It’s not lucky. It is by design that I live next to a golf course. I live near the 8th and 9th holes, about a five minute walk from the clubhouse and the first tee. I have a good relationship with the course, having been a very active player there, and president of the men’s league for seven really long years.
River Oaks 10th Hole Tee View
Tonight I brought out my big hexacopter (drone with six propellers) and did some photos of a few holes. The hexacopter is equipped with a mirror-less camera and a prime wide angle lens. It’s my gamer for photography and video from the air.
With the evening light I was able to capture a few very nice shots of some of the holes. The first photo above is the very tight and tough 10th hole. The black tee is at the bottom of the frame and you can see that the tee shot must be extremely accurate or it is adios white spheroid.
River Oaks 10th Hole Green View
Above you can see the 10th hole from behind the green. You pretty much can’t miss left or right on this hole, as is the case for just about every hole on this course. Bring your tee shot A-game here.
I’ve added six nice shots to the River Oaks photo gallery here. Enjoy.
Yesterday I took the HOG World Tour to play one of the few Utah golf courses I have not played, Canyons Golf Club in Park City, Utah. Canyons Golf is part of the Canyons Ski resort.
Many of the holes are on ski runs, which reminded me of some of the golf in northern Michigan where in the winter it is skiing and the summer it’s golf. The reverse is true of Michigan ski/golf. The skiing in northern Michigan sucks, but the golf is fantastic. Here at the Canyons it is the skiing which is far better than the golf.
There were a couple of decent holes, but overall I’d rate this course poorly. There is a lot of Mickey Mouse design and crowbarring them in to fit in awkward spaces, like the 2nd hole below.
I did have a few fun shots, like the tee shot on the 4th hole, where the drop is so huge I carried my driver 355 yards. Then there’s a par-5 on the back which is drive-able because the drop is so severe. I’m not kidding.
I may post a full review in the winter, when it is ski season. Otherwise if you are considering golf in Utah, Canyons would be one of the last places I’d recommend, especially for their asking price of about $100/round.
Related
Canyons Golf Course photo gallery
Yesterday was a tremendous day. I had the pleasure of taking the HOG World Tour to Utah’s Red Ledges golf club, a Jack Nicklaus signature design. Red Ledges is located in Heber, Utah.
Heber is a quiet town near to dozens of summer and winter activities. Heber is very close to Deer Valley and Park City ski resorts, national forest land, and Jordanelle Reservoir which is a haven for boating and water sports.
My round was very fun and challenging. I was aided by caddie John, who was very good. Whenever I executed the shot, hitting the landing area he suggested, good things happened!
It will take me a while to process all the photos and write my review. Plus I plan to return to review their par-3 course. So stay tuned for my full Red Ledges Golf Course review soon.
I’ve played some competitive golf here in Utah and even won two club championships. That number should have been three, but unfortunately I had a strange situation where in one club championship I shot the lowest solo score of the day but still lost. By winning a club championship players are allowed to compete in the Utah Golf Association Tournament of Champions, which was extremely fun and challenging. That event is full of Utah golf tournament winners and club champions from courses all over the state. Playing with other competitors of such a high skill level was thrilling and I hope to do it again. All I have to do is win another club championship. Mark it down.
Meadowbrook Golf Course Aerial – click for more
Handicap
My larger state tournament resume is pretty small, partly because I’ve been in somewhat of a handicap “no man’s land” zone at a two-handicap for most of the past few years. Being a two handicap puts one into the “championship flight,” playing gross against players whose handicaps range from my range to the plus threes and fours. In other words, players who typically shoot three or four under par. Some are even scholarship players at BYU, the University of Utah or other smaller schools. That four-under score might be typical for one of those college players, a.k.a. flat-bellies, but that’s the best score I’ve ever shot (68), and I only did that once. A two isn’t going to beat a plus-player very often, especially in the pressure of a tournament situation and tournament setup.
The other aspect to consider is net tournaments. I’ll beat a 10-15 handicap player gross every day of the week, but when we are talking about net tournaments I almost don’t have a chance. Plus, as sad as it is to say, many of those 10’s are really 3’s. So net competitions are seldom an option for me, a low single digit.
Salt Lake City Amateur
I have played in the Salt Lake City Amateur many times, and some other bigger state tournaments. Best finish in the Salt Lake Amateur was 2nd, and I’m very proud of that. The last couple of years I have not done terribly well because of lack of playing and the handicap creeping up.
This past year’s amateur was a bit frustrating. I was actually hitting the ball very well, but had some control problems with my irons. The irons were very inconsistent distance-wise, and in some cases I was hitting shots 30-40 yards long. It turned out the new irons I was playing were very strong in the lofts, so clubs like 7-iron were playing more like a 5-iron. It’s nice to work these things out in a tournament.
Utah Open?
One tournament I’m thinking of competing in this coming year is the Siegfried and Jensen Utah Open. The tournament is held at Riverside Country Club in Provo, Utah, a course I have yet to play. The format is a four day gross with a cut after the 2nd day. Last year’s cut was three-over-par.
Being an “Open” means pros compete in it. Amateurs compete in it as well, though if they take cash prize money they would have to turn pro to claim it. The first prize for professionals is typically $20,000 and usually the winning score is typically well into double-digits-under-par. Last year’s event was won by amateur Patrick Fishburn who carded TWO 63’s en route to a final score of 26 under par. Unreal. That was nine shots better than the next competitor, the winner of the pro division! Low pro was Zahkai Brown who was also the 2016 Champion. Zahkai came in at 17-under-par, one shot ahead of PGA Tour pro Zach Blair.
Tough competition. Why play in it? I know I would likely miss the cut. The benefit to playing would simply be the experience of the event, but with a $200 entry fee that experience comes with a price tag. That’s why I haven’t pulled the trigger on playing in the event, yet.
Local Men’s Associations
I’ve been in four different men’s associations on and off over the years, Meadowbrook (photo), Bonneville, River Oaks, and Mountain View. I’ve enjoyed those very much. This coming year I plan to compete in two leagues, River Oaks and Bonneville. My two club championships are at River Oaks. Perhaps 2018 will be my third.
I must make a shout out to Utah’s Impact Golf Center and my buddy Jordan there. They’ve helped me quite a bit with club testing, club fixing, club maintenance, re-grips, and golf simulator/launch monitor time. I often get clubs in for review which aren’t setup right for me, or need different grips because of my tennis elbow etc. They’re great with helping me get setup to do my reviews.
In my last trip I did some sim time with Jordan who was helping to determine a shaft for the new Cobra driver which recently came in for review. Often times stock shafts are not, shall we say, consistent. I found a good shaft for my dual chicken with granny over the top swing and will be attempting to get a demo for my review. Once I had that Cobra setup right my accuracy and spin rates really dialed in.
Above are some swings with a bunch of different shafts as seen on the simulator. Strangely, I never went left. Always right or straight. That’s not the way it is on the course for me. I’d love to be that consistent and be able to ignore one side knowing it isn’t in play. Unfortunately I also learned that my swing speed is not what it used to be. Average 96mph and maxed at 99 once. I’ve lost 5mph in the last year or so.
I also had the shop take a look at my old Hogan Apex Edge Pro irons. They checked the lofts. I had to put those back in play because right now I can’t hit the Miura baby blades.
If you’re in northern Utah and need some work done on your golf gear, or need new gear, check out Impact Golf Center. In the winter they have simulators for those of us who need to play any kind of golf we can when we are buried in five feet of snow.
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