Took a day off work and played Eagle's Talon at Willows Run with some friends and had a very fun time. Greens overall are very good here, and have been all season. Number 9 is a bit bumpy, but for the... Continue »

Took a day off work and played Eagle's Talon at Willows Run with some friends and had a very fun time. Greens overall are very good here, and have been all season. Number 9 is a bit bumpy, but for the most part they all rolled very well, at a medium to quick pace. They also hold shots very well. The fairways and rough are all very nice, always offering a good lie to hit from, as well as decent roll out. There are a few brown spots here and there, but it has been extremely dry in the northwest for the last month or so. Bunkers have been upgraded, and although I didn't find any today they are all very nice now with super soft sand. Tee boxes remain the one weak spot, all of the par 3's are very beat up. Decent range, nice chipping and putting greens to warm up on, and good customer service in the shop and at the turn. A great way to spend the day.

Played Willows Run Eagle's Talon yesterday (Sunday, 2/3/19) and found it to be in decent winter shape. Greens are very nice, rolling pretty smooth at a medium slow pace. The rest of the course feels m... Continue »

Played Willows Run Eagle's Talon yesterday (Sunday, 2/3/19) and found it to be in decent winter shape. Greens are very nice, rolling pretty smooth at a medium slow pace. The rest of the course feels much more like winter golf here, the fairways are quite wet in places, the rough is pretty long and lush, and the bunkers are really awful. Tee boxes are a bit beat up, and could probably benefit from the markers being moved around a bit. No drink cart, and the shack at the turn was closed as well, which was a bit disappointing. I can't blame them though, as there was almost nobody there. It was kind of nice having the place to ourselves, and the quality of the greens certainly made up for any of the other shortcomings of the conditions. I'm also really glad I got the round in, as we got about half a foot of snow last night, and today's high temperature was about 30. I'm afraid it'll be a little while before I get back out.

Played Willows Run Eagle's Talon a couple of times recently, yesterday and Sunday (5/6/18 and 5/8/18) and enjoyed both rounds quite a bit. Conditions are very good right now, especially the greens. Th... Continue »

Played Willows Run Eagle's Talon a couple of times recently, yesterday and Sunday (5/6/18 and 5/8/18) and enjoyed both rounds quite a bit. Conditions are very good right now, especially the greens. They're medium quick, I would say, you'll need to be careful going downhill and assertive when going up. They are rolling very well, almost no bumps over both rounds, and not too many un-repaired ball marks. Fairways are in very good shape, a little bit on the firm side giving plenty of roll, but also providing very good lies. If you're in the short grass you'll have a nice cushion to hit off of. Rough is lush and healthy, and will often give you a bit of a headache when you find it. Tee boxes remain hit and miss here, although they feel better than in the past. If there's one spot that does need some serious work it would be the bunkers. They look as if they haven't been maintained at all, and really could use some love. Pace of play and customer service were both excellent during the weekend and mid-week.

Played Willows this morning, walking as a two some teeing off as the second group out behind a walking 3. They let us through at #9, after we'd done a fair bit of waiting, and the pace after that was ... Continue »

Played Willows this morning, walking as a two some teeing off as the second group out behind a walking 3. They let us through at #9, after we'd done a fair bit of waiting, and the pace after that was very quick. We probably got around in about 3:15. Conditions were very tough, a pretty good bit of wind, rain off and on, after a week of pretty steady rain, making for a course that plays a lot longer than the yardage would indicate. They're dong a composite of the 2 courses right now in order to keep play off of the holes that are the worst with the wet weather, and I think that's smart of them. It was this way last week, and the guys in the shop said it would be this way for at least the next 2 weeks. You'll play 1-11 of Eagle's Talon, and then play Coyote Creek's 3-9. Par still ends up at 72, and while it isn't perfect design-wise, it is functional.

Greens are very soft and very slow, yet still somehow kind of decent. They'll hold absolutely anything, a low bullet of hybrid will have 1 hop and stop, even a semi-bladed chip won't go all the way through the green. Fairways are very messy, rough is long and lush, and if it weren't for the bright yellow srixon I'd have probably lost a few from them getting plugged while in play. Hitting from the bunkers was actually kind of fun, as long as you were at least a hundred yards away because they're so compact its just like hitting off of a driving range mat. Granted, 3/4 of each bunker had about a foot of standing water, so you had to fish your ball out of a small pond in order to hit that fun shot. Green side they were just brutal. Tee boxes were passable, usually the worst part of playing here but today they didn't seem so bad since it was so sloppy with the rain everywhere else.

Overall, it was a very tough round, but I would have regretted spending the morning on the couch. Its been so wet up here for the last few weeks I can't imagine conditions being very good anywhere, so playing at the course around the corner from home will definitely get it done.

