Lou:
How would you compare it to Gentle Creek? Maybe it is TV, but your club looks like a much better course( but I probably like your place a lot more than you do). Craig Ranch perhaps is a better watching course, but it reminds me of Memphis (Southwind). Is it the same grass as Trinity Forest? I guess our part of the world is a little terrain challenged.
I prefer GC if it was maintained similarly (not even close). We used to have a relationship with CR and played the course 3-4 times each year, though I haven't been there in the last three. All of the guys I play with prefer GC, though we did lose one to CR due to conditioning issues and personal problems with the staff. Like GC, CR is a much more difficult course for the club player than tournament amateurs and pros. It favors the long hitter with wide fairways and the aerial game. GC is just under 7400 from the back tees (CR is just over 7400) and the 5s play shortish for the long knocks like we're seeing at CR. Both had the same tour consultant on the design team.
The zoysia at Trinity Forest is much newer and, apparently, has a much finer blade. In fact, I've noticed that the Champion bermuda greens have some zoysia infestation around the edges which, though noticeable, didn't seem to affect the shot much. I since learned that had the maintenance folks known that the TF Zoysia (as it is known) offered such a fine blade that can be cut to green heights, they may have elected to go 100% zoysia (like Don Mahaffey did with the bermuda they chose at Wolf Point- much easier to maintain one "crop" of grass, so I was told).
CR has had trouble with its bent greens in the past- very soft, and thin in the summer while being watered frequently to keep them alive- so I thought that they may have converted to a TifEagle or similar bermuda. Apparently they stayed with bent which does, IMO, make it much easier as a playing surface (if not for the maintenance staff).
BTW, I've played Southwind and it is a very credible test of golf. It may not be great to look at, but while I enjoy aesthetics, I place much greater value on variety, interest, and challenge.
Your comment regarding topography in our part of the state is a bit overstated . Royal Dornoch, Troon, Portmarnock, TOC aren't graced by great elevation changes, but still provide compelling golf. I am not big on mountain golf, so maybe I am just a flatlander.
Re: the scoring, let's face it, soft conditions (LCP on day 1), wide fairways, light winds, and receptive greens don't challenge tour golfers. I don't know if the Tour has a target score for this week, but I worked the Korn Ferry event in Arlington a few weeks back and their target score was -25 (-23 won, similar cut line). It is not unusual in high-level qualifiers to see -6 to -8 as the low 1-day number. The gulf between the tournament players and average golfers is closer to the size of an ocean, which is probably the case in most major sports.