Playing Highland 9-hole

Tuesday I was able to get in a round after work with my Dad and my co-worker Mark at the Highland 9 hole course in south St Paul.  The nine hole course is part of the ST Paul city courses and sits across the street from the refurbished Highland National course.

The nine hole is a fun one to play.  There a lot of unique holes.  The main difficulty on the course are the trees.  There is no water hazards and only a few green side bunkers.

The course plays at 2791 yards from the back tees.  It is a par 35, with 2 par 3s, one par 5, and 6 par 4s.

The first hole is a 467 yard par 5 which plays as a true par 5 not because of distance but due to the layout of the hole.  The hole is a right dog leg, well actually dogleg is not right, it is like a giant C.  You need to take on the hole in 200 yard increments.  An unusual but fun hole to start off with.

The second hole is a 167 yard, slightly uphill par 3.  Stay straight and avoid the bunkers on either side.

Hole 3 is a dead straight par 4 at 306 yards.  To the left is out of bounds, where the local high school's track complex is.  Hit to the right and you will be hard pressed to get out of the trees.

Hole 4 is a 371 yard dogleg left par 4. Around the corner two trees in the fairway make the hole visually interesting.

The fifth is another dog leg par 4 at 307 yards.  If you can cut the corner over the pine tree you can get close to the green.

The 6th is a distance control hole.  At 379 yards, to the top of the hill off the tee is about 200 yards to the center of the fairway.  From there it is 180-200 yards to the green on a dogleg right.  If you can hit the ball high enough you can cut off some distance but trees along the right make that a more difficult shot.

Hole 7 is the second par 3.  It plays to 160 yards.  Again a couple of greenside bunkers are the only danger.

Hole 8 is a dogleg right.  You can cut the corner over the bunker but need to watch out for the taller trees there.  Otherwise, 200 yards down the middle is a good play and leaves around 120 yards on this 318 yard par 4.

Hole 9 is a dogleg left at 317 yards.  Cutting the corner is not a good idea as most of the way on the left is heavily wooded.  A 240 yard shot just to the right of the left side trees is the best play on this hole.

The conditions on the course were "lush".  With the heavy rains we have had the rough was really quite long.  Not enough to truly be penal but long enough to want to stay out of.  The greens were generally in good shape , though not too fast with all of the rain.

I haven't played this course in a while.  I really think this is a fun course.  It is not for bombers but that is why I think it appeals.  It is a great course for practicing distance control.  Sure you can cut off a lot of distance if you try but that brings the danger of this course into play, all of the trees.  It seems to be a lot less busy than Highland National across the street.  That course suffers from a lot of slow play.  For a quick round after work this course is a fun alternative. 

I played a round of 40.  I had 2 doubles on holes where I got into the trees and another hole with a bogey.