Inver Wood Golf Course is a parkland style course situated on a tree covered rolling tract of land with significant elevation changes. On almost every hole your drive is from an elevated tee or your approach shot is uphill from the fairway to an elevated green, and often both. Stands of mature trees line most of the well-conditioned, smooth and moderately wide fairways. The course is not excessively long, 6,724 yards from the back tees, but it is fairly challenging, evidenced by the 72.8 rating and 142 slope for those back tees. Three other tees range down to 5,175 yards, but the course is definitely not for beginners. However, there is an executive nine hole course available that is suitable for less experienced golfers. On the day we played the rough was not very high, barely ball height, but very thick so hitting more than a short iron out was problematic. Greens are on the large side, smooth and undulating, and moderately fast. We soon found out that some of the greens didn’t have the simple back to front slope that is found on most courses. Instead, some had a ridge midway up the green from which the slope was toward the back, and some simply sloped from front to back. Of course, this meant that some approaches we thought would be perfectly pin high ended up on the fringe at the back of the green. The opening hole, a 526 yard (from the middle tees) par 5 sets the tone for what is to come. The fairway slopes fairly straight uphill for the first two shots, and then the green is offset to the left. If your second shot doesn’t reach the crest of the hill, you’ll have to hit a nice draw on your approach to reach the green, which you might not be able to see. The back nine opens with a 484 yard par 5 that looks very similar to the first hole. However, the fairway sits almost on the crest of a ridge so that a ball hit a little left will go down the slope into the woods where you’ll be lucky to find it. This slope goes all the way to green, so you must favor the right on you second shot as well. Similar to the first hole, the fairway doglegs to the left for your approach shot. Probably the highlight of the round was the 176 yard par 3 12th hole, which features a dramatically elevated tee shot down to a green that looks quite small from that height, but is actually fairly large. Take less club than you normally would for the distance and you might be looking at birdie. I would not recommend trying to walk this course unless you’re in really good shape, but there were quite a few walkers on the course the day we played. And the condition of the trails for walkers from greens to tees indicated that they had a lot of use. Our foursome enjoyed playing this course, and its convenient location in the south part of the metro area makes me want to come play it again.
