Blessings Golf Club?

[Lou_Duran]

Played the course recently.  1 and 18 do cross, but starting before 10, it was not a problem on either tee shot.  The LZs do not overlap, but there is probably a ROW protocol in place.


I found the greens to be less challenging than some of the tee shots and most of the approaches.  One finds relatively few flat stances.  The peripheries of the fairways and greens are wicked, with the high rough and native areas gathering some otherwise acceptable shots.


Conditioning is near perfect and, as the SEC tournament demonstrated, good golfers can shoot low scores.  It would not be a good King Putter or Buda venue.  We did have a walker in front of us, and he managed his way around in well under four hours (4:20 for our foursome playing from various tees and hitting a few extra shots from interesting places).


I suspect that John Tyson is pleased with his course.  I had played it before the renovation and his objectives seem to have been met.  Whether it is now easier or more playable, I don't really know.

[Paul Jones]

I played it many years ago and it was too difficult, miss a fairway and your ball was lost.  It was always in great shape and really neat clubhouse and vibe.  I would like to play it again now that they have widen the corridors and rough does not equal lost ball.

[Lou_Duran]

Paul,


I think that you would find it more playable than originally.  I don't question the slope rating; it remains that challenging for all but the really good players.  Like my home course, it seems to punish the short hitter disproportionately in that his shots often land into slopes, taking some of the distance off and ricocheting the ball into bunkers and worse, the rough and PAs.


The recent SEC tournament showcased many great shots, some really good risk/reward opportunities for the long hitters, and the tragedies that await very close to the playing areas.  Talk about no lead being safe!  I do hope that Mr. Tyson gets a major some day.  Not much would be needed to get the course ready.

[Pete_Pittock]

On the final round of this week's tournament on the 18th hole all five members of the same team drove into the same bunker.. Something seems amiss if that is a preferred outcome.

[Lou_Duran]

Pete,


What do most golfers expect from a final hole of a championship course? Certainly not vanilla, but one which creates apprehension if not fear as the golfer in contention approaches the tee if not long before.


Think of the 18th at the Players' or the Blue Monster at Doral, but flip the side of the major hazard.  Try to fit the drive between the bunkers and the lateral hazard and get the shape and spin wrong, 6 or higher becomes probable.  Err into the bunker left and 5 is likely, 4 possible.  Hitting the wrong ball as the eventual medal winner did is highly unusual and avoidable.


A third option might have been to lay up short of the left bunker with something less than a driver.  For reference, I pulled my driver just left of the cart path and the first bunker, leaving me around 210 to the hole.  A 60' pitch and 5' putt for par left me with a good memory of the round.  One of my companions drove it short of the center bunkers, hit a small iron to within 20' of the hole and made an easy two-putt par.  Nothing amiss with this hole IMO.