2024 TST Outing - June 1/2 @ EagleSticks and Virtues

[saevel25]

Thanks all for coming out! It was a good time. I look forward to the next one! 

[iacas]

@Hardspoon and @saevel25 have offered to build out the 2025 outing.

[Hardspoon]

2 hours ago, iacas said:

@Hardspoon and @saevel25 have offered to build out the 2025 outing.

Yup!!!  It sounds like the start of a bad joke: "An architect and an engineer walk into a bar plan a golf outing..."

[saevel25]

1 minute ago, Hardspoon said:

Yup!!!  It sounds like the start of a bad joke: "An architect and an engineer walk into a bar plan a golf outing..."

🤣

[StuM]

Thanks for all who came & helped.  It was fun,

I do not recall who was in charge of the weather but “GREAT Job”

[saevel25]

47 minutes ago, StuM said:

I do not recall who was in charge of the weather but “GREAT Job”

I will take claim of that. I dropped a cool $120 on an umbrella and jacket before teeing off. I didn't want to bring bad weather luck ;). 

[iacas]

7 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

I will take claim of that. I dropped a cool $120 on an umbrella and jacket before teeing off. I didn't want to bring bad weather luck ;). 

You got both for $120? That's not a bad deal.

[saevel25]

5 minutes ago, iacas said:

You got both for $120? That's not a bad deal.

Yea, that jacket was $80 and the umbrella was $40. The prices there are really reasonable. That was an Under Armour jacket. 

[billchao]

Thank you to everyone who was involved in organizing this outing and for everyone who came to be a part of it. It was great to get together with some old friends and meet new ones.

[bkuehn1952]

Well said @billchao. I echo those sentiments.

Arcadia Bluffs in 2025?? 😉

[saevel25]

27 minutes ago, bkuehn1952 said:

Well said @billchao. I echo those sentiments.

Arcadia Bluffs in 2025?? 😉

@Hardspoon and I will have to discuss it over for the next one. 😛 

 

Just to give a short review of the courses. 

NorthStar is a pretty good course. The condition is good. There was a couple of meh holes (#16 and #18 specifically). Nothing really stood out as amazing. Yea, probably like a 6/10. 

Eaglesticks, I think from tee to green is really interesting. Some of the greens, more so pin positions were a bit crazy. Like, if you slightly missed you would have a putt that could not stop with in 15-Ft of the hole. Maybe a 5.5/10 something around there. 

The Virtues, still good as ever. In really good condition. Being it is in a similar part of the state as Eaglesticks, it shares the same hilly terrain. Eaglesticks is more compact, so it might have more extreme slopes. While the Virtues is on a larger property and was more selective in where the holes were built. The green complexes at The Virtues seemed fairer than Eaglesticks. Still, I think a very good public course that can challenge you to hit a good tee shot. The approach shots are interesting. I still think I would recommend people make the trip to play if they haven't done so. Probably a 7/10. 

 

Edited June 3 by saevel25

[billchao]

10 hours ago, bkuehn1952 said:

Arcadia Bluffs in 2025?? 😉

As I mentioned to @StuM, that’s definitely a destination I would be interested in, but it would probably be a smaller outing due to it’s price and location, and completely different than the annual thing this outing in Ohio has become.

[iacas]

I think we chose a good pair of courses. Both had some "interesting" hole locations that, particularly at Eagle Sticks as we were playing later in the day, should probably be avoided on the weekends as they're a big pace-of-play concern.

I've not been back to EagleSticks in 17 years or so, so it was nice to see it again. I legitimately still have no idea how they determine their yardages. They aren't remotely accurate. A hole that's 439 yards and relatively flat should not leave (and would not leave) me with inside of 80 yards. You can measure these things on Google Earth, after all.

Longa, errrr, Virtues I'm really familiar with. It's a good, solid golf course. I often wish the first hole was much later in the round, as that'd make it a better hole. I don't like it as the first.

Solid golf, though. A little more so at Virtues, but you can bunt it around EagleSticks and still have a really good bunch of scoring opportunities.

[Hardspoon]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

I think we chose a good pair of courses. Both had some "interesting" hole locations that, particularly at Eagle Sticks as we were playing later in the day, should probably be avoided on the weekends as they're a big pace-of-play concern.

I've not been back to EagleSticks in 17 years or so, so it was nice to see it again. I legitimately still have no idea how they determine their yardages. They aren't remotely accurate. A hole that's 439 yards and relatively flat should not leave (and would not leave) me with inside of 80 yards. You can measure these things on Google Earth, after all.

Longa, errrr, Virtues I'm really familiar with. It's a good, solid golf course. I often wish the first hole was much later in the round, as that'd make it a better hole. I don't like it as the first.

Solid golf, though. A little more so at Virtues, but you can bunt it around EagleSticks and still have a really good bunch of scoring opportunities.

Agreed on all points - “solid” is a great way to put it.

I honestly think we played Eaglesticks at about 5800 yards. 

I feel like I can nit-pick any course I ever play (those inland holes at Pebble Beach really are boring…) but at the end of the day, both courses were interesting and fun. That’s all that matters. 

[boogielicious]

I think Eaglesticks was an easier course to play for a first time. You could see to holes better from the tee. It was slow. We were the first group and the group two in front of us was talked to by the rangers. It didn’t help.

Virtues will be easier on a second look because I now know the holes better. It also played longer than the scorecard stated on some holes. It was a pretty course.

[DaveP043]

13 hours ago, Hardspoon said:

I honestly think we played Eaglesticks at about 5800 yards. 

It was definitely odd.  The Course Ratings seems to reflect the actual yardages, they're a lot lower than I'd expect based on the "scorecard yardages".  Still, both courses were in good shape, with nice variety of lengths and shapes of holes.  I didn't dislike the pins at Eaglesticks as much as a few guys did, but I play a course with a few challenging (or odd, or even stupid) greens.  I also enjoyed the elevation changes at both.  Even though I know the Appalachians extend into Ohio, I always have an image of a "flat" state, and this was anything but flat.  

As always with TST outings, it was great fun, seeing old friends, and making some new ones.