A Visit to Historic Firestone Country Club in Akron
By Tom Lang
Firestone Country Club is one of those great golfing venues just dripping with history.
The host site to World Series of golf events, three PGA Championships, the long-ago Rubber City Open Invitational, the more recent WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, and current day host site of the Senior Players Championship, among others, leaves no doubts about golfing history with its golf museum-type photography all over the clubhouse walls – but also that special feeling in the air when on the course. For 66 consecutive years, the club has hosted a professional Tour event.
Michigan’s former PGA Touring pro Dan Pohl of Mt. Pleasant knows it all too well.
“Firestone is a golf course that maybe has some of the toughest and best set of par 4s besides maybe Oakhill,” Pohl told me. “Just a fabulous golf course and I was always proud to have won the World Series of Golf there. Still one of those great golf courses that I enjoy going back to play once in a while.”
Like virtually all golf courses do, it’s been lengthened over the years, to where the current South Course stands at 7,400 yards from the tips, much tougher than when Arnold Palmer dubbed the 16th hole as ‘The Monster.’
“Hole 16 at Firestone is one of the tiniest greens on the golf course, and you’re hitting it over that corner water and the green isn’t very deep,” Pohl added. “You lay up down there and you think you have a nice 9 iron or sand wedge in there and you’ve got this tiny green where you have to hit a perfect shot.
“It is one of those places where you have to play the right tees or you” might struggle a lot.
Wait, you, the public can play there?
Yes, since just 2020, but only if you stay in Firestone’s onsite lodging made up of some outstanding group villas, or individual rooms above the clubhouse. The latter is a unique experience with 29 modernized sleeping rooms off the large upstairs lobby area, which have in-room half baths. Guests simply use the locker room for showering just as if they are a member for the day (or week, etc.).
The villas are located at the 18th green and along the 16th hole of the famed South Course, and at the 18th green on the North Course. They have several individual sleeping suites, but the villas also include large upstairs party rooms for groups to gather, with a pool table, large screen TV, kitchen, fireplace, dining table, over-stuffed chairs and couches, and a balcony that can accommodate a couple dozen people.
Playing Firestone:
Three courses and 54 holes make up the huge property located next door to parks and nature preserves similar to the Detroit MetroPark system, but Akron style. And of course, the iconic water tower is often visible. It was erected after the original clubhouse burned down in 1958, mostly because there was not enough water available, so members made sure that wouldn’t happen again.
The South Course is a classic parkland layout that Harvey Firestone had built in 1929 for the recreation of his tire workers, with very affordable dues in the early years. There are no out-of-bounds areas, just a lot of tree trouble if you are off-line. Another tip I heard is ‘if you are wrong, be long’ on your shots because most of the trouble is in front of greens, not behind.
My favorite 3-hole stretch is the closing 16-18. Hole 16 is a mega-long par five but if you hit the ‘speed slot’ as they call it to the right side of the fairway at the crest of the hill, you can get an extra 100-yard-plus roll out off the tee and down the hill. Hole 17 is s a solid uphill par 4 challenge, before the classic 18th, a downhill slight dogleg left to an elevated green. It’s the site of Tiger Wood’s ‘shot in the dark’ approach he hit well after dusk from 167 yards to win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in 2000, one of his 8 Tour victories at Firestone.
The North Course is on property that is also tree-lined, but the trees are pushed back more off the fairway than South. Again, my favorite three consecutive holes are the closing stretch. Hole 16 is a downhill par 5 that gets skinnier at the end to a thin, deep green surrounded by water left and back. Hole 17 is a forced carry par 3 that gets most of the photographers’ attention with its peninsula green and Firestone water tower in the background.
Hole 18 also requires a drive over water for this par 5 gem of a closing hole, then over a creek to a green that is very wide but not deep.
Don’t skip the Fazio designed third (West) course whose front 9 wraps around the outside of the South Course, featuring huge green complexes and formerly massive sand traps that were downsized during the last renovation in October 2020 to feel less like playing in the desert. The front nine has almost-drivable par 4s back-to-back (4 and 5), followed by the toughest hole on the course. The back 9 is the highest elevation on the Firestone property, is hilly and provides wonderful sightlines of the expansive property.
If your group is looking for a unique experience at a very historic club, investigate staying onsite, getting play privileges and experiencing the marvelous food options (don’t leave town without ordering the Crunchy Cream pie).
Added bonus: Firestone owns and maintains a public 9-hole course at the north end of the North Course that’s got similar land features and conditioning beyond most public options. Also at that location, an old driving range has been transformed into a BigShots food and golf-focused entertainment option that’s great for additional nightlife or a rainy-day activity. It uses TrackMan and TV simulators to play courses from around the world in a gaming format similar to TopGolf but without the ‘basket targets’ in the ground.
For more information about Firestone, visit www.firestonecountryclub.com
