Alliance Country Club (Alliance, OH)

Every year I play a golf course that exceeds my expectations and this year that place is Alliance Country Club. The course not only is in beautiful condition, but the creek is impeccably maintained with the option of playing recovery shots out of it. The overall look is really impressive especially after playing Mayfield the day before with its rugged and unkempt appearance. 

(The uphill 364/350 yard par four fourth turns left exactly where this picture is taken. The second shot is then downhill to a green that slopes hard left. If you’re playing for the ball to bounce on from the right remember that short shots leave an incredibly fast chip or putt…
…looking back one can see the fairway does end before pitching forward to the creek. A par is a good score.) 

Alliance originally opened as a nine hole course in 1911, and after the clubhouse was built in 1925, expanded to eighteen holes. Golf architect Calvin Black did the expansion. (I could not find any information on him. He may have been a superintendent or possibly a very good player. These seem to be the two qualifications that many obscured architects possessed during this time frame.) Black’s routing and design hosted an exhibition match between Gene Sarazen and John Farrell in 1929, and in 1959 it held the Machine International LPGA Tournament won by Mickey Wright. Fred Garbin redesigned the course in 1983. 

(The 191/150 par three third is over a valley to a back to front sloped green. Note the cement steps from the cart path to the green on the left. Yes it is in play!) 

(The 391/369 yard par four sixth has a green set into the hillside above the creek. The front half is all alone with no place to miss…
…the rear half has more forgiveness with playable chips from the fringe or rough. Look at the beautiful playing corridor with the huge trees lining both sides.) 

Alliance is a traditional parkland course with trees on both sides of the fairway. It’s main defense are the greens. They have the most slope I’ve ever seen! Ridges or rolls that creep into the putting surface add to the difficulty, especially when you have to putt uphill to a spot before it tumbles on its side and rolls downhill to the hole. Local knowledge is a definitive advantage and being on the correct side of the hole will save you strokes. 

Most of the design revolves around the southern most creek and its shallow valley. Eight holes use it to defend greens or have tee shots driven over it. There is also a large pond with a different creek flowing in and out. This water hazard protects the holes closest to the clubhouse. The routing makes good use of both features and jumps from one hill to the next. The rolling topography will challenged the player the whole round with engaging shots and exact driving lines. 

(The 512/490 yard par five ninth has a great downhill tee shot between the trees. The creek crosses the fairway at the bottom before climbing uphill to the green…
…there’s a flat area on the left that will hold a second shot for a full view of the green. Most golfers will let the contours feed the ball to the right. It is reachable in two for long hitters.) 

(The 186/168 yard par three tenth is downhill to a small elevated green. The two bunkers on the sides are a solid ten feet below the putting surface. There’s plenty of fairway short of the green but saving par from there is not much better than being in the sand.) 

(The 510/481 yard par five twelth has a pinch point that narrows the landing area. The creek crosses the fairway 120 yards from the green. Poor drives will need to take this hazard into consideration. The green is pitched severely so a short pitch or chip is often the best strategy to hit an aggressive third.)

(The thirteenth completes the second half of the back to back par fives, but this one is a tad longer playing 534/524 yards. The rolling terrain can leave some awkward lies and stances for the third shot. It’s another difficult green. Don’t knock a pair of pars on these two holes.) 

Alliance tops out just over 6,400 yards from the tips but it only plays to par of 70. For most clubs, this is a great yardage. The tiger golfer will need to manage his game off the tee since there are a few tricky spots for the long hitter, but the rest of us can comfortably hit driver. As mentioned before, the real test will come at the greens. This really allows different skill sets an opportunity to win. The course doesn’t favor one group over another. I think it’s better than Seven Hills (NLE 2023) which is just fifteen minutes away. This allows me to comfortably give Alliance a 6 (very good)(worth driving 1-2 hours to play). My only criticism is the par three eighteenth. In my opinion, if a short hole is ending the round, then it better be a great one. The one here is a tough par but underwhelming. 

(The 411/403 yard par four fourteenth is a solid hole with a large green…

…hitting the fairway is a must if you want to reach this green in regulation. Long hitters will need to decide if going over the hill is a good leave.) 

(#15 367/358 par 4)






[I played a practice round with my friend and her partner who were competing in the Ohio Ladies Fourball Tournament. We were looking for the best places to approach the greens and for bail out locations. We hit several putts and chips to various possible hole locations. It was a good learning tool and great way to figure out the course. They didn’t play well the first day, but they rattled off five birdies in a row the second day for the low round, and won low net for the tournament!]