Brookledge Golf Course (Cuyahoga Falls, OH)

Brookledge is fast becoming one of northeast Ohio's favorite golf courses. It has all the characters that people look for in a place to play including playability, conditioning, and variety. Art Hills is credited with the design when he added nine holes and tweeked the original nine. It s unlike the other Hills courses I've played. The tee shots don't have to carry hazards or play over diagonal landforms. It's a very classical looking course where most of the trouble is found in the interior contours of the greens. 

The key to Brookledge is getting off to a good start on the first seven holes. There's a couple reachable par fives and short par fours where birdie is a distinct possibility. The second is one hole where par is a good score. It doglegs left with the fairway going uphill bout 260 yards off the tee. The player either lays up to the turn and hits a semiblind shot or tries to carry the drive to the upper level. Either way, the green is very difficult to hold as it's elevated and slopes to the left.  The third is then a 300 yard par four that plays in a valley before sweeping to an elevated green. It's all carry if you're trying to drive it. Most golfers hit to a favorable yardage to set up a short iron approach. The green slopes severely to the right so it takes good touch to hit it close. 

The eighth thru the fifteenth is the toughest stretch of holes here and the three one shotters lead the way in extracting strokes from the player. Each one gets progressively more difficult.  Eight is a long 220 yarder but plenty of places to bailout and salvage par. Twelve is not so forgiving as it plays 196 yards over a marsh to a green with nowhere to miss. Sometimes the ball can be found in the hazard and played onto the green. I've made par this way before. Nonetheless, the severe green is a testing par even if you hit it in regulation. Then fifteen has water, sand, and wind combining to defend another tough green that slopes away in the rear. Play these three holes even, and you're gaining strokes the field. 

The par fours in this stretch can be real card wreckers. It starts with the ninth and  this 438 yarder has a creek fronting the green which really punishes indecisive and indifferent approach shots. Ten has a tiny green that is severely sloped. It's very easy to three putt. Thirteen is one of my favorite short par fours. It's a long carry to the fairway, especially with the knowledge that a large oak tree guards the left side and a poor tee shot will be partially or fully blocked out. The green is literally three saucers inverted. Talk about crazy putts!! Fifteen is a long par four that is beautiful and filled with classic architecture. The tee shot must carry a shallow valley to be in a good place for the approach. The green is atop a flattened ridge. It's a great approach!!

The last three holes are all birdie opportunities. Sixteen is a par five that double doglegs. Art Hills is known for his use of trees to defend particular lines to the green, and on sixteen the second shot must be hit to the left half of the fairway to have an open shot to the green. Seventeen is even worse as a tree sits in the middle of the fairway. I'm not a big fan of this design feature. Too gimmicky I'm my opinion. But if you drive it past then it's a very simple approach. Eighteen is 390 yard par four that doglegs right. With the hill and trees on the right, the proper play is straight or left of the 150 pole. The green is nicely placed in the bowl of the hill with a bunker guarding it. Since it has been lengthened, my appreciation for it has increased. No longer is it a simple par, but a hole that requires well struck shots. 

I feel Brookledge is one of the best courses in the state. It has plenty of variety to keep a person playing here on a regular basis. It's a fun course. I give it a 6 (very good)!