AndyP
28th July 2008, 04:43 PM
Here's a quick review on Colonial (formerly Paradise Springs) in the lead up to the Champs (assuming the first round will be played there). For those that have played it, throw some comments in here.
I played it wet yesterday, so it played a bit longer than usual for me (although courses are rarely short for me). We were hitting off the blue tees (ACR 72).
Although quite often the hazards from the tee didn't come into play, in the dry they most likely will, and already would for the longer hitters. I found the fairways quite wide, and the rough not really punishing, but for the big misses comes the punishment. Especially the water that runs along most holes.
The greens were very challenging, with a couple of elephants buried and several times there seemed to be multiple breaks. Perhaps that was just the pin positions we got post Club Champs/Pennants, but I found the putting tough going. Not ridiculously hard like Pacific Harbour, but a good test. They were relatively large greens too.
From memory all of the greens had several bunkers, however I believe there is a safe miss on most approaches if you plan for it and back your short game.
Conditioning seemed fine, besides the slop which is common for all the courses in that area. One green was under repair, but besides that they were relatively fast and gave a good roll.
The meal prices seemed reasonable too. I can't comment on drink prices, as it was loser's shout, however I do know that the UDLs were $10 with the new taxes. I believe they have the BBQ up and running on the Saturdays, which was given a wrap by poidda, kpac and g69, so we may be able to take advantage of that for a pre-round feed?
I wouldn't pay full rack rate for the place, and it's not up there with other "resort" courses around the place, but I think it's a good course to start the Champs.
I played it wet yesterday, so it played a bit longer than usual for me (although courses are rarely short for me). We were hitting off the blue tees (ACR 72).
Although quite often the hazards from the tee didn't come into play, in the dry they most likely will, and already would for the longer hitters. I found the fairways quite wide, and the rough not really punishing, but for the big misses comes the punishment. Especially the water that runs along most holes.
The greens were very challenging, with a couple of elephants buried and several times there seemed to be multiple breaks. Perhaps that was just the pin positions we got post Club Champs/Pennants, but I found the putting tough going. Not ridiculously hard like Pacific Harbour, but a good test. They were relatively large greens too.
From memory all of the greens had several bunkers, however I believe there is a safe miss on most approaches if you plan for it and back your short game.
Conditioning seemed fine, besides the slop which is common for all the courses in that area. One green was under repair, but besides that they were relatively fast and gave a good roll.
The meal prices seemed reasonable too. I can't comment on drink prices, as it was loser's shout, however I do know that the UDLs were $10 with the new taxes. I believe they have the BBQ up and running on the Saturdays, which was given a wrap by poidda, kpac and g69, so we may be able to take advantage of that for a pre-round feed?
I wouldn't pay full rack rate for the place, and it's not up there with other "resort" courses around the place, but I think it's a good course to start the Champs.