Photo from the Greystone website.

After making our requisite deposits in the donation boxes they call slot machines at the Las Vegas airport, we were on our way to Nashville. Surprisingly, I didn’t get that much sleep on the flight. Greg won’t go see “chick flicks” with me, but as a captive audience in an airplane, he watched the ro-co they showed – Failure to Launch – and I wanted to watch it with him. Mildly entertaining for both of us. I caught him enjoying it a few times, which was good.

I booked us at the downtown Hilton Suites, right by music row in case we got the chance to get out and enjoy some nightlife. We didn’t, but it was nice to be back in a “real” hotel. We arrived late and pretty much went straight to bed. We had a friendlier 10:00 tee time the next day, figuring we’d need the rest by now, and boy were we right.

Our sixth straight day of golf (well, mine at least) at our sixth course was at Greystone Golf Club in Dickson, TN. We tried to pick the nicest course we could find within a reasonable driving distance. We chose well. We didn’t want to get all the way to Tennessee just to play some $10 dog run, which were the majority of courses we were finding in our search. We found Greystone at about $40 and thought it must be top-of-the-line. We were right. I guess everything out there is affordable compared to southern California. Even at Greystone, one of Tennessee’s premier courses, you can get an unlimited-play ANNUAL pass for $1000! At the premier public course in my area, the same deal is $4500.

Getting there

I had my handy dandy Google Map to help us make the 45 minute drive out to the golf course. I should have thrown it out the window. There are just way too many “70 S” roads out there. Bear right on 70 S W (0.2 mi), continue on 70 S (1.6 mi), bear left on US 70 (no S on that one)… etc. WTF. It turned into over an hour drive after calling the course a couple times and trying to figure out where the hell we were. Here’s a tip: if you’re traveling west on the 40, just follow the sign on the billboard when it tells you to exit for Dickson. I’m pretty sure it’ll turn into the correct 70 and take you right where you want to go. But don’t call me if you get lost.

The weather

I was worried about the heat we’d find in the desert, playing in Primm, Mesquite and St. George. I bought us a couple of those spray bottles with fans in preparation for the misery, but with some luck and early tee times, we didn’t really need them at those courses. The temperature in Dickson was supposed to be about 75, and even though I knew it would be humid, I thought it would still be pretty comfortable. Not for this So-Cal chick! And we didn’t even bring the stupid bottles! I thought the humidity was oppressive and it came with plenty of bugs. Eww… bugs. I overcame it to enjoy the round, but was still distracted on a few putts by the little flying gnatty things. At least there was nothing big enough to cause me to do my infamous “bug dance.” But I digress…

Back to the course

It was a Thursday and pretty quiet at Greystone. We checked in and received a warm and friendly welcome. I just looooove the southern accent. Then we went to the range, which was nice and big and allowed us to test-pilot the Tennessee grass. After warming up, we went back inside to get some refreshments to take out on the course with us. The girl behind the counter was sweet with a precious accent, but seemed to be a little more focused on her modeling and/or acting future (based on her conversation with the cute young groundskeeper in there flirting with her) than on our transaction. After telling us about the $5 deposit for the cooler-bag, she neglected to charge us for it. We were going to mess with her when we returned it and ask for our $5 back but we didn’t have the heart.

I chose to play from the white tees (6002 yards) because the yellows were only 4919 and I felt like using my driver a little more. Greg chose the blues (6426) over the blacks (6858). The course was pretty friendly, though still challenging. It’s right next to a quarry – perhaps a grey stone quarry? – so a couple of the holes are a tad noisy but not too disturbing. They made great use out of all that stone and the course is nicely decorated and strategically challenging because of it. Not only is the course lush and green and unexpectedly scenic, there are some really neat golf holes. Like #12, for example. It’s a par 5 (458 from the whites, 495 from the blues) and there are big rocks right in the middle of the fairway.

The par-5 #12 hole. Play this hole once and you’ll know what to do the next time. Here’s a good angle of the green that might be useful on your first time out. I guess I was too hot to remember to take the right photos, so this is another one from the Greystone website (nice site, btw).
Great, bathroom photos are starting to become my trademark. I didn’t use this one, but look how cute it is! And check out the grey stone.

