Walked the white tees on Eagle's Talon with 3 friends this morning and had a great time. We finally have some summer weather here in the Pacific Northwest, and it seems like everyone wanted to get out... Continue »

Walked the white tees on Eagle's Talon with 3 friends this morning and had a great time. We finally have some summer weather here in the Pacific Northwest, and it seems like everyone wanted to get out and enjoy it. Willows was packed, but we still teed off just about on time at 7:33 am, and we got around in about 4:30. It was definitely a little slow for my taste, but the waiting never seemed too bad, and the day was so warm and dry and sunny that it was impossible not to enjoy it.

Course is in great shape right now, greens are the highlight. One of my friends was in southern California last week, and he said the greens here were faster than anything he played down there (Black Gold and Wilshire Country Club). They were definitely quicker than normal, but rolling really smooth. Make the right read and start it on line, it stayed on line. Well struck shots and chips would hold a little bit, but not as much as normal and anything not well struck was releasing a ton. You'd find a few unrepaired pitch marks, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Fairways and rough are really solid too, plenty of roll for me but still a nice cushion to hit from. One of my friends did manage to plug a couple of tee shots, but he does hit an extremely high ball. Rough is very healthy but mowed down nicely. Long enough to where you won't get a ton of spin, but not so long as to keep you from advancing the ball well. Traps looked good, I was fortunate enough to not find any. Tee boxes remain the weakest part of the course, many markers were placed in spots that aren't quite flat enough, and the par 3s had a fair amount of divot damage. The only other quibble I really had was that the pin positions and tee markers on the par 3s resulted in each of them playing nearly the same yardage, right around 145. There's plenty of room for them to make a couple as short as 110, or as long as 180, and I think the variety would have been nice.

Friendly service in the shop and at the shack at the turn (although they didn't have any soft drink options there, and my group grabbed the last 2 of the best beers) so overall the experience was really nice. Wish I could take full advantage of the weather and play there again tomorrow, conditions and price are lining up for an excellent value.