Never having played Oak Valley and rarely in the area, I drove out on Tuesday, 11/25 to meet a buddy to catch up on life and share a round on his home course — him literally renting in the development... Continue »

Never having played Oak Valley and rarely in the area, I drove out on Tuesday, 11/25 to meet a buddy to catch up on life and share a round on his home course — him literally renting in the development. The week after all the rain, it was good timing because things were greened up but not sloppy. Playing the whites, conditions were solid and a step above my normal muni excursions. Teeing grounds were green, clean and while I wouldn't take a level to them, they were consistently level enough. Fairways had consistently green coverage and good lies. The rough was similarly green and on the thick side, more often costing a shot. Missed the bunkers and the grooming appeared average. Green surrounds could be on the heavier side and hitting into the grain could be an ugly result, while the putting surfaces were clean and running at the fast end of medium. Not a readily walkable course, $60 with cart seemed like a pretty solid deal. It has a good amount of contour with interesting holes and the occasional altitude drop or rise. A few holes required some carry on the tee shots or the second shots, and there could be consequences for getting off line (drop off, water, etc.) but the fairways were a reasonable target width. I think the main challenges tended to be around the green complexes. Frequently they eliminated or minimized the roll up option with bunkers, elevation or an angled alignment to the fairway so airmail was required to reach the putting surface. Bottom line, between the course itself and the nearby snow capped mountains, there was some nice visual interest and more than a reasonable amount of challenge for those of us not blessed with single digit handicap level games. We teed of around 12:40, had a painfully slow group in front of us, skipped them and the tenth hole at the turn and finished on 17 due to failing light. Don't know if/when I will ever be back, but I would welcome it with the bit of course knowledge I gained.