Played Ozarks National in Missouri today. It's a Coore-Crenshaw track, and it is spectacular.
It was somewhat cold at our tee time, and the wind picked up throughout the round, blowing 20-30 mph most of the round. So we were layered up.
Tough track, especially in those conditions. I hit the ball pretty well, for the most part. Shot 38 on the front, but ballooned to a 44 on the back, which is much longer and more difficult anyway, and we played it in much higher winds.

Overall, I was pretty happy with the way I played.

Payne's Valley today. Better weather, with less wind. Beautiful views from the course.
Hit it worse than yesterday and scored a full six strokes higher. Some of that felt a little bit like getting screwed, though. For example, a fairly good iron shot that looked like it would hold the edge of a very narrow green takes one more roll and then goes down a very steep slope, leaving an almost impossible chip shot. On the 18th I took one club too much for the approach, flushed it right at the flag, but that ended up off the back in fairly long rough. Decided to belly a wedge up there gently. The shot looked almost perfect, and almost stopped about three feet from the hole. Thereafter, it picked up steam and rolled for another 50 feet, leaving, instead of a kick-in par, a very difficult two-putt for bogey.

Anyway, it was still a good time, and the scenery from the course is absolutely amazing. And yes, I hit the green at the 19th hole and had a tap-in par.

Playing Mountain Top tomorrow. Watched a guy hit a hole in one there tonight right after our round.

    rsvman2. When I read your review of your round at Ozark it didn't click where you were. Payne's Valley is a bucket list course for me. Sounds like a great time. Are you staying on site?

        garyt1957 Nearby, at Angler's Lodge in Hollister. It's a lot less expensive than the cabins and lodges that are actually on site. You have to stay either on site or at this hotel in order to book a round at any of the courses.

          rsvman2 For example, a fairly good iron shot that looked like it would hold the edge of a very narrow green takes one more roll and then goes down a very steep slope, leaving an almost impossible chip shot.

          My local PB DYE course (The Gauntlet) features this design (flaw) on nearly every hole. 🤬

              sdandrea1 My local PB DYE course (The Gauntlet) features this design (flaw) on nearly every hole

              My course has this on some holes. In the past it wasn't hugely penal because the grass was shaggy enough in most spots to hold the ball up. This year we went quite a while without rain and our new super let things dry out a lot and we learned how far the ball could roll down away from the green lol. Also with the ground and greens being harder, average shots could bounce a long ways off. I can't remember yelling "get in the bunker" ever until recently.....our bunkers suck, but suddenly the alternatives were even worse.

                Our course is a lot like this too. I think it is the curse of having an architect design a "championship" or "resort" course. In our case it's supposed to be a "championship" course, although I think it's more like resort course because it has wide fairways. To me it is an unbalanced design idea. Typically not that hard off the tees, but very hard coming into the greens. I'd like to see more balance. But whatever, it's definitely challenging and not boring.

                Also, and I think this is a southern/ Bermudagrass thing, the conditions change a lot throughout the year, so different shots and skills are helpful at different times of the year. I never felt that way in the north.

                  DonM Typically not that hard off the tees, but very hard coming into the greens. I'd like to see more balance. But whatever, it's definitely challenging and not boring.

                  Sounds like a typical, higher end Nicklaus course design IMO.

                      Played Mountain Top today. I had never played it before. It has 13 holes. They are all par threes, but it is not a pitch-and-putt. The second hole said 203 on the card, but it was straight uphill and played longer. There was another that was 196, and two that were between 175 and 185. Very difficult greens.
                      It's a walking course only. They put your bag on a rudimentary but capable push cart. A LOT of altitude changes makes it a robust walk. About 7500 steps for me.

                      I parred every single one of the long, hard holes. Got up and down from front right on hole 2; hit the center of the green on all the other long holes. Had a double-bogey on a short, downhill par three when I pulled my wedge and ended up almost completely plugged in a greenside bunker.

                      Had one birdie. Ended up four over for the thirteen holes, which I thought was decent for me.

                      An incredible amount of fun. Vistas everywhere that were amazing. Large hawks flying overhead.

                      A great time, and considerably less expensive than the other courses. Highly recommended if you have the stamina.

                      DonM Eguller Yes, much like a Nicklaus design.

                      I played a couple of the Desert Mountain Nicklaus courses and found them to be awesome. Wide fairways, interesting but not hard with many sets of tees. Same with the Troon North courses. Seems like a plus when a tour pro who knows golf designs a course.

                      Then you go to places around here designed my some no name guy with canted fairways and small stupid greens and say WTF? Bradford CC around here comes to mind.

                        72, 36/36.

                        The good...

                        No bogeys.
                        12/14 FWs.

                        The bad...

                        No birdies.
                        2 GIRs (1 being a Par 3)

                        The ridiculous...

                        16... 1 putts.
                        2... 2 putts.
                        20 putts total.

                        To be fair I will acknowledge being on a few fringes.
                        I was trying to 'format'😄 distances with the new(ish) irons & kept coming up just a hair short. But damn, I was almost holing some chips; a few kickins from just a couple inches!

                        Windy, 79*. Perfect Oct. day.
                        Except for those damned ladybugs. jeezus

                        Shot a couple of 83's. 40/43 then 43/40 lol. Can't seem to shake those few bad holes. The 2nd 83 could have been better as I lost 3 balls in the leaves and did not take a leaf rule drop on 2 of them. One was in the fairway so I did take the free drop on that one.

                        Moved up to the red tees with the rest of my group. 86 with 22 quota points. Better, but still had a few double bogeys. 3 lip-out par putts too.

                        Hadn’t played for a couple weeks. The irons and driver seemed to be back from my last range sessions the other week. Used the G400 max just because it’s so automatic.

                        Played the front 9 in -4. 4 birdies. Greens were hard as a rock. They didn’t aerate them all year. 2 par 3’s I ended up going through the green. Had to landed everything, even a 60 degree wedge on the front to hold the green.

                        Hit irons fine, driver was great… love that Max. Hitting it 290 -310 without over swinging.

                        Makes me want to buy the g430 10k

                          Typhoon Hit irons fine, driver was great… love that Max. Hitting it 290 -310 without over swinging.

                          How many votes do we need to get a guy banned from the forum?

                            Typhoon Makes me want to buy the g430 10k

                            Choose either of these quoted memories from your childhood as my reply......

                            "Johnny, don't be so damn dumb!"
                            "Johnny, you know better than that!"

                                Par4QC I’d like to take my g400 max and hit it side by side with the g430 max 10k. Problem is the different adapters so I couldn’t use the same shaft. But I’d still like to do it and see.

                                  Par4QC "Johnny, don't be so damn dumb!"
                                  "Johnny, you know better than that!"

                                  People have been telling me than all of my life and I still can't break 80.😥😬