While I don’t have time today to do a thorough review and post all 18 holes at Coppinwood (I’ll do that on Tuesday once I’m back from the LPGA press conference in London), I thought I’d give readers a taste of Coppinwood, the first Tom Fazio course to open in Canada in 30 years.
Impressions: The course is certainly visually pleasing, but that’s typical of Fazio, and the least one can expect. The course starts with a bang….
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The first hole, which starts to the west of the clubhouse, has a great downhill tee shot and winds around to an interesting green site.
That said, the most interesting land starts on the back, specifically with the 11th hole, a par three and the 12th, a fascinating looking par four (below).
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The remainder of the property on the back nine looks intriguing. The property rolls and Fazio doesn’t look like he’s imposed on it too much. That said, it isn’t clear if the course will play as well as it looks — a lot of the bunkers in the fairway seemed well outside of key driving areas, unless you bombed it 300 yards with most shots. However, the course presents a nice mix of yardage — ranging to 7,500, but largely with tees in the 6,600 yard range.
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Coppinwood is the first Tom Fazio course in Canada. The National is a George Fazio course that Tom worked on with his uncle.
You know better than that Rob! I look forward to more on Coppinwood.
Cheers,
Sorry, Mr. Euan, but you are wrong. The National is credited to both Tom and George and with all the revisions to the property in past years, it is clearly more Tom Fazio than his uncle. I don’t think anyone considers this the first Tom Fazio course in Canada, though it is his first course with just his name on it….
Great website. Nice pictures. Very informative. Would you mind if I added your link to my site?
Thanks
Hey Rob. As the creator of the “O’Hara” campaign for Coppinwood, I am pleased the small space ads that appeared more than a year ago captured your attention. But how on earth did you divine your opinion about them? Last time you mentioned O’Hara, you admitted that you hadn’t seen the ads. It would be self-serving for me to tell you that they were created to express Coppinwood’s pure golf experience and generated a ton of membership interest. Well, why not, this is a blog after all!
I toured Coppinwood with Al Chud in his ATV two years ago through an army of bulldozers. It didn’t take much imagination to visualize what a gem this was going to be and I signed up on the spot to become a charter member. The course has now been open three weeks and I have played 7 rounds. While I certainly haven’t played all the top courses in the world, this is by far the best in so many ways. It’s a course that rewards accuracy and hands down stiff penalties for errant shots. The sand is fair but the fescue is very Scottish! Fazio teases you on every shot with high risk, high reward options. What more does a golfer want? Actually, here’s a ‘what more’ – it has a practice facility second to none in Canada. The only one to match that I have found is at Berkeley Hall in Hilton Head. I recommend that any serious golfers and/or students of the game make arrangements to play Coppinwood. The course sells itself!