Grade: B+, Cost: $50 w/cart, Slope: 127 @ 6400 yds from the blues
This course is just a borderline-excellent course for a neighborhood course (several signs on the way in to announce that it is a "Golf-Club Community). But given that, nice scenery, nice layout that's more than adequately tough for a bogey player especially given the usual South Utah ("Zion") winds. The course was in very-good condition, I got out on a Monday so that it would be mostly empty and it was, got out there a little late @ about 2:30 while it was 100F and it was definitely draining..Gotta be careful leaving unless you want to be like me and drive over the raised curb-area between the parking-lot and the circle right in front of the parking lot. So that put a slight downer on the round :) but it is just too nice of a course. It's a good challenging course from the blue tees like a Slope 135 tee should be. Yet still forgiving & simple enough so that you know that the shots aren't that tough.
Courses don't get Slope ratings in the 130s + for no good reason. This course falls in the 120s because it's on the short side. Which puts it in a special place: short, but tough.
It's definitely tight in places, but if you stay in play then pars are out there. Not a walk in the park but still not too difficult of a course. This is an intimidating course for most intermediate players from the blues...but entirely playable. It's not long, but it definitely is not a wide-open course. Which is good. Because any idiot can play a wide-open course.
It has a generic pro-shop & cafe but still very decent & modern and I just can't think of too many courses that have that view from the clubhouse.
When you're standing up on the tees for #1, looking downhill over that fairway feeling the wind whistling across into the waste & the chasm to the right, if that isn't humbling to you then you're either a very confident, fearless or nonchalant player. I know how to deal with that shot cold out of the car. I was still nervous. But you swing the club & experience takes over. I was cruising along until #9. Finally one drive cut back to center. The sun & heat were starting to get to me. At the #11th hole I was worrying that they would find me passed-out in my cart.
....yeah, let's go hiking out in the mountains instead.
Almost the whole course was a great experience, definitely worth the time & money, a good round. Play enough courses in "Zion" and overall you get the picture. This one stood out as a great layout, great environment mostly, great experience.
But nothing is perfect.
About the houses. It's fine when they are a decent distance away. Not ideal, but c'est la vie. It's not fine when they come right up next to the fairways & greens. Many were that bad here. Now on one hand that's not unplayable. On the other hand, it's "pressing". I routinely see houses like this and think that you just have to like golf to live in a house that close but some had yards that were right across the cart-path or just off the back of the green. That's extreme proximity. Many houses are close enough to where you can hear clubs cracking quite well enough and they might see an errant shot once in a while. But when you're even within earshot, you're definitely within range. There wasn't nearly enough netting here to balance the "No-Trespassing" signs. I let one ball stay behind a fence. But 6 ft behind a NT sign? That ball is mine.
The course was there. It was a good course, and I played it. Arguably that yard would have been waste, certainly OB, on a great many courses. The back was far tighter than the front in that regard. It's not an issue that I want to have to deal with. It's that simple. I've seen guys getting drunk off their asses on lounge-chairs blasting music. Houses with dogs & pools full of screaming kids just off the fairway. Kids playing, people hiking on the course. You want to have a golf course in your neighborhood? Fine. Don't lay it out like an asshole & don't treat the course like a neighborhood park. We pay good money to play that course. This is one major reason why I generally don't play on the weekend ...when the homeowners are home! Though rarely are they actually out in their backyard. Odd thing about owning a house, people buy these expensive houses and rarely actually use them. Or at least it seems.
That is the only thing that makes golf-course housing even remotely tolerable. They are oh so rarely actually there. They definitely affect my course-scoring. I gave it a B+ despite the fact that there were definitely residents hanging around the course chirping during my round. I was that impressed with it.
Photography note: Spent 1hr practicing to take shots with my D610. Packed it for the cart. Played the whole round, never touched it. Happy, actually surprised, with the 6a pic & video IQ. I can't see the level while wearing sunglasses but otherwise it was outstanding.
Yet again.
Pixel 6 for $100 on eBay? Or stick with 1080p?