[Evan_Green]

Thought you guys would enjoy seeing some pictures of Old Greenwood. Nicklaus did a fine job on this course - very worthwhile if you find yourself in the Reno/Tahoe area.

[Tom_Doak]

Evan:

What appealed to you about the course?

Personally, I find it hard to discern much from your pictures.  For one thing, all the checkerboard mowing in the first few shots really distracts from being able to focus on anything else ... that's why I dislike stripe mowing, on top of it being so unnatural in appearance.

There are a lot of bunkers, which I don't find the least bit surprising having worked with Jack.  There's also a lot of long and fuzzy lost-ball grass, most of it surrounding the tees, it appears.  Is that the native look going into the woods?  I see it in a sort of meadow in your first photo.

[Evan_Green]

Tom

Well first of all I found the natural setting quite appealing. Yes that tall grass is native in the woods, but we didnt find lost balls a problem.

I found there to be more than meets the eye in this course - and in retrospect I dont feel I was able to capture that element of the course in the photos I posted here. For example there are some good strategic par 5's on the course - typical of Nicklaus.  

Also, there was a pretty neat long par 4 that particularly struck me as interesting, #13. It measures 522 yards (6k feet of elevation) and runs slightly downhill the whole way:


The tee shot - the fairway is quite wide.


The 2nd shot. It's semi blind, with the green behind that rock outcropping...


This is the view from the back left of the green looking back. You can see that outcropping. What I found neat about this hole is that the optimum shot with a long iron/fairway metal is to land on the downslope just back the rock and having the ball roll down onto the green. A shot flown onto the green likely rolls all the way to the back fringe because the green too runs from front to back...

Tom - have you seen a hole similar to this before that he may have modeled it after? I found it quite interesting.

[Tom_Doak]

Evan:

Strategically, it looks a bit similar to the 14th at Pasatiempo, if the hole at Pasatiempo had a giant rock outcropping a bit short of the green [which it doesn't].  Nice to see the fallaway green -- does it pretty much all fall away, or did they break it up and make a more receptive spot?

It looks like a good hole but I don't know why they decided they needed such a severe feature short of the green, where it will affect the B player, but much less often the A player.  I guess it would encourage the B player to lay up instead of flailing away with a 4-wood second shot.  Are there other rock features in play on the course?

[Evan_Green]

Evan:

Strategically, it looks a bit similar to the 14th at Pasatiempo, if the hole at Pasatiempo had a giant rock outcropping a bit short of the green [which it doesn't].  Nice to see the fallaway green -- does it pretty much all fall away, or did they break it up and make a more receptive spot?

It looks like a good hole but I don't know why they decided they needed such a severe feature short of the green, where it will affect the B player, but much less often the A player.  I guess it would encourage the B player to lay up instead of flailing away with a 4-wood second shot.  Are there other rock features in play on the course?

Tom - My recollection is that the entire green falls away.

There are rocks scattered throughout the course, but except for #13 most of the rocks are in native high grass areas. #13 is the only time the feature appears prominantly in the course.

In terms of the rock feature on #13, I found it to affect the shot more visually than anything else as the rocks are a good 30-40 yards short of the green- so there is plenty of room to land the ball although if one was to mis-hit the shot and catch a rock, the ball could go anywhere.
A "B" player (if playing from the proper tees which are much shorter than 522) could, rather than laying up, go ahead and flay at the 4 wood, not deal with the rocks and downslope at all and let the ball end up on the back fringe/ just behind the green and have a shorter chip shot.

[Evan_Green]

Redanman-

Ive played most of the better courses in Tahoe.

Old Greenwood is a very solid Nicklaus design - not over the top with some good strategy. The trees for the most part do not come into play (unlike Edgewood).

Personally, I have no use for the spruce, fir and pines necessary for a mountain golf course.  The grass doesn't like it either, the last time I asked it.

Clearly these type of courses couldnt be built without these types of trees without clearcutting. Do you just not like mountain golf in general, or is there something you think they could have done better at Old Greenwood? Are there any mountain courses that you have liked?

[Evan_Green]

Redanman-
Are there any mountain courses that you have liked?

I'd say skip most of the above and those inherently similar to them.

But I am admitting my bias.

Redanman - Thats definately valid. If you dont like mountain or desert courses then you wont necessarily like any particular mountain or desert course.

Its kind of like my gal and scotch. She flat out doesnt like the stuff regardless of whether its ordinary scotch from a supermarket or aged 30 years. Its the "genus" of scotch she doesnt like rather than anything in particular about a given one.

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