Played a Stupid Course

[iacas]

So today - for fun - I played a round of golf somewhere with my brother in law. It was $25 with the cart included for 18 holes.

Unfortunately, the course was ... well, it was worth what it cost. When we showed up, there was one car in the parking lot. When we left, four.

The course had weeds all over. The greens were decent but about the size of a twin bed. Maybe a queen.

The funniest thing was the number of blind shots. There's one hole that's 420. I took an aggressive line over trees (the first tree was 140 yards away) and still flew the ball through the fairway and into the trees. You have no idea where you're going half the time. One hole I thought I'd pulled the ball 30 yards left only to find that I was pin-high right on a par four. Quite literally 60% of the shots you played were blind - some approaches and nearly every tee shot, as well as second shots on par fives.

But the worst was the par threes. There were three or so that were 230 yards, and two of them were doglegs . I'm not kidding - trees up the entire left-hand side, and you couldn't see the flag from the blue tees.



That picture doesn't do it justice - the trees not only stick out to the green, they block it completely. There's also no fairway, so I don't know what that is on the illustration. It's a par three! 238 yards, uphill, with trees completely blocking not only the entire green but the fringe as well.

I made no birdies all day. Did put a 4I on a par five to six feet for eagle. Shot -1. Played the par threes in even thanks to some nice short game work... and good guesswork on where to hit the ball.

Anyway, just a mini... rant. We tried to revel in how awful it was. I don't know if we succeeded.

[Chilli Dipper]

Are you at liberty to reveal the identity of said course, so rabid Google Earth hunters like myself can see an aerial of the aforementioned dogleg par 3 for ourselves?

[bwdial]

So... the old par 3 5th at Pebble Beach wasn't the only dogleg par 3 after all?

[jamo]

Were the long par 3s actually good architectural holes or were the length and dogleg gimmicky? Out of all of the long par 3s I have played about half are just bland holes that the designer just made really long because it seems like they just couldn't think of anything else.

[iacas]

Are you at liberty to reveal the identity of said course, so rabid Google Earth hunters like myself can see an aerial of the aforementioned dogleg par 3 for ourselves?

Yeah, that was a good idea. The image is older but you can still see the trees (seems to have been taken when there were no leaves on the trees).

BTW, the hole before it is listed as a 320-yard par four down the hill. The white line shows the par three - straight line is ~233 yards from my tees (blue). Then the stupid dogleg right 420-yard hole with the tall trees is shown to the right.

Were the long par 3s actually good architectural holes or were the length and dogleg gimmicky? Out of all of the long par 3s I have played about half are just bland holes that the designer just made really long because it seems like they just couldn't think of anything else.

No. This course wasn't really "designed." They cleared out trees and made some flat-ish places for tees and greens. That's about it. I'm not even sure they seeded anywhere except the greens.

[Grndslmhttr3]

"Hey I have a great idea for a par-4! It'll be a nice dogleg left!"
"...shit we only made it 238 yards."

[bwdial]

That sounds like a course we used to play sometimes in Tuscaloosa. It was called Mimosa Country Club... emphasis on the country . I always thought that it would be a nice layout if someone came in with some earth-moving equipment and pushed some dirt around creatively. Apparently someone else did as well, because it was bought by a development company and now it's apparently a really nice track with a nice apartment complex.

[Chilli Dipper]

Yeah, that was a good idea. The image is older but you can still see the trees (seems to have been taken when there were no leaves on the trees).

It looks like the original green complex was to the right of the current one, and the following par-4 was shorter and straightforward. At some point, it was decided to turn the par-4 into a long dogleg, and the green of the par-3 was then relocated for proximity's sake.

[iacas]

It looks like the original green complex was to the right of the current one, and the following par-4 was shorter and straightforward. At some point, it was decided to turn the par-4 into a long dogleg, and the green of the par-3 was then relocated for proximity's sake.

I might see your point but the entire course is only a few years old, so I don't think they had an original green complex different than what's there now.

[Chilli Dipper]

I might see your point but the entire course is only a few years old, so I don't think they had an original green complex different than what's there now.

If this is a recently-built course, there's really no excuse.

[bruce]

Par 3 240 up hill,over trees.Realistically playing 255Yrds,With no fairway that sounds like a driver? Funky course