Post by Richie3Jack on Aug 9, 2015 22:37:06 GMT -5
Course: The Majors Golf Club
Wind: 14-18 mph ESE
Ball: Nicklaus Black
Stimp: 7-8
I had heard about The Majors GC since I first moved down here, but had yet to play it. I had heard it was an Arnold Palmer design with TifEagle greens (my preferred greens). But, when I started to get heavily into GolfNow I had not heard very good reviews about the course. Problems with tee times, golf carts, staff and the greens and course conditions were negatively reviewed.
A friend of mine on the Duran GC range really likes the course and told me that they just installed new Championship Ultra Dwarf Greens. I'm surprised that they switched to Championship Bermuda as I've found that doesn't hold up as well if you get a lot of traffic and don't have the resources to maintain it. So, I decided to check the place out today.
I had no problem with a golf cart or my tee time. The staff was super friendly. I thought the fairways were in mostly great shape except for about 5 holes where they were drenched from all of the rain we have been having. The greens were slow as they just re-opened the course this week. But, they rolled smooth and I putted them well.
Overall, I liked the course as I'm a fan of Arnie's designs. I think he's very underrated as a designer among good players as good players usually prefer the Fazio's, Donald Ross, Tillinghast's, etc. of the world. I think they think that Mr. Palmer is too popular of a player to be a good designer, but I think he makes for one of the better ones out there. I feel that he designed way too much sand on this course and this course just doesn't have the manpower and resources to upkeep the sand. They need to consider making the sand all 'waste areas' instead and try to upkeep it when they can.
This course was, I thought, pretty darn difficult. Typically, Palmer designs are more about the second shot and keeping the ball below the cup and missing in the right areas. But, I found The Majors more about driving the ball well and hitting it well on the par-3's. Overall, it's perfectly acceptable of a course to play for a $20 greens fee and maybe $30 in the winter-spring time.
I had just come off what felt like a god awful round yesterday, posting a 78 (+6) in tough, breezy conditions. Still working on getting that left leg extenion, correct. My putting was a dumpster fire yesterday, but I think I figured some things out.
#1: I didn't get any warm up and hit this hard, but pushed it quite a bit on a tough hole. I had 161 yards, but from a funky lie in the rough and a tree blocking my view. So, I hit a 7-iron because I didn't want to fall into the right bunker because that looked like plug-city. So I hit the 7-iron off the to the right, over the bunker. Chipped to 4-feet and made the par save ( E )
#2: This is a 205 yard par-3 where you can't miss short or much left or right. I hit a 3-hybrid as we were into the wind and toed it a bit and it hooked to the left side of the green. Thankfully, the greens were slow as I don't think I could have gotten this 50-foot putt close to the cup. I almost made it and had a 4-footer left over which I made for par ( E )
#3: I didn't know what to hit on this hole since I didn't Google Earth it. I tried a 3-wood, but that went into the water. I then hit a driver off the tee and had 60 yards into the green. Flipped a wedge onto the green and 2-putted for double bogey (+2)
#4: I pounded this driver over the left bunker in good shape. I only had 130 yards into the hole, but I punched a 9-iron beautifully to 5-feet and made the birdie (+1)
#5: Had this hole:
I zoomed the photo in, but this was a small green, with 220 yards to the hole, over a large bunker and into the wind. I hit my 2-hybrid into the right side of the bunker. I hit a pretty good bunker shot to 8-feet, but missed the par save and made bogey (+2)
#6: I hit a pretty good drive here, but pushed it right a bit. I had to hit over a tree from the rough. I tried to hit a high draw, but it stayed straight. I then chipped to 8-feet and made birdie (+1)
#7: This was a pretty good driver down the middle followed by a flushed, but slightly pulled 6-iron that found the green. Good run at the birdie putt, but it missed wide and I made par (+1)
#8: Hit a perfect driver. Pulled my S-Wedge to about 25-feet. 2-putted and made par (+1)
#9: Hit a nice driver down the middle. I like this hole as it is very risk-reward. I aimed towards the right corner of the green and nutted a 2-hybrid to 20-feet for eagle. A good run at the eagle putt, but just missed and came away with birdie ( E )
#10: Hit this drive hard, but pushed it a tad and you can't really push it on this tee shot. I decided to 'play smart' and hit a 6-iron. But, it went shorter than I expected and in hindsight, I should have hit 3-hybrid instead. I then hit a 9-iron, poorly, that found the green and was only 12-feet away. Missed the birdie putt and came away with par ( E )
