Lucked out with a one-day break in the weather. Played out here this morning with a shotgun start for Christmas Eve. $45 a player, hard to beat for this caliber of course!

It was sunny out, with li... Continue »

Lucked out with a one-day break in the weather. Played out here this morning with a shotgun start for Christmas Eve. $45 a player, hard to beat for this caliber of course!

It was sunny out, with little wind, but it's been raining a lot here so the course was very soggy today. The fairways had recently been aerated and were very squishy and soggy, which makes this very long and challenging course even tougher. We played from the forward Challenge tees at 6215 yards, but it played more like 7000 in today's conditions. I can't imagine playing the John Daly tees, which are 7823 yards (rating/slope 78.0/140!!!). The first cut of rough is immaculate. Almost looks like fake grass in some areas it's so green, lush and perfectly manicured. Then you have the long native grass areas, which are hit and miss. Some areas weren't too bad with open places, then there were others with big patches of fescue that just swallow up your ball. The greens were excellent. Very smooth and medium/quick speeds. The rain made them more receptive today than I would guess they normally are. Lots of subtle breaks and undulations. Sand traps were a bit damp, but the sand was very nice quality.

This is a very neat links style course set amongst the farmland and right behind the Rolling Hills Casino. A lot of blind shots and awkward angles. Very few flat lies with undulating terrain. With the poor weather this winter, I'm impressed at how well kept up the course is, especially the rough and greens. I really look forward to coming back here in the summer when I can play the course as it's supposed to be played with a lot of tight lies and extra roll-out to help on some of the super long holes.