Falcon Crest Golf Club - Freedom 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 just an update review since my old one is the only review for this course and is VERY outdated right now because of course construction.**

Everything in my previous review that pertains to holes 1-4 and 8,9 is still valid, but holes 5-7 are closed as of now.

Unfortunately, the original Freedom course has succumbed to the construction boon in the treasure valley and residences are going where the best (IMO) holes used to be, so this is now a 6 hole course where you can schedule 6, 12, or 18 hole rounds. The three "big" holes - 5 (714 yard par 5 from the tips), 6 (473 par 4 from the tips), and 7 (640 yard par 5 from the tips) - and temporarily closed. I'm told they will reopen in a year or so, but won't be quite the monsters they were. Hole 4 - a 467 yard par 4 - and number 9 - a 462 par 4 - are still open, so it's not completely without teeth.

To me this is unfortunate, as the distance on this course was the real draw. The remaining 6 holes are still good, and it is kind of nice to have a 6 hole routing you can play for people a little stretched for the time a traditional round (even a 9 hole round) takes.

There are also almost always (in my experience) tee times available now. But again, it's not what it was before (i.e. in my last review) so I thought it was a good idea to update it.

When it fully reopens I'll update again if there aren't other reviews already covering it. Sorry, no new pics since, again, this is just an update.

Hope it's helpful.

I did *not* play the Freedom course from the tips, and I played 7400 yards. From the black tees the par five 5th is 676, from the back it's over 700... Freedom is a long course.

I'm very used to hitting driver and then 9 iron or less into holes. Today I was hitting my 3H and 5i hole after hole (which was kind of a nice change, actually). What's nice about this layout is that the length protects the course well with regard to score; however, it is so open that your mistakes seldom need to cost you more than one stroke.

The good news is that , other than a few water hazards that are not obvious or at times even visible, it's all pretty much out there in front of you. There are virtually no trees and - short of finding some of that water - there is no excuse to lose a ball. The course is also largely flat, built in the middle of farm territory. This helps with keeping the difficulty from getting completely out of control however there is also almost always wind out at Falcon Crest to deal with.

I gave the course four stars on "course conditions" because the greens were terrific... but many areas of the fairways and tee boxes were in need of some TLC. But again, the greens were outstanding. Also, the bunkers are always playable at FalconCrest and today on the Freedom course was no exception. They aren't fluffy or deep... but they are very consistent and always give you a result commensurate with the quality of your effort (which is all I ever ask for).

Again, the Freedom course is wide open, however that does not mean the fairways are overly large and some landing areas are a bit tight. This was my first time on this course (I play at Falcon Crest often, just never this nine hole gem before) and I'm told the rough can be punitive at times; however, I had no problems playing from it today.

This isn't a course to hit up to improve your scoring average, but if you're a handicap keeper, the difficulty (74.2/140 from the tees I played) will do nice things for your diff.

The service is always great at Falcon Crest and the coronavirus truncated offerings were nevertheless on point today, as always.

It's a bit of a drive from Boise, but the Freedom course (as well as the regular 18 hole course) at Falcon Crest are well worth the trek. Just be sure to bring your big boy/girl clubs if you decide to play Freedom!