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Brian Clark
Ijamsville
2020-06-23
$26 (cart included), played on Sunday, June 2020 at 1:00 PM
Traveling home through this rolling hilly area and this 1999 PB Dye came up on my GPS located 10 minutes off I-270.........we're stopping. Only having time for nine (9) holes and the Front 9 had the first five (5) holes open, we decided to go. Paid $30 9/cart ($55 18/cart) and headed out on this open rolling terrain layout. With the five (5) tee selections you can chose from Black 7,071yd/72.2/136 down to 5,035yd/68.3/123 on this challenging 36/36 design. Starting from the Gold tees (3,460yd/35.3/134) I changed to Green (3,279yd) when I hit #5 a 484yd Par 4 and #6 a 449yd Par 4 that offer nothing but trouble from tee to green and long yardages. Holes #1 a 377yd Par 4 and #2 a 133yd Par 3 will be your only easy, straight forward holes on the Front 9, enjoy them. The #3 is a 530yd dogleg left Par 5 that needs a 230yd drive to see the landing area for your 2nd shot. Pay attention to the pin positions because these large undulating greens are non-typical shaped and three (3) putts will raise it's ugly head. The cart supplied touch screen GPS will supply all the yardage information needed to make your blind landing areas look a little more comfortable. The #4 a 383yd Par 4 maintains the normal designed forced tee carry (150yd) and the elevated long and narrow green with a steep front, ready to reject anything short. The #5 is a slight 465yd LH dogleg that starts off with a 180yd forced carry, narrow fairway leading to a large elevated but protected round green. I played for a 80yd third shot to the #2/back position and enjoyed a easy 2 putt bogey. The #6 is their Hcp 1 hole and at 433yds offers nothing but trouble from any stray shots from the short grass. Fairway traps LH/RH side are well placed for tee and green approach shots with a par here being a reason for celebration. The #7 a 484yd Par 5/Hcp 9 offers that extra shot you needed on #5 & #6 so stay on the left side of fairway and Par is yours. The #8 is a long 203yd Par 3 with a big tree on the LH side so the draw works the best here for the long narrow green, running away from you. The finishing #9 a 417yd Par 4/Hcp3 offers nothing but trouble the last 100yds in so play that 2nd shot strong to the narrow (like #8) elevated green, to finish with a feeling of success. Without the cart GPS and my range finder, this course would be almost impossible to visually play and score low. Some of the fairway bunkers looked almost unfair to the average golfer for advancing any great length to score. I was lucky today and not hitting them today (fairway) but finding a couple of green-side ones that played very fair. Ended up shooting 40 w/16putts as staying in the fairway and knowing when to play for bogey, kept me from getting big scores.
Would travel: 30-60 Miles, Vacation Worthy
Bottom line: I would play again, Ranks with the best in this price level, Expensive and worth it
Condition of Course, Pace of Play, Difficulty, Ambiance, Layout, No Houses on Course
$26 (cart included), played on Sunday, June 2020 at 1:00 PM
Traveling home through this rolling hilly area and this 1999 PB Dye came up on my GPS located 10 minutes off I-270.........we're stopping. Only having time for nine (9) holes and the Front 9 had the first five (5) holes open, we decided to go. Paid $30 9/cart ($55 18/cart) and headed out on this open rolling terrain layout. With the five (5) tee selections you can chose from Black 7,071yd/72.2/136 down to 5,035yd/68.3/123 on this challenging 36/36 design. Starting from the Gold tees (3,460yd/35.3/134) I changed to Green (3,279yd) when I hit #5 a 484yd Par 4 and #6 a 449yd Par 4 that offer nothing but trouble from tee to green and long yardages. Holes #1 a 377yd Par 4 and #2 a 133yd Par 3 will be your only easy, straight forward holes on the Front 9, enjoy them. The #3 is a 530yd dogleg left Par 5 that needs a 230yd drive to see the landing area for your 2nd shot. Pay attention to the pin positions because these large undulating greens are non-typical shaped and three (3) putts will raise it's ugly head. The cart supplied touch screen GPS will supply all the yardage information needed to make your blind landing areas look a little more comfortable. The #4 a 383yd Par 4 maintains the normal designed forced tee carry (150yd) and the elevated long and narrow green with a steep front, ready to reject anything short. The #5 is a slight 465yd LH dogleg that starts off with a 180yd forced carry, narrow fairway leading to a large elevated but protected round green. I played for a 80yd third shot to the #2/back position and enjoyed a easy 2 putt bogey. The #6 is their Hcp 1 hole and at 433yds offers nothing but trouble from any stray shots from the short grass. Fairway traps LH/RH side are well placed for tee and green approach shots with a par here being a reason for celebration. The #7 a 484yd Par 5/Hcp 9 offers that extra shot you needed on #5 & #6 so stay on the left side of fairway and Par is yours. The #8 is a long 203yd Par 3 with a big tree on the LH side so the draw works the best here for the long narrow green, running away from you. The finishing #9 a 417yd Par 4/Hcp3 offers nothing but trouble the last 100yds in so play that 2nd shot strong to the narrow (like #8) elevated green, to finish with a feeling of success. Without the cart GPS and my range finder, this course would be almost impossible to visually play and score low. Some of the fairway bunkers looked almost unfair to the average golfer for advancing any great length to score. I was lucky today and not hitting them today (fairway) but finding a couple of green-side ones that played very fair. Ended up shooting 40 w/16putts as staying in the fairway and knowing when to play for bogey, kept me from getting big scores.