Post by Richie3Jack on Oct 11, 2011 8:23:55 GMT -5
Old Marsh Golf Club is a very private course located in the Palm Beach Gardens area. I believe that it is closed down for the summer as I think most of its members do not reside in Florida during the summer season. I also believe it's one of the courses that people who cannot get membership into Seminole go to.
Getting to Old Marsh is a bit deceiving as it's on a residential road and it's easy to drive by the entrance. Then the actual course is quite aways away from the entrance. The clubhouse doesn't look that overwhelming from the outside, but from the inside it is immaculate. It has the best locker room I've ever been in with what looks like oak wood lockers and plenty of places to rest and relax in. The range is in superb condition and offers new Titleist NXT golf balls for range balls. In fact, the bag stand has a place to hold tees (which they supply epoch tees for the golfer), an aligment stick, cup holder and a towel.
Condition wise, I couldn't expect more from a course that is not Augusta National. The greens are TifEagle Bermuda. I had heard rave reviews of TifEagle, but this was my first time putting on it and it lived up to the hype. It doesn't leave much of a ball mark and rolls as smooth as the bent grass greens up in the northeast.
The fairways are bermuda, but every lie was a bit on the tight side. The tees were bermuda as well, with St. Augustine surrounding in, but each tee as beautifully edged to separate the bermuda grass from the St. Augustine grass. The bunkers were a bit unique as they had less sand than I'm used to around Central Florida. But, I found you need to still hit down a good bit, you just need to hit closer behind the ball and take a shorter swing.
From what I was told, the course was re-designed since its opening in 1987. This doesn't surprise me too much because this is the funnest Pete Dye design I've ever played. They have some very very short holes, but with the wind they can play much longer and even without the wind (or the wind not in your face), you can use good scoring on those holes to make up for the tough holes you will face later on.
The course is built out of an old marshland, hence the name. But, it's still very much a parkland type of course. It actually plays to 7,000 yards from the back tees with an index of 74.8 and a slope of 152.
However, I don't think it is that difficult of a course. I unfortunately played the worst golf of the year there, but I felt in the first round I could've shot 74 there, my 2nd time playing there, with relative ease.
The only hole that really prevents this course from being a 10 out of 10 in my course rating is the par-4, 5th hole. Dye got the bright idea to stick a huge mound in front of the green to the point where you cannot see the flag. In fact, they stick a white rock on top of the mound to give the golfer a sense of direction as to where the flag is located.
It's too bad because the hole would be a solid golf hole without the mound and I'm surprised they just don't expurgate it from the course.
The very tough holes are:
#3, 200 yard par-3
#6, 470 yard par-4
#9, 460 yard par-4
#13, 410 yard par-4
#14, 195 yard par-3
#17, 570 yard par-5
The birdie holes are:
#2 - 540 yard par-5
#7 - 550 yard par-5
#10 - 313 yard par-4
#12 - 502 yard par-5
What's probably unique and fun about this course is that many of the shorter holes require a delicate, but fair approach shot into the green. And if the wind is in your face, then the approach shot becomes longer and very difficult. #1 and #4 are like this. Both par-4's under 400 yards in length, but they have small greens that you're hitting into and swales around the green so your chances of rolling on are slim. #15 is like this as well when the stick the flag in the back of the green. If you hit the green but are on the front half of the green, you almost have no chance of 2-putting because of this enormous mound in the middle of the green.
While that may seem unfair, Old Marsh does a great job balancing things out. That shot into #15 is about a SW or a PW, so it requires the golfer to have good distance control. But, we should have good distance control with a wedge in our hands. And those difficult approach shots on #1 and #4 are still makeable with a well struck, on-line, shot.
Anyway, I would say the best holes on the course are:
#6 - 470 yard par-4, water down the right side.
#9 - 460 yard par-4, water down the left side, goes back to the clubhouse.
#13 - 400 yard par-4, tight driving hole
#16 - 175 yard par-3
#17 - 570 yard par-5, about as good of a challenge on a par-5 as you will ever play.
#18 - 460 yard par-4
In conclusion, if you are ever lucky enough to get a chance to play Old Marsh, don't miss it. It's about as good as golf gets.
3JACK
