I had the opportunity to play here on Thursday. Actually, this was the last round of a charity auction package some friends and I bought last year. It took some time to coordinate the round, but it ul... Continue »

I had the opportunity to play here on Thursday. Actually, this was the last round of a charity auction package some friends and I bought last year. It took some time to coordinate the round, but it ultimately worked out well. We were told to come out around 1:00, but we found out they really don't make any tee times. There were a ton of people out there, so we gave our names to the starter and he put us in the queue. We teed off at 1:25 and finished exactly four hours later despite the course being completely full.

The course was in exceptional shape. Tee boxes and fairways just about perfect throughout the course. Fairways show how nice kikuyu can be when it's well maintained. The first and intermediate cuts of rough were also excellent with the ball sitting up nicely. The further you strayed from the fairways, the less consistent and more difficult the lies would become with different grasses in play. Still, the coverage was generally lush and green everywhere. I was in one bunker and it was good. Last but not least, the greens were amazing. You had to hit a really well-struck shot to get any bite, even though they felt soft underfoot. On putts, they were very smooth and deceptively fast. It was really tough to get anything to stop near the hole. It would always slide by another 3-5 feet to leave you with a nervous comebacker.

The clubhouse and putting green are in the midst of a huge renovation right now, so we didn't quite get the full club experience. The parking lot is kind of a mess and they just have a bunch of temporary trailers set up as locker rooms, restrooms, pro shop, dining room, etc. The course itself is pretty straightforward and not overly challenging. There are a couple of memorable holes, but otherwise it's vaguely reminiscent of some local muni courses or maybe the inland holes up at Sandpiper (just in much, much, much nicer condition). Worth checking out if you get an invite, if only to feel like part of the Newport elite for a day, but not worth breaking the bank over.