Walked Eagle's Talon with a friend this morning, teeing off as a twosome, as the second group out behind a foursome in carts. Pace was pretty good, we waited on the guys in front of us a few times, bu... Continue »

Walked Eagle's Talon with a friend this morning, teeing off as a twosome, as the second group out behind a foursome in carts. Pace was pretty good, we waited on the guys in front of us a few times, but never for long and we got around in about 3:45. Course was in very good shape, considering it had rained very hard right up until about an hour before we teed off. Greens were very soft, a bit bumpy, and holding just about anything with very little release. They putted fairly slow, but considering the weather they were not too bad. Fairways of course didn't offer a whole lot of roll, but balls didn't plug as often as expected, and most have decent grass to hit off of. Tee boxes are still sketchy here, and bunkers were pretty miserable with all the rain. Having the winter card gets me a rate of just over $30 walking, and I feel that's a decent enough price for what you'll get. It's about the same as you'll pay anywhere else, and I feel the conditions are slightly better.

Walked Willows Run Eagle this morning while taking a day off of work. Considering how absolutely miserable this past winter has been here in the northwest, the course is in pretty reasonable shape. Fa... Continue »

Walked Willows Run Eagle this morning while taking a day off of work. Considering how absolutely miserable this past winter has been here in the northwest, the course is in pretty reasonable shape. Fairways and rough are a bit shaggy, and very wet, but it has been raining non stop for the last week or so it seems, so its pretty hard to complain about it. The same for the bunkers, lots of them are little ponds now but I can't see how there's too much the crew can do about it. Tee boxes are decent, some of the worst offenders are closed now and being rebuilt, I would guess that by the summer they'll be very nice. Greens remain pretty good, although a couple seemed to be in need of a little love. Seeing as how there was a break in the rain, and I had the place all to myself, it was a very nice way to spend the morning.

Took the day off work to get an early start on the holiday weekend, and walked Willows Run as a single early this morning. Got around insanely fast, just a hair over three hours even with a few practi... Continue »

Took the day off work to get an early start on the holiday weekend, and walked Willows Run as a single early this morning. Got around insanely fast, just a hair over three hours even with a few practice shots here and there. I've always felt that this place gets away with charging more than its worth, but it seems that now the conditioning is catching up to the price. Greens rolled extremely well, very true and medium quick. Not super firm, they would hold shots very nicely. Fairways offered a lot of roll, but were not thin, and gave very good lies to hit from. The rough had been cut, and wasn't too long, but it was definitely lush enough to make you think about how to play from it. It really reminded you how nice the short grass is here right now. I found one green side bunker, and it had very nice sand, not thin but not super heavy either. Tee boxes could still use some leveling, (a few really are pretty bad) although they all did have very nice healthy grass with only the par 3s having much divot damage. I'm not sure I would want to pay the $65 or so it costs to walk here prime time on Saturday or Sunday, but for the $46 I ended up paying today, I think it was actually worth it.

Played here on Saturday, 3/26/16, in order to get my last winter club ($32 to walk) round in. The course was in decent enough shape, the greens were very nice, pretty smooth and medium speed. They wer... Continue »

Played here on Saturday, 3/26/16, in order to get my last winter club ($32 to walk) round in. The course was in decent enough shape, the greens were very nice, pretty smooth and medium speed. They were a bit difficult to get used to as the practice green had been punched and sanded, and I believe that the other course here has been punched as well. After a couple of holes of adjusting they seemed to me to be very consistent. They also held all shots pretty well. Fairways aren't too bad, although the usual places that don't drain well were pretty sloppy. Rough was consistently thick throughout, and if you was trying to hit against the grain you were going to be punished. Tee boxes as always were pretty bad, and many of the bunkers were full with standing water. I believe they'll be punching this course on April 4, so this week would be a good time to play it. However, now that they'll be charging their in-season rate, it will probably become a place that I'll only play occasionally. I think that $60-ish to walk here on a weekend morning is just too much.

Walked on as a single at Willows Run yesterday for a rare (for me) afternoon round. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, so I was a little bit surprised that I was able to pay my green fee and walk righ... Continue »

Walked on as a single at Willows Run yesterday for a rare (for me) afternoon round. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, so I was a little bit surprised that I was able to pay my green fee and walk right out to the 1st tee. I was paired up with a pleasant 2 some and another single (the two in cart, and the two of us singles walking) and we got around in about 4 and a half hours. Conditions were pretty solid, greens a little quick with a few bumps, but not too bad. Putting through the fringe on 1 hole (I think it was #12) I did have the ball hop about 6 inches into the air while taking a 45 degree right turn. The greens are not quite as soft as in times past, but still holding shots pretty well. Fairways and rough were much more playable than the last time I was here, things have dried up a bit and while the course couldn't be called "firm" there is a lot more roll to be had in the fairways. I found 1 green side bunker, and the sand was very nice. Tee boxes remain the weakest part of the course. We were playing the white tees and the 1st 2 par 3's didn't have a whole lot of grass on them, in addition to not being anywhere near level. A known issue with this place, so I really can't complain too much about it. With the absolutely perfect spring weather it was a really nice afternoon.