#11: This is another brutal par-3 where I hit a 3-hybrid into the wind to 6-feet. Mis-read the putt and came away with par ( E )
#12: A good drive down the middle that was followed by a toe-hit 9-iron to 12 feet. Canned the birdie putt as I got lucky as I pulled it a bit and it curled into the cup for birdie (-1)
#13: Short par-4 where I had the choice of laying up or hitting driver. I hit driver nicely down the middle. Hit a low traj. spinning L-Wedge to 4-feet and made the birdie for 2 in a row (-2)
#14: This is a very difficult hole. It's very narrow and trouble is right and left. I hit driver because the wind was blowing hard into us. I hit this drive well and it found the fairway. I then hit a 7-iron about 125 yards. I flushed it, but the wind was blowing so hard that I was on the green, but on the front end. I then thought I was going to make the long birdie putt, but it ran out of gas before it got tot he cup. (-2)
#15: This was a 178 yard par-3 into the wind over water. I hit a 5-iron, but pulled it a bit. It found the green, but I was left with a 50-footer. I hit my first putt to 5-feet and then made the 5-footer. Would not have even come close to making that 5-footer yesterday (-2)
#16: This was a nice hole, but when the wind is blowing in your face it is all of the 355 yard par-4 that one can handle because the landing area is small and you can be left with tricky lies on the approach and a lot distance into the hole. I hit 2-hybrid and caught a bad lie from the left rough. I then caught a punch 6-iron chunky and it just made it over the water. Chipped up to 5-feet and saved the par (-2)
#17: The wind was blowing very hard into our face here. I hit a nice driver right down the middle, but had a bad lie in the fairway. I caught a 2-hybrid thin from that bad lie and had about 100 yards where I found another bad lie in the fairway. Caught the approach a bit chunky and 2-putted from 25-feet and made par (-2)
#18: Might have been my best drive of the day as with a cross wind I pounded this one about 290 yards down the middle. I then toed a 9-iron, but it ended up about 20-feet away. Putt never broke like I thought it would and I made par (-2)
THOUGHTS: Very happy with this round as the conditions were tough and I don't think this is any easy course by any means. But, I hit the ball well off the tee and putted far better. It's another example that you shouldn't bother predicting as I don't think I would have thought I would shoot -2 under par after making the double on the 3rd hole. Got to put some work in on that 9-iron this week.
36-34=70 (-2)
9/14 fwy
14/18 GIR
30 Putts
4 Impeded shots
+17 '15/5 Score'
-6 GIRO Score
Wind: 14-18 mph ESE
Ball: Nicklaus Black
Stimp: 7-8
I had heard about The Majors GC since I first moved down here, but had yet to play it. I had heard it was an Arnold Palmer design with TifEagle greens (my preferred greens). But, when I started to get heavily into GolfNow I had not heard very good reviews about the course. Problems with tee times, golf carts, staff and the greens and course conditions were negatively reviewed.
A friend of mine on the Duran GC range really likes the course and told me that they just installed new Championship Ultra Dwarf Greens. I'm surprised that they switched to Championship Bermuda as I've found that doesn't hold up as well if you get a lot of traffic and don't have the resources to maintain it. So, I decided to check the place out today.
I had no problem with a golf cart or my tee time. The staff was super friendly. I thought the fairways were in mostly great shape except for about 5 holes where they were drenched from all of the rain we have been having. The greens were slow as they just re-opened the course this week. But, they rolled smooth and I putted them well.
Overall, I liked the course as I'm a fan of Arnie's designs. I think he's very underrated as a designer among good players as good players usually prefer the Fazio's, Donald Ross, Tillinghast's, etc. of the world. I think they think that Mr. Palmer is too popular of a player to be a good designer, but I think he makes for one of the better ones out there. I feel that he designed way too much sand on this course and this course just doesn't have the manpower and resources to upkeep the sand. They need to consider making the sand all 'waste areas' instead and try to upkeep it when they can.
This course was, I thought, pretty darn difficult. Typically, Palmer designs are more about the second shot and keeping the ball below the cup and missing in the right areas. But, I found The Majors more about driving the ball well and hitting it well on the par-3's. Overall, it's perfectly acceptable of a course to play for a $20 greens fee and maybe $30 in the winter-spring time.
I had just come off what felt like a god awful round yesterday, posting a 78 (+6) in tough, breezy conditions. Still working on getting that left leg extenion, correct. My putting was a dumpster fire yesterday, but I think I figured some things out.
