Post by Richie3Jack on May 8, 2010 17:48:01 GMT -5
I figure I'll do a series reviewing the Canongate courses I played while living in Atlanta. For those not familiar, here's a look at their Web site www.canongategolf.com
Essentially the membership has you pay $150 a month which includes unlimited range balls. You then pay $25 each time you go out and play and that includes your greens fee and cart fee. However, you are now a member at 24 different private courses. You do wind up designating 2-3 courses as your 'home course.' These courses you can make a tee time 7 days in advance. The other courses you can make a tee time 3 days in advance. And pretty much all of the courses are very good. Anyway, IMO it's a great, innovative business model that has done well financially in tough economic times.
Windermere is a Davis Love III design. From the back tees it's about 7,000 yards with a 73.3 index and a 139 slope. The greens are poa anna. They eventually decided to let the greens grow more so they would be in better shape, but slower.
As an overall look at the design, I would say that Windermere has quite a few goofy/questionable designed holes, but also has quite a few excellent holes.
The best holes IMO are #1, #3 (my favorite), #8, #12 (signature hole), #14
The goofy holes are #10 and #16.
The questionable holes are #11, #13 and #18
#3 is my favorite hole on the course as it's a par-5 off a well elevated tee shot. The majority of golfers even really good ones, will take a 3-wood off the tee because you can't miss left or right. Left is O.B. and right may be lost or in the hazard. There's more room to the right but taking a 3-wood off the tee makes it more difficult to miss off to the right.
If you do hit a driver, which I do. You are at a major advantage if you hit it pretty well and keep it in play. Still though, you can have a tough second shot because the lie can be downhill and the green is up a hill.
Probably the reason why I like it so much is I play it better than just about anybody on the course. In the club championship I birdied it both times I played it and had a 7-foot eagle putt the first time around.
#16 is a bad golf hole. It was originally intended to be a dog leg left with the creek running up the left side. Instead it is a dog leg left with the creek running up the *middle* of the golf hole. I always tell people that the dumb part of this hole is one can hit their best drive ever right down the middle and it's still the toughest hole on the course...but they could go out and snap hook their tee shot and now it's one of the easier holes on the course. That's because they have a small area left of the creek where it's a flat lie and a shortcut to the hole...problem is it's only about 10 yards wide and there's O.B. left and the creek right.
I've seen many golfers tee off with a 7-iron to go short of the creek. Then punch an iron to that flat landing spot and play the hole like a goofy par-5 just so they can take the water out of play. In fact, I fully planned for that in the club championship.
From the back tees, this hole is brutal. If the weather conditions are not right, I can't make it over the creek. And if I do make it over the creek, I can have anything from a 4-iron to a 3-wood with the ball well above my feet on the approach. And you can't miss that approach right or left. In the cc I went double-birdie on the hole and was the only golfer to birdie the 16th either day.
#18 is a hole that relies on the wind. It's a par-5 and if you hit a good driver I've had 8-iron into the hole before. But if the wind is against me, I pretty much have to layup. I don't think it's a good golf hole, but not a bad one either.
The main problem with Windermere is that the ebb and flow of the design hurts the course and the pace of play. 3 of the first 5 holes are par-3. That makes for slow play, especially on a course that averages about 50,000 rounds of golf a year. #1 is a really good, and very tough hole, but it probably gets lost in how good of a hole it is because it's the first hole. Had it been say the 7th hole or 13th hole on the course or even the finishing hole, people would give it more praise. And if you're long enough, you may not use a driver on holes #2 thru #7. And then once you get going after #7, you get a goofy #10, a goofy #11. Then you get going again on 12-14, then #15 is questionable (and you might not use driver off the tee) and then the horrid #16 comes up.
Still, I enjoyed the course probably because I had played it so often and really knew the ins and outs of the course and could shoot a low score there (my lowest there is a 66). It's very hilly like most North Georgia courses are so you really learn how to play the different lies.
3JACK
Essentially the membership has you pay $150 a month which includes unlimited range balls. You then pay $25 each time you go out and play and that includes your greens fee and cart fee. However, you are now a member at 24 different private courses. You do wind up designating 2-3 courses as your 'home course.' These courses you can make a tee time 7 days in advance. The other courses you can make a tee time 3 days in advance. And pretty much all of the courses are very good. Anyway, IMO it's a great, innovative business model that has done well financially in tough economic times.
Windermere is a Davis Love III design. From the back tees it's about 7,000 yards with a 73.3 index and a 139 slope. The greens are poa anna. They eventually decided to let the greens grow more so they would be in better shape, but slower.
As an overall look at the design, I would say that Windermere has quite a few goofy/questionable designed holes, but also has quite a few excellent holes.
The best holes IMO are #1, #3 (my favorite), #8, #12 (signature hole), #14
The goofy holes are #10 and #16.
The questionable holes are #11, #13 and #18
#3 is my favorite hole on the course as it's a par-5 off a well elevated tee shot. The majority of golfers even really good ones, will take a 3-wood off the tee because you can't miss left or right. Left is O.B. and right may be lost or in the hazard. There's more room to the right but taking a 3-wood off the tee makes it more difficult to miss off to the right.
If you do hit a driver, which I do. You are at a major advantage if you hit it pretty well and keep it in play. Still though, you can have a tough second shot because the lie can be downhill and the green is up a hill.
Probably the reason why I like it so much is I play it better than just about anybody on the course. In the club championship I birdied it both times I played it and had a 7-foot eagle putt the first time around.
#16 is a bad golf hole. It was originally intended to be a dog leg left with the creek running up the left side. Instead it is a dog leg left with the creek running up the *middle* of the golf hole. I always tell people that the dumb part of this hole is one can hit their best drive ever right down the middle and it's still the toughest hole on the course...but they could go out and snap hook their tee shot and now it's one of the easier holes on the course. That's because they have a small area left of the creek where it's a flat lie and a shortcut to the hole...problem is it's only about 10 yards wide and there's O.B. left and the creek right.
I've seen many golfers tee off with a 7-iron to go short of the creek. Then punch an iron to that flat landing spot and play the hole like a goofy par-5 just so they can take the water out of play. In fact, I fully planned for that in the club championship.
From the back tees, this hole is brutal. If the weather conditions are not right, I can't make it over the creek. And if I do make it over the creek, I can have anything from a 4-iron to a 3-wood with the ball well above my feet on the approach. And you can't miss that approach right or left. In the cc I went double-birdie on the hole and was the only golfer to birdie the 16th either day.
#18 is a hole that relies on the wind. It's a par-5 and if you hit a good driver I've had 8-iron into the hole before. But if the wind is against me, I pretty much have to layup. I don't think it's a good golf hole, but not a bad one either.
The main problem with Windermere is that the ebb and flow of the design hurts the course and the pace of play. 3 of the first 5 holes are par-3. That makes for slow play, especially on a course that averages about 50,000 rounds of golf a year. #1 is a really good, and very tough hole, but it probably gets lost in how good of a hole it is because it's the first hole. Had it been say the 7th hole or 13th hole on the course or even the finishing hole, people would give it more praise. And if you're long enough, you may not use a driver on holes #2 thru #7. And then once you get going after #7, you get a goofy #10, a goofy #11. Then you get going again on 12-14, then #15 is questionable (and you might not use driver off the tee) and then the horrid #16 comes up.
Still, I enjoyed the course probably because I had played it so often and really knew the ins and outs of the course and could shoot a low score there (my lowest there is a 66). It's very hilly like most North Georgia courses are so you really learn how to play the different lies.
3JACK