2025 TST Outing - June 21/22 (Reserve Run, Cranberry Highlands)

[ChetlovesMer]

32 minutes ago, StuM said:

Both courses were good.  : very different experiences.

Very different is right. 

Both were enjoyable. I liked Cranberry Highlands more. If they open the driving range I would then like it a lot more. 

[saevel25]

I would grade Reserve Run as a decent course, like a 6 out of 10. I would put Cranberry Highlands around an 8/10. Really fun. The fairway bunkers were well placed, and the angles and slopes tested your risk/reward off the tee. There was enough space between the tall stuff to keep the ball in play, but you still had to make a good shot. The course was in great shape, the greens ran true. I definitely want to get out there again. 

[StuM]

12 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

The fairway bunkers were well placed

Not for me, they were all placed exactly where I hit my ball 🤬😜

[saevel25]

6 minutes ago, StuM said:

Not for me, they were all placed exactly where I hit my ball 🤬😜

Did I misspeak. 🤣

[StuM]

43 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Did I misspeak. 🤣

It’s a matter of perspective 

[GolfLug]

7 hours ago, StuM said:

It’s a matter of perspective 

Yeah, a good friend once said that whoever (John F.)  wrote the book 'A good walk spoilt..' meant to originally title it 'Bunkers'. 😆

[billchao]

Reserve Run is a decent course. It kind of got a little quirky at times (#7, I’m looking at you) but it was a lot more forgiving than it appeared. There was usually an opportunity to play out from the trees between holes. I hit a bunch of shots to places I thought were dead only to find out the hole was wider than it appeared to be. I’d probably give it 6/10 - slightly above average course I’d be willing to play regularly.

I’ve played Cranberry Highlands a couple of times before so I knew I liked the course going in. It’s almost completely different from Reserve Run in that all the trouble was right in front of you. You can see where you shouldn’t hit the ball, good luck not hitting it there. Definitely more penal on offline shots because the hay is almost impossible to hit out of at times (and believe me, I tried). I don’t really have anything bad to say about the course other than the starter who was complaining our group took too long to tee off and telling us we were backing up the first tee when everyone waiting was part of our outing. I’d say this course is a solid 7.5/10, worth going to if you’re in the area.

@StuM and I were talking about the two courses after the round on Sunday and I told him I didn’t feel like I played worse at Cranberry but my score was much higher simply because it’s a harder course. Misses were much more punishing.

[iacas]

41 minutes ago, billchao said:

the starter who was complaining our group took too long to tee off and telling us we were backing up the first tee when everyone waiting was part of our outing.

We sent the second group off three minutes before their tee time. They almost always insist on waiting for your actual time there.

[saevel25]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

It kind of got a little quirky at times (#7, I’m looking at you) but it was a lot more forgiving than it appeared.

Hole #7 sucks 😛 

the rest of the course is way better than that one hole. I wish they had more room to make it a better hole. 

[billchao]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

We sent the second group off three minutes before their tee time. They almost always insist on waiting for your actual time there.

I was joking with @dennyjones I hope that guy doesn’t have an aneurysm. He was all worked up for no reason.

55 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Hole #7 sucks 😛 

the rest of the course is way better than that one hole. I wish they had more room to make it a better hole. 

For the record, I don’t think it’s a bad hole. I think it’s quirky, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In five years it will be the only hole I remember from the course.

[saevel25]

9 minutes ago, billchao said:

I was joking with @dennyjones I hope that guy doesn’t have an aneurysm. He was all worked up for no reason.

He took his job seriously that is for sure. 

 

[ChetlovesMer]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

I was joking with @dennyjones I hope that guy doesn’t have an aneurysm. He was all worked up for no reason.

He got so worked up, he couldn't read the clock. 

[dennyjones]

"I know my job"!

[DaveP043]

20 hours ago, saevel25 said:

The fairway bunkers were well placed, and the angles and slopes tested your risk/reward off the tee.  

 

20 hours ago, StuM said:

Not for me, they were all placed exactly where I hit my ball 🤬😜

There were bunkers there??

Joking aside, I agree largely with @saevel25 and @billchao, I'd rate Reserve Run at 6/10, Cranberry Highlands 8/10.  Conditions were pretty good at both.  RR was a bit odd, it was hard to find a scorecard online to checkout hole lengths, and what I did find didn't match up with the GHIN ratings and yardages.  As it was, I chose tees that were pretty short even for me.  RR definitely had more room, even if a lot of it was in some widely-separated trees, at Cranberry the same shot would be in waist-high grass.  I liked the terrain and flow at Cranberry better, bunkering that was often staggered so you'd only have to avoid one side at a specific driving distance, while aiming at a bunker further up on the opposite side.  RR definitely got extra points when they decided to keep their kitchen open late, in order to feed all of us.  

All in all, I had a great time, thanks to everyone involved.

[Hardspoon]

A little late to the party, but I wanted to follow up with a summary.  I had an awesome time, and really enjoyed getting to see everyone again.  The weather even cooperated...if you call 89 degrees on a course with no trees "cooperation".

The team game was really fun, and competitive both days.  Saturday, at Reserve Run, the winning team was the Red team, with @dennyjones, @StuM, @rwolfe, @ChetlovesMer, @DaveP043, and @billchao taking home the victory at 5 under par*.

Sunday, at Cranberry Highlands, the Blue team took home the win with a score of 11 under par* - shout-out to me, @iacas, @Daniel Mc, @DrizZzY, @saevel25, @DaveP043, @NeilR, and @rwolfe for pulling out the split.

Skins game was interesting.  On Saturday, we had a total of 15 skins (7 gross, 8 net) - and Sunday there were only 3 total!  Because I'm a dummy, I threw away the record of who won… but someone can chime in if they remember.  🙂

All together a great weekend, and I'm looking forward to next year already!  Thank you to everyone who attended!

I'll be adding photos in here shortly (need to convert some)...

 

 

 

[billchao]

8 hours ago, Hardspoon said:

Sunday, at Cranberry Highlands, the Blue team took home the win with a score of 11 under par*

I felt really bad at the time because I made a judgement error and passed up two net pars fairly early on for the Red team that ended up costing us 5 strokes, but we ended up losing by 6. @dennyjones and I both played fairly well out of the gate and I felt we were going to catch a few net birdies that just didn’t happen and as a result I ended up having to count a quad on a hole for an unrelated mental lapse.

 

8 hours ago, Hardspoon said:

Skins game was interesting.  On Saturday, we had a total of 15 skins (7 gross, 8 net) - and Sunday there were only 3 total!  Because I'm a dummy, I threw away the record of who won… but someone can chime in if they remember.  🙂

I got a net skin on Saturday. Can’t tell you what hole or what it looked like 😃

[dennyjones]

Didn't @DaveP043 have a skin on 1 Sunday?

 

I had a skin on a par 3 on Saturday

Edited June 28, 2025 by dennyjones

[iacas]

56 minutes ago, dennyjones said:

Didn't @DaveP043 have a skin on 1 Sunday?

No. At least three people birdied #1, including me.