Shawneeki's Closer: Slow Greens and Uninspired Layout

Course: Shawneeki Golf Club

Date: Thursday, 30^th June, 2008

Weather: Hot and humid, with a prolonged rain shower, 25C.

Tees used: Blue (6307 yards) Rating 70.0 Slope 130

Score Shot: 84 – not a good day at the office!

Tee time intervals: 9 minutes

Time taken: 3 hours, 45 minutes

The Course

Shawneeki's 13th

Quality of service:

The people in the pro shop and clubhouse were very friendly so I’ve no complaints at all. Actually, the course was very quiet (a sign of the times?) and I didn’t see a beverage cart all day.

Goat Track or Weekend in Paradise:

While I hesitate to call it a goat track, Shawneeki certainly would never be my idea of a weekend in paradise. There’s little or no variety and I can’t think of a good risk/reward hole at all.

How the rock rolls:

The rock rolls slowly at Shawneeki, at least it did on the day I was there. The surfaces were very patchy but the ball rolled quite smoothly – I just couldn’t hit it hard enough to reach the hole.

The 15th at Shawneeki

Conditioning:

Average and mediocre were the words that kept springing to mind as I played Shawneeki. There’s nothing drastically wrong, but there’s nothing worth writing home about either. Maybe it’s because of the wet weather that the fairways seemed a little long and the first cut a little deeper than I expected. While it’s nothing to affect play, the edges of the bunkers weren’t cut sharply – the whole place just looked a bit untidy.

Making the Cut:

I find it hard to get excited about Shawneeki. While there are no real Mickey Mouse holes, there’s nothing memorable either. I don’t want to be overly critical of a relatively low budget golf course, but I found it quite boring. I was unable to find any online information about the course architect, so I presume it wasn’t a well known name in golfing circles.

Shawneeki's opener

Hacker’s Highlights:

Maybe in an effort to put some variety into the golf course, there is a very unusual change being made to the 15^th hole. A large man made pond has been constructed in the middle of the fairway about 240 yards from the Blue tee blocks and about 215 from the Whites. While Bubba Watson might be able to make the 300 yard carry to the other side, mere mortals are forced to lay up and hit an approach shot from around 175 yards. There is a tiny sliver of fairway on either side of the pond, so I suppose the more adventurous among us could still take their chances with a driver!

They’re also making changes to the last hole, but this time slightly more conventional and more pleasing to the eye. The hole is a slight dogleg to the left and a well positioned tee shot is required to leave a short iron approach over water to a new slightly undulating green surrounded by grass mounds. Saving the best for last?

Hit To Your Pocketbook:

I paid 57 dollars to walk. It’s an easy walk, with no major elevation changes and no long hikes between greens and tees.

Hacking Away: 70%

Shawneeki currently isn’t worth any more than 40 bucks of this hacker’s money.

(Final rating is an indication of what the course is worth versus the green fee charged. According to the Hacker, a poor course could be worth less than the green fee charged, while a strong course that offers value might actually be underpriced.)

Upper Canada: Great Value near Ottawa/Montreal

The Details: Upper Canada Golf course (Morrisburg, Ontario)

Date: July 30, 2008

Weather: Overcast and calm.

Green Fees: $38.00 regular $43 weekends, reduced rates of $40.10 with cart Mon to Wed.

Tees used: Blue, 6922 yards.

Score shot: 75.

The Course

Upper Canada Golf course is located about 75 minutes from downtown Ottawa. I took advantage of their Monday to Wednesday Cart and Golf special, and at the $40.10 rate it seemed reasonable to drive out from Ottawa.
The course, an 18-hole facility is located in the St Lawrence Park, just outside historic Morrisburg, Ontario. A quaint clubhouse greets you as you drive in. The course developed in 1966 and designed by Architect Robbie Robinson, is a parkland layout that is quite tight off the tee. Early for my tee time, I made my way to a functional grass range and hit a few balls to warm up.
As I made my way to the first tee, I was greeted by the starter, where I was asked to join a pair of gentlemen from Montreal. Upper Canada is only an hour from both Montreal and Ottawa. The first hole a 380 yard par 4 looks so narrow that I wisely used a hybrid off the tee to avoid trouble that lurks on both sides of the fairway, once you are halfway up the hole you realize that a strait ball will be required for most of your round..
I saw the Marshal a few times through out the front nine, play was a bit slow with a small tournament out on the course in front of us. The beverage cart was out on the course with friendly staff.

