Shoal Creek

[Bravo]

And the last...of course a very tough finishing hole...plays 443 from the tips. About 430 for us today. I hooked my drive left and ended up with bogey...There I am in last photo with club too far over the line. This is what I must work on...

 

[Rockford35]

Great pics.

In that pic with the two balls, what happened to your grass? Are all the fairways like that down there? We have more grass on our cartpaths....

Seriously tho, do the fairway really play that tight? I think alot of you guys would suffer playing up here with our thick, unforgiving grass. Even in the fairways....

R35

 

[Bravo]

Sling...thanks for your note. My Nikon Coolpix 3500 with whatever zoom it has - can in no way capture the "scene depth" that I need it to. I try to zoom in as much as possible and still cannot capture the scene like I want to.

The other message here is that this course has fairly Wide fairways. On the holes where I said there was a chute - there indeed was but the landing areas once you cleared the chute was generous.

This is such a great course!! It obviously can be set up for a Major championship but can also be just a delight for regular golfers. Believe me there is plenty of room to drive the ball - you have to hit it pretty bad to get it out of the fairway and Then - they have done a nice job of clearing out the first 5 yards of woods so you can find your ball. It is set up to be both a playas course as well as a regular golfers course.

As those of you have seen my pictures know - I live in a hilly area with holes that go up and down in elevation. What comes with this is Blind shots...every course here has holes with blind shots to the green - except this one. Jack Nicklaus designed a course where you can see each and every approach shot land on the green and roll to the hole.

I wish everyone could play this course. I have never played with anyone of any skill level that did not love it. It is Not Unfair....

 

[Bravo]

Great pics.

In that pic with the two balls, what happened to your grass? Are all the fairways like that down there? We have more grass on our cartpaths....

Seriously tho, do the fairway really play that tight? I think alot of you guys would suffer playing up here with our thick, unforgiving grass. Even in the fairways....

R35

Rock:

Our fairways have bermudagrass. This is a warm season grass that grows very fast in the summer. The advantage is that it will recover a divot in about 2-3 weeks. It has a disadvantage though in that it is a warm weather grass - it needs heat to really grow...

As all of us in North America know - we've had a cool/cold Spring and this has been the case here. It has not gotten warm enough for our fairways to really fill out yet - so we still have thin conditions...this is why the members at Augusta use ryegrass on their course. They have The Masters in April and its just not warm enough yet to get bermudagrass fairways lush at that time. So they put down the ryegrass seed in the fall and have superb conditions in the winter and spring and the course dies in June when our bermudagrass fairways are just about perfect...

As you can see, this is a valley course and my home course (about five miles away) is a hill course with rock underneath. My course (in contrast to this one) can tolerate vast amounts of water - it will just roll down the mountain...so when it is rainy - you want to play my place and when it is dry you want to play here.

And in August, when it is hot as Hell - you want to play my place bc we get the best breeze - or maybe visit you or Sling where the Summers are civil!!

 

[Rockford35]

Gotcha.

I played Bermuda when I was in Kissimmee. It played alot longer (no rain like you've had) because of the tight grass. But it really allowed for some sweet shotmaking.

The grass around here needs heat as well. Get a little rain and a couple days of heat and it will grow 2-3" a day, easy. At the cabin, it's not uncommon for them to mow twice a day when it gets into the rain/heat combo....

Needless to say, there are places on some courses that really bring the term "cabbage" into play.

Again, great pics. I would love to experience that course. One of the best i've seen depicted on this site. Fits my eye to a "tee"....

R35

 

[Bravo]

Gotcha.

I played Bermuda when I was in Kissimmee. It played alot longer (no rain like you've had) because of the tight grass. But it really allowed for some sweet shotmaking.

The grass around here needs heat as well. Get a little rain and a couple days of heat and it will grow 2-3" a day, easy. At the cabin, it's not uncommon for them to mow twice a day when it gets into the rain/heat combo....

Needless to say, there are places on some courses that really bring the term "cabbage" into play.

Again, great pics. I would love to experience that course. One of the best i've seen depicted on this site. Fits my eye to a "tee"....

R35

Yeah in Florida they have strains of bermudagrass also - especially in the "inland" areas like Kissimmee. Maybe a slightly wider blade but the same grass nonetheless..

But there is nothing here that grows 2-3 inches a day...wow...

I swear you would love this place. I know this sounds trite but if you can hit it a decent distance and just keep it in play - you are set up to score. This is what the owner hired Nicklaus to do - make a fun course for average golfers but also make it able to host a championship.

But when you start approaching 7000 on a course like this and start to make mistakes...

ouch.

 

[Rockford35]

Sweet.

They open in November?

R35

 

[VtDivot]

Yeah in Florida they have strains of bermudagrass also - especially in the "inland" areas like Kissimmee. Maybe a slightly wider blade but the same grass nonetheless..

This is a hybrid. This is a cross, ah, of Bluegrass, Kentucky Bluegrass, Featherbed Bent, and Northern California Sensemilia. The amazing stuff about this is, that you can play 36 holes on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt that night on this stuff.


Sorry - couldn't resist

 

[Bravo]

Great post VT...and glad to have you here...you're the kind of guy we want at this place.

 

[DaveE]

Great pics Bravo, thanks. Would love to play there.

 

[Bama Duffer]

Great photos, Bravo.

 

[Bravo]

Sweet.

They open in November?

R35

Yes and because November is the dry season, the course is in its best and most playable shape then.

Unfortunately, el Bravo is not a member here...maybe someday.

 

[Rockford35]

Gotcha.

Can we smoke weed with the greenskeeper, get on the back nine and blend in?

Cannonball comin'!

R35

 

[Bravo]

Gotcha.

Can we smoke weed with the greenskeeper, get on the back nine and blend in?

Cannonball comin'!

R35

It's weird...this place has a gated entrance and the guard there really does check you out as you enter. He controls the gate.

But if you could get in there somehow, you Could blend in...

We showed up at 1:00 and hit a few balls. Then, we teed off. A group played through us on #5.

We did not see another golfer on the course the remainder of the day. We were alone - cutting up, joking - me taking craploads of pictures...

Getting by that guard would be a challenge though.

 

[VtDivot]

Great post VT...and glad to have you here...you're the kind of guy we want at this place.

Shhhh... don't tell anyone but I'm enjoying this more than GR I've gotten some good advice over there, but you and Rock are over here lol.