sdavies8

I've always found Forest Hills to be well worth the time to play, it's my first course to play after a lay off and typically it's playable later into the year due to good drainage and smart course maintenance. While there are other course around that are more expensive to play I don't find they're proportionally better maintained, simply put for the price you get a better bang for your buck. If I have a grumble and it's a small nit picking one, they installed blue tee's a few years back to lengthen the course for longer hitters, no bad idea as it's quite a short course, it's the quality of the back tee's aren't quite what those further forward are.

I've played Quail many times, I'd characterize it as a good value for money course with wide open fairways so if your driving as been a bit poor it's somewhere you can go to work on that club without paying too great a price in balls.

While it doesn't have the price tag of Pumpkin Ridge just up the road, it doesn't have a lot of it's problems with wet weather either. In superb summer weather it won't have Pumpkin's fairways but I've rarely if ever seen it's greens in poor shape and if you want to play in winter/late fall I'd say Quails greens might be in better shape. The day I played they had just been pressed in preparation for a tournament and were in fine shape, a good even surface, no blemishes.

On a personal, pet peeve side issue, I hit one bunker that day and found I actually had sand under my feet and ball to hit from! I play all over the Portland area and find time and again when I'm in a bunker, I'm hitting from a small layer of sand with solid mud underneath. I find I can actually achieve the shot in my minds eye more often than not when given a chance to, this needs to happen more often, kudos Quail.

I know, the review summary seems at odds with itself, it's short but you need a cart? As so often happens with newer courses, placed in urban area's, the course designer has to work with what he or she is given. Much of the layout has area's of wetland that have been designated area's of natural interest. As such, these can be built in, entered just driven by, this leads to significant walks from green to the next tee-box. From 17th green to the 18th tee box for example, I've been informed it's 365 yards, almost a par 4 in itself, 14 thru 16 wind through a local neighbourhood as it does also through 4 thru 9, with long distances separating green and tee in places. Long story short, though the holes might be short, white tee's are 5700 yards, blue are 6200, if you're going to struggle making those distances carrying your bag or with a pull cart, a motorized cart is a good investment for the day.

The course itself tends to require precise drives from the tee, if you can't keep your driver straight, you will struggle at times to keep your ball in bounds. That being said, if you can achieve this, it's also a course you can score on. The slope rating really only kicks in on one hole, the long par 5 9th and perhaps the long par 4 14th, other than that you won't find too many lies where you're required to respect the slope on your shot.

As mentioned before, the course is placed to fit around wetlands, it's low lying in many places. This leads to the fairways retaining water well into early summer, don't expect
a lot of run when hitting from the tee, what you carry in the air is largely what'll you end up driving.

It's a course I enjoy playing but one I'm aware of in advance, straight driving is at a premium. I use it as a good indicator of how well I'm driving, once your ball is in play, you'll have a lot of opportunity to fire at pins from short distance and find out if your approach play is good enough to put you position to go low. If this doesn't describe your game, you may want to think about spending your money elsewhere, it's just not fun hitting 3 off the tee and losing a ball with regularity.

One last note, about carts here, all of which I think are equipped with GPS. I have, at times, found the yardage from them to be at odds with what the actual yardage on the course is. You could probably say this of all golf yardage GPS systems, the technology is reliant on establishing a signal from low-orbit. 10 yards isn't much to be off by from 300 miles up but it can be all the difference when informing your decision of what club to hit on approach. Check your yardage on the ground as well as on the screen if you can. Flushing a pitching wedge you feel is the right club and watching it sail over the pin and off the back of the green is not amusing.

The Reserve, I've played both courses and of them both, I prefer and like the North Course. The South Course is the tougher of the two, longer as well with a ton of bunkers on it. That's not why I prefer to play the North Course though, I've just had more fun on it is all.

There are a few risk reward holes to play to, some tough par 3's with upraised greens where you really have to hit and hold the green. A couple of narrow par 5's where water comes into play on the 2nd shot and a few where you need to place the ball before a hazard.

It's not a cheap course though and at times I wonder why the expense, it seems to be where people with money come to have a giggle. At times this leads to distractions you can do without and I admit I'm not very good at coping with this.

If you can find a bargain time, come and play this course, if you can spare the money go play and please use your inner voice on the course.

Langdon Farms, it's been used as a course for US Open Qualifying and for a good reason, as a European it strikes me as a classic US course. Tight mown approaches to greens, with a few false fronts as well as a few long holes where you need to drive long and hit an approach high and hold it.

It can get very busy, it's a good venue for corporate events and tournaments. this leads to some slow rounds.

If I have one criticism of the course and it's where I hold my handicap so I play the course a bit, it's this, where's the sand? They have bunkers and a distinct lack of sand in them, I asked someone who played the US Open Qualifying and he confirmed there wasn't any sand in them either. His advice was, just don't hit into them, oh if only we could guarantee that.

On the whole it's a fair test of a golfers ability, it can be expensive though, it can charge this because corporate events are no doubt lucrative. My advice is use golfnow to find a bargain and learn to hit the greens on approach, otherwise your short game will be tested on those short mown approaches to those greens.

Now this is a course I enjoy I'll admit, I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to play a challenging round of golf. First, there are elevation changes, a cart is a good idea especially for those who are older or aren't as capable of walking as they used to be.

There are a few forced carries over a gorge off the tee, a few holes where shot placement is a must. In the case of those who can't hit the ball far enough, new forward tee's are being introduced.

Once through the turn, holes 9 to 14, the course becomes easier, wider fairways, green's are easier to hit to, same for holes 1 to 4. Only a few holes will require a shaped shot, hole 9 stands out as a great example of this.

Distance isn't particularly an issue on this course, I'm not a long hitter by any means, only one hole plays as a rule a shot longer than I can manage. Greens are well managed, fairways are well maintained, the course and slope rating will tell you there aren't many flat spots to hit from.

Perhaps the best thing I like about this course is the word is out, it's a tough course, lower standard players won't want to come and lose balls on it. If you want to play it, bring your 'A' game and warm up on the range before hand.