Upper Canada's Sharp Shots

Goat Track or Weekend in Paradise? : Upper Canada Golf course is a well-designed tight golf course. It features a Championship length parkland style golf course with interesting holes that include tree lined fairways; the landing areas are fair from the tee, even though visually the holes seem tight. From the back tees, this course is an excellent test of golf. The course was a wet and played its full length, but it remained quite playable despite all the rain Ontario has received this July.
The inward nine plays through out a small forest and fairways are tree lined on both sides of most holes, the back nine includes quite a few holes along a large marsh so accuracy is key off the tee. I really enjoyed the 2nd a 503 yard par 5 and 14th a long 603 yard par 5 as well. The course also features a few short par threes (holes 3, 134 yards and 13 just 116 yards) that are just as demanding as the long holes.

How the Rock Rolls: Upper Canada has medium to large sized greens that require precise shots, the greens are very receptive. The speed was at 9 on the stimp, and they were in excellent condition. My only real complaint is that they use plastic cup liners in the holes and I hate them, because the can cause some nasty lip outs. The course is well marked and the yardages were bang on.

Conditioning: Tees and fairways were excellent condition despite being wet with all of the rain, however there are quite a few Canada geese on the course and they can leave quite a mess so watch were you walk!
Making the Cut: Upper Canada is an excellent golf course in excellent condition!!! My understanding is that pace of play can be slow on weekends with the narrow fairways playing tough. Pace of play for today was 4:45 minutes, for a foursome a bit long!
Overall Upper Canada is a must play in the Ottawa/ Montreal area.
Overall Value: At $38.00/43.00 a steal of a deal, but if you can take advantage of the Golf& Ride special this course is an ten out of ten value. Check out their web site @ www.uppercanadagolf.com, for more details.

Hacking Away value: 125%

Dragon's Fire #15

Course: Dragonsfire Golf Club, Carlisle ON

Date: June 6^th, 2008

Weather: A humid balmy 32deg, breezy

Green fees: $79

Tees used: Blues, Rating * 72.8, Slope 132, Yardage 6639

Score Shot: 98 (*t.b.d. by GAO)

Time taken: 4hours, 35 minutes

Dragon's Fire #4

The Course

The long awaited opening. Originally slated to possibly open either late last yr or by May of 2008 was scrapped with a June opening announced. We were excited to head out to unknown territories. Often you can play a course you’ve never played before, but one that no-one else has is a special treat (Or is it?). The website informs you that Bryan Decunha previously constructed Royal Ontario and is also a long time member of two prestigious GTA golf courses. With that in mind he wanted to meet his lifelong goal of…”building a ‘no compromise’ high end golf facility to cater to public golfers at all levels, at a reasonable price”. We’ll see how close he did, or did not come.

Goat Track or Weekend in Paradise?: Well the first impression was not great as the site map is not very detailed, nor are there directions. Click on link for a detailed map and you receive a course in Negaunee Michigan? A phone call to the friendly and helpful pro shop attendant and we were guided to the front gates. That is where we were met with quite a sight. The front gates were almost completely blocked by construction equipment and workers. We had to wait for exiting vehicles to make it thru the single small opening. We parked next a tent that is used for eating (eating what? I am not sure, get to that later). Immediately upon exiting our vehicle a friendly young man pulled up in a shuttle and offered to drive us down to the temporary proshop. He was considerate in not rushing us and allowing us to grab our things, put on shoes etc. At the proshop we discovered the price for ‘newness’. $79 for green fee. With my constant rough price point target of $75 and under (no small feat in the GTA) I had thought I squeaked under at $74 on website. Alas taxes are added and come close to $79. Walkable but in hot conditions we quickly found out sharing a cart was $40. Hmm? A little pricey for area and conditions so far but lets hit the practice facilities. We are informed politely (darn if those staff are all so happy) it is $9 for that. Saving our few remaining dollars for an icy cold beer on this very high temp day (40 with humidex) we decided to putt and chip. How new? How ready is this course? This was the chipping green area.

Hole one was a very easy par 4 and was the only fairway on the course with good turf. Not quite lush, but I did manage to hit my approach shot fat with a soft muddy splat. It was not representative of the hard pan fairways to come. Take a look below though at the tee blocks. With 6, count em 6 tee blocks ranging from the reds at 5075 yards to the blacks at 7212 you can choose your poison. Well let me clarify, you have some choice. To ensure speed of play the blacks are limited to single digit handicappers and must have proshop approval before round.

