Canton Country Club, Canton, Ms.

[mddubya]

As a self confessed hack, I generally won't pay exuberant amounts of money to play the nicer courses. And sadly, here in Mississippi it seems most all of the nicer courses are either private country clubs, or casino run resort type courses and priced accordingly.

However, due the economic down turn we are are experiencing, a local country club was about to go under. For the past several months they were only opening a few days a week trying to cut cost. Finally they decided to go semi-private, open the golf course up to us hacks but keep the pool, tennis courts, ect.... reserved for the dwindling membership. They also dropped the green fees down to a very reasonable $35.00, 18 with a cart.

So yesterday me and my oldest step-son stepped temporarily into the world of elitism. The difference between this former private country club course and the ones us mere mortals are forced to play was obvious instantly. This place is gorgeous. The minute you walk into the well stocked pro shop you realize this isn't a goat track.

The course was designed and built in 1926 so it has that majestic look of the older courses you see the pros playing. Narrow fairways lined with tall oak and pine trees, just the right amount of water, and beautiful white sand bunkers strategically placed. Its not an overly long course at 6332 yards with a 69.8 rating and a slope of 119, but it does offer five par 5's and postage stamp sized greens that are in immaculate condition. Par is 72 and would require some excellent shooting and shot shaping to accomplish. The course contains both left and right dog-legs and all but one of the 5 par 3's require a water carry and well placed iron to attain par.

And for the dirty old men on here,(you know who you are ), the beer cart girl that is a spitting image of Taylor Swift was an nice added attraction.

Will the course remain as nice as it is now as a semi-private course? Only time will tell, but I can promise you that I'll be back, many times as long as it is.

[Wi-Golfer]

I am loving the supposed downturn in the economy. The courses around here have been less than full & have been offering very low rates in an effort to lure us in.

Devils Head which is a typical tourist resort & charges up the butt has dropped their rates for now to $40 for all you can play & they have 2 very nice 18 holes courses.