Monday, July 25, 2005
Troon North Pinnacle Course
7044 yards, Slope 172, Par 37-35=72, designed by Tom Weiskopf.
Another fantastic course. Fabulous Locker Room. Very friendly & helpful staff. Overpriced at the chuck-stand, of course, but they are so cheerful about it all it hurts less. The starters have to guide you out to the first tees on both courses, but especially for the Pinnacle: it is a ways away. More than that, they managed to greet us at the turn and guide us to the 10th tee, which was lucky cuz we never woulda found it.
Kind of a lopsided design, harder and longer on the front than the back, but to tell the truth we didn't notice the disparity because the design quality and the high shot values mask it so completely. The 3 par 5s on the front and the bevy of 4s on the back seem perfectly natural.
There's a par 3 on the back, Carefree, I think they call it, # 14, Handicap # 18, that greatly resembles a hole on the Monument Course, intentionally, I should imagine. . . 200 yds long, uphill, with the approach pinched by huge boulders & cacti and surrounded by desert. The hardest easiest-hole-on-the-golf-course(s) I've ever played. The eye-appeal is fantastic, but I find the view from the tee terribly intimidating. . . on both of these par 3s on each course I have muscled up on a 5 wood when I didn't need to -- probably -- from the performance anxiety, and hooked the ball up into the giant boulders on the left that hang menacingly over the green. Great psychological obstacles on great golf holes.
It must have been the afternoon July heat, but the only other hole I can remember anything about is 18, where I hit a 210 yard 5 iron from a downhill, fading just right between the traps to the hole, to just over the green behind the pin. Two putted for a double bogey. Ah, well! I remember # 2, too, because I birdied it, a tough up-hill par 5 that day against the wind. Go figger.
Mr. Science says we'll have to find an excuse to replay this course soon, despite our mission. It's a good'un.
Another fantastic course. Fabulous Locker Room. Very friendly & helpful staff. Overpriced at the chuck-stand, of course, but they are so cheerful about it all it hurts less. The starters have to guide you out to the first tees on both courses, but especially for the Pinnacle: it is a ways away. More than that, they managed to greet us at the turn and guide us to the 10th tee, which was lucky cuz we never woulda found it.
Kind of a lopsided design, harder and longer on the front than the back, but to tell the truth we didn't notice the disparity because the design quality and the high shot values mask it so completely. The 3 par 5s on the front and the bevy of 4s on the back seem perfectly natural.
There's a par 3 on the back, Carefree, I think they call it, # 14, Handicap # 18, that greatly resembles a hole on the Monument Course, intentionally, I should imagine. . . 200 yds long, uphill, with the approach pinched by huge boulders & cacti and surrounded by desert. The hardest easiest-hole-on-the-golf-course(s) I've ever played. The eye-appeal is fantastic, but I find the view from the tee terribly intimidating. . . on both of these par 3s on each course I have muscled up on a 5 wood when I didn't need to -- probably -- from the performance anxiety, and hooked the ball up into the giant boulders on the left that hang menacingly over the green. Great psychological obstacles on great golf holes.
It must have been the afternoon July heat, but the only other hole I can remember anything about is 18, where I hit a 210 yard 5 iron from a downhill, fading just right between the traps to the hole, to just over the green behind the pin. Two putted for a double bogey. Ah, well! I remember # 2, too, because I birdied it, a tough up-hill par 5 that day against the wind. Go figger.
Mr. Science says we'll have to find an excuse to replay this course soon, despite our mission. It's a good'un.