Much of the course is fairly wide-open, but you still have to make some shots. There’s plenty of trouble to be found if you’re looking. The rough wasn’t too treacherous but it was long in places which makes finding your ball a bit difficult. The fairways, greens and even the bunkers were in great condition. I wound up in one un-filled divot on a fairway, but it looked like most of the golfers out there are courteous and repair their own damage on the fairways and greens. Either that or the groundskeeping staff really stays on top of it.

The par-3 #16 hole. Yes, there’s a little water in front of that fine display of grey stone.

Looking back on #2 from the third tee box. The natural beauty of Tennessee is enhanced by this first-class golf course.

Results, please

Like I said, it wasn’t very busy and we got through our round in 3 hours 45 minutes. I played a pretty steady round but still had one blow-up hole. I hit 6 out of 14 fairways but only 2 greens. I had one sand save (double sandie, actually – hit the fairway bunker AND the greenside bunker) and a total of 29 putts (vs. 47 the day before!) and carded a 93 for the round.

I was disappointed to find out that the only tees rated for women are the yellows, so my round was unpostable. When I called later to ask if they had a women’s rating from the white tees since it wasn’t on the card, they seemed confused: “You played the wattes?” You’d think it had never been done before. I submitted all the information to my handicap chairman to see if he could make sense out of it or if he wanted to post it with estimated ratings but he just tossed it out. I guess it was the ratt thang tuh dew.

Say it out loud in your best southern accent: Naiow thayat’s a purty gawlf hole.

Even though what goes on in this outbuilding probably isn’t pleasant, I liked the way it looked.

Overall, I was surprised by how much I liked this course. I can see why the PGA has used it in Q-school rounds and other prestigious tournaments are held there. The finishing hole is a beauty that leaves you with a great parting image and reason to return. I doubt I’ll ever make it back to Dickson, but if I do, I’ll be playing that course again.

Next post.

On the fifth day of this golf marathon, we had a 5:20 A.M. tee-time at Falcon Ridge. That’s right – 5:20 A.M.! Why would we do this to ourselves after four days of four different courses, travel and gambling? Not just to beat the heat, which was the main reason for our other early tee-times. This time, after the round, we had to drive to Las Vegas to catch a flight to our next destination. However, for reasons I won’t get into here (feel free to let your imagination fill in the blanks), I experienced Falcon Ridge by myself. Let me just say that even though I was in the swimming pool at 2:00 A.M., I still managed to get a couple hours sleep and made it to the course by 5:00. 😛

Falcon Ridge is right there in the “Virgin Valley”, so it was a quick 5 minute drive from The Eureka. After checking in, I thought I might hit a few balls to loosen up a bit. And that’s exactly what I did. I hit three balls into the net that is the practice area and decided I better save the rest of my swings for the 100+ it would probably take me to get through this round. I was running low on fuel.

Yes, that’s the practice area, and yes, that’s the moon up there.

After looking at the scorecard and seeing that the forward/gold tees were 4821 yards vs. the next set (silver) at 5976, I decided to make this as easy on myself as possible and went with the golds. While I was checking in, a couple of employees went out to play a round. Other than that, I was the first one out and they didn’t put me with anyone else. Just me and an unfamiliar course I had to figure out by myself. Not that I haven’t done that plenty of times on the road.The front nine went surprisingly well. With such short yardages, I left my driver in the bag all day and hit three wood off the tee. I hit three of the six fairways on the front and an amazing 6 greens in regulation. Even though my putting let me down (steady, now) and I had 22 putts in nine holes, I still carded a 42 on the front.

The par-3 #2 hole. Isn’t it lovely? I hit the green and 3-putted.

Hole #6: A grand view, for sure. I didn’t see any falcons. I’m not sure they know it’s their ridge.

Be careful driving on the paths around here. There are some pretty steep grades, so keep it in low gear. At the hole pictured above, they were punching the tee boxes and the markers were down so it was hard to tell where to go. I knew mine wouldn’t be at the top but I wanted to take a look. Yikes! The path had gravel all over it and while gently braking my way back down, I spun out and my cart did a 180. Scary! When I got to my tee box, I had to literally clear an area from all the punched turds to stand and tee up. Not surprisingly after all that, I hooked my teeshot into the trees just short of that brown patch beyond the shadow and couldn’t find my ball. I took a double.

