jboren

Disclaimer: I am a high handicapper.

I really enjoyed playing this course for the first time. I live about an hour away, and I will definitely play here again.

I had heard there were a great deal of trees, so I expected to lose quite a few balls. I think I lost one ball all day. As long as you think through each shot, you can minimize the risk of going OB. There are no sand traps, but water is featured on several holes. On at least two holes there were water shots hidden from view, so pay attention to the course map on the scorecard if it is your first time playing.

This course features five par 5's and five par 3's. Most of the par 4's--and some of the dog-leg par 5's--you're better off using something less than driver off the tee. This setup and the course design puts a premium on accuracy and level-headed thinking. I wouldn't consider myself very accurate, but a high handicapper can stay in bounds as long as they play within their ability. For me, this sometimes meant hitting 3-hybrids from the tee box on par 5's. Once in the fairway, I didn't really play many full swing shots--instead opting to use my 3/4 swing most of the day.

The bermuda greens are very quick. It is difficult to utilize bump and runs effectively on many holes due to everything from elevated greens to shots over water hazards. Golfers with a high trajectory ball flight will definitely have an advantage hitting into the greens. It wasn't very windy when I played, but I would imagine high winds might level the playing field between high and low trajectory golfers when it comes to hitting greens.

Really my only complaint pertains to course yardages. There are no stakes marking yards to the green, and the yardage markers that are on the course are not very prominent (most of the day I could not find them at all). Additionally, the yardages displayed on the score card do not appear to be very accurate. On most holes the distance between tees is greatly exaggerated on the score card. For instance, the senior's tees will say they play 100 yards shorter than the white tees, but will be 50 yards away from them. I am unsure which are correct.