Last week I played Cedar Rapids Country Club in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They recently underwent a roughly 3 year in-house renovation under a plan by Ron Prichard.
I thought the resulting course was fantastic.
The property it sits on is on one half undulating hills, and the other half sits in a flood plain with a creek running through it. The clubhouse sits on top of a hill which is used a number of times, either playing down it on #1's and #10 and back up on #9 and #18.
Supposedly the club took out over 2,000 trees, removing softwoods, evergreens, and low canopy trees. Many sharp ridges, previously completely covered with tree growth were clear cut and remained exposed.
In addition, mowing lines were hugely adjusted and putting surfaces were dramatically expanded all the way out to green pads.
The course itself has wonderful variety. The course's three par-3 holes are all very good and unique. The 5th is a redan style hole. The 8th is a drop shot. And the 12th is a long half-par that plays 240 from the member tees and 290 yards from the back tees, which a dramatic false front to the green.
Some of the holes, such as the 10th, are terrific. Sharply downhill, it plays much shorter than the yardage. If the player can hit a specific speed slot on the right side of the fairway, the hole is drivable. If a player hits it too far left, the ball will either find a bunker or if hit especially long find a creek. Balls ending up short of the green are left with a testy little downhill pitch shot.
The 13th's greensite is very neat. It is a push up green, but on the left and right of the green is short fairway grass essentially where you would find a bunker, yet, the bunker "face" is still there. It makes for perhaps a tougher up and down than if there was sand in the same place.
The 14th is another neat short par-4. The hole is called "Burial Mound" and the green sits on a essentially such. The hole is a driver-wedge, but the resulting ~100-yard shot plays uphill sharply to the blind green that once you climb you find slopes away from the player.
Here are just a few pictures that I managed to take on my phone:
The par-3 5th:
Looking back on the par-4 10th:
Looking head on the greensite at the 13th:
Looking back on the 13th:
A look at the potential up and down shot from right of the 13th green:
The roughly 100 yard approach to the par-4 14th "Burial Mound":
The approach to the 16th:
The approach to the par-5 17th:
The club has posted an aerial tour of the course online if you're interested in seeing more:
https://vimeo.com/149265463 I thought the golf course was very strong, and very much worth the effort to see if you're in the area.