Hot, sticky, 5 1/2 hour round at Sleepy Hollow. Other than that, it was wonderful!
Day started off at 7:00am in Willoughby Hills at Donald Ross' Manakiki. There were six of us (me, my neighbor Jeff Rog, Bill Steele, Chris Sturges, Ryan Taylor, and Chris Hunt). Conditions were wonderful, temps were low, and we made it around in 4:20 despite slower groups ahead of us. All the work done there in recent years has been completed, and the course has grown in nicely. It is not a terribly difficult course, but there are some tough driving angles/holes out there, and the back nine can certainly be a killer with the last few holes stretch.
Then it was off the Sleepy Hollow in Brecksville for the "jewel" of the outing. We had a leisurely lunch and haded out for our 1:30pm tee times. This time around there were nine of us (me, my neighbor Jeff Rog, another friend Shawn Griswold, Bill Steele, Chris Sturges, Ryan Taylor, Jonathan Becker, Chris Hunt and his friend/business partner Ryan Kozak). The started added a single to our group so we played 3 / 4 / 3. As mentioned above, the pace has horrific...waiting on every hole and every shot with 2/3 groups stacked up as far as the eye could see. Beyond that distraction, the course was in good shape running a bit firmer than i would have expected given all the recent rains. The course is as baffling as ever...so many subtle breaks on the greens, and I never seem to figure them out for some reason. The routing there makes for a really easy / intimate walk, and the green complexes is what really make the course for me. I think that the second hole is a total ball buster, given its position so close to the start of your round, and playing into a prevailing wind. Even though it is a par-3, I've said before that a prudent play could be to lay-up then chip on otherwise big numbers could be lurking early and a total round killer. Another hole I think folks take for granted is the par-4 15th...it is short but has the most canted green (back to front) on the course and is a bitch to putt on.
SH has an interesting routing...par 35 on the front with two par-5s and three par-3s, then the back is a par 36 with only one par-5 and one par-3, making for seven tough par-4s to tackle on your way back in.
The cookout turned out to be pretty low key as a few folks had to ditch given our late finish (7:00pm), and unfortunately we lost (literally) Bill Steele on the drive to my house and he neglected to have my number with him (nor me his), so he bolted for Columbus.
It seemed like all who attended had a fun time, and plans are already in the works for some other Northern Ohio, Western Penn gatherings in the future. Hope these "deals" become a regular occurrence as these are a great group of guys to get together with.