So I was watching the Tour Championship on TV today and it occurred to me how little I have written here since I played East Lake for my 200th course over a year and a half ago. Since then I've played 22 new golf courses and three of those are now in my top 10. That's not a bad stretch of golf. I've also moved to New York City which opens up a huge number of golf courses to play. It also opens up Bethpage Black on a regular basis and, for $65 as a resident, I intend to play there at least once a month. I've also competed in two tournaments this year, one at Salem Glen where I finished third and another at Brookville CC on Long Island where I finished far worse than third because I got destroyed by an incredible set of greens. To be honest, Brookville likely had one of the two or three best set of greens that I have ever played.
Another highlight of the past 18 months was playing TPC Sawgrass (PLAYERS Stadium). I played this with a good friend from work. We left Mobile, AL at 4am, drove to Jacksonville, played 18 holes, and drove back to Alabama. Perhaps not something I would recommend to others, but it was a great day.
Hopefully I can post more here going forward. I've simply been lazy and not been writing.
Saturday
Tuesday
Course #200
Today I played my 200th golf course overall, East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. It was a fine capstone to this little milestone in golf courses. Overall, the course was very good. It was not the finest course I have ever played, but I knew that coming in. A full tour of the course is upcoming as soon as I can get to it.
Here is a fun breakdown of the courses played so far:
Played 2 new courses in one day: 8
Played 3 new courses in one day: 1
Played 4 new courses in one day: 1
Colors: Silver, Emerald, Gold, Scarlet...hmm, I really thought it was more than that.
Water features: Creek, Bay, Harbor, Brook, Lake, River, Bayou, Loch
Land features: Park, Banks, Shoreline, Point, Hills, Landing, Farms, Ridge, Hollow, Meadow, Plantation, Farm, Mountain, Valley, Canyon, Trails, Dunes, Beach, Isle, Shores, Dunes, Pit, Forest
Plants and natural objects: Pine, Cypress, Rock, Palms, Stone, Sage, Azalea, Peach, Dogwood, Oak
Animals: Rockfish, Hummingbird, Eagle, Quail, Fox, Bear, Raptor, Rooster, Callippe, Horse, Moose, Fish
17 States
Courses beginning with every letter in the alphabet other than X, Y, and Z.
Here's to the NEXT 100 golf courses.
Here is a fun breakdown of the courses played so far:
Played 2 new courses in one day: 8
Played 3 new courses in one day: 1
Played 4 new courses in one day: 1
Colors: Silver, Emerald, Gold, Scarlet...hmm, I really thought it was more than that.
Water features: Creek, Bay, Harbor, Brook, Lake, River, Bayou, Loch
Land features: Park, Banks, Shoreline, Point, Hills, Landing, Farms, Ridge, Hollow, Meadow, Plantation, Farm, Mountain, Valley, Canyon, Trails, Dunes, Beach, Isle, Shores, Dunes, Pit, Forest
Plants and natural objects: Pine, Cypress, Rock, Palms, Stone, Sage, Azalea, Peach, Dogwood, Oak
Animals: Rockfish, Hummingbird, Eagle, Quail, Fox, Bear, Raptor, Rooster, Callippe, Horse, Moose, Fish
17 States
Courses beginning with every letter in the alphabet other than X, Y, and Z.
Here's to the NEXT 100 golf courses.
Friday
RTJ @ Capitol Hill (Judge)
This course is very solid, but rather over the top in some places. In many ways, it seems like some long tees were put in place simply to add length with no thought at all to strategy. The 256 yard 17th and 231 yard 6th come to mind readily. In general, the par 3's are not very good. They come off as repetitive. However, the par 4's and 5's are solid. However, the routing is not the best, especially holes 11, 12 and 13. All that said, despite the flaws, the course is quite good; the second best Trail course I have played after Ross Bridge.
Rating
Variety of Design: The par 3's are very repetitive. The yardage range is fair, going from 187 to 256 yards. However, 3 of those holes play over water, one island, one peninsula jutting out into a lake, and one set back into a hill over a lake. The par 4's have solid variety in yardage, from 358 to 478 yards, with good range in between. And the par 5's are very good with 2 that mandate solid tee shots and have interesting second shots, 1 that is on the outer edges of being reachable in two shots, giving the player the option of doing so, and the final hole is most certainly unreachable by all players at 711 yards. Directionally the course has 5 holes playing to the right, 3 holes playing left and 10 holes playing straight. 6 1/2 out of 10
Flow of the Course: The course flows very well. The course starts off the a big opening, playing far down hill overlooking the Montgomery city skyline. From there, the course moves through some very solid holes, chances to make birdie, and some very difficult holes. It plays up and down quite well before coming to a very good finish, having a very good chance for birdie on #15, an extremely difficult 16th, solid 17th and rather easy 18th that is very scenic. 6 1/2 out of 10
Condition of the Course: The conditions are solid and what one would expect based on price point and expectations. 7 out of 10
Walkability: This course would be a very difficult walk. The huge hill that separates the course from the clubhouse must be walked at the end of the round and many of the holes are quite spread out. It's a slightly easier walk than Ross Bridge would be, but not much easier. 2 3/4 out of 10
Atmosphere: This course is the only RTJ Trail course to have been ranked in the Public Top 100 by Golf Digest, so it may have a little bit of atmosphere and expectation, but overall, there is not much there to amplify the experience. 3 out of 10
Total: 61 3/4 out of 100
Hole by hole analysis and pictures to come soon.
Rating
Variety of Design: The par 3's are very repetitive. The yardage range is fair, going from 187 to 256 yards. However, 3 of those holes play over water, one island, one peninsula jutting out into a lake, and one set back into a hill over a lake. The par 4's have solid variety in yardage, from 358 to 478 yards, with good range in between. And the par 5's are very good with 2 that mandate solid tee shots and have interesting second shots, 1 that is on the outer edges of being reachable in two shots, giving the player the option of doing so, and the final hole is most certainly unreachable by all players at 711 yards. Directionally the course has 5 holes playing to the right, 3 holes playing left and 10 holes playing straight. 6 1/2 out of 10
Flow of the Course: The course flows very well. The course starts off the a big opening, playing far down hill overlooking the Montgomery city skyline. From there, the course moves through some very solid holes, chances to make birdie, and some very difficult holes. It plays up and down quite well before coming to a very good finish, having a very good chance for birdie on #15, an extremely difficult 16th, solid 17th and rather easy 18th that is very scenic. 6 1/2 out of 10
Condition of the Course: The conditions are solid and what one would expect based on price point and expectations. 7 out of 10
Walkability: This course would be a very difficult walk. The huge hill that separates the course from the clubhouse must be walked at the end of the round and many of the holes are quite spread out. It's a slightly easier walk than Ross Bridge would be, but not much easier. 2 3/4 out of 10
Atmosphere: This course is the only RTJ Trail course to have been ranked in the Public Top 100 by Golf Digest, so it may have a little bit of atmosphere and expectation, but overall, there is not much there to amplify the experience. 3 out of 10
Total: 61 3/4 out of 100
Hole by hole analysis and pictures to come soon.
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