It was on the first hole we discovered something that would be the forbearer of doom for us. The greens. A gentleman in my group was first to putt facing a 15 ft downhill putt. The ball went 5 feet. Shocked at how slow it was, he was still away. Another stroke, he was still 3 feet away. The greens alone were a sign this course should not be open. We were forced even on short putts to ‘slap’ at the ball. There was no skill involved, just whack it. Pull your hair out….frustrating!

The first hole that stood out was the 5^th . This par 4 according to the scorecard was the toughest handicap. Based on the photo below you can see what we saw, not much extraordinary. What was hidden to all but the course designer was behind the row of trees on right side of fairway. These we clearly saw must be faded around or cleared over. We all succeeded only to find as we moved onto fairway that an open space beyond those initial trees had another grouping of trees jutting out on right. So our nicely played tee shots around first grouping had landed in or just behind the next. Scorecards do not show this so we grumbled our way onto and off this hole.

At this point the heat and humidity had taken its toll. We had previously waved away the cart girl and now we welcomed her. An icy cold beer is a Canadian golfer’s reward on a day like this. We asked for the pricing and varieties and she answered “I’m not sure what they carry”. Huh?..we were then informed the course did not take the appropriate steps to obtain a liquor license. Even with all the delays in opening this was not done. Sigh. At least the under construction patio looks nice with high backed Adirondack chairs. The 9^th was a pretty little par 3 over water. A double check on food, beverage and alcohol at a little hut determined chips and water were as exotic as it got. Take note though of the cool touches on course identification below.

It was on the back we discovered a Jekyll and Hyde complex.

Hole 13 (i.e. Mr. Hyde) is an uphill 600 yard (blues) par 5. Yikes! Your tee shot is mainly blind as you hit over a hill with only the scorecard to give you and idea of where to hit. Our grouping hit a few nice drives only to have found trouble. Friendly Dr. Jekyll comes into play on the following 15^th hole which is a downhill par 4 of only 292 yards. Guarded by sand on front right but otherwise you can be on or close in 1 shot. After a kick in the pants on 13 and a nice hug on 15, you then face the 16^th. Another blind tee shot par 5, this time 544 yards and once again mostly uphill.

Dragon's Fire #2

The finish was at least well thought out. The 17^th is a par 3 of 149 yards that almost plays as an island green. The green itself shoots out from the hill on left, moving out to the right with water in front, on right side and behind. The target looks awfully small from tee blocks but is wider than it looks. (See below)

The par 5 finishing hole is 500 yards shaped like a banana. Water and sand along your right, a fade is the shot of choice. For a draw player like myself, you had better have confidence in aiming out over the water to hit the fairway. Reasonable long hitters can hit green in two, avg players should still have a fair task of obtaining par.

In summary, the course owner has been quoted as saying he wanted to build a course for the average masses. He did not want to overly penalize. If kept in play the avg golfer stands a chance of scoring well. However I am not exactly sure where blind uphill 500+ par 5’s fit into that? We did all find the rough overly penal. Any ball just barely off the fairway was often impossible to find (Even better players need to bring extra ammo). Two funny things: #1. I had one of my best ball striking days yet due to balls rolling off fairway I added a dozen strokes to my typical score. #2. I found on average two balls per look in rough, but sadly they were never mine. A sign of what the golfers before me experienced.
How the Rock Rolls: The course opened with greens that are below acceptable for now and likely this entire season. Have you ever played a course where you came upon an unexpected temporary green with a flag stuck in middle of fairway? That is the putting equivalent of every single green at Dragons Fire.
Conditioning: As mentioned in beginning the conditions are not great. Not just the greens but many fairways are hard pan and need more conditioning. I will acknowledge the exceptional sand. Blinding white and as soft as talcum powder.
Making the Cut: At essentially $100 for green fee and cart you are bringing an awful lot of other courses into the equation. Nearby crosswinds is in exactly the same price range and offers superior conditions for the same price. Many area courses are half to 2/3rds the price. This area of Burlington/Oakville features an above average income base who will readily pay a premium for quality conditions and facilities. I honestly feel had this course advertised the below grade conditions at half the price for this entire season, they would attract a lot of golfers who would return the good will by giving the course another chance next season. For this golfer (include my playing partner and the two strangers paired with) we felt it unacceptable to have paid the price we did. It is quite clear an influx of income was needed rather than waiting until the course deserved the price charged, or reducing price to match the conditions. Abysmal greens, ok conditions, no liquor license, under construction food and patio facilities do not deserve full pop.
Hacker’s Highlights: The consistently friendly staff is all I can highlight.
Hit To Your Pocketbook:
Walking $79, power carts $40 extra per two-some.

