Lakewood Golf Club (Azalea)-Point Clear, AL

The courses at Lakewood Golf Club are the only courses in the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail family of courses not designed by Mr. Jones and Roger Rulewich. The original course, consisting of holes 1-5 and 15-18 of the Azalea course and holes 10-18 on the Dogwood course, was built in 1947 and designed by Perry Maxwell, one of the great designers of the Golden Age. The other holes have been added on over the years by various designers. It is startling how inferior those additional holes are, on the Azalea course anyway.

However, sadly, based on the rates charged, this course is viewed by many as one of the best courses on the Trail. It simply is not. Based on the eight other Trail courses this writer has seen, Lakewood is no better than any of the original courses and certainly inferior, and significantly, to Ross Bridge. This course simply has no flow. The first five holes flow nicely and six is not a bad par 5, but from there the course weaves through houses that are built tighter than desired to the playing corridors. Hole nine is a sharp dogleg left that plays directly across a public road and under powerlines.

In addition, hole fourteen is one of the worst par 5's this writer has played. While the hole is scenic and photographs well, it is a par 5 played to an island green. Coupled with the fact that it typically plays into the wind and is 545 yards long, there is virtually no risk/reward potential on the hole. Under only the rarest of circumstances would a golfer ever attempt to play to this green in two shots, thus the hole basically becomes a par 3 with two additional shots. The angle of play from the tee does not matter, the ball must merely find the fairway. On the second shot, certainly a lay-up, again, the angle does not matter. No angle into the green changes the situation that the player it hitting to an island. Any shot not played with reasonable precision will find the water, regardless of the approach angle. Simply a poor hole.

This course could have been so much better. Based on the nine original holes, it should be much better. Mr. Maxwell must vomit in his mouth slightly, as he sits watching in the hereafter, every time this course attempts to advertise their Frankenstein course using his good name.

Holes to Note

Hole #2: Par 4, 411 yards

This is quite a nice mid-length par 4. The player is given several options off the tee. The first is to lay back short of the fairway bunker that is around 250 yards off the tee, leaving a shot of over 160 yards to the green. The second option is to play the shot into the fairway even with the bunker, leaving a shorter shot, but having to thread the tee shot into a rather narrow ribbon of fairway. The final option is to play over the bunker, a shot requiring a carry of around 275 yards, into a generous piece of fairway leaving a short wedge into the green. From the fairway, the player will be faced with a shot over a large fronting bunker into a green that falls off away from him. This is no easy hole and certainly fits with much of the work Mr. Maxwell did elsewhere.

From the tee, the options are clearly placed in front of the player. The area right of the bunker is not maintained as fairway and any ball hit there will be stopped and blocked out by the trees.

For the player who tempts fate and plays over the bunker, this open shot is left. Note the opening to the green that would allow the player to play a low running shot into the green, if desired.

Hole #4: Par 3, 203 yards

This is an interesting par 3 that plays over water to one of two separate greens. To the left green, the hole can play up to the 203 yards listed on the card. To the right, it is much shorter, around 170. But both greens are quite small, making a 200 yard shot into the green no bargain.

Sadly, the phone tower takes away from an otherwise picturesque hole.

Hole #17: Par 4, 475 yards

This brute of a par 4 plays roughly straight off the tee, with the prefered play depending on what the player desires for the approach shot. The fairway is not reachable from the back tee, unless the player can hit a ball 325 yards or better. A play away from the bunker will give the player the better angle into the long, but narrow, green. A play directly towards the bunker will leave the player less margin for error in distance control. The key feature of the green, however, is the significant fall off that runs down the entire right side of the green. If a player feels good about distance control, but not direction, the right side of the fairway would be a bit better. The player who has poor distance control should favor the left side.

The bunker nearest the right side of the image is the key point from the tee.

From the angle close to the bunker, the player is given a clear play to the green, the pine on the right is no hazard.

Overall, this course is reasonable. It is not, however, worth the $120 they charge guests. Courses of the same quality can be found on the Trail, and virtually anywhere really, that are of the same quality but charge half as much. This is not a terrible course, but it is in no, way, shape, nor form worth the rate they charge. 4 out of 10.

The "Next" Tiger Woods

The talk about who can be the next Tiger Woods has started up again this week. This week the LPGA Tour saw it's record for the youngest winner broken by 15 year old Lydia Ko from New Zealand. This is a major accomplishment for the youngster. On top of this, she is also a national champion in both New Zealand and the United States. But she is not the only one to rate such comparison.

Rory McIlroy won the PGA Championship a few weeks back. Immediately that prompted reports to compare him to Tiger and how they won majors. Rory is now one of eight active golfers on the PGA Tour with more than one major championship victory and by far the youngest.

So naturally these two golfers might be compared to Tiger Woods and his accomplishments at a young age. But does the world of golf really need another Tiger Woods?

To be sure, Tiger Woods has electrified the sports world for fifteen years now; longer than young Miss Ko has been alive in fact. He has set records and done things few thought possible from one side of the planet to the other. But, of course, there is that other side of Tiger Woods, the one the world found out about in the days and weeks after November 27, 2009 and it is that side that must be considered, along with the golf, that must be considered when we talk about the "next" Tiger Woods.

