 The Players Club at Foxfire:
A Unique Ohio Challenge
By Carl W. Grody,
Staff Writer
Lockbourne, OH - Don't confuse the Players Club at Foxfire with one of the PGA's TPC courses.
It's The Players Club, insists head professional Brian Barnett. It's not a TPC. They're not the same type of course.
But they might as well be for the average player, and for most advanced players as well. The Players Club at Foxfire - finished in 1993 by designers Jack Kidwell and Barry Serafin - plays 7,077 yards from the blue tees. It has mounds perfect for spectators on many of the holes. The greens run at a swift nine-to-10 on the Stimpmeter. And the course puts a premium on hitting the ball in the fairway.
If that's not a TPC, it's at least one of the better tests of golf in central Ohio.
Barnett, though, said the course wasn't designed for tournaments. It's instead a daily fee public course in Lockbourne -- about eight miles south of Columbus -- where you can play for less than $45 and have all the challenge you need. Play from the blues, and the rating is 74.2 with a 132 slope; from the whites, it's 6,705 yards with a rating of 72.4 and a slope of 128.
 "It's a very challenging course and very picturesque," said Barnett, who's been the head professional for 11 years (a sister course, the Foxfire Golf Club, was built there in 1974). "It has a lot of memorable holes on it. It gives a guy that's looking for a stern test from the back tees everything he wants. (But other golfers) can play from the white tees and really enjoy their day. It's a really good golf course."
Rather, it's more like three golf courses - a traditional Ohio course with trees and open spaces, a links course, and a course so overgrown with trees that it reminds you more of Sleepy Hollow than mid-Ohio.
The first five holes vary in approach and appearance. The first is a 399-yard par four from the white tees with a three-tiered green and nary a tree in play. The second hole is a 173-yard par three with the tee box sheltered from the wind by a box of trees; a pond sits 15 yards short of the green, which is surrounded by three bunkers.
The third hole is another par four, a 331-yard dogleg right protected by bunkers, trees overhanging the left side of the fairway on your approach shot and - curiously - one lone boulder in the left-hand rough. The next two holes wind through the woods as well, a 368-yard par four and a 501-yard par five that doglegs both right and left.
At the fifth green, the look of the course changes. Sitting snug behind that green is a lake surrounded by the fifth, sixth, and seventh holes.
From the sixth tee, you see the flag across the lake, but nobody short of Tiger - on a good day, with a stiff tailwind and with all of his planets in alignment - could ever take that route to the green. Like every other mortal, you have to hit down the fairway on the left, then back across the lake from about 150 yards.
The seventh hole seems easy enough, just 163 yards from the white tees across the lake. But the wind blows across your face and into you from the left, and you're as exposed as you'll be all day. Take an extra club, maybe two, to hit the green.
 The eighth hole cuts away from the lake but not away from water. In fact, water runs along the entire right side of this 518-yard par five. The fairway doglegs sharply right as well, and the hole features the longest bunker in the state of Ohio - about 300 yards, according to Barnett. It runs alongside the water from the start of the fairway until you reach the hole. And no matter how well you hit your tee shot, you'll have to lay up over water unless you pull your tee shot well left (but that will put you so far back that you might not reach the green in three).
The ninth hole marks the next look on the course - links. It's a 456-yard par four with rolling mounds on the left, ample fairway in the middle and token water on the right (there's actually a house that's a greater danger than the water). The water cuts the fairway after your tee shot, though, so you have to go over water - probably with a fairway wood or long iron - to reach the green.
The 10th, 11th and 12th holes continue the links look. The 10th hole is a soft dogleg to the left, and the fairway is framed by mounds to the right and bunkers to the left. Number 11 is another par three over water, and again the wind comes into play. The wide green is protected by a hump; if your shot comes up just a touch short, it will hit that hump and slowly, almost cruelly, trickle back into the pond.
The 12th hole is also surrounded by mounds. Miss the fairway, and you'll have a sidehill lie that could be either uphill or downhill. Around the green, a missed approach will land among grassy mounds and bunkers - either way, if you miss on the short side of the green, you'll need Phil Mickelson's flop shot (and some luck) to get up-and-down.
 The 13th hole is a transition. This 396-yard hole is framed by mounds, but the trees are back in view. Don't spend too much time admiring the leaves, though; this hole is tricky. The fairway dips into a valley, and if you lay back to keep from getting a downhill lie, you're left with a mid-iron uphill to a green with a false front.
Looking at the scorecard starting the day, you'd peg the 14th and 15th holes as the place to make a move - back-to-back par fives. But if you're claustrophobic - or worse, you can't hit the ball straight - you might start to hyperventilate on the 14th tee.
The fairway of this 547-yard monster rolls like the tracks of a roller coaster, and trees press in on each side. Miss the fairway and you'll have to chip out, wasting a stroke instead of gaining one. Even if you hit the fairway and manage to avoid a downhill lie, you'll still have to hit a power fade around tree limbs hanging over the dogleg 140 yards from the green.
The 517-yard 15th is no better for scoring. If anything, the trees are tighter, and the fairway slopes from left to right. You must be careful with your lay-up shot, too. Any ball hitting the fairway in the 200-yard range - give or take 20 yards - is certain to roll to the fringe, and you're stuck looking at another huge tree no more than 100 yards away.
The 16th hole is an uphill, 426-yard par four, but the landing area for your drive is wider than on the last two holes. Of course, the green is so far above the fairway that if you normally use your five-iron for approach shots from 200 yards, you'll have to use a three wood, but at least you don't feel like you're stuck in an elevator. Well, not as much.
The 17th hole is almost a shock to your system. After so much time spent in what feels like the belly of the beast - and your score might confirm that analogy - the 17th is a wide-open, 171-yard par three with a green wide enough to park a flock of Cadillacs. There are trees to the left, but they're not in play; you're exposed to the wind once more, but you're happy just to feel the sun tickling your arms again.
The 18th hole is anti-climatic after what you've been through - a simple 424-yard par four that doglegs softly to the left. But you can't let your concentration slip, or you'll knock your ball into the woods on the left or behind the scattered trees on the right. Hit the fairway, and it's a fairly simple par; miss the fairway, and you're struggling to save double-bogey.
Although it sounds tough, especially in the wooded section of the back nine, this is a fair golf course. At its roots, golf is a simple game; hit fairways and greens, and you'll score well. That's the way The Players Club at Foxfire is designed.
Most holes even have wide necks in front of the greens where you can pitch-and-run the ball if you come up short - as long as your approach shots were on-line. And once you reach the greens, the ball rolls true enough that you think you can make every putt.
 When you consider the money you pay to play here - heck, even if you kept money out of the equation - The Players Club at Foxfire is exactly what Barnett said: an enjoyable golf course that can give you as much challenge as you want. Just decide how much fun you want to bite off, tee it up, and let her rip.
But for safety's sake, watch out for that Headless Horseman on the back nine.
The Players Club at Foxfire
10799 State Route 104
Lockbourne, OH 43137-9644
Phone (614) 224-3694 or (614) 983-2801
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