3rd vacation review, one more to follow. If you haven’t yet heard of Wine Valley, you need to look it up. Ranked #5 “Modern” course is the country earlier this year by Golf Digest. If you already ha... Continue »

3rd vacation review, one more to follow. If you haven’t yet heard of Wine Valley, you need to look it up. Ranked #5 “Modern” course is the country earlier this year by Golf Digest. If you already have heard of it, let me assure you - it’s at least as good as advertised. This is a “links” style course in every sense of the word - wide fairways (but with bunkers in all the “wrong” spots), wispy long grass bordering the fairways, HUGE greens and the fairways play about the same speed as the greens (FAST!). Green side bunkers range from small pot-bunkers to massive, all slightly “rough” around the edges (OK, some are a lot more than “slightly”). Lots of variety, no two holes look or feel the same. It was designed with the consistent prevailing wind in mind - a 365+ yard par four into the wind played longer than a 440+ yard one with the wind. Probably more elevation change than most links courses due to the rolling hill topography of the area, it still feels like a true links style course and definitely plays like one (nearly every green can be played to both in the air and on the ground). Conditions were excellent, even with the unusually hot weather in the area (high 90’s to low 100’s). There was one tee that showed a fair amount of divot damage and a couple of fairways had some small, minor areas of heat damage, but everything else was great. Bunkers had a somewhat course sand but always good coverage and very consistent. Greens were pretty firm and at times it was almost impossible to tell where the green ended and the fringe began. Everything out to about 10 yards was smooth enough to putt from and they rolled true at a medium-fast pace. If played as designed, the course offers multiple options on nearly every hole (even par 3’s). Play it close to the ground and it’s not hard to score well (assuming you stay out of the green side bunkers, more on them to follow). Play it in the air like you would most courses and you’d better be spot-on with your distances or things can get ugly in a hurry. Most holes where your drive ends up is WAY more important than how far it went. Now, about those greenside bunkers - STAY AWAY FROM THEM!! LOL. IF your ball stays in the middle they are great to play from but several are positioned so even a great shot still leaves you 15’ or more from the hole. If your ball runs up close to the edge - well, take a snack with you, it might be awhile before you get out. The service was excellent, unfortunately I can’t speak to the food service - they had an issue with their sanitizing system and couldn’t serve anything except drinks (but they had a real nice selection of big brand and local brews!). Rates for non-residents are a little high but not out of line for a course like this (local rates are awesome!) If you are ever in the area, make time to play here, you won’t regret it. HIGHLY recommended.