Played ‘AB’-North Thursday afternoon on a perfect day, weather-wise, despite having to deal with a steady two-club wind that, more often than not, was not in our favor. Also took a full five hours (te... Continue »

Played ‘AB’-North Thursday afternoon on a perfect day, weather-wise, despite having to deal with a steady two-club wind that, more often than not, was not in our favor. Also took a full five hours (teed off @ 1:06PM) to complete the round due to periodic waiting on the front side and a snail’s pace back nine where we waited on every single tee box.

Condition-wise, course is in overall decent shape but I strongly recommend staying away until next week’s aeration process has been completed and the greens have sufficient time to heal. I’d give them at least three weeks but that may depend on what type of weather kicks off the month of May.

While I didn’t have any issue with how the greens rolled yesterday…although I felt they were a touch slower than usual…the number of unrepaired ball marks was eye-opening. There were some areas on certain greens that looked like someone hit a shag bag of balls during a practice session yet didn’t bother to repair the resulting damage.

I’m not sure if it’s due to the heavy amount of play the course gets, the Member-Member/Member-Guest that was held on Tuesday, or the ABWC that played earlier Thursday, but it was so irritating to see this level of imperfection on the putting surfaces. Knowing the greens are going to be done next week, do people think fixing their ball marks a few days ahead of the process simply doesn’t matter?

Also want to mention that quite a few front aprons have already been punched and sanded while other greens were being heavily watered in preparation for the same. Needless to say, it served as a bit of a surprise since some of these areas can’t be seen from the fairway. And then there’s the problem of having to deal with above-ground hoses and sprinklers strewn around the fronts of the greens.

Tee boxes were in good shape although a few could use a light sanding in order to level them out. I found myself having to search for a spot where either my ball and/or driver weren’t sitting in a slight depression.

Fairways were healthy with full coverage outside of a few isolated spots that were turfed yet a bit thin in density. Still, nothing a well-executed swing couldn’t handle. And with the exception of the aprons I mentioned, other fringe areas were in very good shape. As always, the rough is thick and brutal to play out of.

Traps were good although the sand played a little ‘heavier’ than I would prefer. As I recall, the texture used to be a bit firmer a year or two ago but may have lost that characteristic as time goes on. Just conjecture on my part.

So, if you decide to get a round in this weekend, you’ve been forewarned. Another thing to note is that, in the future, I will refrain from playing the week before any scheduled maintenance due to the work that takes place in advance of the green aeration. I understand it’s a necessity but now that I’m aware of the preliminary process, I’ll think better of it.