Atlanta, GA - 2013 THP Invitational Sponsored By Sligo

[sparksjr]

My wife and I will be getting in Thursday night. How many Friday rounds are being planned? Morning and afternoon or just one? What about morning Sunday everyone leaves?

I'll be there around 3 Friday but have to head back after dinner Saturday. Hopefully Friday rounds will come together as we get closer.

 

[Lockman850]

Looking forward to the outing. Should be in around noonish on friday. Count me in on a practice round.

 

[sparksjr]

I went back thru the thread, here is a list of folks who have mentioned a Friday afternoon practice round:

ATLGolfer

Greg Kulbick

Lockman850

JLit26

cpljohnst

sparksjr

Hopefully I didnt miss anyone and maybe we can add to it as it gets closer.

Did you the weather hold off down there for the guys playing today? How was it?

 

[Greg Kulbick]

I'll be staying with my brother in Suwanee, but there for other rounds and festivities.

 

[cpljohnst]

Enjoyed the practice round out at Trophy Club of Atlanta with V.man and Lefty78. This was my first time playing the course. We played the "Men's Tournament" tees which are a composite of the Gold (tips) and the Blue tees. Here are a few thoughts.

First, greens are Bermuda grass and were just punched last week. I'm confident that they'll be in great shape since our round is 4 weeks away. They'll be rolled and should be fast. The starter said that the course championship is the last weekend of August and they usually have the greens running about 11.5 to 12 on the stimp. Starter said the super tries to get the greens rolling that fast a couple of weeks ahead of time so that the regulars get a chance to practice the speed of the greens. The greens themselves are LARGE. I had three 3 putts today, and I think they had as much to do with being on the far side of the greens from the pin as the aeration.

The course is a traditional parkland style course with tree lined fairways over rolling hills for most of the holes. If you're a sprayer of the ball I'd recommend sacrificing a little distance if it helps you hit the fairway. The trees are plentiful and full of undergrowth and will be hard to find balls much less have a shot out of them. There is not much water on the course, I remember a lake that sits in between 3,8 and 9. Other than that there is a very small pond on one hole and a few small creeks that run in front of holes. Those small creeks are the thing to watch for as a few of them are blind and you won't see them from the fairway. If in doubt, drive your cart up to get a look at whats ahead.

There are a few holes that seem tight from the tee box as you have to hit through tree lined chutes. I'd say the back was a touch tighter than the front. Three of the par 3's play significantly down hill and will play about a club less than the yardage, give or take.

Be mindful of sloping fairways, one on the back bit Lefty when his left hand hook took the slope and bounded into the hazard marked tree line on the right.

Course is very convenient to the dinner spot, Taco Mac and the hotel Freddie has worked with, listed on the first post.

I'm sure V.man and Lefty78 can throw in a few more comments. If any other questions for me, just ask.

 

[Lefty78]

Barry summed it up quiet nicely. When the greens are healed, I believe that they will quite challenging as most have a lot of slope to them.

Stay as close to the middle of the fairways as possible for several reasons, as Barry said, it is hard to even find the ball if it is in the dense trees lining the fairways; two, the rough is pretty thick if it doesn't make it to the trees, and three; you will not have a level lie in the edges of the fairways, the slopes are steep. Heavy rough + very uneven lies = double bogie. Add lost in hazard to that formula and it becomes triple bogie. I had two triples, and several doubles.

For me, it will probably mean lots of irons off the tees.

 

[ATLGolfer]

Good thoughts, Barry. I think you summed up the course pretty nicely. What was the yardage from the tees that you played? I remember there is a rather large gap between the traditional tee placements (tips being about 6,750 and next tees up closer to 6,100).


I played the course a couple weeks ago and photographed it for a review thread. I will put it together after the MC so everyone can at least see the course online before playing it.

 

[Just_Hacking]

Thanks for the preview of the course!! Really looking forward to teeing it up with my fellow THPer's.

 

[DevRickus]

Cant wait to get down there. Because of weird flight times, my only round will probably be Saturday. Hoping if i get in on time Friday I can sneak on 9 holes.

 

[ATLGolfer]

I went back thru the thread, here is a list of folks who have mentioned a Friday afternoon practice round:

ATLGolfer

Greg Kulbick

Lockman850

JLit26

cpljohnst

sparksjr

Hopefully I didnt miss anyone and maybe we can add to it as it gets closer.

