How do you like Kizer?
It's pretty decent. It's not going to win any architectural awards. But the holes are fairly solid (I can't think of any truly bad holes, though I'm not sure how I feel about #17), there are a variety of tees, the pace of play is good, and $35 walking on a weekend is a perfectly good value especially since it's a 10 minute drive for me.
It's very playable despite having water on probably 13 holes, but when the wind kicks up suddenly those wide playing corridors don't feel quite as wide.
Contrasted with Jimmy Clay, which is less expensive but has several just plain dumb holes, I think the extra $ is worth it to play Kizer.
I agree on what you've said. I'm thinking, is 17 the short par 4? I think it's either 15, 16, or 17. What do you think of Riverside?
16 is the short par 4. 17 is the par 5 with the huge swing to the left and lots of trees in play.
I like 16. When I stepped on the tee and saw the hole for the first time, I didn't think I would like it. But after playing it a few times, I do. No matter how you hit your tee shot, that deep bunker is going to be in play and the second shot is going to be tricky. I've played it three times. Twice I hit 5-iron perfectly off the tee, up the right side of the fairway, leaving myself about 60 yards in. Once I hit 3-wood perfectly, about 10 yards short of the green. All three times I have three-putted for bogey (twice the hole was cut on the left behind the bunker). I think either play off the tee is valid.
17 I'm just not convinced there is any merit to hitting a driver or 3-wood off the tee, or at least there isn't for a long-and-wrong player like me. Even if you hit it perfectly, your second shot has to be a huge hook to get up near the green. From now on I'm planning to hit 4-iron off the tee, lay it up to about 110 yards down at the bottom of the little valley, and wedge it up. Part of that is because I've hooked tee shots into the hazard on two of my three plays. The other time I hit a perfect tee shot. For my second I hit a 6-iron because that was the lowest club I could trust myself to get up and over the tree with a draw. I hit that perfectly and still had 60 yards in. When my best tee shot doesn't give me a real chance to go for the green in two, then I start taking irons off the tee especially after bogeying the hole twice because I hooked my tee shot into the woods.