Okay ... let's hear some details about your home course. Start with rating, slope, and yardage from the tees you use, and give us a description. By "home course" I mean the one you play most often, know best, etc.

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Queenfield Golf Club
Manquin, VA
Rating/Slope from the whites: 69.1/125
Yardage from the whites: 5,812

There are a lot of conflicting opinions about this course. Some think it's a goat track while others say it's too difficult. I think it's the most unique golf course I've ever played.

There are thick woods with plenty of undergrowth on all sides on every hole. The fairways are reasonably wide, but God help you if you slice or hook. You'll lose a LOT of balls.

The course isn't terribly long from the whites, of course, so the trick is to play target golf with your irons. I play the whites because the blues jump up to 6,400+ yards.

The course has no water to speak of, except for a few streams. They let the brush and junk around the streams grow all summer, though, creating formidable hazards. The toughest hole, in most people's opinion, is the par 5 fourth hole. The funny thing is that this hole is listed as the #3 handicap hole. The course is totally mis-rated.

The absolute best thing about Queenfield is the greens. They are always in tip-top shape, no matter the weather. I don't know how they do it, since this isn't a high dollar course.

The absolute worst thing about Queenfield is drainage. They've been fighting to improve it for years, but it never gets better. A good rain the day before you play will lead to you having to deal with plenty of mud and casual water.

My home course is the local city-owned course, Leslie Park Golf Course. The original land was donated by Dr. Leslie back in the 1950's, hence the name. Leslie Park G.C. was designed by E. Lawrence Packard and opened in 1967. The course underwent a two-year renovation by Arthur Hills in 1994-95.

Blue Tees: 6,222 yards, 70.3/125 ( I also play the championship tees (6,591/72.0/129) as a change of pace and to prepare for the City Championship.

A 2-lane road bisects the course (front nine/back nine) and we go under the Ann Arbor Railroad tracks through a tunnel between 3 and 4 and again between 9 and 10. An apple and pear tree orchard separates the 6th and 8th holes - the pears are small but good in season.

The terrain is hilly. There is not a lot of water (4 holes) but there is plenty of trouble from the bordering woodlands. Bunkering is moderate and most holes allow one to run up their approach shots. Many of the greens have a relatively severe tilt and downhill putts can be a tough proposition.

It is a pretty course and the conditioning is very good considering the high level of use. I can walk the course for about $25-$30 on average. Leslie was voted "The Best Municipal Course in Michigan" by the readers of Golf Digest. While I enjoy Leslie, there are a number of courses that perhaps should have edged Leslie out.

Oxford Greens, Oxford, CT
I'm a member.

Mostly play the whites, as they are plenty long at 6324 yards with a fairly difficult slope of 131. Sometimes I play the blues at 6665 and 133 slope, depending on how I feel that day and who I am playing with. Haven't played the blacks. That's pointless for me. I only drive the ball 225-250 on good days and the blacks play at 7186 yards and 135 slope. The par 5 3rd is 630 yards, and it's uphill all the way! It plays about 680 yards.

There are also senior tees (green) at 5842 yds./128 slope, and front/ladies tees (gold) at 5188/122.

This is one of the top 5 public courses in CT. As good or better than many private country clubs and certainly more difficult than most. However, I play better here than at many other area courses with lower slope ratings. Guess I just have a better feel at this place since I play it more than any other.

It's a Mark Mungeam design and is managed by Billy Casper Golf. It has a really nice layout and runs through the woods. No side by side fairways. Greens are fast with lots of slope.

If any of you Oobers are ever in the neighborhood and want to play a challenging 18, don't miss this place. Drop me a line. I'll join you if I'm available and you want some local knowledge.

Rose Creek Municipal Golf Course

As far as munies go, it's a pretty good course. My biggest complaint is that I don't think that the bogey rating on the front nine is accurate. That front nine is extremely difficult. The greens are well guarded, there is almost always a narrow landing area off the tee, and they keep the grass really long. Hole 3, a 520 yard par 5 from the whites, is the hardest hole I've ever played. The entire hole slopes to the left, towards the red staked fescue. And there is water to the right off the tee. And then you have hole 5, which is a 420 yard par 4 without anywhere to land your drive safely.

