Hurdzan and Frye designed Little Mountain and for a while it was Ohio's only five star course. The bunkering is what most people remember. They're large, deep, and concave so they visually pop when you're looking at the green.
Aesthetics is highly valued on Hurdzan courses, from the bunkering, to the rocks lining the creek, to the presentation of the greens. You're looking at a design team that makes golf architecture into an art.
The strength of Little Mountain is the par fours. They have a lot of variety to them, and demand certain aspects of your game. 3, 8, 11, and 15 are short par fours. Three has a creek that fronts the green 40 yards short before guarding the right side. It's a very difficult green too so most players try to find a good yardage for wedge shot. Eight is the only possible driveable par four. Open in the front but littered with bunkers all down the left. A little ledge in back left is fun pin location. Eleven is a split fairway. It's one of the few that makes sense to me. Usually I feel the right fairway leaves the best angle but occasionally the left one is. It's a really good hole. Fifteen is a decent hole. Long hitters can carry traps in the elbow of dogleg for a superior angle.
5, 9, and 16 are midlength par fours. Five as a deep bunker guarding the elbow, and if you can draw it over then the reward is a short iron. Into the wind or if you block it right will leave a much longer shot. Nine is pretty much straightforward with a couple deep traps fronting the green. Sixteen is a well designed hole with a two tier green. The view against the dark green pines and white sand makes for a picturesque scene.
The best holes on the course are the three long par fours. Ten starts the back with a slight dogleg left. At 471 yards, a draw is needed to obtain the yardage and angle to reach this in regulation. With the ravine on the left, any ball that draws too much will be in the hazard. The false front of the green makes this such a difficult shot to gauge from the fairway. It's an excellent hole. Thirteen is 487 yards but this par four is so narrow the last forty yards that it's prudent to lay back unless you have an iron in your hand. The green is squeezes by a bunker right and the ravine on the left. Finally, eighteen is a monster 481 yards. A speed slot will help propel the ball down the slope if you're a long hitter. The second shot is over a scraggy gully with traps in it. There's plenty of room to bailout right with forty to fifty yards of fairway. Many interesting pin positions but any pin on the far left is terribly intimidating. This is one of the finest ending holes in northeast Ohio.
The par fives are the holes you have to feast on. They're probably the least interesting holes on the course with the seventeenth being the only exception. At 17 some cross bunkers come into play on the second shot if you're laying up. The long hitters should have no problem carrying them, tho anything in front of the green leaves a straightforward pitch.
The par threes all kinda make you scratch your head. Several of them seem like afterthoughts, almost as if they needed a hole so they dropped them here and there. 2, 12, and 14 all feel this way. The 4th is a good par three and 6 is a helluva shot for a 235 yarder. If these were better holes, then this would easily be in the top ten of Ohio publics. (twelve does seem to work the best. It's back edge ends at the ravine, and the front is guarded by sand and a mound. It's just 120 at most so it's amazing how many people miss the putting surface.)
Little Mountain is one of the areas finest courses and is a good course to play. I play here every year and I really enjoy myself. It's still one of the best in the state but I feel with a bit of polish it would really shine. Still a (6) rating iny book.
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