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Firestone’s Fearsome Foursome

Fall 2020

ClubLife Magazine

 

INDULGE: GOLF

INDULGE: GOLF

Firestone’s Fearsome Foursome

Paul Lazoran has attended every single tournament held at Firestone Country Club. Here's what he has to say about playing four of its legendary holes (including The Monster) — and how to apply the pros' approach to your own game.

Is Firestone South tough? Ask the star-studded cast of the recent Champions Tour event, the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship. At the sole senior major of 2020, only winner Jerry Kelly and runner-up Scott Parel finished below par at the mid-August tournament.

That might give potential players pause, but Members of the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, don’t have to play from the 7,400-yard tees. Actually, they don’t have to play the South Course at all if they don’t want to, since the club also has the highly rated North and West courses on hand.

Yes, this is where Palmer took an eight to blow him out of the 1960 PGA Championship. He said, “This hole is a monster,” and the name stuck.

But the South is an irresistible draw because every time players stroll its fairways, they’re walking in the footsteps of the greats. Firestone has hosted professional tournaments for 66 consecutive years, from the first Rubber City Open in 1954 through the span of the NEC World Series of Golf, WGC-Bridgestone Invitationals, three PGA championships and now the Bridgestone Senior Players, which it will do at least through 2022.

PAUL LAZORAN

It’s a record of longevity on the pro tour surpassed only by Pebble Beach, Augusta National and the Colonial Country Club. One remarkable statistic, although not in any record book, is that Paul Lazoran attended every single tournament. 

Lazoran, now 78, first went to work at the club in 1951, age 9, cleaning clubs in a corner of the pro shop. He never stopped, working his way up to assistant pro and ultimately caddying for the likes of Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper and a score of other pros, including wins with Gary Player in 1965 (the World Series of Golf) and Al Geiberger in 1969 (the CBS Golf Classic, with partner Dave Stockton). 

In 1980, Lazoran moved upstairs into the locker room and ran that for 30 years until he retired. “They asked me to stick around as a kind of an ambassador for the club, so I’ve done that for the last 10 years. If I make it through this summer, it will be 70 years.”

We wanted to highlight four of the best holes at Firestone South, and we figured if anyone is qualified to pick them, it’s Lazoran. He agreeably chose two per side:

Third Hole, 442 yards, par 4: When the course opened in 1929, designed by Bert Way, it wasn’t the beast it is today. Prior to the 1960 PGA Championship, Robert Trent Jones Sr. lengthened and toughened the course, said Lazoran, “adding a couple of ponds and a ton of bunkers.” In 2007, Golforce, a Jack Nicklaus company, stretched it out to its current 7,400 yards. 

The third is a slight dogleg right with a corridor of trees leading to the denouement. Lazoran said, “If you don’t keep it in the fairway, you’ll have a tough time hitting the green. There’s a good-sized pond in front; trees left and right. In my day, guys were hitting 4-irons into the green; players nowadays are hitting 7- to 9-irons. But you have to be careful; I’ve seen many a double bogey here.” 


Ninth Hole, 494 yards, par 4: A straightaway par 4, but a long one, with three fairway bunkers in play. Land in them, said Lazoran, and you’re 200 yards out, with virtually no chance to reach the green. “But heading up the left side can give you an extra 30 to 40 yards with the bounce you’ll get there.”


13th Hole, 471 yards, par 4: Another brute of a par 4, a slight dogleg right where the big secret is no secret at all: Keep it in the fairway. A yawning bunker awaits on the left, a huge oak tree complicates matters on the right, all leading to an elevated green. A bogey here at the 2018 WGC derailed Tiger Woods’ chance for a record ninth tournament victory on the same course.


16th Hole, 667 yards, par 5, aka The Monster: Yes, this is where Palmer took an eight to blow him out of the 1960 PGA Championship. He said, “This hole is a monster,” and the name stuck.

“Some of these young kids today can reach it in two, but it’s risky,” said Lazoran. “The green is small, and there’s a lake in front of it. But one of the greatest pars I’ve ever seen was right here at the 1975 PGA Championship,” said Lazoran. 

Jack Nicklaus had hit his tee shot into a hazard, sent his third shot way right into the rough. TV commentator Bob Rosburg said Nicklaus had no shot. But the Golden Bear launched about a 140-yard 9-iron over a looming tree, landing 30 feet from the pin. He sunk the putt and won his 14th major.

As if at a rock concert, fans held up flaming cigarette lighters as Woods walked to the green to sink his birdie putt.

Palmer won three times at Firestone, Nicklaus seven. Tiger Woods? A mere eight times. Woods’ wins include the famous shot in the dark on the 2000 WGC finishing hole. Lazoran called Woods’ 167-yard 8-iron to the green his greatest shots runner-up. “On TV, it looked lit up, but it was dark out there. Tiger put it 3 feet from the hole.”

As if at a rock concert, fans held up flaming cigarette lighters as Woods walked to the green to sink his birdie putt. For the rest of the players, it was lights out.


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