Falcon Crest Golf Club - Robin Hood Course

One of the things I really like about Falcon Crest is that it can be as difficult or (relatively) easy as you want it to be. While the back tees play essentially the same as Augusta National (77.4/147 vs 76.2/148 at the home of the Masters), the tourney and regular tees play to a much more benign rating. The whites, which we played come in at 69.6/128. We normally would have played one set of tees back, but with sustained winds over 25 MPH and gusts over 50, the regular tees were plenty for us on this day.

Driving through farm country out to Falcon Crest you would expect to be playing a completely flat course but they do a good job of working with their surroundings to feature a decent bit of elevation change. There is a par 3 that drops at least a good 70 feel and at least 7 holes that have 40 feet or more of up or down to them.

They also manage to employ water, either in the form of streams or ponds on a large percentage of their holes, and angles along with well placed bunkers to defend the course. Despite forcing you to hit the ball well to score on most holes, however, this track is not overly punitive when you make a mistake. it's not easy, but I would say it is fair.

One of the hallmarks of this course are the hard, fast, and true greens. They are a pleasure to play if you practice a little before your round; if you don't you'll almost certain give up a few strokes early while making adjustments

Falcon Crest does a nice job of mixing up the variety in their holes and through #13, no two really feel the same. There's then a string of slightly more standard fair before you come to the menacing 18th.

Eighteen is the treasure valley hole I've heard called "unfair" the most among the people I play golf with on a regular basis, and it isn't short of challenge. If you can pull off a perfect 200-205 (but not any longer or you'll risk being in the water), you will leave yourself with a 190 yard'ish carry over water to the green. Obviously, if you are short of that, your carry will be longer. There is a sliver of land leading to the hole which, if you are very precise and can hit the ball just over 220, but not allow it to roll more than about 20 yards after, you can land on to set up a more reasonable wedge into the sloped and angled green. In short, it's a challenge (all distances based on playing the regular white tees, the other two tee boxes are up to 110 yards longer).

I punched down about 190, hit a layup on the land-bridge and then popped a wedge in close from there. With luck on my side my putt rolled in for par, always a good score on this difficult finishing hole.

The staff in the clubhouse were terrific, going out of their way to help one of my partners who somehow left his clubs back at the house and the grounds were in terrific shape considering they were covered in snow about a week ago. Spring has not been kind but the course was in very good condition. The bunkers - which the wind helped me play from more often than I should have - were also in great shape given the recent weather, and played exactly as you'd want them too; neither to thin nor fluffy.

All in all (after our fingers thawed) it was a great morning of golf on a terrific track. I'm looking forward to taking on some of the more challenging tee boxes in the more docile weather of summer and fall.

Note: I said "moderate" for difficulty based on the tees we played, it gets much harder the farther you play back.

This is such a fun course! Easy to walk and very enjoyable. You have minor hazards and water. You will use many different shots and clubs. The best 1 1/2 you can spend! Relaxing and this was the course I learned to golf on with my girlfriends 3 years ago and its fun to go back and see how my level has gotten better. I LOVE THE ROBIN HOOD COURSE! You will too!