Hacking Away: 50%
At half the price it might have matched up with the rushed conditions.

Course: The Meadows Golf and Country Club
Date: Thursday July 17^th, 2008

Weather: Sunny 19C (Start) 27C (Finish)

Tees used: White (East-South 5976 yards) Rating 68.6 Slope 111

Green Fees: $39.00(tax included) Monday to Thursday. $42 Friday, Sat./Sun. & Holidays

Score Shot: 89

Tee time intervals: 8 minutes

Time taken: 4 hours

The Course

Well the Hacker finally was able to get out to the Meadows Golf and Country Club after starting off his spring golf season earlier this year and all I can say is you couldn’t ask for better summer conditions right now. We’ve received alot of rain in the Ottawa area lately and the course is quite lush. So staying out of the rough is a must for lower scores. The young lad in the proshop was quite helpful and informed me I would be playing the East/South combination of the course. On the South course they were redesigning 3 holes (#3, #4, #5) but only #3(Par 5 -460yds (W)) would be affected today with a large pile of dirt on the fairway (Local rule (stated on a board placed by the course) says if you hit the pile of dirt, free drop in the drop area (painted circle in the middle of the fairway) at the 100. The scoop about the work, I found out later, was that there have been some complaints from residents living near the south course about errant golf balls. The three holes will be reconfigured from #3 par 5 460 (W) to a par 4. The shorter fairway will allow for a relocated #4 tee box with a 150 yd shot to a green over water (formerly 105 yds with only a peek at the water on the right). #5 will be lengthened to make it a par 5, from the current par 4 – 410 (W). The changes should be completed later this year and all current greens will be in play.

I didn’t use the practice area that Meadows provides, but have on other occasions and it is great. Every club in the bag can be used at the range plus they have a nice little chipping and sand trap area for those finesse shots. They also have three practice putting greens so there’s no excuse to say you couldn’t warm up.

Meadows 4th Green -- South Course

Goat Track or Weekend in Paradise?

Meadows is a great little track with a variety of holes for all skill levels of golfers in mind. If your driver is off the day you’re playing you can still get away with hitting 3 wood or hybrid off the tee. With 4 distinct sets of 9s you could literally play a different combo everyday of the week with 4 sets of tee boxes as well. So keeping it fresh is no problem.

How the Rock Rolls:

Depending on where they put the pins putting can be real tricky at the Meadows. I played in the morning so the greens took awhile to dry out but once they did beware of some tricky fast putts. Try to be below the hole on most if not all greens. I didn’t hit alot of GIR the day I played but good scores can still be had with a good short game (Thank you Mr. Vokey).

Conditioning:

The conditions at the Meadows were quite lush as I said before we’ve had a lot of rain in the Ottawa area so things were nice and green. The greens crew does a great job as all the greens were in great condition just be careful they won’t be as fast in the morning with the dew. The rough was at about 2 inches and was quite lush so sometimes hacking out was your best bet. For a $39 green fee you couldn’t ask for better conditions.

Making the Cut:

Meadows is a nice course that can be walked with no problem. Yes it’s flat but with the variety of holes (short par 3s, long par 4s, short par 5s, etc.) and the addition of water and bunkers here and there can be fun for just about any level of hacker.

Hacker’s Highlights:

The 6^th hole on the East course is a fun little hole it’s not long at 325yd from the white tees but with water all down the right side it is a little intimidating so driver might not be the best option for most here. I hit my 21 degree hybrid down to about the 100 yd marker and just had a nice gap wedge into the green. Thank you very much. Par.

Another fun hole is on the South course #4 a short par 3 . Depending on the wind can be anywhere from a 8 iron to a sand wedge. Your playing with water on the right side so those holes regardless of length are always fun and you never know when a birdie might be close by.

South #9 the finishing hole is a short par 5 from the white tees that can yield a few birdies or even an eagle. It’s a pretty wide open tee shot so let it rip towards the clubhouse and hope for the best and a birdie could be yours.

Hit To Your Pocketbook:
Monday to Thursday you can play Meadows for $36 tax in walking. Friday to Sunday it’s $42. A great value for the variety Meadows offers.

Hacking Away: 130%