I played Sherwood Forest this morning with a 10:30 tee time. I’ve only played here a few times and the last outing the course was in complete shambles. I was looking for a course I hadn’t played... Continue »

I played Sherwood Forest this morning with a 10:30 tee time. I’ve only played here a few times and the last outing the course was in complete shambles. I was looking for a course I hadn’t played in a while, was easy to walk, and I could get in several reps with my 3 wood.

Naturally, being a weekend with a prime-time tee slot, it was busy. Check in is down outside on a table, tent area. Unlike other places, Sherwood has their pro staple supplies out on the table as well. So if you forgot a glove, need some tees or run out of golf balls at the turn, you can easily purchase them right there at the check in table.

I took a picture of the first green as it looked like a tie die dye shirt it had so many different colors and patterns to it. So I casually rolled my 20-25 foot “birdie” attempt up towards the cup, and to my surprise it rolled true at a fairly decent (medium-fast) pace. Throughout the round the greens were similar in that the looked horrible, but the ball actually rolled fine. I was pleasantly surprised at both the smoothness of the greens and the speed.

The greens at Sherwood are pretty tame. Most are small in size (think Del Monte and Pacific Grove) with minimal slope to them. In fact we kept getting fooled thinking there was some break in the putt when most of the time it rolled straight.

Tee boxes were in good shape on the Par 4’s and par 5’s but were pretty beat up on the Par 3’s. Fairways were what you would expect for a muni course in the valley. Winter then and spotty. Having said that, the fairways at Sherwood were probably slightly better than Valley Oaks.

I was not in any bunkers all day. Looking at them as I walked past they seemed Ok and on par with what’s in the valley.

Layout is tight with tree lined fairways and the greens heavily guarded by trees. Being on the wrong side of the fairway will often require a punch shot onto the green or if you are far enough back, hit it short and let it roll up.

Customer service was great and the beverage cart was out making the rounds multiple times throughout the day. For a busy Saturday morning POP was right at 4 hours.

Overall, the conditions, though below average muni, were better than expected. Would I recommend it? Depends on what you’re looking for in a course. It’s certainly not a destination course by any means, but not so bad, I’d avoid it