I recently had the amazingly good fortune to visit a brand new golf course. It’s my new favorite place and where I can go in my mind when I need to “go to my happy place.” There is definitely more to come, but I will let it be a mystery for now unless someone knows or can guess where this is.

From the red tees, I made par here. Then from the blues (perspective shown here), I par’d once and bogey’d once. Click on the photo for a larger view.

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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.

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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.

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