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<\/a>Final hole on the Rick Smith Signature Course.<\/p><\/div>\n
The course opens with a very welcoming, resorty short par four with slopes on both sides of the fairway that work hard to push balls back toward the short grass. \u00a0But don’t expect this sort of welcome to last. \u00a0Some purely decorative bunkering high on a ridge to the right is so far removed from the areas of play that even Tom Bedell couldn’t have hit a ball that far off line. \u00a0But the introduction here is a polite bit of aberration, as the course becomes stouter immediately after your first putt drops into a cup. \u00a0While number two, a downhill par three, gives you a side to miss to helps to transition the course and familiarize you with the challenges to come.<\/p>\n
Number three is the first truly great hole, offering a wide look off the tee at 467 dog-legging yards with artful bunkering featuring bushy brows. \u00a0I hit two hearty shots with driver and three wood and barely eked onto the green, still about a gazillion yards from the back pin. \u00a0Moving through the front nine the heathery Scottish feel continues, especially as relates to the fine bunkering. \u00a0But while aesthetically rugged, it’s still eminently fair.<\/p>\n
Par three number nine somehow expresses a lovely autumnal feel and the tenth reminds you that you’re in ski country, even if the mountains aren’t quite what you expect of a ski resort– which, in fact, Treetops transforms into during winter.<\/p>\n
Smith has created greens that most players will love– gigantic and thus easy to get to whether you’re hitting a long iron from the fairway or pitching from a close-in miss. \u00a0Most have a single hump or slope to contend with, making them very fair even on long putts. \u00a0By number eleven, the putting surfaces seemed to be gaining in steepness and speed. \u00a0Golf Road Warrior Brian McCallen noticed that many \u00a0were sloped from front to back, which rewards less-skilled players who are more likely to hit short by helping to carry their weak shots toward the pins while forcing better players to recalculate club selection to take this into account.<\/p>\n
Thirteen is one of the best holes on Signature– a great, long uphill par four of 440 yards that feel like 44,000, with an unmowed slope between the fairway and green discouraging run ups and forcing an aerial attack. \u00a0Several holes on the course also feature well-placed trees that add visual appeal and also guard the greens from certain angles but never feel tricked up or out of place.<\/p>\n
And players like me will appreciate the very readable and reachable par-five fifteenth, a 485-yarder that allowed me to reach the green with two well-struck shots. \u00a0The green is shaped like an alley and hard-hit but errant shots may carom off the walls and back to the putting surface.<\/p>\n
Discussing the golf course over a post round Oberon Ale, the Golf Road Warriors actually agreed on something: that the Smith course was not just a fine introduction to the offerings at the Treetops Resort, but among the strongest resort courses any of us had played anywhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"