Who's got the best outdoor practice facillity?

[Valleygolfer]

Who has the nicest digs for practice? Post or describe it here.

We have 3 practice chipping greens, 2 putting greens, three bunkers and 100 yards of grass hitting area into 400 yards deep.

 

 

[nevets88]

Not a member of a club, but recently practiced at Metedeconk, pretty much on par with anything out there.

Port Saint Lucie's PGA Village is pretty good too. 5 different bunkers, 5 different types of sand.

http://www.pgavillage.com/index.cfm?page=clp_faq#Question_1

 

[Valleygolfer]

11 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Not a member of a club, but recently practiced at Metedeconk, pretty much on par with anything out there.

Port Saint Lucie's PGA Village is pretty good too. 5 different bunkers, 5 different types of sand.

http://www.pgavillage.com/index.cfm?page=clp_faq#Question_1

 

Yeah that beats my place. How can you beat "state of the art" everything?

[billchao]

23 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Not a member of a club, but recently practiced at Metedeconk, pretty much on par with anything out there.

Yea MNGC is pretty awesome.

---

http://www.neshanicvalleylearningcenter.com

Neshanic has a pretty good practice facility. It's technically my home course but it's really too far away for me to want to use it often.

13 minutes ago, Valleygolfer said:

Yeah that beats my place. How can you beat "state of the art" everything?

More cowbell?

[Buckeyebowman]

Couldn't get the Metedeconk vid to play, but what I saw sure looked nice! Both places did.

This did bring one question to mind. When you click on the icon to expand YouTube to full screen, why do they then insist on showing you a drop down box informing you that YouTube is now in full screen. I know that already! I had to click on something to make that happen!

I know, off topic, and I do apologize. Just a mini rant!

Edited June 18, 2016 by Buckeyebowman

[Shindig]

I'll need to find pictures, but my two favorite outdoor practice facilities are both at two-year schools, amazingly.   Saddleback College in south Orange County (CA) has an amazing driving range, grass available, and two large putting greens.  There's also a chipping area on one end and a fairway bunker on another (not that you need to practice fairway bunker shots often, but it's nice to have an option). 

College of the Desert (Palm Desert, CA) has a great one too.  Two big chipping areas, one with bunker, the other with the ability to putt out too.  A large no-chipping putting green.  Tons of grass and a few mats if you're so inclined.

Neither has a course attached.

[Golfingdad]

7 minutes ago, Shindig said:

Saddleback College in south Orange County (CA) has an amazing driving range, grass available, and two large putting greens.  There's also a chipping area on one end and a fairway bunker on another (not that you need to practice fairway bunker shots often, but it's nice to have an option).

That's surprising.  I've never actually been there, but I drive by it every day and just noticed a couple of days ago that the nets are ripped and open in a few parts, so I wondered if it was even open any more.

Oak Creek in Irvine has probably the nicest facilities around here but you definitely pay for it.

http://www.oakcreekgolfclub.com/Practice-Facility/Default.aspx

[Patch]

I don't know about being the best, but my new to me home course is most adequate. That would be the Boulder City GC. I has everything I need.

A driving range that offers real grass to it off of. Across the parking lot  is a real grass chipping, pitching area. Some of the pitches can go as much as a 100 yards, with 3 flags to hit to. There is also a real sand bunker available. There is also a chipping/pitching green that has two tiers to work with. Up by the club house is a hilly putting green. A practice green that closely mimics the actual course greens. All the practice areas are kept really nice. 

Another option I have available, about 5 miles further out of town, is a dry lake area. I can use mats, and tees out there to get very accurate carry distances utilizing a very soft sand area. The ball hits the soft sand and just stops. Carry distances are very important to me, and my game.

Sometimes I just use a 6i blade and hit balls off the lake bed itself. A "thin to win" type scenario, where my goal is to pick the ball clean off the ground. Me, and my two very large dogs (130 pounders) will just start walking, with me hitting to targets as we go. The lake bed is about 2 miles wide and 5 miles long so there is plenty of room.  Good exercise too. 

