Kirtland Country Club

Favorite Hole

No. 10, par 4, 515 yards

Perhaps it’s cliché to pick Kirtland’s 10th, the most photographed hole at the course, as my favorite, but this tee shot is rightfully famous and will always stick with me. From the tee, the hole plunges down into the river valley that Nos. 11-17 inhabit. It’s as dramatic a shot as you’ll find anywhere and prompts one of those great “wait, I have to hit it there?!” reactions from every first-time visitor. The drop totals 110 feet, and your ball seems to hang over the valley for minutes.

Putting aside the gorgeous view, the long par 4 is also strategically sound. If you play close to the boundary line on the right, you’ll gain a better angle into the green.

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Overall Thoughts

If you’ve heard anything about C.H. Alison-designed Kirtland Country Club, you’ve heard about its back nine. The quality of these river-valley holes is a common topic of conversation among Cleveland golf architecture aficionados. It’s dramatic, beautiful, and strategic—one of the best nines in the Midwest. The ridges formed by the Chagrin River within the valley create elevation changes, which, combined with the large specimen trees and the river itself, make for a compelling walk and exciting golf.

At courses with remarkable individual nines (Pasatiempo, Essex County Club), the other nine often gets overlooked and underrated. Kirtland is no exception. Before I played, some people told me the front nine was downright “bad.” Nothing could be further from the truth. I was shocked by the strength of Kirtland’s front nine; it’s an excellent set of holes that, on any other course in Cleveland, would be acclaimed. While not as dramatic as the back, the front’s land might actually be better adapted to the game. It sits higher and is therefore less susceptible to soggy conditions, and the topography has that nice, modest roll that makes for stellar golf. Holes like the first, second, fourth, eighth, and ninth would be standouts at most courses; at Kirtland, they are rarely discussed.

What really makes the course great, though, is C.H. Alison’s gift for strategic design. I grew up working at an Alison course and have seen much of his work in the Midwest, and if there’s one thing nearly all of his designs have in common, it’s well-positioned hazards and well-thought-out angles. Almost every hole makes strategic sense: challenge a bunker, earn a reward; bail out, face a tough next shot.

That said, Alison’s body of work in the U.S. isn’t exactly enthralling. There aren’t many flashy bunkers or funky, photogenic greens. Some of his designs—Kirtland, Milwaukee, Davenport—have striking topography, but for the most part his properties embody their Midwestern setting: sturdy but not extraordinary.

One outright weakness of Alison’s American architecture is the greens, most of which possess a single, straightforward theme, such as a tilt in one direction. His greens aren’t necessarily bad—they are challenging, requiring good tactics and ball-striking to find the right positions on them—but they rarely get your juices flowing. They don’t give you anything like the thrill of finding a small back shelf at a Walter Travis design. Alison’s greens do one thing very well, however: they reinforce the intended strategy of the hole.

Here are a few examples how Alison’s strategic concepts function at Kirtland:

No. 1, par 4, 415 yards

This opener sets the tone for two of Kirtland’s main traits: lines of charm and wonderful ground. Challenge the bunker on the left off the tee and earn the advantage of a shorter approach and a flatter lie. The more you play away from the bunker, the more awkward the lie gets.

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No. 4, par 4, 415 yards

This hole is often trashed because a giant power line hundreds of yards off the property is in view. I mean, what is the club supposed to do about that?

Anyone who complains about the power line on No. 4 is missing one of the best holes on the course. It features a boundary line up the left side and uses it cleverly: the left edge of the fairway, near the OB, is the ideal place to approach this green. Every step away from that left edge worsens your angle because of how the green contours work. From the left side, you can use the right-to-left tilt of the green to corral your ball; from the right, that same slope promotes big kicks away from the hole. This is an example of how Alison uses simple tilts to create strategic questions.

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Incidentally, my main critique of Kirtland is that some of the fairways, the fourth included, are a bit too far in from their defining landforms. The club and consulting architect Jim Nagle have based their restoration work on a 1937 aerial, which is great historical evidence, but it shows the course as it stood years after the Depression started. I would assume that some of Kirtland’s original fairways were wider, particularly on holes that border the boundary on the front nine and the river on the back nine. Expanding these fairways out to boundary lines (e.g., on the fourth) or river banks (e.g., on the 10th, profiled above) would amplify Alison’s strategic ideas.

No. 12, par 4, 449 yards

Here is an example of how ill-advised architectural changes can muddy the strategy of an Alison hole.

In the 1990s, the club raised the 12th fairway and moved it left. Not only does the style of the earthwork clash with everything else on the course, but the relocation of the fairway messes up the strategic angles. Originally, playing up the right side, closer to the river, yielded the most receptive entrance to one of Kirtland’s finest greens. Playing left afforded an opportunity to avoid the green-side bunkers but a poor angle to deal with the green contours. Today, everyone is forced to play left. While the 12th is still a stout and beautiful hole, it’s not what it should be and a cautionary tale showing what happens when a less talented architect gets his hands on Alison’s work.

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No. 13, par 4, 371 yards

Maybe my favorite hole at Kirtland is the shortish par-4 13th, which offers a beautiful setting on the Chagrin River and a bevy of options from the tee. A longer hitter can push up with a driver but then must face a delicate partial wedge to a small green that runs away. Generating enough spin on this short of a shot is tough, especially to a front pin. Laying back allows for a fuller swing, more spin, and a better angle. Again, as on the fourth and 10th holes, the fairway would benefit from being pushed out to the defining landform—in this case, the river.

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2 Eggs

Kirtland Country Club delivers consistent strategic interest and a gorgeous setting—a day in which you can enjoy the varied land and views as well as ponder when to play aggressively and when to throttle back. Those strengths earn Kirtland an Egg for design and an Egg for land. Where the course falls a bit short is on presentation. Fairway expansions would enhance the already terrific strategy; lowering some tee boxes to their former at-grade positions would restore Alison’s intended naturalness and sightlines; and eliminating the buffers of rough around many of the bunkers would bring the sand more into play.

Course tour

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