Stevinson Ranch

[David Ober]

Played there this past weekend in the Amateurgolf.com California Mid-Amateur/Masters.

Loved the course -- not a single boring or even borderline mediocre hole in the bunch if you ask me -- though I'm sure many here will disagree! :lol:

I especially liked the par-5 18th and the short, driveable 14th. The greens had been aerated and sanded a month prior, but had not recovered well, so they were very slow (8.5ish?), which did not bode well for my putting.

Hit 14 greens and shot a very disappointing 72 (1 behind the leaders), and then started birdie, triple, bogey, double to shoot myself right out of contention on Sunday. Blech!

Great tournament, though. Bob Niger won, and that guy is a STICK.

[Mike Benham]

David -

Short, driveable 14th?  Which way was the wind blowing?  

With the current winter storm pattern, was the 14th downwind?

You are ruining your reputation, you've stated that you are a moderate length driver ... 260-270 ... and the 14th is usually into the wind ...

[Bill_McBride]

Driveable by Daly or Woods?

[Bob_Huntley]

David,

The eighteenth has to be the easiest par 5 in California, I saw some a left-hander in the Kings Putter just man-handle the hole.

Bob

[Jeff Fortson]

David,

The eighteenth has to be the easiest par 5 in California, I saw some a left-hander in the Kings Putter just man-handle the hole.

Bob

That was my ringer, Evan.  You coming down to the desert this year Bob?


Jeff F.

[Jeff Goldman]

I'm only going to say this one more time:

AAAARRRRRGGGGGUUUUHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bob_Huntley]

David,

The eighteenth has to be the easiest par 5 in California, I saw some a left-hander in the Kings Putter just man-handle the hole.

Bob

That was my ringer, Evan.  You coming down to the desert this year Bob?


Jeff F.

Jeff,

I sent my check in today. Please, no wretched left-handers in my group.

[PThomas]

David-  did they still have those little patches of long rough near some of the greens...I liked the course but not those things...

[Evan Fleisher]

David,

The eighteenth has to be the easiest par 5 in California, I saw some a left-hander in the Kings Putter just man-handle the hole.

Bob

That was my ringer, Evan.  You coming down to the desert this year Bob?


Jeff F.

Jeff,

I sent my check in today. Please, no wretched left-handers in my group.

Hey! ...I resemble that remark!                

...and I WILL be there in the desert, so watch out Uncle Bob!

[Bill_McBride]

Soon Evan will be saying he lined up that escape blast and played the break correctly!

[PThomas]

and Mr. McBride modestly forgot to mention his first career ace occured there last year, a DRIVER into a 30 mile an hour breeze, which I had the pleasure of seeing since I was in his group!

[Evan Fleisher]

Soon Evan will be saying he lined up that escape blast and played the break correctly!

Nope! ...just pure "dumb luck"...but your opponent(s) never want to hear THAT!!!

[David Ober]

David -

Short, driveable 14th?  Which way was the wind blowing?  

With the current winter storm pattern, was the 14th downwind?

You are ruining your reputation, you've stated that you are a moderate length driver ... 260-270 ... and the 14th is usually into the wind ...

Oh, not driveable by the likes of me!! LOL!

My buddy drove it to 15 feet on Sunday and so did my playing partner.

The hole was, indeed, playing downwind (10-15 mph?), and it's about a 280 carry over the left corner bunker and the pin was front left.

The first day there was no wind and I bunted a cut driver to 70 yards and then hit LW to 4 inches.

On sunday I decided to go LEFT of the pot bunker in the fairway and left myself 65 yards to the pin, but it was downwind, and my LW hit the front of the green and skipped past to about 20 feet.

[David Ober]

David-  did they still have those little patches of long rough near some of the greens...I liked the course but not those things...

I'm not sure I know what you're talking about...

Don't really remember them, but I'm in "compete mode" when I'm playing in a tournament, so I probably missed lots of the subtleties...

[AndrewB]

David,

I especially liked the par-5 18th and the short, driveable 14th. The greens had been aerated and sanded a month prior, but had not recovered well, so they were very slow (8.5ish?), which did not bode well for my putting.

I think you're being unfair to the greens.  They were definitely slow, but they rolled true.  The (very) few putts I hit that deserved to go in, did.  Plus, I thought the speeds were consistent throughout.

I'd also guess that they were closer to 9.5 or 10 than 8.5, just because people (including myself) always seem to significantly under- or over-estimate a stimp reading.  At that speed they were able to use some interesting hole locations that might not have been reasonable with really fast greens.

14 and 15 are the two holes that stood out to me the most, and I agree that the course as a whole is very interesting and well designed.

Bob Niger won, and that guy is a STICK.

Indeed, and a very nice guy too.

[David Ober]

David,

I especially liked the par-5 18th and the short, driveable 14th. The greens had been aerated and sanded a month prior, but had not recovered well, so they were very slow (8.5ish?), which did not bode well for my putting.

I think you're being unfair to the greens.  They were definitely slow, but they rolled true.  The (very) few putts I hit that deserved to go in, did.  Plus, I thought the speeds were consistent throughout.

