maverick0082

The greens were super fast! I've never seen a Bella Vista course with greens that rolled this fast. The fairways and rough still had sparse grass in a lot of areas. There were a lot of tight lies around the greens which made chipping very difficult. Otherwise everything was great. Once the grass turns from dormant to green and starts to fill in then this will be a good course.

The course conditions were excellent. They were up to what I would expect from a quality Troon network golf course. The fairways were pretty wide open so it wasn't a particularly challenging round but it was still a lot of fun to play. I will definitely be back to play when we visit my father-in-law again.

The course was in good condition. It probably would've been in outstanding condition had it not rained for over a week straight before I played my round at Ledgestone. The rough was very deep because the course maintenance crew hadn't been able to run the mowers in the soggy soil. Needless to say, I lost quite a few balls in the thick rough.

The course was very challenging on several holes and is not well suited for a mid to high handicapper. The course is listed at 6,420 yards from the blue tees. However a lot of holes seemed to play quite a bit farther than what was listed on the scorecard. It seemed like the course actually played at around 6,800 from the blue tees. I am roughly a 22 handicap at my home course (which measures about 6,200 from the blues) but my score at Ledgestone was much higher than 22 over par. I believe that part of that was due to the extended length.

Other facets leading to the difficulty may include the slope rating (since there was a lot of elevation changes at Ledgestone) and the fact that there were also some very narrow fairways to hit off the tee (with out of bounds close by). Many of these holes were not safe to hit driver unless you were striking it well because the approach landing area in the fairway was narrow and the rough had been uncut and was about 3 inches deep. Also most of these holes with narrow approachs were long (425+ yard) par 4's where you couldn't really afford to hit 3 wood. Since I have been struggling with my driver this season (due to diminished playing time since the birth of our daughter in April) I struggled to play Ledgestone. I would not recommend the course to anybody who is having problems off the tee with their driver. Other than that, I would say the course is exceptional. If I get the chance to play again then I will make sure my game is put together a little better and I will play from the white tees which are listed at 5,873 yards because I bet they are closer to 6,000+ yards