Went over to DeBell yesterday, 6/22, to meet kassper7 for 10:30 tee off. He and I were walking (a serious workout) and were paired with a couple of ladies in carts who were good company as well as gam... Continue »

Went over to DeBell yesterday, 6/22, to meet kassper7 for 10:30 tee off. He and I were walking (a serious workout) and were paired with a couple of ladies in carts who were good company as well as gamers. Not sure why, but management was using the uphill 9th as the starting hole, reversing the nines on the day. When I refer to a hole by number hereafter, I am referring to it's normal position/sequence on the course — i.e I will still refer to the first hole we played as #ten. A number of things that I mentioned in my previous review as needing some improvement have improved, probably because of the C-9 break and some rain. Overall, and for what it is, I'd say the course is in pretty good shape right now. Areas like the par 4 fifth hole fairway, typically hard, dry and short on green grass, actually has a green fairway right now. Similarly, the second hole has had a chance to recover and is not nearly as chewed up as in my previous visit, although it is arguably the worst tee box. Tee boxes in general were mostly pretty level although most of them were devoid of significant grass coverage and a bit bumpy. Fairways had some anomalies, but were mainly green with good hitting surface. The rough, and off the fairways in general, can be a mixed-bag adventure that usually ends up punishing you. It helps define DeBell as a target golf course. Bring extra balls. Kikuyu could make chipping around the greens tricky but was usually cut appropriately. Bunkers were probably the weakest point. I was in three — one had workable sand while the other two were very firm with the ball sitting on top and difficult to apply the correct contact. Results could be short of escape or flying the green to the far side bunker— I did both. The greens were in very good shape, tricky and fast. Very few are relatively straight-forward and most have slope and/or levels to contend with. Pace was fairly steady but sluggish, especially slow the first few holes of the back nine, and so ended up being a five hour round on the nose. While precautions are in place, the range and putting greens were open, I could find water in the course restrooms if not from the course fountains, and we were able to have beer on the deck afterwards. This place always chews my a** up and Tuesday was not exception, but I have to keep coming back periodically for the unique character of the course as well as the abuse. Definitely interesting and challenging golf with a nice clubhouse. If you are so inclined, and in it's current state, I recommend it.