Alotian.....in Arkansas

[McCloskey]

anyone know anything about it.  I have a chance to play it this weekend and was wondering if I should make the effort.

[Tommy Williamsen]

Absolutely.

[John Kirk]

Yes.  Alotian was voted Golf Digest best new private course in 2006, and was also recently rated #3 best "golf retreat" by Golf Digest.

Hopefully you will get a chance to play and report back.  I perceive it as a very exclusive club, and would regard the invitation as quite special.

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/alotian/gallery.asp

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

I have not played it yet. It is an upscale Fazio with all the bells and whistles. I have not heard much about the actual course though.

[Aaron Katz]

Hell YES!  Try to parlay it into an Augusta National invite too!

[Tom_Doak]

I have seen three or four glowing reports about Alotian, but like Tiger, I still haven't seen much of anything about the actual course ... it's all been about how special and exclusive it is, and about how good the service is.  Hopefully someday, someone who gets there will tell us about the golf course.

[Mike_Cirba]

In that way it also reminds me of Sage Valley.   I had dinner with a fellow one night who went on and on about how it's the best course in South Carolina AND Georgia, how incredibly posh and exclusive it was, and how it was going to be the Top New Course on Golf Digest, and so forth.  

I still haven't heard much about the particulars of the golf course from any source, and have no idea how good it might be.

It is interesting to see how many of these extravagant clubs have made it into the Golf Digest Top 100.  

http://tinyurl.com/yztejn

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Mike and Tom, I hope it is a better course than Sage Valley. That is the same sort of project. Sage Valley is a protest for not getting in ANGC and Alotian is ANGC brought to Little Rock. I have an open invite to play there but just have not been back to Little Rock to take them up on it. I vividly remember everything about Sage Valley but the golf course. lol That is pushing for I do remember some holes and it is a good upper level Fazio course. It is not a great course and should not push Wade Hampton for best Fazio in that part of the world.

[Scott_Burroughs]

From the web site linked above:

"Building the course entailed moving 1.5 million cubic yards of soil, which included trucking in top soil and moving dirt on site. Alotian grass was tallied at 175 acres."

"Contrary to popular notion, and despite Stephens' belief that caddy programs are important to the game, Alotian will be a carts-only course out of consideration to the topography. "

"I'm a little concerned about people carrying bags in hot and humid weather on a course this hilly," Stephens said. When Arkansas weather is cool enough for lugging bags up and down the hills, the likeliest caddies should be in school, he said.

[Tim Pitner]

Looks like a nice drive.

[Mike_Cirba]

Is that a big winding cart path coming down the hill with haha's blocking the view?

I heard Fazio was the best at hiding cart paths, but this is a new one to me.  Talk about potential turbo boosts!!

[Patrick Schultheis]

"I'm a little concerned about people carrying bags in hot and humid weather on a course this hilly," Stephens said. When Arkansas weather is cool enough for lugging bags up and down the hills, the likeliest caddies should be in school, he said.


I really hate mandatory cart policies like this.  I play at a very hill course, and choose to walk, regardless of the weather.  Shouldn't it be up to the individual as to whether or not he can walk the course?  (I acknowledge that the owner of the club has the right to set his own rules.)

[Garland Bayley]

"I'm a little concerned about people carrying bags in hot and humid weather on a course this hilly," Stephens said. When Arkansas weather is cool enough for lugging bags up and down the hills, the likeliest caddies should be in school, he said.


I really hate mandatory cart policies like this.  I play at a very hill course, and choose to walk, regardless of the weather.  Shouldn't it be up to the individual as to whether or not he can walk the course?  (I acknowledge that the owner of the club has the right to set his own rules.)

Patrick!

Atta boy! I hate mandatory cart policies too. But then we are from the PNW where we would have trouble relating to Arkansas summer heat and humidity.

[Patrick Schultheis]

While I live in the PacNW, I walk when I travel, too.  Just ask my pal at Shady Canyon (shamed him into walking) or brother in law from Indiana --- I made him walk in South Carolina last July and in Arizona the year before that!

[Eric Pevoto]

The Owner/Creator armwave:

[John Kirk]

Just doesn't look all that special.  That's why we need one of our intrepid reporters to investigate!

Carts mandatory?  Phooey!

[ed_getka]

Bill,
   That last picture is a sunglasses advertisement. Notice how comfortably he is looking at the camera in spite of the blinding glare of the sand.

McCloskey,
   I too would love to hear what you think of the course.

It is interesting how the course doesn't give you the ready-made photographs I usually associate with Fazio. It certainly must have been challenging to build on what seems to be a site with a fair amount of elevation change.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Ed the Club is in the same direction out of Little Rock where the other better courses and the more upscale developements are. I must confess the pictures do not make the course more desirable. It is a pretty area though.

[Brad Klein]

That's the first time I have ever seen full course photography of a "big time, exclusive" course shot in the middle of the day. Tells me they did it in house, which suggests a lot right there. Given the prominence of carts, cart paths and an owner/developer who was photographed in a quick mid-day setting without a change of clothes or sun angle, they are revealing a whole lot about themselves, if inadvertently.