I actually like the back nine a lot. Hole 12 is one of my favorite holes in the world, It's a very, very short par 5, but there is water everywhere. My tip to anyone playing it is to leave your drive in your bag and lay up your second shot. Par is an easy score on this hole if you take what it gives.

In my opinion, the best part of the course is the lack of trees. I hate trees. The greens are usually in great shape, but they struggle from annual flooding. They've been working for the last three years to build a dike system and to raise the fairway of hole number 3 (which only makes it harder). Add o to that the fact that hole 4, a par three with an elevation change that is rare for this area, has a green that is rarely useable. I also like the fact that the last four holes are the easiest four holes on the course. I'm not a fan of tough finishing holes.

Edda Huzid, Voorthuizen, the Netherlands.

The course provides 4 tees, as usual in Europe from short to long:
red: 4603 meters, PAR70, CR 68.6, SR 123 (women)
blue: 4995 meters, PAR70, CR 71.7, SR 129 (women)
yellow: 5401 meters, PAR70, CR 68.0, SR 126 (men)
white: 5662 meters, PAR70, CR 69.5, SR 131 (men)

I usually play yellow, sometimes white (club championships and monthly competition for Hcp < 18). Note: 1 meter = 1.1 yard, 5400 meters is roughly 5900 yards.

The first 13 holes are lined with trees and feature fairly narrow fairways. Precision and course management are more important than distance of the tee. The last 5 holes are built on what used to be a meadow, thus it's much more open to wind - but they are much easier than the first 13. We call it "birdie valley".

Lots of water, almost all located on the right of the hole (thus right-handed slicers do well to bring extra balls ).

Fairways are okayish. Couple of spots are really susceptible to water, a little rain and puddles form.

The greens at the moment are horribly bad, lots of dollar-spot, bumpy and they vary in speed. This will likely improve over time but since the greenkeeper team has been reorganized a couple of months ago I doubt if they will ever be as good as they were a couple of years ago.

Hole #8 is just weird. It's a short PAR3 (129 mtr / 141 yard) over water and a deep green, flanked by two small bunkers. The weird thing is that even on a day without wind you'll have to overclub it. I've hit a 7-iron many times there that barely reached the green, let alone get to the middle of the dancefloor.

Signature holes:

Hole #9 is a 336 meter (367 yard) PAR4 dogleg to the right flanked by water on the right side on the first half of the hole. On the other side of the water is out of bounds. The inside of the dogleg is elevated with two large bunkers catching short balls. You've got three options here: play the tigerline (doable only if you're really long from the tee and with enough backwind), shoot right over the bunkers (risky but you'll end up with an easy 9 iron or pitching wedge to the green) or keep it safe on the left of the bunkers (160 meters or more to the green). This is a nice risk/reward hole.

Hole #17 is a 364 meter (398 yard) PAR4, with just a tad of a bend to the left. There's a ridge on driving distance, if you clear it you get a lot of distance extra. If not, you won't be able to reach the green in 2. The green is elevated just enough so you can see the flag, but in order to reach it you have to negotiate water followed by a second ridge.

Dyker Beach GC in Brooklyn NY. Par 71, 6438 yards, 70.8/118. Standard parkland course with trees everywhere. It's close to the ocean so there's almost always wind. Forgiving off the tee but challenging second-shot course. The greens are small and narrow and punish wide and long misses while short misses get off scott free. That's what I hate about it, it seems like you are better off duffing your approach than hitting it flush and marginally wide.

The 17th hole is the hardest par 3 I know of (besides #17 at Bethpage Black). It can be a real scorecard buster. 4 is absolutely a decent score here, for anyone. You're cruising along playing well, got a nice score going, then get to the penultimate hole and you just pray for a non-disaster.