Tiger's golf records are among the elite of the elite. He will almost certainly break Sam Snead's now forty-seven year old record for most PGA Tour wins. It is also likely that he will break Jack Nicklaus's twenty-six year old major championship record, though not as likely as it was four years ago. He has also made more money than any athlete in history.

But what of the rest? What about the fact that he spun a giant web of lies, feeding the public this image of a wholesome family man when the reality was something vastly different. The reality of the situation is that Eldrick Woods is a habitually unfaithful megalomaniac who surrounds himself with a bunch of bootlicking, glad-handing, yes men. The fact that he is capable of playing high level golf is secondary to all of this.

No, the world of golf needs no more than one Tiger Woods. Certainly one must be enough. Perhaps we should ask who will be the next Tom Watson  or Phil Mickelson. Those two, while having some vices and not being quite the same caliber of golfer as Tiger, are certainly better overall people than is Tiger. Perhaps the time has come to stop glorifying Tiger Woods and look at him for what he really has become.

Even after his "transgressions" as he, well, I suppose the truth would be his speech writers, phrased it, he has made no real change. He still, seemingly, surrounds himself with various and numerous ladies. He is still a stand-offish tool with the media. He still employee's a flock of yes-men, bowing at his feet. Indeed, it would seem poor, and almost insulting, to compare young Miss Ko to Tiger Woods.

No, the media obsession with comparing people to Tiger Woods, comparisons that have been going on for ten years now, are poor and inappropriate nowadays. Tiger has long since violated any trust people may have had. Anyone breaking into golf today should hope that they are not the next Tiger Woods. Unless, of course, they want to forever be known as someone who lied to the public for years and, overnight, went from Tiger Woods: Great Golfer to Tiger Woods: Adulterer and Liar.

Palmer Golf Course- Palmer, AK

This course most certainly made the best out of what is a very difficult site. First, the site is as flat as a large piece of land can be, having only forty feet of elevation change from one end of the course to another, a distance of nearly a mile and a half; it seems like less change than that when playing the course. On top of that, the site is wedged between Palmer Airport and the Matanuska River. There is a mandated set-back off of the airport and the river could not be used for scenery as much as possible due to wind blowing sediment from the river bed onto the greens. But even with these difficulties, there sits a solid golf course that is certainly fun to play.

Holes to Note

Hole #2: Par 4, 395 yards
The player is given several choices off this tee. The safe play is to play the tee shot out to the left, away from the fairway bunker visible between the two trees in the center of the image. The other is to play over the bunker, a carry of about 250 yards. The play over the bunker will leave the better line into the green, as might be expected, but there might be a surprise waiting for the player beyond the bunker.

 From the tee, there would appear to be little that the player cannot see. The views of mountains in the distance are quite nice and offered on every hole, regardless of the direction of play.

 From the left side of the fairway, the player is left with a rather straight forward shot of 165 to 175 yards, if he chose to lay back far enough to take the bunker out of play. Visible here, however, is an additional bunker, farther from the tee and not seen from the tee. So, the 250 yard carry the player had to play over the first bunker becomes around 280. Many players have likely found that second bunker on their initial playing of the course.

But for those players long enough to carry the second bunker, a simple shot of around 100 yards awaits.

Hole #5: Par 3, 230 yards

The longest par 3 on the course plays to a green that is slightly elevated, but not elevated enough to prevent a shot from rolling onto the green. The green is quite nicely shaped, having a very irregular shape, something like a clover, and enough contouring to make it interesting, but not unplayable given the length.

 From the tee, any type of pull is obviously not wanted. This shot from the left side of the teeing area, however, makes the hole feel tighter than it really plays. The green provides a generous target and there are wide fringe areas that work to help slight misses. It is unknown if those flat and wide fringe areas used to be green areas and have been lost over the years.

Here you can see some of the shaping of the green. There is another finger of the green that extends out near the bunker on the right side of the image. This is a well shaped green and certainly able to provide challenge to the long incoming shots while still remaining playable. 

Hole #12: Par 4, 380 yards

This dogleg left hole provides a fair challenge to the player off the tee. With most dogleg holes, the play would seemingly be to play down the side of the dogleg in order to cut length off of the hole. However, here, playing down the left side will likely yield only trouble. Shots hugging the left side of the fairway will have to be hit at least 260 yards to avoid being blocked out by the trees on that side. However, any shot traveling over 285 yards runs the risk of winding up behind a large hardwood tree that is through the fairway. So, here, the left side is most certainly not the preferred side. The best play from this tee is a shot in the range of 240-260 yards played to the right-center of the fairway. This will allow for a relatively easy shot into the green.

 The green is not visible from the tee. It lies roughly directly below the point where the ridge line of the peak in the distance disappears behind the trees. Those trees hug tight to the fairway on the left, blocking out shots to the green.

This from the center of the fairway, roughly 120 yards from the green. This gives a fair look at the opening to the green, allowing for either aerial play or ground play. The green is also something of a punchbowl green, one of the few "classic" golf features to be found in Alaska.

Overall, this is a very solid golf course. It is very difficult to review this course in pictures because often times the scale of the photograph does no justice for the hole. On all the holes playing northwards (2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 17) the scale is determined by the backdrop of the mountains that are ten miles distance and 3,500 to 4,000 feet in height. But this course is as good a course as this writer has seen given the nature of the site. 4 out of 10.