Question:
I took part of a 3 day golf weekend at two Robert Trent Jones Trail courses. One day and 36 holes at Silver Lakes in Glencoe, Alabama and two days and 36 holes and the 18 holes short course at Grand National Links in Opelika, Alabama. Silver Lakes is comprised of three par 36, nine hole courses with a 3700 yard 64 slope rating per nine hole course. Only problem with this track, almost every green was elevated. The courses are appropriately called Back Breaker, Heart Breaker and Mind Breaker. Grand National Links features two par 72, 18 hole courses and an 18 hole par 3 short course. The Lake course was 7173 yard with a 138 slope, and the Links course was 7211 and a 141 slope. The par 3 short course was not rated, but was the most fun of all of the course we played during the trip. We played four, two man scramble teams on the short course, and it was a blast. They say it’s the best short course in the country, could be. How did I do? Well this muni ball beater has been humbled again! It is still early in the year for me, but I have been posting pretty solid scores in the 8-12 over par range, with a 3 over par just before I left for the trip. Best I could do on the trip was a 13, 17, 23 & 19 over par, and the only thing that helped me manage the damage was a great wedge and putter. We spent the first day, 36 holes, on the three 9 holes courses of Silver Lakes. We played the next to back orange tees, which were just a tad shorter and easier than the way back tees. The purple tees must be for a select few RSG members. I started out the first 9 < Back Breaker pretty good with a 41 and nothing worse than a boogie, but then the lug nuts came loose. Apparently, nothing will dissect my game faster than elevated greens, a healthy diet of long irons and RTJ’s idea of course management. I found my comfortable drives were in the range of the penalties built into almost every fairway. I was fine playing easy drives out to about 230, but anything in the 260 range found trouble. Of course, 275+ drives found an easier time. Problem was, you would usually need to carry a good distance to get beyond the fairway trouble. In true RSG fashion, I tried to get to the 275+ promised land at almost every opportunity. I quickly found my self over swinging everything but the putter, and once I lost my sense of tempo. The only thing that kept my scores in check was my short game. Too bad I have not been around RSG long enough to have a 250 yard wedge, I could have used it. An interesting observation, the first nine holes I played by the course book. Then I switched over to playing by the GPS computer on the cart, and I felt my game suffered. Something about using the course book and on course distance markers helped be better manage my performance. Using the GPS left me feeling a little empty, that being the best way I can describe the feeling. I switched back to the course book near the end of the second day, and play off the tee and up to the greens much better. In fact, the final 18 holes would have been my best if my wedge and putter hadn’t taken a break from their otherwise wonderful performance. Out of the four 18 hole rounds, I had totally lost my swing about the middle of the second round. I got back my swing at the end of the 2nd day, when we played the short course. On this 18 holes, I made an effort to reduce my tempo and take a longer club rather than over swing. After about nine holes, I had gotten back alot of my tempo. I only lost six balls OB, half of which were in the water hazards around a couple of par 3 holes. Ker-plonk! I am interested in seeing how my muni course management holds up after this beating. I think I need to start play the back tees more often to build up my long iron confidence and performance. <400cc aside I played the Integra 400cc well on two fairways, but I needed the confidence of the 975D to play the "target" tee shots the course required. I would give the Silver lakes course a 5 of 10 score because I hate elevated greens, and this course had far too many. Grand National Links is a pair of course I would love to play again, especially with my game in just a little better shape. The Grand National short course is a thing of beauty, although the greens on the short course were not as well maintained as the main courses. I’d give the two main courses here a 7 of 10 and the short course a 9 of 10. Thanks for listening! I feels good to review the weekend in my head and I only hope I learned something from the experience. cheers RJ …
Response:
I’ve gotten humbled everytime I went to the course this year! Bryan — Bryan Berguson RSG Roll Call http://u1.netgate.net/~kirby34/rsg/bergusonb.htm – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I took part of a 3 day golf weekend at two Robert Trent Jones Trail courses. One day and 36 holes at Silver Lakes in Glencoe, Alabama and two days and 36 holes and the 18 holes short course at Grand National Links in Opelika, Alabama. Silver Lakes is comprised of three par 36, nine hole courses with a 3700 yard 64 slope rating per nine hole course. Only problem with this track, almost every green was elevated. The courses are appropriately called Back Breaker, Heart Breaker and Mind Breaker. Grand National Links features two par 72, 18 hole courses and an 18 hole par 3 short course. The Lake course was 7173 yard with a 138 slope, and the Links course was 7211 and a 141 slope. The par 3 short course was not rated, but was the most fun of all of the course we played during the trip. We played four, two man scramble teams on the short course, and it was a blast. They say it’s the best short course in the country, could be. How did I do? Well this muni ball beater has been humbled again! It is still early in the year for me, but I have been posting pretty solid scores in the 8-12 over par range, with a 3 over par just before I left for the trip. Best I could do on the trip was a 13, 17, 23 & 19 over par, and the only thing that helped me manage the damage was a great wedge and putter. We spent the first day, 36 holes, on the three 9 holes courses of Silver Lakes. We played the next to back orange tees, which were just a tad shorter and easier than the way back tees. The purple tees must be for a select few RSG members. I started out the first 9 < Back Breaker pretty good with a 41 and nothing worse than a boogie, but then the lug nuts came loose. Apparently, nothing will dissect my game faster than elevated greens, a healthy diet of long irons and RTJ’s idea of course management. I found my comfortable drives were in the range of the penalties built into almost every fairway. I was fine playing easy drives out to about 230, but anything in the 260 range found trouble. Of course, 275+ drives found an easier time. Problem was, you would usually need to carry a good distance to get beyond the fairway trouble. In true RSG fashion, I tried to get to the 275+ promised land at almost every opportunity. I quickly found my self over swinging everything but the putter, and once I lost my sense of tempo. The only thing that kept my scores in check was my short game. Too bad I have not been around RSG long enough to have a 250 yard wedge, I could have used it. An interesting observation, the first nine holes I played by the course book. Then I switched over to playing by the GPS computer on the cart, and I felt my game suffered. Something about using the course book and on course distance markers helped be better manage my performance. Using the GPS left me feeling a little empty, that being the best way I can describe the feeling. I switched back to the course book near the end of the second day, and play off the tee and up to the greens much better. In fact, the final 18 holes would have been my best if my wedge and putter hadn’t taken a break from their otherwise wonderful performance. Out of the four 18 hole rounds, I had totally lost my swing about the middle of the second round. I got back my swing at the end of the 2nd day, when we played the short course. On this 18 holes, I made an effort to reduce my tempo and take a longer club rather than over swing. After about nine holes, I had gotten back alot of my tempo. I only lost six balls OB, half of which were in the water hazards around a couple of par 3 holes. Ker-plonk! I am interested in seeing how my muni course management holds up after this beating. I think I need to start play the back tees more often to build up my long iron confidence and performance. <400cc aside I played the Integra 400cc well on two fairways, but I needed the confidence of the 975D to play the "target" tee shots the course required. I would give the Silver lakes course a 5 of 10 score because I hate elevated greens, and this course had far too many. Grand National Links is a pair of course I would love to play again, especially with my game in just a little better shape. The Grand National short course is a thing of beauty, although the greens on the short course were not as well maintained as the main courses. I’d give the two main courses here a 7 of 10 and the short course a 9 of 10. Thanks for listening! I feels good to review the weekend in my head and I only hope I learned something from the experience. cheers RJ …