It says 203y on the card but plays more like 215, its so elevated. The green sits on a big hill with severe slopes on either side that for most of the year do not hold any balls. Left of the green is a big bunker, left of the bunker is a dirt path/service road that repels balls toward the adjacent 12th tee. Right of the green is a cart path thats cut right into the hill on which the green sits. The cart path sits fewer than ten paces from the green. Meaning that it is very, very much in play. It absolutely sucks when you hit a solid shot that's marginally wide, it hits the cart path on the fly and runs away like a scared dog.

I hate this hole. You either hit the green or you miss big. Unless you top or chunk it well short, in which case you are rewarded with a fairly straight pitch. Again very typical of this course, it caters to shots that dont reach the green while punishing shots that are pin high but wide. I am quite sick of this place at the moment so I'm giving it a break.

legitimatebeef wrote:

Dyker Beach GC in Brooklyn NY. Par 71, 6438 yards, 70.8/118. Standard parkland course with trees everywhere. It's close to the ocean so there's almost always wind. Forgiving off the tee but challenging second-shot course. The greens are small and narrow and punish wide and long misses while short misses get off scott free. That's what I hate about it, it seems like you are better off duffing your approach than hitting it flush and marginally wide. The 17th hole is the hardest par 3 I know of (besides #17 at Bethpage Black). It can be a real scorecard buster. 4 is absolutely a decent score here, for anyone. You're cruising along playing well, got a nice score going, then get to the penultimate hole and you just pray for a non-disaster. It says 203y on the card but plays more like 215, its so elevated. The green sits on a big hill with severe slopes on either side that for most of the year do not hold any balls. Left of the green is a big bunker, left of the bunker is a dirt path/service road that repels balls toward the adjacent 12th tee. Right of the green is a cart path thats cut right into the hill on which the green sits. The cart path sits fewer than ten paces from the green. Meaning that it is very, very much in play. It absolutely sucks when you hit a solid shot that's marginally wide, it hits the cart path on the fly and runs away like a scared dog. I hate this hole. You either hit the green or you miss big. Unless you top or chunk it well short, in which case you are rewarded with a fairly straight pitch. Again very typical of this course, it caters to shots that dont reach the green while punishing shots that are pin high but wide. I am quite sick of this place at the moment so I'm giving it a break.

My home course plays the same way. Miss left or right, and you're screwed. Miss loong, and you might as well take stroke and distance. Miss short, and your an up-and-down away from par.

Your description of 17 at Dyker beach brings back memories of my youth.As I have stated, growing up in Brooklyn in the 40's and 50's golf was not on my mind.The hill on 17 was a fine sledding hill in the winter. Some of the trees at the bottom have my blood on them. In my teens we played other games at Dyker. It was a great make out spot in the summer. How safe is it now at night?

Falcon Golf course, US Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod MA, Military run course, 9 holes, when you play 18, 10th hole has its own tee, different from #1. Limited budget and staff leaves the course a little rough around the edges (sometimes the middle too!). Relatively flat, tree lined. Wind always blows, usually at least 10-15 mph every day. Small greens, no water. 6706 yds 72.0/118 from the blues, whites 68.2/113, 5894 yds. To mix it up you can play front 9 from whts, back from blues. Differences in teeboxes (wht to blue ) vary from 10 to 50 yds. #5 par 3, 217 yds from back green slopes away from you with front bunker even if you hit it you're lucky to stay on. Best part of course is that for Military/retired/reserve members $15 green fee. Coming this year, will be new tee on #8 & #9, so first time thru #8 will be par 5, #9 par 4 and as #17 & 18, will play as par 4 and par 5, respectively, don't know the yardage change yet. Nothing fancy basic golf.

Diamond Bar Golf Course - Diamond Bar, CA (bout 40 min east of L.A.).

White (mids) 71.4/122 6497 yds
Blue (back) 72.8/124 6801 yds.

