BluesManDan

It was my first time at this course. I played from the blue tees, and shot an 80 on this Par 71 course (it has an extra par 3, and one less par 4). I did not think the course was overly challenging... it might have been on the easier side, actually - but I was hitting the ball fairly well so I only found trouble a couple of times. On another day my opinion might change! My short game, however, was pretty poor this day, so my score did not reflect how well I was striking the ball.

As for the course itself... It has some well shaped holes, with some water here and there, though not a lot of fairway bunkers that mattered to me (unlike the Bobby Jones course!) - I did find one fairway bunker and one greenside bunker, though. It has some neat "island" type holes... not really islands but well guarded by water. It has some narrow fairways and some wide fairways, and it has two par 3's with big elevation changes (2 clubs off because of the big downslope).

Negatives... hole #14 isn't in very good shape. It's almost all rough (I think it's under repair?) and you can easily lose a ball in it. Hit it straight and watch your drive closely so you don't spend a lot of time hunting for your ball.

I've played here 3 or 4 times now, and I've got to say this is one of my favorite courses in the area. It has a great mix of holes and challenges, it's in great shape even though we've been in such a drought, and it's got some great views, too... plus, the price is very competitive. It takes me 25 minutes to drive there, and it is well worth the drive.

I figured I'd give Mccanless a try since it was inexpensive and not too far away. I played at 3:00 and was done by 6:00. That's fast, even for me. I attribute it to the course being so short. I drive it around 250. I played from the tips and was hitting driver and then lob wedge on a lot of holes. The holes have grossly exaggerated yardages from what I could tell. One hole I remember was "360 yards". I hit driver and then a 40 yard pitch shot. Uh... No. I did not drive it 320 yards. So the hole was really 280-290 yards. That's 70-80 yards off! There were a lot of holes like that. I almost drove a "309 yard" par 4. Right. Must have been 260. And it wasn't just the overall posted yardage that was off. I'd be sitting a little past the "100 yard" marker, around 90 yards. Okay, I'll hit a sandwedge that goes about 80-90 yards. Sails over the green. I must have only been 70 yards out, not 90. How can the yardage markers be off by 20%? Every time I looked at a yardage marker or the posted yardage, I felt like it was a complete gamble. There goes another one sailing over the green. Come on! Sometimes I just disregarded the markers and went with what I figured it "really" must be. I really wished I would have had a laser rangefinder for this course. It would have been a lot more fun. But with the course being fairly short and easy, I guess they offset the easiness with crazy-way-off yardage markers. Ridiculous. If I get a laser rangefinder, I may go back... it was cheap.

Other than that... it's a short but narrow course, so you need to drive it fairly accurately. But there's no real trouble out there... no bunkers, not much water. There are some trees and woods and a few OB places that will catch an errant drive, but all in all it was a pretty easy course.

Played on a Monday. I made a reservation as a single and got fixed up with a threesome of pretty bad golfers. They were nice fellas, but all shot around 100 or so, which made the pace of play slow for my group... we let 2 groups play through because we were too slow. We played from the white tees and I shot an easy 82.

Course layout: The course has a nice mix of holes... long and short par 3's, long and short par 4's, long and short par 5's. It has some water hazards, some bunkers, some important OB lines (That being said, I didn't find any water or sand that day. ) The course has quite a few doglegs which make your drives tricky. It also has holes with good elevation changes and blind shots.

The course conditions when I played weren't great, but didn't bother me too much. There are several places where the fairways/rough are being repaired and if you end up there you just take a free drop, no big deal. But the greens had some damage to them that did affect putting from time to time. One of the guys I played with made a good putt that hit one of those sandy patches and it bounced and died well before it got to the hole. But like I said, it didn't really affect me that much and as I recall it was just a few holes.

It does have a decent putting green, and nice new carts with coolers on the carts. It also has a pool table in the men's locker room.

All in all I had a good time there and plan to go back in a couple of weeks.

I got a 3:16 tee time, and teed off shortly after that. I played in a threesome, from the blue tees. The clubhouse staff didn't know who I was supposed to be paired up with, so I just picked a couple of other people and played with them. Pace of play was very good in the first 9, but in the second 9 a slow foursome got in front of us somehow and made play seem excruciatingly slow (we waited every single hole). The whole round took 5 hours... the front 9 was 2hrs10mins, and the second 9 was 2 hrs40mins. The course was in good shape, though the greens were still recovering from aeration which made putting unpredictable. The course is pretty long, though there are only 2 par 5's and it plays to a par 70 instead of 72.

The main thing I would note about the course is this: there are a lot of sandtraps! There are plenty of fairway traps and every green is heavily guarded by sand. It's a Bobby Jones course, and I've heard that he imagined the green as a castle that was guarded and you had to really attack it... You WILL be in the sand at some point (if not many) during the day.

Also, the greens are large with quite a bit of undulation and movement to them. I really liked the greens, except that they were still recovering from aeration. I look forward to playing it again when I get the chance. I shot 42 front, 42 on the back, my first time there. I'll do better next time. The 18th hole is amazing... just wait til you see the green... awe & fear inspiring! Can't wait to take my Dad to play there when he comes to visit next.

One extra note: take $2 cash, because the course is inside some kind of state park, and you have to pay a $2 entry fee. It's a big park with LOTS to do... (pool, volleyball, horseback riding, more).