I missed the GK Plays outing at GCGC on November 17th and after reading the reviews about the great course conditions I wanted to get out there. Posted a Meet-Play on the GK site a week ahead of time ... Continue »

I missed the GK Plays outing at GCGC on November 17th and after reading the reviews about the great course conditions I wanted to get out there. Posted a Meet-Play on the GK site a week ahead of time for a 1:00 tee time, but I didn’t get any takers. GCGC doesn’t book for singles, so when I called to reduce the group to 1 they told me to just show up and they’d get me in as a single. They had a large group finish going off around 12:30 so the first tee was pretty deserted. I was paired with single who was pretty new to golf and we went off around 1:00 on Thursday, 11/30/23. The group in front of us was occasionally playing the Goose tees (not even on the normal scorecard, so no Roman numeral!). I didn’t know there was a tee next to the cart path on #2 – it’s the Goose tee for #3 and you need to wait for it to clear before hitting on #2.

GCGC recently came out of their annual maintenance and looks great. Lots of lush green surrounds and the white bunker sand really pops the eye. Greens are the first thing you think of after aeration and maintenance and they were in good shape. The course had them cut down pretty tight and they still showed the holes from punching, but rolled just fine at medium+ speed. There was some inconsistency in the firmness, as some greens were very firm and released shots, while others were softer and you got pretty big ballmarks.

Fairways were cut pretty close but with good coverage, and the ball sat just fine. Overall the turf is still damp from recent maintenance/weather and the ball doesn’t run out like it does when the course is drier. I had a few mudballs in the fairway today. The first cut of rough was pretty short and easily playable. Tees were level and just fine; the course had the III (White) tees pushed well forward on some of the par-3s. I was in a few traps and sand quality and quantity was fine – too bad so many people don’t use the rakes, including my playing partner.

We played through a group of women golfers on #11 and then occasionally bumped up on that earlier foursome playing the Goose tees. Overall great pace and we finished before 4:30 with plenty of daylight left. Saw the cart girl a few times but no marshal today.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad experience at the Goose in all the years I’ve been coming here. Always recommended.