They also have red tees (women) and one of the few courses in the area that has kids tees (orange), though I believe it's front 9 only, if not mistaken.

Run of the mill par 72 muni, a bit better kept and a bit longer than normal, but otherwise a pretty standard parkland style course. Tree lined fairways, pretty flat, routine bunkering.

Hole 1 - Long dog leg left.... if you can draw it, you leave yourself a mid or short iron to green, otherwise you're 200 out from green.

Hole 8 - per scorecard, toughest hole. A dog-leg left that has a dry riverbed dissecting it.... unless you can really hit a long draw, you've got to hit 225 to fairway, then about a 185-200 yard shot to the green

Hole 9 - signature hole and only hole with water hazard. Mid-longish par 3 over water to an elevated green (+ 12-15 yds carry?)... plays about 200 ish from blues.

Hole 14 - hard dogleg right, some try to cut the corner over trees... there's a big bunker guarding that angle.

Hole 16 - hard dogleg left guarded by trees and a near-side fairway bunker..... this hole is my nemesis.

Hole 17 - short par 3 - easiest hole on course

Hole 18 - long par 4 to an elevated fairway (that drops off in back before the green)... if you don't get a good tee shot and land it on the top (where you never get any roll even if you belt it), then your ball rolls back down and turns it into a par 5.

Although it's statistically one of the toughest, I always seem to hit a very solid drive here to the top of the fairway and have about 190 out to the pin.... have made some pars and bogies here. My 'good luck' hole.

Charwood CC - an inexpensive 27 hole public / semi private course, it's my regular hang out for almost the last three years.

Sad to say that of the courses in the area it may be on the bottom 3 or 4 in terms of condition at the current time. One of the nine's had the greens redone last summer and some are struggling, sand and bumps everywhere. Some are doing better in the last month however. Fairways are pretty scrubby and if you are in the rough or trees good luck finding the ball in the pine straw, overgrowth and cones.

But I stick with it because the staff are great, it's cheap, close to home, and easy to walk on as a single and head right out. Walker friendly.

Greens are tiny and hard to hold. Mounded and sloped. Very little bunkering. Two fairway bunkers and about 5 or 6 greenside bunkers on the whole course. At one time the greens were crazy slow, but for whatever reason, they are mostly icy quick right now. Like putt uphill, barely lip out, and watch the ball catch momentum and roll back to the fringe below you.

Fairways are tight and tricky, OB and ditches around. Very short, but rewards placement over length. I usually play the middle tees, but sometimes the back set for variety. It's still short from back there, only really makes a difference on a couple holes.

I tend to do my practice work here then travel elsewhere on weekends for rounds with friends or tournaments.

joe jones wrote:

Your description of 17 at Dyker beach brings back memories of my youth.As I have stated, growing up in Brooklyn in the 40's and 50's golf was not on my mind.The hill on 17 was a fine sledding hill in the winter. Some of the trees at the bottom have my blood on them. In my teens we played other games at Dyker. It was a great make out spot in the summer. How safe is it now at night?

Joe awesome that we have this course in common. There's lots of good sled rides here and people still enjoy that. I'm pretty sure its still a favorite spot for the amorous teens. I've seen condom wrappers in a bunker more than once. Gross. The open space that adjoined the 14th hole, where there used to be burnt out car chasses and bodies of mob hit victims (what some locals have told me) a few years ago was built into a nice little "First Tee" junior facility, 6 short holes, a range and a practice green. It's a pretty safe area now, though a couple years ago some hoodlum teens broke into the cart shed and destroyed a couple carts.

Thanks Beef. In retrospect I wish I had known about golf in those days. I didn't start until I was 16 and that was one summer in Wisconsin. When I returned home I slipped back into my old evil ways. Thanks for the update.

My home course would probably be kissimmee bay, 18 holes par 71, normally play it from the blue tees. The par 3 16th hole is a great and beautiful par 3, 159 yards up a hill and alongside east lake toho. Last week I hit a 7 iron to the green and came within inches of an ace.