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| - I have always heard about what a nice course The Oaks is. It was finally time to see what the buzz was about, and I was not disappointed.
I showed up a bit early to get settled in and hit a few balls at the range. The practice green was big, but what I was really impressed with was how it reflected the actual greens you would be hitting later in the round. Some practice greens are generic flat spaces with a few holes to putt at. This one had some big slopes and interesting hole placements - exactly what you'll be dealing with later in your round. Nice The range was great too. Many ranges are just deep/wide green spaces with yardage markers and a few flags. This one was basically a cut fairway with various hole-type targets around it. So, instead of hitting it out into a big green space, you could see if you were "on the fairway" or not. More places need to do this.
The clubhouse is clean and the folks are friendly. While the pro shop isn't huge, it has exactly what you need. No complaints here.
The course itself is great. Unlike standard courses that have 2 par 3 and par 5 holes on each nine holes, The Oaks has 6 par 3 holes and 5 par 5s, with just 7 par 4 challenges for your round of 18. We played the blue tees which made things even more interesting. The course plays very well - everything is well cared for and the greens are pretty immaculate. The fairways are often wide and receptive to your tee shots, but well-placed bunkers and challenging rough will have you thinking about that drive. Hole layouts vary to add character to the course - it's not a bunch of straight-shooting par 4's that get boring. Sometimes you have to layup, sometimes you have to "go for it". The bunkers play well - the sand is nice and consistent to hit out of. It rained pretty hard the night before, so we had to deal with some wet sand and standing water, but that's not unusual.
This is the type of course that gets better the more you play it. Being my first time out, I didn't quite know where my ball would go - judging distances by eye was difficult, so use the GPS in the golf cart to see yardages to the various targets/hazards. For example, I believe it's hole #9 - a par 5 that doglegs right, then back to the left. There's a fairway marker that you can see from the tee - but it shows you the left edge, not the center. I had a great drive right at the stake, but found out as I got up there, that I was out of play left of the fairway. Oops! Next time I'll play that hole better, but it cost me a stroke for not knowing better. I should have studied the GPS map better before teeing off...
I will definitely have to return to this course to prove to myself I can do better. I shot well enough for my first time there, but with the knowledge I gained during that round, I'm excited to see how the next round will go!
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