Last year my friends and I purchased a 2 for 1 deal at Wild Marsh. Problem was, the week before we were to play there I went out and used my Common Man card to play the course. The greens were destroyed. A stretch of hot weather had stressed the greens and they had died off magnificently. It was truly awful. See here.
Anyways the course was understanding of our not wanting to play under those conditions and agreed to extend our 2 for 1 offer into this year. We went out to take them up on the offer.
The good news is that the course has recovered well and the greens are back to normal. The course was actually having a grand re-opening this weekend to celebrate the greens being back. The bad news? Rain. Heavy rain.
We teed off on hole 1 in a heavy downpour. There were 8 of us and I played in the second group with Michael, Keith, and Tom. We actually waited on the first tee for it to let up about 20 minutes because it was just absolutely dumping rain.
The first hole, Chung teeing off on the par 4 367 yard hole. If you don't mind the rain a beautiful way to start the day!
The tee on hole 2. 394 yard par 4 with the first forced carry on the course.
Once past the carry, the hole doglegs right.
The green is to the right of a hill and is narrow but long.
The tee shot on the par 4 dogleg right hole 3. This hole is 324 yards and has a great second shot.
Vigen teeing it up on the 144 yard par 3 4th.
Keith on the 397 yard par 4 5th. This hole doglegs left. Hitting right
The approach to the green.
On the right side of the green, deep bunkering guards pins placed on this side.
One of the signature holes on the course, the 6th hole 323 yard par 4. Another forced carry to a fairway that runs uphill the entire way to the green. Fairway bunkers make the tee shot harder still.
The bridge across the carry on hole 6.
Tom talking the walk up the fairway on 6.
The 7th tee. The other signature hole. This one is a dogleg left around a lake. It is a par 5 at 547 yards. A true 3 shot hole, as going for it in 2 is really not worth the risk. I think I mentioned it before but the 1st tee is just right of the trees on the right side of the fairway. A real dangerous set up on this hole.
A look at the fairway as it curves around the lake.
The 3rd shot must carry water to the green.
Vigen playing it close to the lake on his third shot.
The par 3 8th at 134 yards. A large green with bunkering surrounding the green.
The 9th hole is a 338 yard par 4. A blind shot up over the hill off the tee. Left is bad (OB). Right can be bad too as if you miss the fairway your ball may fall down the hill there onto the 7th hole.
Keith hitting his second on 9.
A large green which is protected by several large bunkers.
At the turn it looked like the rain was finally about done. We were warned that we were 20 minutes behind our other group by the starter as we made the turn. Never mind there was no one behind us. We told them we waited out the rain and fell behind. The starter didn't care and Keith got his dander up.
The 10th is a wide open hole. It is really hard to not find some open shot off the tee. It might not be fairway but it should be open to the green. It is a longer hole at 400 yards to an elevated green.
A large fairway bunker left collects a lot of balls off the tee I am sure.
The 11th hole, a 277 yard par 4. It is a severe dogleg left with a forced carry. Not sure what the intended play here is. I have played this hole too short (not making the carry) and too long (nearly hitting the retaining wall). A series of bunkers just long of the fairway shows you want to land in the fairway. A yardage book or GPS device would be nice here.
Once you turn the corner you face a deep but narrow green. Here is a look back down the hole.
Tom tees off on the 370 yard par 4 12th. Another forced carry on another dogleg left.
The second shot is to an uphill green that is very deep.
The unlucky hole 13. A tough 199 yard par 3 with death left.
I found the bunkers to the left of the green here.
Tom teeing off again, this time on the 348 yard par 4 hole 14. This hole feels very tight. The left side is all dead again.
As you can see by the following pic, even if you don't go into the trees, left cuts off the approach to all but the right of the green.
The 15th hole. A 359 yard par 4 that doglegs left. I always cut as much off this hole as possible. You can get within 50 yards with a well struck drive.
Past the dogleg, the green is protected right. You can see my ball ahead about 60 yard short of the green.
The par 3 16th at 140 yards. Hit the green and it is not much of a problem. Miss the green and you will find lots of trouble.
Teeing off on the 502 yard par 5 17th. This is a 2 shot hole. Making birdies or an eagle is possible when playing to this downhill green.
Keith about to crunch his drive on 17.
The approach to the downhill green. Rolling it up on the green is possible as bunkering on either side offers a fairly wide runway.
The tee on 18. The most wide open hole on the course. 469 yards of wide open driver smacking space.
Except for Vigen...
The approach to the contoured and well protected elevated green.
Starting off the round cold and wet I just couldn't get my swing going until the back side. I am not sure what I shot on each side but I remember the back was noticeably better by at least 5 strokes. I ended up shooting a 90.
All in all not a bad round. For half price, can;t beat that. I have 4 more rounds to get in here with my Common Man card. Looking very much forward to that now that the greens are back. I just wish the course wasn't out in Buffalo. Man, what a hike that is for me.
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