moreparsthanbogeys

I'm a 10 HC. Yesterday at LL, the pin locations and green hardness was such that it was virtually impossible to hit approach shots that stayed on the greens, yielding impossible odds on getting up and down once you found your ball 10-20 yards over the back of greens. I counted 7 pins on the front nine within four paces of the back edge of the green, and two front pins. With the greens so hard that lofted 8 irons were bouncing over the green, and pins where a shot or putt 3 feet past the hole was rolling off the green, it was pretty frustrating. It's also a bit strange to have 4 of 5 par 3's play from 190 yards, at least for amateurs attempting to play 6100 yards. The shortest shot I had to a par three was 165 yards.

The sad thing is that the course layout is fairly attractive, and that the place used to be a horse track is apparent from the old railings and 1/8 mile marker pegs, which gives it some charm. But the combination of the green hardness and pin locations was just too much. Just some common sense with respect to the pins could have made the day a lot more enjoyable. As it was, it was basically "silly golf."

I'm a 10 HC, and played it on a Monday with my son, who's a scratch player. He played the tips, I played 6,100. We just love this course, because it challenges you to hit a lot of different shots, and even the supposed "easy" holes have some trouble lurking which can lead to bogeys. I hadn't played it in more than 5 years, so was reminded how difficult most of the green complexes were, and how tough some holes are with the narrow front to back greens.

The temp was in the 50's with the wind blowing quite a bit, so we each had 3-5 strokes more than usual. But it's a great course, and we were more than happy to be out there on a cool, pristine day.

This course is not for the average golfer. Major trouble lurks on every hole except for a few. Even Par 5’s are difficult with hazards in play. Pretty stressful probably for anyone with a 10 HC or more. Long bunker shots the norm, if you go offline or short. Greens were not in good condition but the beauty of the course is from tee to green. Even good players will be challenged. Recommend playing a tee box up from what you’re used to, because there’s no roll right now. A lot of downhill lies on approach shots also make several tough holes even harder. I would play it again, simply because it’s really hard, and makes other courses look like a walk in the park.

you might think teeing off around 4PM on a Sunday afternoon would be a relaxing time to be on the course. Sadly, not true of the Trophy Club. After being assured by the guy in the clubhouse that the course was fairly open, and that I could head over to the tee box, the starter offered me this choice: you can drive your cart up the fairway, drop a ball, and join the threesome in front of you, or just wait for them to get out of range and hit. Since I was only playing 9, I chose to wait. After one hole the gruesome reality came to pass - 15 minutes after I teed off, the group ahead was still waiting on the next tee. This pace continued up to the 4th tee, when the group in front waited for the group ahead to clear the green - a 310 yard uphill shot. So after a long wait on that hole, I had played four holes in an hour and 10 minutes. Then the coup de grace - the starter told me on the 6th green (which by that time I was 1:30 into the round, having just made a birdie) that I needed to join the group ahead of me. My mention that there were only 3 holes left to play drew no sympathy - "will save 10 minutes" he barked. At that point, I had enough, and drove back to the clubhouse. Along the way, I passed the foursome on the 7th green which was holding up the course - no sign of them speeding up - just plumb bobbing putts.

I did go back into the clubhouse to complain, and the guy at the desk agreed that he should have just left me alone. No offer to refund me the $30 however.

I will never go back to that course, and would recommend that it be skipped. There are far greener pastures, and marshals who know the game, and when to keep their mouths zipped.