Steffjj

Past experiences with caribbean golf have been no bueno. THIS course was a treat. I am a 12.4 age 63 and played the blues which at 6300 was a very fair test. Conditions were excellent; greens mild fast but tricky in spots. Less break but speed challenges. Par 3s were straightforward but the par 5s devious. They APPEAR on the card to be benign but are not. Recommend 3wood off tees on 3 of them or your second could be quite squirrelly. Staff was wonderful, lots of nice merch and even with COVID protocols beverages available. Rentals were top of the line Titleist. Only complaint is that it was hard to find folks to play with. Played 27 ( no emergency nine fee ! ) But some of it solo. I think the best thing was the diversity of holes. Only one par 4 on the back was a brute but there were really only 2 cupcakes. 1 & 18. The rest were just good golf holes. Thoroughly enjoyed.

This used to be a challenging decent resort course. The condition has drastically deteriorated. The cart paths are almost dangerous. There is little direction from hole to hole. The greens were shaggy and 2 fairways were nearly unplayable due to water issues. The inside staff was nice but the ranger tried hard to be difficult. Apparently there was some tournament so the pins were mostly on mounds and rediculously difficult. It's sad to see a good course decline

First the positives: nice layout, fairways and greens putted fair and fast. Two big negatives. I literally lost 4 golf balls in the primary rough adjacent fairway. Beyond aggravating. I can't imagine pace of play for mid-day hackers. I'm a 12hcp and I've never lost more than one ball in the rough before. Ever. Please create a primary and secondary rough or have fore caddies. Secondly, the service at the snack bar while friendly was ridiculously SLOW.. Nearly lost our place on the 10th tee for a granola bar and cold beer to go. Yikes.

Man we got lucky on the weather. 61F with little wind an no rain is an anomaly in Gatlinburg so we took advantage. Greens had been punched but not too aggressively and still rolled true. This course is NOT walkable unless you are Austrian. Severe elevation changes especially on back. I played blues and my wife red. I'm a 12 ( Age 60 ). Shot 84 so I rate it moderate. Honestly, about 15 good holes and I bet the views in October are breathtaking. Two holes ( both Par 3 on the back ) bear mentioning. The first # 12 features a Golden Tee style drop off...most severe I've ever seen. I honestly didn't even realize I hit the green but no one else found their ball. Yes, its unique but kind of silly and needs a ball drop area since the slopes on all sides are ankle breakers. # 17 is truly unfair. Its a 232 yard Par 3 ( 218 from the whites !! ) and is straight uphill surrounded by rough. To a back pin my GPS was 249. My guess is that with the elevation it was playing about 260 for me and about 210 for my wife. If it was windy it would be unreachable by anyone other than someone with a card. Since the back plays to 34 ( front 37 ) my advice would be to take the tees back a little and it becomes a nice par 4 between a very challenging ( yet fair ) 16 and 18. Otherwise, the course had variety and a fair balance in hole length and design. We really enjoyed it. Oh, and my wife says it needs more ladies merchandise ;)