The greens

There are some really big greens, with some tricky pin placements, but they’ve also got some friendly flat areas. I’d like another crack at them when my putting’s not so incredibly off. I thought my 22 putts on the front were bad. Then I had a shocking 25 on the back! *Interesting tid-bit: The only people out before me were employees and I found myself repairing their fresh ball marks. Tsk, tsk.* Other than that, they were in pretty good shape.

#10 hole: you can see the creek that cuts through the middle. You have to pick a fairway on one side or the other. I chose left and even though I didn’t hit it well, I got lucky and it bounced right over the rocks and into the fairway on the other side.

Speaking of the back nine, I had some trouble there aside from my putting. Course knowledge would have helped because there are some blind shots. They do have directional poles, and you really just have to trust them. I’m always skeptical of those because I know they’re primarily designed for landing areas for men hitting from the “men’s tees.” The yardages were deceptive at times, too.

#12: Great view, but watch that yardage. I hit three wood thinking I’d be safe towards the end of the fairway just right of the bunker. My shot looked perfect, but when I got down there I discovered it had bounced right through the fairway and into the water. Then I proceeded to drop there and “play it safe” to the left of the other water instead of going for the green. Splash! I took a nine.

The beach

Somehow, I avoided all the bunkers the day before at Ledges, but Greg told me they were really nice. I meant to go back to the practice bunker so I could try them out but I forgot. Luckily, I got to try out the bunkers at Falcon Ridge on the par-3 #14. I accidentally hit from the silver tees thinking they were the golds (a 60-yard difference) and of course ended up way short. Before I hit I thought “the yardage on that card is wrong” and tried to eyeball it to determine which club to use. As I drove ahead, I discovered the real gold tees and hit another one from there, which is the one that went in the bunker and the one I played to keep my round “official.” Anyway, the sand was really nice – light and fluffy but still gritty enough to predict.The damage

I managed to hit four out of seven fairways on the back and three greens. I came around at the end (typical) and finished with a bogey, par, par, but it wasn’t enough. My earlier struggles and my terrible putting had me carding a 53 for the side and a total of 95. *If my handicap chairman is reading this, I posted the 92 after adjusting my 9 and 8 to 7’s for equitable stroke control.* Then it was time to go pick up sleeping beauty and head to the airport for the next leg of the trip.

My take

Like Wolf Creek, Falcon Ridge is also neatly carved into the rocky terrain. It also has powerful elevation changes and breathtaking views. With its $45 off-peak and $115 peak rates, I might even call it the poor man’s Wolf Creek. It was in really good condition, though, so I don’t mean to imply that the course itself is some kind of dog run. The current clubhouse has an old-school muni-type feel, and the staff was down-home kind of friendly. There was a lot of construction going on up by the clubhouse and the range, so they might even be building new ones and fancying it up. Right now at Falcon Ridge, it’s all about the golf, and it shows. I really liked the course. The layout is challenging enough but not backbreaking. On another day I might have tried it from the silver tees, but the gold tees were the perfect challenge for me that day.

If you’re going to Mesquite, this course is a must for your golf itinerary.

Next post.

The next day, we drove up to St. George, Utah, one of my favorite places for scenery. After playing Wolf Creek, I was really looking forward to the beauty a course in St. George called “The Ledges” should afford.

The front of the clubhouse.

The proshop (duh).

We wanted to get there an hour early for our 8:00 teetime, and we gave ourselves almost an hour to get there from Mesquite. While driving up the road in St. George, we noticed a clock on a bank sign. Instead of saying it was almost 7:00, it read 7:44! Crap! No one mentioned the time change and obviously we didn’t think of it. Fortunately, it was a weekday and not too busy, so when we arrived at a few minutes before 8:00, they were able to accommodate our late arrival and allow for a relaxed approach to the first tee.

Even after our late arrival, I had a chance to use their wide-open range… …and practice green. You can see the chipping area behind it.

