Start of the Season: St. George and Mesquite

A three day blog about my trip to St.George/Mesquite to kick off the golfing season.

April 11, 2007 - The Ledges

My second entry! I'll try to keep it on a more positive note.

I am in St. George, Utah today where I played a new course called The Ledges. I actually played it last year in its inaugural season, so this was my second chance to play it and formulate a solid opinion of what it has to offer.

I was initially disappointed in the choice to name it The Ledges. Based only on the name, I expected a little different terrain for the location of the actual holes. The course itself plays on a fairly flat, desert terrain for the first nine holes, and then revs it up on the well-designed use of some elevation changes, and some natural barrancas and outcroppings of rock, but nothing that could be really be described as "the ledges." However, there are a lot of ledges in the distance - which must be the roots of the name choice. So, now that you know not to expect ledges, except as a backdrop, you can really enjoy this great course.

I had a very odd (but great) round. I set my personal record for most strokes under par in the same round. I had an eagle (on the par 5 third) and four birdies. However, I also had six bogeys to go along with seven pars to net an even 72 on the day!

I spent some time with one of the assistant pros prior to my round, and he informed me that The Ledge's ownership group has had extensive talks with both Jack Nicklaus and Tom Fazio for additional routings to compliment the current Matt Dye offering! That would be great! Fazio has a lone Utah design in the form of Glenwild Golf Club in Park City, and Nicklaus has made his presence felt in the form of Park Meadows and the brand new Nicklaus course at Promontory; both are also located in Park City. These tracks are all private, though, and a facility at The Ledges would be a very nice feather in the public course hat of golfers in Utah. I would like to see it happen!

• The name The Ledges . . . hype.
• The course The Ledges . . . not hype.
• A big-time designer's positive impact on your course for its entire existence . . . not hype.

April 12, 2007 - Coral Canyon and Sun River

A 36 hole day! That is pretty tough to beat - especially early in the year before daylight hours are long enough to play 54.

The round at Coral Canyon was part of a 3 day industry event that I typically get to take part in every year. This year's format for day 1 was a 2-man best ball, which format I personally love and a score that Bill and I always track when on road trips together - with the minimum goal always being par between us. We always hope to get paired with a 2-some that is willing to put a drink at the end of the round on the outcome. I love the chance to play my own ball, with my own stats, and my own score whenever possible, but it also adds the team element that has you rooting for your partner's success, and changing up your strategy just a little bit from what you may have normally chosen to do - i.e. taking a safe club when you partner jacks it O.B., or going for a drivable par 4 when your teammate has his drive in Position A. We played the round about like we should, complimenting each other by recording good scores on opposite holes. We shot a 1-under 71, but got beat by 2 other groups who both shot 66! That is pretty good golf for cold-weather, working stiffs in early April.

• Our hopes of winning the event with a 1-under . . . hype.
• Every opportunity to play golf during work hours, while still getting paid . . . not hype.
• Coral Canyon's spot in Golf Digest's Top 10 in State rankings . . . not hype.
• Shooting a 1-over, 37, on the back after shooting a 10-over, 46, on the front . . . not hype.

April 13, 2007 - Falcon Ridge

I have 3 points to make today: 1) Don't ever take as gospel anyone else's opinion on a golf course, 2) Wind is golf's worst weather condition, and 3) Don't get caught up in calling anyone who ever beats you in golf a "Cheater."

We played a 4-man scramble format (that every golf hick and golf novice loves to refer to as "best ball") at Falcon Ridge Golf Course in Mesquite, Nevada - about 40 minutes through one of the most terrific canyons anywhere - a great, nasty piece of earth that someone should really put a golf course in. It would have no choice but to be my style of course - the nastier the piece of original land, the more potential the final result has to be unduplicatably fantastic. We had a pretty good team; 2 of us with single digit handicaps that are fairly long off the tee, and a couple of guys with double-digit handicaps due to their lack of length, but that have solid short games and can really knock down their share of putts.

I had played the front nine a couple of years ago when it opened ahead of the back. Since then, I had been told by multiple people that "the back nine sucks!" I wasn't really sure what that meant, but I had very low expectations as a result. As it turns out, the back nine was by far the better of the 2 sides, and was a lot of fun to play! (I was going to say it was "awfully good," but that is as contradictory sounding as the expression "good grief." I do think a course set in the above-mentioned Virgin River gorge would be great example of "awfully good," though, and Bill has a good example of when there can be "good grief," but you'll have to ask him about it). Falcon Ridge is a set of holes that has definitely been influenced by local legend, Wolf Creek Golf Club. It features some blind shots, some huge elevation changes (both upward and downward), and what some would call "trick holes," but all in all it was very fun place to play.

My only complaint on the day was the wind. Wow! I will take rain, snow, sleet, hail, and extreme temperatures in either direction over wind. Wind is brutal on the golf game. It messes with your head, it provides horrific and incorrect feedback all day long, and when 18 holes are done you feel like you have just survived an endurance challenge rather than having enjoyed a round of golf. We played in 30 mph winds from the first hole through the last, shot a 67, and felt like we had played pretty well.

Another complaint could have been the winning score - in fact, it was the complaint of most other participants in the tournament - but I insist on refraining from that natural inclination. The low score of the contest was a 57. Which, I admit is a very good score -especially under the conditions, and we did not feel like we left 10 shots on the course. However, it was doable. And, I have had the good fortune of occasionally being part of a team that legitimately shoots a fantastic score. We shot 20 under once in a Cystic Fibrosis charity tournament, and got called "Cheaters" by everyone - some under their breath, and some to our face. Now, I know that there are rules that people stretch, ignore, and redefine - and that the more rules that there are (like the 'use 3 drives from each contestant rule' and the ability to purchase 'one mulligan per player rule' that were a part of our tourney), the more potential for abuse there is, but I would suggest dealing with that as a fact of life and making the decision not to question someone else's great score.

• Falcon Ridge's terrible back nine . . . hype.
• A little rain affecting your round . . . hype.
• A little wind affecting your round . . . not hype.
• The likelihood of your opponent cheating more than you did . . . hype.

April 14, 2007 - Casablanca Golf Course

Well, my stroke that seemed to have somehow cured itself over the winter layoff is now officially appalling following consecutive days batting cleanup on every shot for 36 holes of scramble golf. The only thing that I think may have had a more undoing effect on it would have been to actually been batting cleanup on one of Mesquite's famous softball tournaments.

Casablanca ended up being my second pleasant surprise in 2 days. It is built along the wetlands of Mesquite's Virgin River - the same waterway that flows through its namesake gorge between St. George and Mesquite. No, that is not a misprint; Mesquite does have wetlands - not on the order of a Georgia swamp, but wetlands nonetheless. Really a traditional style course, with distinctly separate tee boxes, better than average conditioning, great practice facilities, and the ever-present lateral hazard all giving it its personality. The winning score: 55, or 16-under-par on the par 71 scorecard. Let me be the first to compliment the winners, who obviously played much better than we did.

• Having a guy who swings like an ape with a driver in his hands . . . hype.
• Having a couple guys who aren't long but are money with their irons . . . not hype.
• Having a guy who can hit a putt . . . not hype.