(09-18-2022, 08:32 AM)homebiscuit Wrote:

(09-18-2022, 06:33 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: That's interesting you say that about Bent Creek.  That became my go-to course for the last few years, and it's only recently I started to realize, it seems like most of the holes are water on one side, woods on the other.  But I've had my best rounds ever on that course.  I recently shot my best round ever, a 78.  (From the forward tees, not from the back tees.)  They have a nice practice area.    

But the hardest course I've ever played is Sequoyah in North Carolina.  I've played it a few times recently.  It's a very pretty course, but it's a beast.  If you don't hit the fairway, your ball is gone, and if you aren't either on the green or short of the green, your ball is gone.  I lost 8 balls on that course in one round recently.  And I never seem to have a level lie in the fairway.  It's always a sidehill lie, or uphill or downhill lie.  

Mountain golf in North Carolina is very scenic.  You just have to bring a bunch of inexpensive golf balls.  Costco Kirkland balls are about a dollar each.  They're good golf balls.  

Lately I enjoy courses with wide fairways where you can blast away off the tee without worrying so much about losing your ball.  For example, Eagle Landing in Jacksonville.  It's well maintained and has some wide fairways.

You couldn’t have played Bent Creek too recently because they just opened up the greens this past Friday. They’ve been using temporary greens (a hole in the fairway in front of the green) for about 6 months. 

Bent Creek has seen some tough times for the last couple of years. In March of 2021 they ripped up all of the greens, resurfaced and replanted them. The greens turned out beautiful and were opened up in September of that year. The course was doing business like gang busters. On the weekends they struggled to keep enough carts out front.

Then disaster struck a few months later. The greens keeper mixed up some chemicals, did a spray on the test green but did not wait the requisite amount of time to see the results and commenced to spray every green except the chipping practice green. He killed them all. Dead. $600k to refurbish the greens went down the toilet. Of course he was fired and Bent Creek’s business did a nose dive again because people don’t like to play a course without actual greens. They studied the problem for a few months then replanted and nurtured the greens for another 6 months and now they’re back again. It’s been a rough couple of years for them. They’ve lost millions in revenue because of it.