Played at 915am with my monthly group on a warm sunny day with very little wind until we hit those “into the …” holes #13-14, on Saturday 3/11/17. The first tee looked open for a long time as our tee ... Continue »

Played at 915am with my monthly group on a warm sunny day with very little wind until we hit those “into the …” holes #13-14, on Saturday 3/11/17. The first tee looked open for a long time as our tee time approached, but a shotgun of novice golfers had gone off the back nine at 7am, and they cycled out just in front of us, and by hole #4 the lower part of the course looked like the Harlem Globetrotters in carts, weaving back and forth across the fairways and stacked up on every tee. Overall POP was a horrific 5.5 hr. But, hey, the weather was nice! Course conditions range from nice to horribly hard/bare/bumpy. Greens were the best part of the course, rolling fairly smoothly at medium-fast speeds, although the firmness and receptiveness varied through the course. [They plan to start aerating ½ of each green beginning 3/20.] Fairways were fairly lush to thin and hard – the ball sat pretty tight everywhere. Rough was variable but generally drier and harder. Sand was fluffy everywhere – great around greens but challenging from fairway bunkers. Many tees are sloping, and par-3 tees are very torn up. Prolink GPS that looks OK but is not interactive, and it was so dim in the bright sunlight that it was basically useless. Starter said it couldn’t be adjusted for brightness. And, OMG, please stop with the on-screen messages (and beeps!) – like 3 or 4 per hole to “keep up”, “repair ballmarks”, “wave up on par-3s”, and “thanks for playing, return carts to the barn”! STOP!! (No, you can’t adjust THAT either!). Carts are basic. Sand bottle rack on #10 was full ..... of empty bottles. We flagged down a wandering marshal to get more sand. Warm-up area is mats hitting into a net. Two fairly large putting greens will put the fear into you before the round, especially downhill. The course is wedged into a minimal area and there are several places where trees and protective fences severely restrict lines and options of play – probably not trimmed since opening. While distances are not great, many holes are extremely narrow and hazards and OB are very close by. Be careful on the narrow par-5 #17 – left of the cart path is OB within a few feet of the path, and balls headed left of the fairway there get quickly onto very firm bumpy ground, so there’s no real margin for error. The course used a front/middle/back rotation on the front nine, the changed it up on the back to be unpredictable (but you can get pin position on the GPS ..... oh, wait! [See above!]). With par-5s coming at holes #3, #6, and #9, and with the pin on hole #12 being back, all four of these par-5s had pins on the back.