michasiw

I have played Glen Eagle once a year for some years as part of the rotation with my regular foursome. We missed last year (thank you, COVID), so I checked the recent reviews to see what might have changed. I was very much struck, and not pleasantly, by accounts of the course's decline, the dreadful condition of tee-boxes, greens, and fairways, the salt-pan state of the sand traps, and the general lack of care and keeping.

We played yesterday and found none of these to be the case, except the traps (and for the tee-box on Blue 6 [or maybe 7] that does seem to have been mounted on concrete). The traps were/are rock hard and almost impossible to play from. This condition is nothing like unique at GTA courses in the post-rake era, but I do like the suggestion in some other comment here that, until conditions and maintenance change, untended sand traps be treated as unplayable lies with a free drop.

Otherwise, though, the course was in fine shape and is challenge enough for golfers like me whose great ambition is to break 100.

Played yesterday in a foursome with three people who play a lot more than I do. We all found the course about as much of a challenge as inexpert golfers could want. We were particularly thankful for all the rain, which has left the greens in marvellous condition, but also soft, receptive, and slow. Not sure I want any part of their contours when conditions are dry and fast. But mostly we all wondered why none of us had heard of the course before. It's not that far off the beaten track.

I played Mystic Ridge for the third time today and confirmed something that had troubled me last year about what is otherwise an excellent course for inexpert golfers. The yardages provided on the tee-box signs and in the scorecard, especially on the back nine, are doubtful at best. If, for instance, the 13th hole is truly 138 yards, there is no way that I should be able to hit an 8 iron 10 yards beyond the green. I did make the best contact i made all day, and there was a bit of a tailwind, but I cannot hit an 8 150 yards. And I repeated the experience with a 6 iron on the supposedly 163-yard 16th. I'd recommend backing off one club from what you think you need on pretty well all of the back 9 par 3s.