The first thing we noticed was a surprising absence of anything resembling a ledge nearby. The second thing, once we made our way in, was a swanky clubhouse. Fancy, fancy, fancy.

Just inside the front door.

Looking back on the clubhouse from the path between the range and the practice green.

The Ledges golf course has only been open for a few months and its condition reflects that. The fairways and the greens haven’t seen enough play to even seem touched. They were absolutely gorgeous. And the rough… oh yes, I saw the rough. Maybe most of the courses I’m used to have been beaten into submission by thousands of players over time. I don’t know the reason – maybe it’s a different type of grass or maybe it’s just trying to protect itself being so new. But the rough here is ROUGH. Not that it looks rough; it looks beautiful and green and lush and not actually that long. But it’s thick and grabby and difficult. It’s like “keep of the grass” grass.

We got lucky with the weather. This area gets extremely hot and extremely windy. The day we played, it was only about 80 degrees with a little cloud protection and the wind didn’t pick up until we were on the 17th hole. And boy, did it pick up. I’m glad we didn’t have that kind of wind all four hours of the round!

Keeping with the fancy theme, the golf carts are cherry and equipped with state of the art GPS systems, which not only come in handy for yardages, but allow you to order your food for the turn right on the screen. Even the cart paths are fancy – textured squares like a giant concrete parquet floor. And the smallest detail was not lost on me – the pencils are fine and sharp and produce crisp, dark marks. These people sure seemed to have thought of everything. It sure doesn’t seem like a public course. But where are the ledges?

The starter came to our cart to send us out to the first tee. The course had only recently been USGA rated, so the scorecards didn’t have the ratings on them yet. He gave them to us verbally and said we’d probably find the course pleasant and easy compared to Wolf Creek. We both played from the 6230 yard white tees (the tips are 7145). The front nine was pretty basic, flat and friendly, like many public courses. Nothing too spectacular to look at, nor grand elevation changes like I was expecting. The course was designed by Matt Dye (Pete’s grandson), and he did a good job for what he had to work with on the front. In my opinion, The Ledges is all about the back nine. I wonder if Mr. Dye was as disappointed as I was that the whole course couldn’t have been built on that side of the road.

This is the only picture I took on the front nine because it pretty much all looked just like this.

After you finish the front nine, you cross the main road (under it) and start the back on the other side. By George, I think we found the ledges!

The green on #10.

Now this is more like it. The back nine goes further back into the rocks and has a few elevation changes like I was expecting. It had a few really pretty holes and definitely was more of a challenge than the front.

Can you say “O.B.?” Wait, who cares? Is that Snow Canyon back there?

This is #15. It must be only the #12 handicap hole because of its short distance (281 yards from the whites), because it certainly isn’t because of this “easy” landing area for the requried layup teeshot. Nor because of the green that’s so “easy” to hit and hold, especially with that sucker pin. I was proud of myself for making a regulation par here!

Here’s the same hole (#15) from behind it. One of the prettier views!

They’re still doing a lot of building back there, so even though the views will have more homes and less nature, they will still be gorgeous. The model home we saw was that same beautiful dark earth tone they used on the clubhouse that blends so nicely with the other colors.

I was glad I didn’t have to use the restroom during the round, because there were none out on the course. With all the building going on and all the fancy details, I had some questions. Surely, there must be plans to make this a private club. So after the round, when I couldn’t find Shirley, I spoke with the Tournament Coordinator, Paul Holden. First things first. Bathrooms? Should be finished within a month. Homes? 2400 will be built. (And if you’re thinking of buying here, buy now, because the first 50 lots will come with a golf membership.) They will also be building another, separate, members-only clubhouse, as if the first one isn’t fancy enough. Oh yes, it will be private. They’re planning on a $50,000 membership fee plus $400/month in dues. So if you’re not thinking of becoming a member, you have about 3 years to get out there and play the course while it’s still open to riffraff like us.

I think I got spoiled by playing Wolf Creek the day before. Otherwise, this course would have seemed much more spectacular to me. They are really doing a nice job with it, and based on their plans, I would expect them to maintain it in such pristine condition. So try to keep it in the fairway!

