7) 181 Par 3: An intimidating, well-bunkered par 3 whose green might be a bit too tough for its own good. If the greens contours were toned down a bit, I would like the hole, but the tier on the back left is just too severe to provide legitimate pin positions. Also, the area back and left of the green should be flattened and cut to fairway height to allow a variety of recovery shots.
405 Par 4: Great tee shot here with lots of movement in the fairway. Play the ball out to the right with a low draw, and watch the ball roll along the fairway’s contours down and to the left. Very nicely done.
Most expert players will have only a wedge into this hole, but the green is small and deceptively sloped. A bunker guards the back left, but the front is protected by a drop-off that collects shots left short.
One of my favorite holes on the course.
9) 413 Par 4: My least favorite hole on the course. Water (and bunkers) guard the left side of this slight dogleg left hole. There needs to be more fairway short and left for the weaker or cautious player to play safe (which would still leave a long approach of nearly 200 yards.
The green, though, is where this hole really goes wrong. The back tier is just too small without a large, fairway height collection area to the back. That area either needs to be enlarged, or the green needs more space in the back for the back pin position to be used (much like #7).
10) 374 Par 4: A benign hole that rewards aggressive play down the left side close to the bunkers. Play it out safe to the right, and you have a more difficult angle to the green. Get aggressive and go down the left, and not only do you reward yourself with a better angle, but you also get a bit of a turbo boost. Very nice hole.
11) 436 Par 4: Don’t much remember this one except for the oak trees guarding the entrance to the fairway.
12) 527 Par 5: Excellent shortish par 5. Ho-hum left-to-right tee shot becomes quite fun on the second shot. I played my approach out to the right in order to leave a 20 yard pitch to the green (which I butchered!). Excellent risk/reward value on the second shot for longish players.
13) 179 Par 3: I did not care for this hole. Too “manufactured” looking for me with sharp angles and large, pushed-up, terraced mount-thing front right of the green. Didn’t look natural to me at all.
14) 429 Par 4: Don’t remember much about this hole.
15) 518 Par 5: Excellent golf hole, though the right tee box from which we played needs enlarging and/or leveling. The second shot on this hole is where the options begin. Go for the green in two, and you will be rewarded if you shot carries the next of bunkers short left. Or, you can lay up to 100 yards, but be careful to carry the bunker that juts out into the left center of the fairway.
Finally, you can choose to run one up the right side, leaving yourself a 30 to 60 yard pitch, attacking the green from the side. The green is guarded by a steep slope, though, which makes the pitch very difficult indeed.
Definitely one of my favorite holes on the course.
16) 163 Par 3: Guarded by water on the left, and a small bunker short, this is a fairly easy tee shot to the front right pin position (which is where it was when I played). Back left, though, would be another matter, since one would have to carry the water or bring the ball in with a nice draw.
17) 426 Par 4: What I remember about this hole is that I was pin high left (to a back right pin), and only four or five paces left of green and I was left with a very difficult pitch shot, due to a manufactured ridge that guards the left side of the green. I don’t know why, but this one particularly stood out to me and became emblematic of what I think needs work: The course needs “softening.”
Not in terms of its difficulty, but in terms of its edges. I would like to see more flow to the terrain and fewer sharp edges. Give me some areas where I can putt the ball if I’m off the green – especially on a hole like this. The right side is well protected, so the left side should be the place to miss. If I miss there, give me a chance to recover without having to hit a very tough shot to an elevated green from funky rough.
18) 397 Par 4: Another hole where the pushed-up green kind of ruins it for me. It’s also protected by another manufactured ridge-thingy in front of the green. It just doesn’t belong there, in my opinion.
Does it make the hole harder? Definitely. Does it make the hole better? Personally, I don’t think so.
Morgan Creek is a beautiful golf course in immaculate shape, with near perfect greens. It’s a great “tournament course” due to its length and difficulty. It is, however, a course I feel like I have played before (Oak Valley in Beaumont, California (7.5), the SoCal PGA courses in Calimesa, California (6), and Stevinson Ranch in Stevinson, California (6) come to mind).
Too many of the holes have that “Oh yeah, this hole is just like number ___ at _____ course that I played last year” feeling for me to elevate it above a Doak 7, which is still a very high ranking, indeed.
Looking back over the holes, there really were only three that stood out to me as fantastic (3, 8, 12, and 15), which makes me think I should rate it only a six. The conditioning and greens were so good, though, that I am going to bump it to a seven. If the greens were just well-manicured and flawless, I would keep it at a six. They are, however, both immaculately maintained and fun to putt, and that’s very important to me, so I’m giving it an extra point for that.
I may very well want to re-visit this again in the coming months after I’ve had even more time to think about it.
Pasatiempo coming up next….