I'd also guess that they were closer to 9.5 or 10 than 8.5, just because people (including myself) always seem to significantly under- or over-estimate a stimp reading.  At that speed they were able to use some interesting hole locations that might not have been reasonable with really fast greens.

14 and 15 are the two holes that stood out to me the most, and I agree that the course as a whole is very interesting and well designed.

I'm actually the only guy I know of who owns a stimpmeter. I stimped them on Friday and they were 8. I figured they were half a foot MAXIMUM faster on Saturday and Sunday. There were wet, sandy, and grainy, and were absolutely, positively, no faster than 9 (I've been stimping greens for two years and have come to be pretty accurate with my estimates before I even roll the balls).

It's funny, because I bought the stimpmeter specifically for discussions like this when I play a tournament and say, for instance, that the greens at the SCGA golf course were running at 12.5 and people doubt me and say, "That's U.S. Open speed! No WAY they were running that fast!!"

Then I say, "Wanna bet?" and pull out my stimpmeter.

I actually played a tournament at the SCGA course last year where they were just a HAIR under 13.

And in case anyone is wondering, that's FAST.

[Mike Benham]

David-  did they still have those little patches of long rough near some of the greens...I liked the course but not those things...

I'm not sure I know what you're talking about...

Don't really remember them, but I'm in "compete mode" when I'm playing in a tournament, so I probably missed lots of the subtleties...

The longish rough on the right edge of the fairway and greens ... this is #15

[Mike Benham]

On sunday I decided to go LEFT of the pot bunker in the fairway and left myself 65 yards to the pin, but it was downwind, and my LW hit the front of the green and skipped past to about 20 feet.

This was your angle to the hole ...

[Mike Benham]

For the KP in June, I will have autograph copies of this photo available ...

[David Ober]

David-  did they still have those little patches of long rough near some of the greens...I liked the course but not those things...

I'm not sure I know what you're talking about...

Don't really remember them, but I'm in "compete mode" when I'm playing in a tournament, so I probably missed lots of the subtleties...

The longish rough on the right edge of the fairway and greens ... this is #15

Yeah, there was some of that there, but not so much just into the fairway rough, which was all pretty uniformly cut.

It was more up around some of the greens, but only on a few holes and only in a few places.

[David Ober]

On sunday I decided to go LEFT of the pot bunker in the fairway and left myself 65 yards to the pin, but it was downwind, and my LW hit the front of the green and skipped past to about 20 feet.

This was your angle to the hole ...

Exactly! :-)

[ed_getka]

David,
  Interesting that you like #18. What is it about the hole that you like? I love Stevinson Ranch, but I don't particularly care for #4 (the shot over the lake seems out of character). What did you think of #5 par 4? #11 par 5 is easily the worst hole on the course IMO. I suppose it is interesting for someone who can reach in two but for the three shot play I just don't think it works. What did you think of #13? I think the stretch from #13-#17 is quite a good test of golf.

[David Ober]

I like that you can lay back off the tee of really try to cut off some of the length by challenging the water. But what I really like is the second shot for a good player. I like par 5's where the lay-up is not just an afterthought if you are forced/choose to lay up. I like the other par 5 that you dislike for the same reason.

For the average player and the general public, I think both holes are probably a bit too penal on the second shot, but for tournament play "pucker factor," I like both of the holes.

[ed_getka]

David,
   On #11 its not about how hard the second shot is to layup, its how ridiculously short the iron is you do it with. You either can go for it all in two or you lay up with a short iron, because the neck between the wetland and the bunkers is super narrow.
    One thing I don't like about #18 is that the drive feels like a carbon copy of the preceding hole (without the bunkers of course), but for a golfer of my length (medium) I just don't see that there is much to think about on the second shot. I can't reach in two, and I can see no advantage to trying to get over to the left across the hazard. Too much risk for minimal to no reward that I can see. To a back right pin I could see being across to the left, but otherwise it is a flattish green, so I don't see much difference.
     Its cool to see what a good golfer thinks of the various hole attributes. I'm glad you liked SR.

[David Ober]

David,
   On #11 its not about how hard the second shot is to layup, its how ridiculously short the iron is you do it with. You either can go for it all in two or you lay up with a short iron, because the neck between the wetland and the bunkers is super narrow.
    One thing I don't like about #18 is that the drive feels like a carbon copy of the preceding hole (without the bunkers of course), but for a golfer of my length (medium) I just don't see that there is much to think about on the second shot. I can't reach in two, and I can see no advantage to trying to get over to the left across the hazard. Too much risk for minimal to no reward that I can see. To a back right pin I could see being across to the left, but otherwise it is a flattish green, so I don't see much difference.
     Its cool to see what a good golfer thinks of the various hole attributes. I'm glad you liked SR.

Boy, you make some GREAT points about both 11 and 18. I certainly never even considered laying up to the left on 18 (I layed up on Saturday to the right and hit the green in two on Sunday). You're absolutely right: There's no reason to do so. Hmmmmm....

And on 11, I must have been playing with a different wind, because I layed up to 100 yards using a 6-iron both days.

Maybe 11 would be made better if there was lay-up area to the RIGHT of the bunkers that guard the right side of the fairway from 115 all the way up to the green. Kind of a lay up OVER the bunkers and to the right of them -- make sense?