Course Review - South Course at Firestone Country Club &; Montreux Country club

The celebrated South Course at Firestone Country Club was created in 1929 by Bert Way and in 1969 became the home of the World Series of Golf, the forerunner of the World Golf Championships. Iconic architect Robert Trent Jones oversaw a major redesign in 1960, giving the course many of the teeth we see today.

Arnold Palmer wryly called the 550m par 5 16th a monster, and ever since then that name has stuck for the whole golf course. A par 70 parkland layout that stretches over 6700 metres, the South Course is characterised by long and demanding par 4's with narrow tree-lined fairways. The 6th is a 430m slight dogleg par 4 played to a well-bunkered severely sloping back to front green, and has proved the most difficult to score on in recent years.

Firestone's signature hole is undoubtedly the 16th that has now been stretched to over 600m in order to keep pace with advances in technology and equipment. An accurate tee shot is required to avoid the bunkers now lurking at 260 metres, followed by a long downhill second shot that must evade the creek on the right and also stay short of the pond guarding the front of this small green. Go long with the approach and you are faced with a devilish chip back to a putting surface sharply tilted towards the water. A real monster!

With no European Tour event on home soil for the next three weeks, players not invited to the WGC tournament can tune their game up at the Reno-Tahoe Open taking place at the Jack Nicklaus designed Montreux Country Club layout. Open for play in 1997 and located in Nevada almost mid-way between Lake Tahoe and Reno, the course offers spectacular views of snow-capped mountains beyond the towering pine trees that surround the club.

With lakes, waterfalls and streams, water is in abundance at Montreux where there are also the Nicklaus hallmarks of wide fairways, pristine white sand bunkers and large undulating greens. The signature holes on this 6800m par 72 design are the drama-filled 15th, 16th and 17th, collectively known as the Bear Trap – a picturesque par 4 followed by a par 3 with a narrow, well-protected green, and a 590m par 5 running alongside a lake. Jack Nicklaus says this is one of his top 5 designs, and the quality of its challenge will be put to the test as the players go for broke in the unique Modified Stableford scoring format.

A Golf Weather
Editorial.