#1: I didn't get any warm up and hit this hard, but pushed it quite a bit on a tough hole. I had 161 yards, but from a funky lie in the rough and a tree blocking my view. So, I hit a 7-iron because I didn't want to fall into the right bunker because that looked like plug-city. So I hit the 7-iron off the to the right, over the bunker. Chipped to 4-feet and made the par save ( E )
#2: This is a 205 yard par-3 where you can't miss short or much left or right. I hit a 3-hybrid as we were into the wind and toed it a bit and it hooked to the left side of the green. Thankfully, the greens were slow as I don't think I could have gotten this 50-foot putt close to the cup. I almost made it and had a 4-footer left over which I made for par ( E )
#3: I didn't know what to hit on this hole since I didn't Google Earth it. I tried a 3-wood, but that went into the water. I then hit a driver off the tee and had 60 yards into the green. Flipped a wedge onto the green and 2-putted for double bogey (+2)
#4: I pounded this driver over the left bunker in good shape. I only had 130 yards into the hole, but I punched a 9-iron beautifully to 5-feet and made the birdie (+1)
#5: Had this hole:
I zoomed the photo in, but this was a small green, with 220 yards to the hole, over a large bunker and into the wind. I hit my 2-hybrid into the right side of the bunker. I hit a pretty good bunker shot to 8-feet, but missed the par save and made bogey (+2)
#6: I hit a pretty good drive here, but pushed it right a bit. I had to hit over a tree from the rough. I tried to hit a high draw, but it stayed straight. I then chipped to 8-feet and made birdie (+1)
#7: This was a pretty good driver down the middle followed by a flushed, but slightly pulled 6-iron that found the green. Good run at the birdie putt, but it missed wide and I made par (+1)
#8: Hit a perfect driver. Pulled my S-Wedge to about 25-feet. 2-putted and made par (+1)
#9: Hit a nice driver down the middle. I like this hole as it is very risk-reward. I aimed towards the right corner of the green and nutted a 2-hybrid to 20-feet for eagle. A good run at the eagle putt, but just missed and came away with birdie ( E )
#10: Hit this drive hard, but pushed it a tad and you can't really push it on this tee shot. I decided to 'play smart' and hit a 6-iron. But, it went shorter than I expected and in hindsight, I should have hit 3-hybrid instead. I then hit a 9-iron, poorly, that found the green and was only 12-feet away. Missed the birdie putt and came away with par ( E )
#11: This is another brutal par-3 where I hit a 3-hybrid into the wind to 6-feet. Mis-read the putt and came away with par ( E )
#12: A good drive down the middle that was followed by a toe-hit 9-iron to 12 feet. Canned the birdie putt as I got lucky as I pulled it a bit and it curled into the cup for birdie (-1)
#13: Short par-4 where I had the choice of laying up or hitting driver. I hit driver nicely down the middle. Hit a low traj. spinning L-Wedge to 4-feet and made the birdie for 2 in a row (-2)
#14: This is a very difficult hole. It's very narrow and trouble is right and left. I hit driver because the wind was blowing hard into us. I hit this drive well and it found the fairway. I then hit a 7-iron about 125 yards. I flushed it, but the wind was blowing so hard that I was on the green, but on the front end. I then thought I was going to make the long birdie putt, but it ran out of gas before it got tot he cup. (-2)
#15: This was a 178 yard par-3 into the wind over water. I hit a 5-iron, but pulled it a bit. It found the green, but I was left with a 50-footer. I hit my first putt to 5-feet and then made the 5-footer. Would not have even come close to making that 5-footer yesterday (-2)
#16: This was a nice hole, but when the wind is blowing in your face it is all of the 355 yard par-4 that one can handle because the landing area is small and you can be left with tricky lies on the approach and a lot distance into the hole. I hit 2-hybrid and caught a bad lie from the left rough. I then caught a punch 6-iron chunky and it just made it over the water. Chipped up to 5-feet and saved the par (-2)
#17: The wind was blowing very hard into our face here. I hit a nice driver right down the middle, but had a bad lie in the fairway. I caught a 2-hybrid thin from that bad lie and had about 100 yards where I found another bad lie in the fairway. Caught the approach a bit chunky and 2-putted from 25-feet and made par (-2)
#18: Might have been my best drive of the day as with a cross wind I pounded this one about 290 yards down the middle. I then toed a 9-iron, but it ended up about 20-feet away. Putt never broke like I thought it would and I made par (-2)
THOUGHTS: Very happy with this round as the conditions were tough and I don't think this is any easy course by any means. But, I hit the ball well off the tee and putted far better. It's another example that you shouldn't bother predicting as I don't think I would have thought I would shoot -2 under par after making the double on the 3rd hole. Got to put some work in on that 9-iron this week.
36-34=70 (-2)
9/14 fwy
14/18 GIR
30 Putts
4 Impeded shots
+17 '15/5 Score'
-6 GIRO Score