First ever course review here on GCA ...
I had the pleasure of playing this relatively new (opened in 2004) course last Friday on a gorgeous summer day - low 80s, blue skies, and breezy.
My overall impressions were favorable. The course is situated on nice rolling terrain. The most notable feature of the property is a large vegetation filled ravine that winds throughout the course and comes into play on numerous holes. The holes are mostly routed on the high ground above the ravines. The property is minimally treed and wind is a factor. Conditions were generally firm - we came across a few wet spots because they were hand watering some parts of the course that day - and the greens putted fast and true. The course is very appealing to the eye, with the fairways border by yellowish brown fescue and the tees and greens generally lying low and not looking like a ton of earth was moved. Many of the fairway bunkers have longish fescue surrounds whereas the green side bunkers are generally clean edged. Most of the fairways were amply wide, serving two good purposes - giving the public golfer room to hit the ball and giving the better player the ability to play angles when beneficial.
Now for some pictures:
Standing on the first tee looking west. From left to right you see the long downhill 6th fairway, the long uphill par 4 7th fairway and the par 5 9th fairway. This gives a nice view of the overall nature of the property and the open, expansive nature of the course.
Second green. Short par 4, 329 yards from the blue tees (66xx yards). Notice the old barn and farmhouse in the background. I like how the pumphouse by the lake was designed to look like the barn. Nice touch.
This is the fairway bunker on the par 4 3rd hole. This look is common throughout the course.
Par 3 4th hole, 161 yards from the blues, 194 from the tips. Nice drop shot over the ravine to a cool green. That's the first fairway in the background.
4th green from front left, where three of our foursome ended up while going after this left pin in a strong right to left wind. Notice the small false front when trying to chip or pitch. Notice also the ridge running through the green and the front to back pitch of the rear portion. All in all, a neat hole.
6th hole from cart path. 450 yard (475 from the tips) downhill par 4. Played into a stiff breeze.
7th hole from tee. 447 yard (482 from tips) uphill par 4. This hole played down wind. With strong drives on both holes I was left with a 3 iron to a middle pin on #6 and only an 7 iron to a front pin on #7.
Par 5 9th, 501 from the blues, 535 from the tips. This is from 225 yards out, which is where my drive ended up. I was left with a slightly uphill shot from a downhill lie. The bunkers are in a position to make you think about your layup.
Long par 4 10th (470/445 yards). Notice the severe right to left slope. I was 30 feet right of the hole and only had to nudge my ball down the hill to get it to the hole.
205/180 yard par 3 11th all carry across one of the ravines. Hard hole.
This is the green on the shortish (381/362 yard) par 4 15th. Cool double tier with front to back slope. If downwind, I think this hole could be driven. There is a pretty big drop off from the main landing area down to the green.
From the tee of the long par 5 16th (610/583 yards). Drive over the ravine, between the bunkers. The length and general topography of this hole reminded me of #8 at Beechtree.
After a solid drive and a long iron layup, you're left with a short iron or wedge to the smallest green on the course. Unreachable for all but the tiger golfer.
This view is from the 18th tee looking back across the 17th green and up the fairway. Again, you can see the ravine in play on the approach and the general rolling nature of the property.
A few other cool holes include the short dogleg left 12th, the short iron par 3 (it reminded me of another course review where Ran said that getting it close to the hole on a big green with a short iron is harder than it sounds). The 5th hole is a neat cape hole where the shot is angled over the ravine. A bold play leaves a wedge back across the ravine to the green. A safe play could leave as much as a 5 iron. Unfortunately the photos of those holes were not very good.
All in all, a nice golf course in great shape that is fun to play. It won't beat you up but you must make good shots to score. Wren Dale is definitely worth a look if you're in central Pennsylvania.
TimT