Played Woodley yesterday, first out at 3:00 twilight, as a threesome plus one. I'm guessing it's been at least 20 years since I last played this course so, while my buddy selected it, I was curious to... Continue »

Played Woodley yesterday, first out at 3:00 twilight, as a threesome plus one. I'm guessing it's been at least 20 years since I last played this course so, while my buddy selected it, I was curious to revisit it. I remembered it as flat and open, and it was that in spades -- to the point that it was a different golfing experience than I've had I a while. The fairways seem to average at least 75 yards wide. The greens are generally really big and on the flat side with some gently rolling or undulated exceptions. There are trees lining the fairways, but the width of many of the fairways precludes them from having much effect on the sense of expansiveness. The expansiveness caught me off guard a little because you just don't usually see that much room on a golf course. Open areas around the golf course, yes, but the course itself, no. It alters your perceptions. I had to trust the yardage markers because as I stood at the 150 marker with my 150 club, part of my brain was saying "no way -- seems longer". But sure enough, it was "way." Of course I was walking/carrying on a really hot afternoon, so maybe I should had my perceptions altered into renting a cart. If you like to pull out driver, this is the course the do it. The course's defense to it's wide, forgiving fairways is that the par fours and the par-5 18th are on the longer side. That, and being on the green can still mean you are a long way from the hole. The conditions were generally very good. I didn't hit a bunker all day, so I can't give much detail on them. They generally looked OK but, because two in our group had to play out of it, I noticed the fairway bunker on the 16th hole was hard and had a little standing water at one end. Delivering variious levels of punishment for stray shots, I think the rough was a fair challenge overall. The fairways were nicely mowed with the occasional thinner or dryer spot that you will get on a muni. Nothing too bad and overall, pretty good. The greens were in very good shape --- receptive, not too many ball marks, medium fast, but not as quick as the practice green I was on. If your swing is in shape as to hitting your distances and generally maintaining direction, you should score well on this course. The quality of your lag putting will probably determine whether you convert a lot of holes into a good scores. They have a nice grass range, chipping and putting areas, so it's a good place to practice or warm up thoroughly. The clubhouse facility is new to my experience and seems nice enough, although the bar/restaurant was closed when we were done around 7:30. It was the perfect time on a warm evening to have a cool one after the round but -- oh well. Because my swing got erratic on the back nine, I have it in my mind to go back and play this course better than I did yesterday, and I can see coming back from time to time just as a change of pace (certainly more than once every 25 years or so). But otherwise, I wouldn't play it with any regularity because I can't see it holding that much interest. I can usually remember all the holes and usually mentally replay almost every shot after a round. With Woodley, there is a sameness to the holes that makes that difficult to do. But that's me. On the basis of conditioning and the expansive vibe, I would certainly say the course is worth a try to see if it suits your tastes.