Red Rock

[Matt_Ward]

The Ron Ferris design at Red Rock in Rapid City, SD is a winner in my book.

The course weaves itself around some demanding property but is still walkable for those so inclined.

The stats are as follows ...

7,103 yards from the tips
75.3 Course Rating
139 Slope

What makes Red Rock so unique and fun is the nature of the details that Ferris provides. You just don't have holes -- you have unique and exciting aspects throughout your time there. Take for example the downhill 1st. At 340 yards it can be driven but the shot needs to be well struck. You have a series of different bunkers in unique places and thinking is front and center when playing Red Rock. It's not mindless grip and rip dog foods junk by any means.

Kudos to Rick Wit for the superb putting surfaces -- they are smooth and fast. Ferris has designed greens that fall in a number of different directions -- from a distance they look like gentle waves that break in different directions and require the player to properly gauge where to land the ball at all times.

Ferris has also created his own version of the redan hole -- with the par-3 8th at 225 yards. The turf in front of the green is a bit softer than he would like but the nature of the green and how it falls off is well crafted. There is also a solitary bunker that guards against the pulled shot.

One of my other favorite combo of holes is the par-5 14th at 603 yards and the par-3 15th at 214 yards. At the 14th you face a blind tee shot but the game really starts with the second shot. Here you have to decide whether to play super aggressive or back-off and go with a longer 3rd. I smoked a tee shot down the hill to the 250 yard mark and went with a long 3-iron. The ball was puched a tad but that small tad put me in the buffalo weed that protects the right side. I was able to escape but no birdie was had. A super thinking hole!

The par-3 15th is a gem. At 214 yards it plays downhill but the green is a true delight as it moves any ball hit with draw further and further away from the target. If you can hit a slight fade that's the play here.

The closing hole is also well done. You tee from an elevated area and gaze at the green below you. At 455 yards the hole is no pushover as it swings slightly to the right for the last 125-130 yards. There is a single tree that guards the right side and long hitters need to be aware of it. The key in playing the hole is to keep your tee shot down the right side as close as possible for a softer angle into a green that falls away abruptly from left to right. The further you hit the tee shot to the left to avoid the tree and the junk on the right the more demanding the approach becomes. A first rate ending hole to an enjoyable layout.

Red Rock is clearly the best public course I have played in SD and frankly I believe you can have a very spirited discussion on whether it is the best public course in all of the Dakotas including Hawktree and Links of ND at Red Mike Resort.

Anyone venturing to the Black Hills has a big time reason to bring their clubs. I look forward to returning there and enjoying this solid effort by Ferris. As an FYI -- Red Rock is no more than a 10 minute drive from Mount Rushmore.

[Matt_Ward]

redanman:

Ah -- always the jester!

The spirit of Red Rock goes way beyond it's slope and course rating. Ron Ferris did a masterful job in routing a course on hilly terrain -- roughly 200 feet of change that also includes housing which NEVER intrudes with your time on the course.

The layout also features vexing greens that mandate crisp clean iron play to get near the hole. Simply banging away with the big tee shot doesn't cut it alone at Red Rock.

Redanman, I hate trees that simply envelope golf courses. I see too many of them in my "neck of the woods" and it's a pleasure to see the aspects of terrain and green contours be the major elements of design instead of the boring "always keep it down the middle" bowling alley courses that still dominate in the Northeast -- particularly North Jersey.

Ron Ferris is no where near a household name but once again it shows how talented a number of architects are once they are given a decent site to show their stuff. Red Rock is certainly a major second reason to visit besides seeing Mount Rushmore -- which is no more than a 10 minute ride from the course.

Red Rock makes the player "work the ball" off the tee and with the irons. In my assessment of courses I always give a good deal of bonus points to courses that push the player to shape shots for even better results. One other thing -- there is enough elasticity in the design to accomodate low and high handicappers and again that's another plus IMHO for the work of the architect.

It's so easy for people to stereotype me about favoring long courses but I'm also the same guy who raved about TKC before everyone else jumped on the bandwagon.

P.S. I also made it a point to offer a mea culpa on what initial praise of The Bridge. I still like the course but clearly my initial opinion was too high. Geeze, I wonder if others on GCA (hint, hint) can offer such public admissions. Nah, that would be hoping for tooooooooooooooooooooooo much!

[Matt_Ward]

Bill:

I don't doubt that the slope and course ratings numbers do tend to skew higher than what is really appropriate. I know of a number of courses back in Jersey and in the Northeast that play much harder and they are no more than 73 or 74 rated.

My game is quite fine -- thanks for asking!

Bill -- talk about opinions. I think you understand the quirky stuff really well. I'll leave it to you to uncover such hidden "gems" while I play real golf.

Red Rock is a truly fun layout that is well done given the hilly nature of the site. It is certainly walkable and although I won't go as far as Ron Whitten did with his link of the course to Kapalua I will say that Red Rock is certainly a layout that any golf adventurer should add to their listing if they are ever near Rapid City.

