Firethorne Country Club (Waxhaw, NC on 03/10/18)

Our afternoon round was at Firethorne Country Club, which is a few miles south of TPC Piper Glen. Firethorne is actually on the border of North and South Carolina, but more on that at the end of the post! It took us about 15 minutes to get over to Firethorne and the proshop was great, allowing us to get out early.

No matter where you go in Charlotte, it seems that money is all over the place! Sure enough, impressive homes dot the course and fancy cars were in the parking lot. We saw a neat looking McLaren and the more “usual” Cadillac SUV’s and Mercedes sedans. Must be nice! Thankfully, we never got a snooty attitude or the cold shoulder from anyone.

Compared to TPC, Firethorne has a more mature, country club feel to it with tree-lined fairways. Some of the homes pinch the course and if you get a bad bounce you could end up going out of bounds. After playing a more open course in the morning, I had to adjust to the narrower holes here!

As the round progressed, the terrain had me thinking that Firethorne could be found closer to the Blue Ridge Mountains! There is more elevation change than I was expecting. For example, the 4th hole climbs a hill and it reminded me of the 2nd hole at Cherokee Valley, which is in the mountains about two hours west. Overall, the up and down at Firethorne kept things interesting and added some spice to the design.

Firethorne is a Tom Jackson design, and I’ve played a handful of his courses over the years. Really, the only thing that stands out to me about his courses (based on my experiences so far) are some decent par 3’s. And, that is the case here at Firethorne, as I found the par 3’s to be pretty good!

We played the black tees which are 71.8/141/6406 and from there the four par 3’s are 130, 163, 170, and 163 yards. The par 3 distances don’t vary much but each one has a nice look to it. On the front nine the 3rd rises just enough that you cannot see the green’s surface. So, even though it is a short iron it is tough to judge the distance. The 8th is the other par 3 on the front and one of the best looking holes on the course. It plays maybe half a club downhill to a green that is framed by trees. Large bunkers guard the green, which has a couple feet of rise to a back tier. Unfortunately, the sky was gray, the bermuda still dormant and the greens had recently been sanded so none of my pictures turned out well!

The par 3’s on the back nine are the 12th and 15th holes. The 12th is probably the most natural looking of the par 3’s at Firethorne, as a wooded area is off to the right. The 15th was my favorite hole on the course as it is a risk/reward par 3. A sharp looking hazard with a rock wall guards the front of the green and you can pick whatever line you want. A line to the left has a better chance of avoiding the water while a line to the right makes you hope you picked the right club!

Besides the par 3’s, I didn’t find the rest of the design at Firethorne all that memorable. Most holes had blind rises in the fairway and if you went blasting away with driver you had no idea where the ball would end up. It was one of those courses where I think you’d be better served laying back off the tee and closely watching the first bounce. That was the approach I took and I managed a decent driving round.

The front nine flowed better while the back nine seemed forced onto the land. There are some holes on the back that sit on a hillside, between homes and a natural area. The 11th, a short par 4, is one of those hillside holes. The fairway slopes hard from left to right and runs out around 200 yards. I played my layup down the left side and somehow it ended up in the hazard on the right! If you can golf with someone who has played here before that might help your learning curve. With all the slope, the back nine reminded me of nearby Verdict Ridge.

Unfortunately when it comes to the conditions, we played Firethorne at the wrong time. Everything was typical for a Mid-Atlantic course during the winter, with all of the grass being dormant. The fairways looked to have plenty of grass, but were on the thin side. No surprises there. Compared to TPC, not much had greened up yet and I wonder if all the tree lined holes here have something to do with that. A few tees were beat up pretty good. None of that was the problem, though.

Much like TPC, the greens at Firethorne were the story of the maintenance. But, for a different reason! These greens were aerated earlier in the week and sanded. Since February was so warm, I’ve seen a few local courses doing the maintenance early this year. All things considered, the greens rolled fine and somehow I made a couple putts. They felt like some great surfaces underneath the sand!

The last thing that I’ll mention about Firethorne is that it has holes in both North and South Carolina. The back nine starts in North Carolina, heads into South Carolina, and then back into North Carolina. After playing Farmstead last month I never would have guessed that two weeks later I’d be typing the same comments! Too cool. In the end though, there wasn’t anything too distinctive about the course to me.

#1 (347 yard par 4):