smarkquart
* Ace Member *
I have never seen any of these courses before, so I am not sure if improvements prior to the tournament were good or bad for the courses.
My favorite course was Oshtemo; it looked so easy and I am sure if my game was on I could tore it up, but it definitely challenged me and I had to fight to finish second on my card.
I liked both of the Meyer courses simply because there are no courses like them in Minnesota. In fact, the only other course I can think of that was like it was one just north of Des Moines. I also really enjoyed Vicksburg for the same reason I liked Meyer. They were great city parks, but if we had anything like them here (I can think of Hidden Lake in St. Augusta, MN), they have a tendency to be rougher and out in the middle of nowhere.
As for Spinski's, it definitely had that new course feel. Clearly it was just curved out of a thick forest and or swamp area. I can imagine that as it gets played more that some of the lines will open up to create fairer shots and better/safer sight lines. I agree that numerous tee pads were a little close to dangerous landing areas, but as this course was designed on private property with the apparent intent to have a low volume of players on the course at any given time, with two courses to play, I do not think it would be an issue for any time outside of such a big tournament as we just had.
As for Timber Ridge, I have played numerous ski hill courses and thought that I finally had an opportunity to move up. I was so close to the cut line all week but kept just south of it because of a bad putt here and a bad approach there. I got destroyed by Timber Ridge, and not because of anything the course did. It was a fair course that did slightly favor those who could throw further, however, if you were playing the course and par versus playing the players on your card, there is no reason anyone could not have been competitive. I just kept sending drives into the woods despite the wide open fairways.
My favorite course was Oshtemo; it looked so easy and I am sure if my game was on I could tore it up, but it definitely challenged me and I had to fight to finish second on my card.
I liked both of the Meyer courses simply because there are no courses like them in Minnesota. In fact, the only other course I can think of that was like it was one just north of Des Moines. I also really enjoyed Vicksburg for the same reason I liked Meyer. They were great city parks, but if we had anything like them here (I can think of Hidden Lake in St. Augusta, MN), they have a tendency to be rougher and out in the middle of nowhere.
As for Spinski's, it definitely had that new course feel. Clearly it was just curved out of a thick forest and or swamp area. I can imagine that as it gets played more that some of the lines will open up to create fairer shots and better/safer sight lines. I agree that numerous tee pads were a little close to dangerous landing areas, but as this course was designed on private property with the apparent intent to have a low volume of players on the course at any given time, with two courses to play, I do not think it would be an issue for any time outside of such a big tournament as we just had.
As for Timber Ridge, I have played numerous ski hill courses and thought that I finally had an opportunity to move up. I was so close to the cut line all week but kept just south of it because of a bad putt here and a bad approach there. I got destroyed by Timber Ridge, and not because of anything the course did. It was a fair course that did slightly favor those who could throw further, however, if you were playing the course and par versus playing the players on your card, there is no reason anyone could not have been competitive. I just kept sending drives into the woods despite the wide open fairways.
Now that the tournament is over, are we allowed to whine about Spinski Champion yet? Several holes encouraged overhand/spike shots with teepads or pins for other holes way to close endangering players (3, 6, 10, 15) and a couple of really poorly designed holes (1 and 9 in particular) and then one hole way too easy compared to rest of course (11).
The only other complaint I have is the new holes (5 and 6) at Meyer Broadway South. 5 was completely torn up by heavy equipment prior to the tournament and had basket placed in low lying area (bound to be wet) and 6 had the biggest mudhole mid-fairway accompanied by another basket placed in a low lying area (again bound to be wet).
Vicksburg, the Meyer Broadway complex (excluding 5 and 6) and Oshtemo were great! All courses that if were local to me would make my regular rotation of courses for play. Timber Ridge is what it is, a ski hill course. I can see why it failed as a pay-to-play course; way too much uphill walking to get lots of repeat players. If redesigned to allow players to take chairlift to top, I can see it having a chance of success. TR definitely is motivation for me to improve my LHFH for those downhill holes designed for clockwise spinning discs.