Misc 2007 Course Pics -- C'mon Summer!

[MGP]

I found a bunch of miscellaneous pics from the 2007 season on the camera I normally keep in my golf bag. Makes me even more impatient for warm weather to return.

A (blurry ) pic of Youngun5 on #18 tee at Tomahawk Hills. We play this course a lot, it's a county parks course close to both of us. It was built in the early 1920's and is the oldest course in Kansas City -- very old school, tiny greens and none of them are close to being flat. The course has a bunch of elevation change, sometimes two major hills and valleys between the tee and the green which makes the course play a lot longer than 6300 yds. from the tips. Also interesting in that #9 and #18 are both par 3's with about a 100 ft. vertical drop. I've never seen a course design like that before.



(He has a great swing and hits the crap outta the ball. An yes, his cap often matches his avatar. )

#9 at Tomahawk Hills and it's sister hole, #18. Both are about 190-195 from the tips and about 100 ft. below tee level. You can't see the green from the tee box either so they are deceptively difficult par 3's.






(This pic gives you an idea of the elevation changes on the course. It's brutal to walk in the summer time.)

We usually play in the afternoons during the week and late in the afternoon there is often a lot of wildlife out and about. It's not unusual to see deer, turkeys, hawks, coyotes, fox and last year I even saw a woodchuck or two. How many deer and turkeys do you see?





This is the other course we play a lot -- Eagles Landing. It's a bit longer and has a creek that runs throught the middle of the course and is in play on about 1/3 of the holes, mostly on the front 9. The back 9 runs parallel to a retired Air Force base and has a lot of long holes in the wind with brutal prairie grass rough. It's a good test and also pretty old school.

A look across from #1 to #2 fairway. It's a short par 4 with the creek running across the fairway about 230 yds. out. The hole plays down a chute of trees with a creek along the entire fairway right so if you're right or left off the tee you're dead. The green is elevated and undulating so even if you do clear the creek with your drive and have a wedge in there's no guarantee of a birdie (or even a par if you aren't a good putter )




#10, a par 5 is the longest hole on the course. This pic is zoomed a lot (the guy by the cart is about 200-220 yds out) but it's around 530 yds. from the tips and gets narrower the farther you go down the fairway. The left rough slopes away pretty severely from the fairway and it's nasty so if you go left it's a real long hole. Right means you are playing in the trees, I think I know most of them personally. A huge green on this hole too, one of the biggest greens I've ever seen. I canned a birdie putt this past year that we paced off at 73 paces and I was a good 15-20 paces onto the green.




#18 at Eagle's Landing, it's signature hole and a great finishing hole. Medium length dogleg left par 4 with dense trees down the left side. Tee shot placement is everything on this hole. YG usually hits his about where the guy in the picture is, which is perfect -- in the middle and just around the corner -- which gives you a nice mid iron in through the trees and over the creek to an elevated green. Left off the tee is a double or maybe worse. Right or long through the fairway and you aren't getting there in two.




Looking back out onto the course from #18 green.



This last picture is #13 at Minor Park, a Kansas City Mo. public course. I used to play this course several times a week when I was in college and lived just up the street from it. It's a short par 4, about 320 yds. and a hard dogleg left. You used to be able to cut the corner and tee the green if you could hit a 240 yd. very high tee ball. The tee box is now in a chute of trees and the trees on the corner are about twice as tall as when I played in the 80's so that isn't an option any more. Another old course with small, hard greens. This one is really the only flat green on the course. With water on the right and back if you go long or right you are in trouble. Left on your approach puts you into the trees. A testy little par 4 and it's always been a favorite hole to play. I have this picture as my desktop wall paper now.




I really like these older courses that have some character and make you think your way around. You can't just bomb away and hope for the best -- they'll eat your lunch if you do.

I can't wait for summer now...

[zaphod]

very nice spring time where are you?

[warbirdlover]

Does Hummer make the golf carts for Tomahawk Hills? Wow!

[MIKE1218]

Good pics, MGP. Looks like you've got some nice courses around KC.

[VtDivot]

Now why did you have to go and do that

[sssmokin]

Very nice course. I love courses with elevation changes. Makes your club choices very very important. I'd forgotten what green grass looks like.

[ecooke21]

tick, tock, tick, tock......

[mddubya]

Great looking courses and I agree with WBL on the carts. I bet battery life on electric carts sucks,

[Wi-Golfer]

Nice looking course, we have 1 with very similar elevation changes in Lodi. 9 holes & all of them are on the side & base of a mountain, I will not walk that course & yes the electric carts do struggle in a few places getting up.

[clemsonhacker]

3 turkeys 5 deer...

[Clemson]

I thought Kansas was flat? I will go with hacker on the # of deer and turkeys

[MGP]

Originally Posted by Clemson

I thought Kansas was flat? I will go with hacker on the # of deer and turkeys

Everyone who's never been here thinks Kansas is flat... but eastern Kansas is actually quite hilly with lots of trees. Western Kansas (ala Wizard of Oz) is flat as a pancake.

You can only see 3 turkeys but there are a lot more skulking around in the weeds -- they are a little more shy than the deer and most of them slinked off into the weeds as we approached them. There are actually 9 deer I could count, but are hard to see with the reduced picture size. There were probably 15 or so deer total in that herd.