[Paul_Hermsmeyer]

Gentleman,
  We played Red Rock early this year and I will concur with Matt that it is a must if you are in the Black Hills region of South Dakota.  We have played all the courses in the Hills and it is by far the best.  Ron did an exellent job considering he had to work the routing around a housing project. the housing is far enough from play that it does not intrude.The green complexes are great with a lot of movement.  It is a fun golf course to play with better golf architectural features than anything in the hills . Go Play Red Rocks if you are in the Rapid City area.
Paul

[Allan Long]

Having recently played the GC at Red Rock, I did a search as I don't remember anyone talking about the course, and found this thread from a couple years back. I wanted to add my $0.02, FWIW.
 
Although Rapid City, SD may be off the beaten path for many, I would highly recommend a stop at RR if anyone finds themselves in the Black Hills region. The layout is on a wonderful piece of property that has spectacular elevation changes, and there is not one weak hole out there. The holes weave up and down the contours of the land and provide a stern, but fun and exhilarating test from the opening tee shot to the final holed putt. From the back tees, the course can be had, but beware; if you are not hitting it well, the native grasses that line most of the fairways will make for a long day. There is only one spot on the course where houses seem to intrude too close to play, but I can give them a pass as it did not take away from the experience.
 
The par threes were strong. From the tips I hit 4 iron, 3 hybrid, 9 iron and 5 iron. After recently playing a course on the same trip where I hit the same club on three of the four par 3's and one club more on the fourth, I found the par three's at RR quite refreshing. The final par 3, a 214-yard beauty, has a green complex you need to see to believe. Par there is a good score.
 
The course has a good mix of par four's which provide the player with plenty of options. Number 7 is a great little risk/reward hole at 287 yards where one can choose to challenge the right fairway bunkers for a shot at driving the green, or hit iron and have as little as a sand wedge in. Although you can hit driver on all the par fours, there are a few par fours where driver may not be the prudent play. Ron Farris, the course architect, worked for Pete Dye before going out on his own. Farris uses one of Dye's favorite tactics-visual intimidation-in spots on the layout that give you that extra pause before making up your mind how you want to play the hole.
 
The par fives are a group of what I would say are two reachable, and two three-shot holes. My favorite, #16, a 495-yard gem, can yield anything from 3 to X. After a tee shot to a landing area that pinches in with bunkers on the right and the ever-present native grass and a hazard running down the entire left side, the player is left with a decision to try and go for what looks like a sliver of a green tucked down in a corner, or lay up and have a not-so-easy short iron approach.
 
All in all, the GC at Red Rock was the most fun I have had since a round at Ballyneal, and was by far the best public offering I have played in quite some time. The greens rolled true, and were as pure as I've seen in a couple years. When I saw that a weekly golf publication had ranked RR best in the state, I was intrigued, but maybe didn't believe it would match up against the top ranked public courses in other states with more offerings. However, any doubt I had was quickly erased, and I would gladly make a return trip. I did not know a lot about Ron Farris before I played RR, but now I am hoping to see more of his work.

I hope the people of Rapid City know what they have in Red Rock. I am jealous that I don't have access to a course that good on a weekly basis.

[Ron Farris]

Allan, Thanks for the nice words.
I just came off the front nine.  We have a Monday Night match play league with 80 some players.  It is quite a lot of fun and I am at the bottom of my bracket as it is a net event.

I will try to post a picture or two of the course.  RR is a simple little public course that is slowly capturing the hearts of quite a few locals.  Interesting to listen to people discuss the various ways to play the holes.    To give you an example tonight on the first hole 340 yd Par 4, down hill I hit a driver, my opponent hit a rescue club, another play hit a 5 iron and the last player used a 4 iron.  Everyone made par.  I was the only person to hit the green, from a greenside bunker.  On the 7th hole mentioned by Allan the tee shots consisted of a Driver,(me - gambler), 3 iron, 5 iron, rescue club.  One birdie, 2 pars and a 6. 

As mentioned in a thread earlier today, the importance of angles is a big part of the strategy behind scoring well at RR, IMHO.

[Tony_Chapman]

Does the 13th at Red Rock look something close to this?

[Ron Farris]

Tony,

Tony this is what the 13th hole looked like earlier this year.
The rock was actually used to give the shaper a rough idea of the hole.  The rock actually came from hole #10.


This shot is from behind the green.


This is hole #3 at 5:30 a.m.

[Matt_Ward]

How Red Rock escapes mention as a top tier modern layout when other northern plains courses are always talked about escapes me totally.

Solid effort and quite affordable.

I'm a big fan of the closing hole.

[Ron Farris]

Matt,
Before we started RR the owners and I discussed ratings, etc.  They said they really didn't care about being the best course in the state, region, etc.  They just wanted a good golfing experience on a course that reflected the Black Hills and one that was maintainable for a given budget.  The course is maintained for well under $400,000 and it is always in great condition. 

They don't feel ignored at RR as they get wonderful complements each day about their course, and they actually make money.

[Matt_Ward]

Ron:

I can certainly understand your comments -- the owners should be applauded for what they have created. Just a solid affordable an dwell run golf operation.

My point was that raters -- of whatever publication -- should be a bit more open and have the good sense in showing some real leg work in seeing what RR does provide.

