For those of you golfers living in the eastern Iowa/ western Illinois area, next year should offer a new choice for a course to play, located approximately 20 minutes from the Quad City area: Fyre Lake National Golf Club.

 

I say "should" in the above paragraph for the simple reason that a definitive opening date has not yet been determined; speculation has ranged from a normal course opening around April 1 to possibly sometime in the summer.

 

What I can state positively is that there was a "soft" opening there this past summer for investors, prospective clients, Founders Club members and other assorted VIPs. Oh yeah, employees at the course were offered a couple of rounds, of which I am one. Here is a sneak peak at a few holes with some descriptions (and, of course, my completely biased opinions).

 

A brief background first; Fyre Lake National Golf Club (FLNGC) is a residential development course located just east of Sherrard, Illinois (surprisingly enough, at Fyre Lake). The course was designed by Nicklaus Design, the company formed by that golfer who still, and probably will always, own the record for most major golf tournament victories. Jack Nicklaus has also designed some of the worlds greatest golf courses, too numerous to list here. As far as I know, Jack has never stepped foot on FLNGC, (and may not even know where Sherrard, Illinois is) but you have to imagine his design group is pretty competent. In my opinion, they did a remarkable job here. You can find out more information on the complete development here: www.firelakenational.com.

 

Practice facility and driving range: This is first class all the way, with two huge driving range tee areas and five target greens located at various distances. There is also a practice putting green located just to the right of the tee areas, and two chipping greens to the left, which also features two practice bunkers. You may want to spend just a little time in them; chances are, you will be hitting out of a bunker or six during the round.

 

The front nine has a distinct feel of a wide open links course, with a couple holes being exceptions. When we played our first round here, we played from the back of the back tees, just to, you know, get the ultimate humiliation. The only one we didn't do that on was No. 1, for a very good reason. The back tee on this first hole also doubles as a final warm up practice green, meaning it is mowed just like the greens on the course. None of us had the balls to take a swipe out of that tee with a bad swing. This feature is quite unique, and I've never seen or played a course that had it (and believe me, I've played quite a few in my lifetime).

 

 

 

The first hole, as viewed from the middle tee. Fyre Lake is behind the green to the right.

As you can see, the first hole is a pretty wide open par 4 at around 380 yards from the middle tees. Avoid the fairway bunker to the right, find the large green, two putt for par and you are on your way!

 

 

 

The approach to the par 5 second hole, which features a two tiered green. This is also a good view of the three types of grasses featured on the course; bent (tees, fairways and greens), blue grass (primary rough) and fescue ( yeah, you're pretty much fucked here).

 

 

 

 Downhill, par 4 third hole. From the tips, this hole plays 418 yards. The day we played, the pin was located on the left side of the green, just above the stone retaining wall holding back Fyre Lake. I pulled my drive to the left rough, and had 170 yards to the pin. Only a fool would go at the pin where it was...I pulled my approach and it headed right at the pin. "GO YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!!!!" It landed about a foot from the hole and released about 18 feet more. I then made the putt for the first ever birdie on this hole (at least in my mind) and I will be dedicating a plaque at the spot I hit the approach next spring. You are all invited to the ceremony.

 

The tenth hole is a par 5 that features an uphill tee shot and then doglegs to the right, leaving you with this downhill approach. Lake Karl is in the background and yeah, you really don't want to be long with this shot. (As you can see, I was mowing fairways the day I took this shot. Don't let my boss know, OK?)

 

The downhill, par 4 eleventh hole approach shot, with a pond looming on the right. The back nine is quite a bit tighter than the front, as evidenced here. Of those surveyed this summer, this hole was one of the favorites (along with #3).

 

This was taken earlier this spring, showing a bunker located just to the right of the par 3 #12. If you can make it out, on the upper left side you can see the yellow seats of our John Deere Gator; my partner is just right of that...this is the same fucking bunker! The little fescue islands in there just add to the nightmare that awaits.

 

 

 

 

The "signature" 13th hole as viewed from the approach, featuring an island green on Fyre Lake.

 This island was already there when the course was constructed; no doubt there are hundreds of resident Fyre Lake teenagers like totally pissed the island was turned into a green and tee instead of being a place to go drink beer and smoke dope. And yes, I did say tee...if you look just above the bridge on the far left, this is the back tee for the 14th.....

 

 

C'mon, you pussy! It's only 210 yards to the fairway! Whether you are playing the back tees, middle tees or forward tees, it's tradition to give this a try. The day we played, I ended up with an "angry German" on the hole (NINE!). Took me three tries to get over safely. The green is located just below the antennae seen in the background.

 

That's about all for now; can't give everything away, you'll just have to come down next year and play it. It's just a fun course to play, and it will be in great shape. Here are a couple of words of advice:

 

*Unless you are a scratch player, just forget about score the first time you play here. Believe me, you will enjoy it a lot more. Come back a few more times, bring your "A" game, and then shoot for score.

 

*Bring a lot of golf balls. Besides the abundance of water, that fescue grass is a bitch. You wouldn't believe the number of range balls we find on the course, which means all those high rollers who played here this summer resorted to playing range balls after losing a few, the fucking cheap bastards. So play good brand balls; we love finding those.

 

*I don't know if I will be there next season, but if you see turf maintenance guys while you are playing, know they are there to do a job, and have just a little bit of patience. Once we (they) see you, we'll get out of the way. And if you think the course is in good shape, tell them "nice job".