Kiawah's River Course

[Ken_Cotner]

I played Kiawah’s River Course a couple weeks ago, and am just now putting together my thoughts.  Kind of tough to have a good feel for a course after just one play, so jump in if you have played it.

First, the weather was perfect – sunny, mid-50’s with a fresh 1-2 club breeze.  A little wind sure adds texture.

The routing felt OK, but a little disjointed with 3-4 long walks between holes.  The flat terrain was not manipulated much, although all (?) the par threes had elevated tees.  There aren’t many houses to break up the course or views, but the course feels like it meanders around quite a bit (does not feel like a “field of play”).  Most of the holes were self-contained, although you could see other holes at 3-5, 7-8, 14-15, and 16-17.  With all that, the course was still comfortably walkable.

The greens were the most enjoyable aspect of the course.  Really interesting undulations and some fun recovery challenges.  Several greens had fall-away rear portions which, when combined with firm Bermuda and a following wind, caused a few well-struck irons to skip through the green rather than stick like a dart.  I liked this and would try to play a different shot next time.  The green speeds were very reasonable given the slopes, although this is going to change (see below).

Many holes had cape-like angles for the back tee boxes which would make the better player think, especially in a normal wind.

Three of the par-5’s required the player to decide whether to challenge a hazard (bunker or water) on the second shot in order to get a shorter and more favorable angle for the third.

To be continued...

[Ken_Cotner]

...
As mentioned, all the par 3’s were downhill.  With the bunkers and green angle on three of them, a nice Redan or reverse Redan could have easily been created.

Also, it is rumored that the greens are going to be redone with a new grass which will allow faster speeds.  With the faster speeds, I was told the green contours will be softened.  

Favorite holes:
5 – short par-4 with 2 greens:  one low and left and just over/next to a pond; the other (really cool) one on a ridge, very narrow and with steep dropoffs.
9 – 530 (tips) par-5 along Bass Pond with a 40-yard bunker along the left starting at 110 yards.  Carry it and one has an easy pitch up the throat of the green.  Windy.
11 – 365 par-4 with a wild green.  Unfortunately, an approach from the right side of the fairway is blocked by trees.
13 – 510 par-5.  Do I lay up to 105+ yards, or try to carry the water to 70- yards and a nice angle?
15 – 410 par-4.  One of the long greens with a fallaway rear half.  Actually, I just like this one since I “called” my birdie chip-in from beyond the green.

Sorry for the long post.
KC

[ChrisB (Guest)]

One of the most challenging and fun shots on the course is the tee shot on the par-3 17th from the back left box (207 yds); do you hit a high shot and try to stop it quick or sling a hook around the front/left bunker?  I also think the walk up the 18th is a fun one with the clubhouse coming into view on the right with its large clock facing the 18th (was someone thinking R&A clubhouse with that clock?).  The tee shot on the cape-like #9 is another fun shot.

Ken, did you get much roll in the fairways?  When I played there it was cool and the fairways were soft, so it played very long.

All in all, I thought Kiawah River is another above average but not spectacular Fazio course--fun to play but doesn't take your breath away.  Sorry to hear about yet another club with interesting greens making the exchange of speed for contour.

[Ken_Cotner]

Chris,

I never hit a fairway so I don't know how they were rolling  

Actually, one of the things I liked was that a few good-looking tee shots trundled off in unexpected directions. Maybe just to the edge of the fairway, but there were enough fairway "wrinkles" to make it interesting.  So they must not have been too soft.

I don't remember seeing any containment-mounded holes which bring all the drives back into the middle of the fairway, which is contrary to one of the criticisms the architect often receives.

18 was cool -- not much directional strategy, but a real fun hole location on the very back shelf.  Made for a very interesting shot from the front right bunker!

KC

[Bill_Norton@Kiawah]

Ken and Chris,

Since both of you expressed concern about changes to the greens at The River Course -- glad you liked them -- I thought I'd drop a quick note to let you know your worries are unfounded.  While we've given serious discussion to making a change from Tif Dwarf to Tif Eagle (Tif Eagle is what we have at River's sister course, Cassique), we still haven't actually decided on ANY changes -- even the grass selection is not a given.  With that in mind, it's speculative (at best) to guess at whether we'll change any of the green contours.  That's directly from our director of golf design.

[BCrosby]

I'll be playing River, Cassique and Ocean in about month.

I will report to the group.  

Frankly, I'm most curious to see Cassique.  Any early word?

Bob

[Ken_Cotner]

Thanks for the info, Bill.  I'm glad to hear that the final decision on redoing the greens has not yet been made.  I really enjoyed them.

I hope to try Cassique sometime soon.

Ken