[Shindig]

2 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

That's surprising.  I've never actually been there, but I drive by it every day and just noticed a couple of days ago that the nets are ripped and open in a few parts, so I wondered if it was even open any more.

Oak Creek in Irvine has probably the nicest facilities around here but you definitely pay for it.

http://www.oakcreekgolfclub.com/Practice-Facility/Default.aspx

I haven't been there in over a year, so I don't know if it still has a good facility.  I was a regular there, 2006 - 2013, give or take (minus the year I wasn't in California).  I don't know when/if I'd be near there in the future, so I don't know if I'd check in to find out.  I'd be a bit sad if it dropped off -- it was really nice at one point. 

[Machine528]

I hate you all !   My driving range is horrible.  The hitting area is actually a downhill lie.   There are no bunkers and one putting/chipping green.   It is also infested with gnats and mosquito's.  This morning I literally sucked about 10 gnats up my nose while trying to breath.    I need to find somewhere better but there is nothing in my area like the facilities you all described.

[Shindig]

9 minutes ago, Machine528 said:

I hate you all !   My driving range is horrible.  The hitting area is actually a downhill lie.   There are no bunkers and one putting/chipping green.   It is also infested with gnats and mosquito's.  This morning I literally sucked about 10 gnats up my nose while trying to breath.    I need to find somewhere better but there is nothing in my area like the facilities you all described.

Where are you?  Someone here might know one.   At the very least, would a small mask like some people wear on the train/subway help keep you from getting gnats in your nose?

[Machine528]

I'm in North East pa

[jsgolfer]

Orange County National in the Orlando area is the best one I've been to.  In No. VA the nicest one is River Bend Country Club in Great Falls, VA.

Worst driving range I've been too is Washington Golf & CC in Arlington VA, for one of the more exclusive courses in my area, you have to take a cart to the driving range, hit off mats and If I remember correctly you couldn't hit a shot over 180 yards.  

[NJpatbee]

For the short game at a public facility I would recommend Rutgers University Golf Course in the Northern NJ area.  The practice area allow pitches and chips to about 25 yards, has a separate putting green, and great sand from different angles.  The attached driving range is average but finding a good place to practice the short game is more difficult in this area.

[billchao]

3 hours ago, NJpatbee said:

For the short game at a public facility I would recommend Rutgers University Golf Course in the Northern NJ area.  The practice area allow pitches and chips to about 25 yards, has a separate putting green, and great sand from different angles.  The attached driving range is average but finding a good place to practice the short game is more difficult in this area.

The practice green is good for pitching, but the bunker is awful. Maybe it's the way the water drains off that green, but IME it was always rock hard. I used to think I was a bad bunker player until I realized that was the only bunker I ever really struggled with.

I'd rather drive 20 more minutes and head to Neshanic.

[iacas]

On June 19, 2016 at 11:25 AM, Machine528 said:

I'm in North East pa

Lake View has a really great short game practice facility.

[Dave2512]

The best I've seen is a private club that saved 1/2 an abandoned hole after a redesign and repurposed it as a short game practice area. It's way more than a chipping green they have it marked in ten yard increments out to 60 yards and they put a bunch of bunkers on one side. we go out and hit 5 balls or so and try to get up and down.

When the pros aren't using it for lessons you can bring bags of ball out there and it will accommodates 4-5 people as long as someone isn't fiddling on the greens. Though no sure why they would because the also have two chipping greens and a massive putting green. It's amazing how well they keep up the putting surface with all the balls getting hit to it.

[NJpatbee]

23 hours ago, billchao said:

The practice green is good for pitching, but the bunker is awful. Maybe it's the way the water drains off that green, but IME it was always rock hard. I used to think I was a bad bunker player until I realized that was the only bunker I ever really struggled with.

I'd rather drive 20 more minutes and head to Neshanic.

Sorry to hear the sand is so bad at RU.  I haven't been there in a few years and it sound like conditions have changed.