Fancy restroom inside! Each stall is its own private room with its own deluxe sink and vanity, but just in case you only came in to wash your hands, there’s this setup outside the stalls. Leave it to me to photograph the bathrooms.

Next post.

The plan: six days of golf, three days of drag racing and whatever trouble we can get into in between.

Part one begins as we set out for our first destination. After dropping off the Goose at Grandma & Grandpa’s house for her extended stay, we rented a car and headed out on Friday for Primm Valley. Our golf club (The Treehouse) held its annual “away” trip at this California/Nevada Stateline location. The hotel and casino are just on the Nevada side of the border and the golf courses are just on the California side. It’s the same location we went to for our away trip last year, where we won the team event on Saturday and did quite poorly in the Sunday team format.

Primm Valley Golf Club has two courses: The Lakes Course and the Desert Course. The Desert course does have some water, however, not as much as the Lakes course, as you can imagine. Both are well designed and scenic Tom Fazio courses. The Lakes course has much more shade, and the water helps cool the ubiquitous breeze, so playing it in the summer is more comfortable than playing the Desert course. We actually got lucky with the weather and it wasn’t too hot. Even though our scheduled shotgun start was suddenly changed to a series of foursomes and we were near the end of the group, the heat didn’t beat us. According to the course and slope ratings, the Lakes course is easier for women than the Desert course and vice-versa for the men. From my perspective, the ratings are accurate for women, but according to the men, they got it wrong. It seems the Desert course is more challenging all around. The Lakes course is a little more shielded from the wind, and it might also have something to do with the comfort factor of the temperature. The format we played on the Desert course might have been the biggest culprit. I’d like to get my hands on that course for a whole round of my own.

Bunnies relaxing in the shade by the clubhouse.
See last year’s post from this tournament for photos of the jackalopes (link above).

The first tournamentThe formats this year were the same as last year. Saturday was a two-person team event, where each person plays out his or her ball for an individual score, and using handicaps, you take the best net score of each hole for a total team score. This format is played on the Lakes course. I mentioned that Greg and I won this event last year, and this year we won it even more dramatically. Greg shot the round of his life (a +4 75) and I shot a rare sub-90 (89). I had two birdies in the same round (on the same 9!) and 38 putts. In other words, that should have been an even better round for me than it was. Woulda coulda shoulda, yadda yadda. Greg holed out his second shot of the day to eagle the first hole for a net 1 and nearly eagled the second hole, settling for a birdie there. He probably would have been lynched if he eagled two in a row, so I guess he did the right thing. Combined, we netted a 54, which tied another team and we won it in a card-off for the $250 payout. Great start for our trip!

This beautiful yellow-headed bird cheered us on to victory on the Lakes course.

The gambling

We headed back to the Nevada side of the line for the evening, feeling like luck was on our side. Greg sat down at the sports book and on his very first bet won a $2 trifecta for $200. My horses didn’t come in. We moved around to different games and although I was down almost $200, my luck turned around when we changed casinos and took the monorail to Whiskey Pete’s. By the time we went to bed, we were both up, but just a bit. Still, it beats being down. Plenty more golf and plenty more gambling to do on this trip.

The second tournament

Sunday’s event was played on the Desert course, using the same “modified Pinehurst” that we played and hated last year. It’s another two-person team format, but rather than play out your whole round, you each tee off, then you each hit the other person’s tee shot, then you pick the one you want to play from there and alternate hitting that ball until you hole it out. It might sound like fun, but it’s not. You can’t get into any kind of rhythm, you don’t get to play an actual round, plus, your teammate is forced to play your bad shots. All I can say is you better really like your teammate. There were a lot of grumpy golfers out there that day. One of them was in my twosome and it wasn’t me. I didn’t enjoy the format either, but I just tried to go with the flow and enjoy the day anyway. It wasn’t easy. I think we shot an 88 for a net 73 (+1), which was nowhere near good enough to place. Mr. Grumpy cheered up by the time it was over, which was a good thing because we checked out of Primm and now it was time to drive to Mesquite for the next segment of our golf and gambling marathon. Stay tuned for part two!

Next post.

Skip the next post, go straight to Golf Vacation, Part Two – Wolf Creek.