27000 Artic Valley Rd, Fort Richardson, Alaska, 99505
1 Ranking
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Brian Clark
Fort Richardson
2022-05-23
$46 (cart not included), played on Friday, May 2022 at 9:30 AM
This is the first of the two (2) courses that I'm playing here in Alaska during my two (2) week vacation. Considering three (3) weeks ago the course still had snow on it, I can forgive the greens for running a little (4-5) slow. Fairways though had been cut recently and were in fairly good shape with good full grass cover all over. Sand traps were on the heavy side as they looked to be using ground-up glacier sand that needed to be fluffed.
It's early so walking only if you want to play. It's $47 18/walk ($20 club rental) but, the views are free. With the snow-capped mountains always insight, you can see why it's called one of Alaska's most scenic golf courses.
The #6 Par 3 that plays 222-108yds is the photo seen above, only our mountain was covered in snow. With the five (5) tees you can play from Black's 7,324yd / 75.7 / 141 down to Red's 5,183 / 72.0 / 134 on this rolling treelined Par 36/36 layout. The four (4) of us decided to play from the Whites 2,989/3,241yds / 70.6 / 133 and with the soft fairway conditions, driver rollout was about 10yds.
The Front 9 starts out with a nice 329yd (Whites) sweeping left Par 4 to a nice flat green, making my 2 putt Par a good start, but not for long. The #2 a 474yd narrow sweeping left Par 5 was like treading a needle without your glasses on. Staying in the fairway is an easy par, rough is very ugly and deep. The #4 Par 4 is the only straight hole but 374yds to a small elevated green with a large sand trap in front gives you no view of your landing area. The #9 Hcp 1 dogleg left Par 5 at 466yds (532 Black) has trouble LH/RH if you stray from the fairway with swamp LH and trees RH. Most drives land where you have 230yds to the green and with the 80 yds wide creek in front of a small round green, don't land short as I did.
The Back 9 #11 narrow Par 5 can play from 640yds down to 473yds had me playing Whites at 519yds safely down the middle on this uphill climb to a blind hilltop green for a safe bogey. Finishing up on #18 a Hcp 8 Par 5 that plays 547yds Whites (600-482yds) on this very narrow layout to another raised blind green tucked behind a LH front trap. Ended up shooting 50/47 w/42putts as the shaggy greens and soft fairways took their toll on my 4.5hr mental game. But hey.....I'm Playing Golf in Alaska!!!
Thanks to local golfer Ed that tried to help me, but the ball wasn't listening to either of us. Great place with great views.
Would travel: 30-60 Miles, Vacation Worthy
Bottom line: I would play again, Better than average course for the area, Fair priced based on quality and competitive area pricing, Ranks with the best in this price level, Best course in the area
Price, Difficulty, Ambiance, Staff, Pro Shop, Layout, No Houses on Course, Clubhouse
$46 (cart not included), played on Friday, May 2022 at 9:30 AM
This is the first of the two (2) courses that I'm playing here in Alaska during my two (2) week vacation. Considering three (3) weeks ago the course still had snow on it, I can forgive the greens for running a little (4-5) slow. Fairways though had been cut recently and were in fairly good shape with good full grass cover all over. Sand traps were on the heavy side as they looked to be using ground-up glacier sand that needed to be fluffed.
It's early so walking only if you want to play. It's $47 18/walk ($20 club rental) but, the views are free. With the snow-capped mountains always insight, you can see why it's called one of Alaska's most scenic golf courses.
The #6 Par 3 that plays 222-108yds is the photo seen above, only our mountain was covered in snow. With the five (5) tees you can play from Black's 7,324yd / 75.7 / 141 down to Red's 5,183 / 72.0 / 134 on this rolling treelined Par 36/36 layout. The four (4) of us decided to play from the Whites 2,989/3,241yds / 70.6 / 133 and with the soft fairway conditions, driver rollout was about 10yds.
The Front 9 starts out with a nice 329yd (Whites) sweeping left Par 4 to a nice flat green, making my 2 putt Par a good start, but not for long. The #2 a 474yd narrow sweeping left Par 5 was like treading a needle without your glasses on. Staying in the fairway is an easy par, rough is very ugly and deep. The #4 Par 4 is the only straight hole but 374yds to a small elevated green with a large sand trap in front gives you no view of your landing area. The #9 Hcp 1 dogleg left Par 5 at 466yds (532 Black) has trouble LH/RH if you stray from the fairway with swamp LH and trees RH. Most drives land where you have 230yds to the green and with the 80 yds wide creek in front of a small round green, don't land short as I did.
The Back 9 #11 narrow Par 5 can play from 640yds down to 473yds had me playing Whites at 519yds safely down the middle on this uphill climb to a blind hilltop green for a safe bogey. Finishing up on #18 a Hcp 8 Par 5 that plays 547yds Whites (600-482yds) on this very narrow layout to another raised blind green tucked behind a LH front trap. Ended up shooting 50/47 w/42putts as the shaggy greens and soft fairways took their toll on my 4.5hr mental game. But hey.....I'm Playing Golf in Alaska!!!
Thanks to local golfer Ed that tried to help me, but the ball wasn't listening to either of us. Great place with great views.