I've played all the key candidates in the northern plains and Red Rock is indeed better than any number of them which in fact get national acclaim.

Failure to include Red Rock is indicative of a sleeping at the switch mentality on the part of a good number of people.

[Adam Clayman]

Finally got up to RC to see Ron's design. To say I was pleasantly surprised implies I had no expectations. Recalling this thread, I'll admit to expecking a quality design. Well, it was better than that.

As mentioned, Ron had the housing obstacle to overcome. The
other obstacle, no one mentioned is the difficulty in designing quality on mountain like terrain. He handled both better than I have seen anywhere else. Thoughts of Pete Dye started tocreep into my mind. At one point, I was convinced this was better than Pete. It's that good. On one hole, there's a perched teeing ground similar to a couple Pete built in Kohler.

Matt mentions the greens, but he barely touches the surface of how thoughtful and fun they are.  Bold internal contours were the real treat, especially for this first timer, and, for the aware and creative shotmaker. Bowls and shoulders seemed perfectly sloped to assist in getting close to the pin, on many pin positions. What I really liked and appreciated about the greens was how honest the slopes were. I could figure out for my self, the lines and speeds when and where the natural grade and internal contours, would require it. Such a pleasure.

The design exudes nature and as the round progresses we are treated with more and more of the natural beauty of the Black Hills. Mid-point in the back nine there's a rather obtrusive set of power lines. Two holes parralel these eye sores but what was fascinating is that if you can look past them, and i mean that both literally and figuratively, you can see unobstructed views of the glorious natural terrain and all of its beauty. Then, as the course climaxes, its only you and the terrain. No houses, just nature and you.

A five star experience on a two star budget. $71.50 to ride.

[astavrides]

.

[Tom_Doak]

I played the course [actually, just the back nine] on the morning of the 4th of July, on my way to North Dakota.  I'd heard a fair amount about it from Ron [both positive and negative] and wanted to see for myself.

I wish I could agree with Matt and Adam's reviews, because everyone there was so nice to us, but I didn't think it was nearly as good as those two did.  [Then again, it's not the first time I've disagreed with either of them on the merits of a particular course.] 

There were indeed a bunch of holes you don't see everyday, but some of them seemed forced into the terrain due to development considerations.  The par-5 holes were really tough -- I thought the second hole looked terrific, though you could lose the second shot right into trees, but then the ninth is an odd up-and-over while turning at the second landing area, and the long hole on the back [14] made it pretty easy to lose a ball off the world left.  The downhill par-3 after that one was also quite severe, looked like you'd have to be pretty lucky to hold the green even with a fade.  [I see that Matt loved both of those holes.]

Rapid City, though, was a very cool town.  Looked like a lovely place to live, and I guess if I'd known the golf course better, I would have had more fun playing it.  As Matt said, it's certainly "not mindless grip and rip dog foods junk by any means."    And it might be the best public course in South Dakota, for all I know, though I would bet that one of Ron's smaller courses on less severe terrain would be more to my tastes.  Tough for a first-time visitor though.

[Adam Clayman]

Tom, sounds like you played the wrong set of tees.

In defense of my opinion, I did play all 18 and felt the whole course was greater than the sum of its parts, and, vastly superior to most of the "normal" stuff one finds in the region.   Ron did an exceptional job overcoming the developmental obstacles by climaxing the journey how he did.  I don't know what the budget was but I don't see evidence of a lot of earth moving (other than the benched greens). Heck, I even got a small sense of your Black Forest.

[Ron Farris]

Adam, we moved only 50,000 cubic yards at RR.  Yes we could have, should have moved more, but we did have budget constraints. 

Tom pointed out a couple items that we discussed during construction with the owners and I wanted to modify, but owners wanted to take a wait and see posture.  'Modify if absolutely needed'.  The economy changed and very little chances of modifications now. 

As for #2 the original second shot went further up into the trees mentioned by Tom, but development pushed me back. 
Three of the par 5 holes have development issues and are hard holes.  I wanted to make #9 a par 4 and the course a 71, but owners frowned on that.  Turns out that #9 becomes a very fun hole after you know the hole. Ok not eveyone enjoys it.  There is a lot of Love/Hate at RR. Regrets the development pinches on all sides.  On #14 the hole actually was twice as wide at one time. Road & houses changed that concept.
The downhill par 3 thirteen green indeed is hard to hit and hold and a candidate for modifications.

RR was built for less than $2.7.........I requested 5.0 when I first saw it.  I would have loved to have had another 0.5 just to tweak.

There is a certain "it is what it is" ....ness about the place and many of the locals who hated the place now actually say they love it now that they understand it and have learned to play the angles.

Adam, you mentioned looking past the power lines into the natural land.  We tried to pick up that land to make a lot of things work better and possibly add a nine holes.  Ironically you are looking back toward the city in that direction.

A lot of "would have", "should have", "could have" about the place but all in all the parking lot gets traffic and people are not coming there for the food, tennis, swimming pool or the granduer of the cluhouse.

 Kevin, Donnie, Morgan and the staff do a wonderful job in a very difficult business.