiest of Firestone’s three courses but don’t get careless. And the greens are fast.

The North Course

You want cool vistas? Firestone’s North course delivers. You want dramatic shots over water? Same answer. You want a challenge that will make you wonder why you play this game? Yep, the North course will do that to you, as well.

The North course is, appropriately, on the north side of the Firestone property across East Warner Road from the clubhouse. And perhaps its most noticeable feature is water. There’s more water on the first two holes of the North course than on the South and Fazio courses combined. You’ll also notice more elevation changes and an interesting variety of holes.

The par-3s on the North are among the best holes at the Firestone property. The sixth is sneaky-tough with an elevated, well-bunkered green. The eighth and 11th are all water until you get to the green. And the 17th may be the coolest hole in Ohio. It plays anywhere from 146 to 218 yards and is all downhill over water. The green is a peninsula that slopes from back to front. There’s no place to bail; you don’t want to miss long, short, left or right.

The 18th is a fantastic risk/reward par-5. Your tee shot is over water to a landing strip of a dogleg that will test your testicular fortitude. Bite off as much as you dare but there’s a canal in front of the green to mess with your mind. On the plus side, the green is large so, if you’ve avoided the water, a closing birdie or par is possible.

So is a three-putt bogey.

Summer Camp

One member of our group summed up Firestone’s dining and accommodations perfectly. He called it a “summer camp for grown-ass men.”

The men’s locker room in the main lodge features, for lack of a better term, dorm rooms. Each room is named after a PGA TOUR pro who won at Firestone (I got the Tiger Woods suite). The rooms have half baths but the locker room showers and amenities do give it a college dorm feel. That is, if your college dorm had a lounge with big-screen TVs playing sports 24/7, a cappuccino machine and a full bar and bartender open ‘till midnight.

The showers feature a waterfall head plus two adjustable lower nozzles to get you clean everywhere. There’s also a new fitness center and massage room. Firestone does have a reputation of being a “Boy’s Club.” For years, it had no real women’s locker room. There is a small one now near the pro shop. But it’s not nearly as well-equipped as the men’s.

Firestone also has 16 on-course villas, broken down into four-apartment quads. Each quad has its own rec room with a kitchenette, pool table, big-screen TV, leather couches and a table for dining and late-night poker games.

Eats and the Firestone Five

The kitchen staff warned us. Spend a weekend at Firestone and you’ll put on what the staff calls the “Firestone Five.”

MyGolfSpy Experiences agrees: The food is that good.

The main dining choice is the 1929 Grille. It’s open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with everything from casual pub grub to seafood and chops. And the tomahawk steak for two will make you weep. Then there’s the appropriately named “Legendary White Bean Soup” and the Sunrise Breakfast Sandwich. It features a fried egg, bacon, cheddar cheese and a divine chipotle aioli on sourdough bread.  

Even if you’re not a vegetarian, don’t miss the Kung Pao cauliflower bites.

No matter what, you simply cannot leave without at least one serving (preferably four) of Firestone’s famous Crunchy Cream Pie. It’s crunchy. It’s creamy. And it’s a pie. And it may be one of the two or three tastiest things I’ve ever put in my mouth.

For the uninitiated, it’s Firestone’s take on a vanilla custard pie. It has a graham cracker crust with toasted coconut shavings and crushed toasted peanuts and pecans, topped off with a caramel drizzle. Local legend claims Jack Nicklaus once sent his private jet to Akron to pick up 40 pies for a birthday party.

I will confess: it accounted for two of my Firestone Five. Maybe three.

For slightly finer dining, Firestone has recently opened the Le Vetta Italian Chophouse. We didn’t eat there but the menu certainly looked inviting.

Burgerdogs and the Legend of Fuzz

Another Firestone Five contributor is the Firestone burgerdog. You’ll find it at the 7-12 Snack Shack, located after the Fazio seventh hole and South’s 12th. The burgerdog is a hot dog-shaped hunk of ground beef served on a toasted brioche hot dog bun. This little slice of heaven comes with all the fixins: cheese, onion, bacon, pickles and a tangy, secret sauce. The original burgerdog came from San Francisco and it’s a staple at the Olympic Club. Firestone, however, has put its own stamp on it.   

MyGolfSpy Experiences approves.

And you also won’t want to miss Firestone’s 55th Hole bar and lounge. Located on the second floor of the clubhouse, it’s a great spot for post-round trash talk and a beer (or several). It’s also the home of the world-famous Fuzz, who’s been a Firestone fixture for nearly 50 years. Fuzz has served libations to everyone from Arnie and Jack to Tiger and Rory. He has a million stories, each one laugh-out-loud funnier than the one before it.

The 55th Hole has a balcony overlooking the first tee and the ninth green. You can see happy golfers starting their rounds with excited anticipation. And, if you’re patient, you can see those same golfers nine holes later wondering why they didn’t stay in bed.

The South Course

The South course is Firestone’s signature layout. It has hosted three majors and for decades was a favorite PGA TOUR stop. Tiger ruled the South with eight wins and it’s the new home for the PGA TOUR Champions Senior PLAYERS Championship.

The South’s reputation of being somewhat boring, with long, straight, narrow holes and small greens is, to a degree, warranted. But it’s also a relentless challenge. Those long, straight, narrow holes and small greens will find the weaknesses in your game and make you pay. But you and the course can reach an understanding. All you need to do is stay in play off the tee and bring a solid short game.

You’ll learn what the South is all about on the very first hole. It’s a long, straight, narrow par-4 with a small green. Strategically placed fairway bunkers are just waiting for something slightly off-target. Your mid-iron approach needs to be precise to avoid a double.

Arnold Palmer dubbed the par-5 16th hole “The Monster.” It plays 667 yards from the tips (590 from the whites) and is, well, a monster. It’s mostly downhill, which helps a bit. The approach is over a pond to what looks like a tiny green from the fairway. It’s actually bigger than it appears but try telling yourself that when your standing over your approach shot.

The par-4 18th may have the toughest tee shot in golf. It plays 435 yards from the white tees (464 from the tips) and turns left as you get closer to a green guarded by two tall trees. This is the site of Tiger’s famous “Shot in the Dark” in 2000. He plopped an 8-iron to about two feet in near-total darkness. We tried it one night. This just in: Tiger is otherworldly.

MyGolfSpy Experiences: Firestone Final Thoughts

There’s so much to like about Firestone. Most multi-course destinations will tell you their courses provide “different and unique” challenges but Firestone truly delivers. Each course has its own personality and, together, make a great centerpiece for a buddy’s trip. Add to that the “grown-ass man summer camp” vibe and you have a destination that really needs to be on your radar.

Unlike Streamsong or even Whistling Straits, there’s actually stuff to do nearby. Firestone has a nine-hole public course next door along with Big Shots Golf, a sort of mini-Topgolf that’s owned by Invited. You can custom-build stay-and-play packages to include both plus a trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

Three-round, two-night packages start at approximately $2,300. You can go all out for a three-night, three-round package with a catered dining experience in a villa. Those packages start at approximately $3,200. You can find out more at the Firestone website.

Where would a Firestone trip rank in the buddy-trip hierarchy? While the courses might not be as highly rated as those at Streamsong, I’d rank Firestone higher simply for the relaxed vibe. Additionally, at Streamsong, you’re in the middle of nowhere. With Firestone, at least you’re in the middle of somewhere.

You’ll likely find it easier to score a tee time and accommodations at Firestone than at most other destinations, as well. As Jay Walkinshaw said, Firestone remains one of golf’s best-kept secrets.

MyGolfSpy Experiences says put it on your radar. You won’t regret it.

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