Did you the weather hold off down there for the guys playing today? How was it?

I am probably going to be out for the Friday round, but I would be happy to schedule it if the group needs someone to do it. I suspect the "boss" is only going to let me get out either Friday or Sunday, and it will be much easier for me to get out Sunday morning than Friday afternoon.

A word of advice for the out-of-towners: Traveling to the course late Friday afternoon will be difficult. You will be driving with the commute, and the Friday afternoon commute in Atlanta can be brutal. The Friday afternoon traffic basically starts getting rough at about 3:00. Try to be at the course before then if you're playing Friday afternoon.

Next week I will probably start asking people about Friday/Sunday rounds and working on compiling lists.

 

[cpljohnst]

Good thoughts, Barry. I think you summed up the course pretty nicely. What was the yardage from the tees that you played? I remember there is a rather large gap between the traditional tee placements (tips being about 6,750 and next tees up closer to 6,100).


I played the course a couple weeks ago and photographed it for a review thread. I will put it together after the MC so everyone can at least see the course online before playing it.

The composite tees are 6,401 yards. 70.9/130
For reference the other tees are:
Gold - 6,754. 72.5/135
Blue - 6,001. 69.2/126
White - 5,474. 66.5/120
Green - 4,370. 65.5/110

 

[ATLGolfer]

6,400 for that course seems like a fair number.

I played from the 6,000 tees, played pretty poorly, and still shot 77. Worst I felt about breaking 80 in a long time.

 

[sparksjr]

Thanks guys. Really makes me want a 3deep now but glad I will get to see what a 3w off the tees will leave me. Friday may be a two tee shot and putt only kinda round.

Oh and what tees do you guys think we will use Saturday? It's my first invitational and I don't know how it works at all. I assume handicaps are used in scoring?

Were the par 3's mid or long irons mostly?

 

[adwillingham]

Thanks guys. Really makes me want a 3deep now but glad I will get to see what a 3w off the tees will leave me. Friday may be a two tee shot and putt only kinda round.

Oh and what tees do you guys think we will use Saturday? It's my first invitational and I don't know how it works at all. I assume handicaps are used in scoring?

Were the par 3's mid or long irons mostly?

Don't know for sure on the tees, but several invitationals have done a split tee scenario (longer set on Par 3s and 5s, shorter set on Par 4s). Handicaps have not been used in scoring for these in the past...just good old gross scores.

 

[v.man]

Thanks guys. Really makes me want a 3deep now but glad I will get to see what a 3w off the tees will leave me. Friday may be a two tee shot and putt only kinda round.

Oh and what tees do you guys think we will use Saturday? It's my first invitational and I don't know how it works at all. I assume handicaps are used in scoring?

Were the par 3's mid or long irons mostly?

The Par 3's were 166, 176, 164, and 167 from the combined (Chanpions) tees. Three out of four of them were from the Gold (back) tees.

 

[cpljohnst]

Thanks guys. Really makes me want a 3deep now but glad I will get to see what a 3w off the tees will leave me. Friday may be a two tee shot and putt only kinda round.

Oh and what tees do you guys think we will use Saturday? It's my first invitational and I don't know how it works at all. I assume handicaps are used in scoring?

Were the par 3's mid or long irons mostly?

A fairway wood would serve well off several tees. The par 4's on the composite tees were: 302, 339, 321, 367, 416, 343, 429, 378, 374, 395. I used fairways off 3 of them today and probably could have on at least 2 more.

 

[sparksjr]

Don't know for sure on the tees, but several invitationals have done a split tee scenario (longer set on Par 3s and 5s, shorter set on Par 4s). Handicaps have not been used in scoring for these in the past...just good old gross scores.

Ok, so they must use handicaps when making teams. Either way works for me.

The Par 3's were 166, 176, 164, and 167.Three out of four of them were from the Gold (back) tees.

I like those distances, I never like hitting a hybrid off a par 3 or even a GW.

A fairway wood would serve well off several tees. The par 4's on the composite tees were: 302, 339, 321, 367, 416, 343, 429, 378, 374, 395. I used fairways off 3 of them today and probably could have on at least 2 more.

Yeah that sounds like a good set up for fairway off the tee. Need to get my new one in and get a distance dialed in to prepare. I hope I dont have to get a 3deep last second via overnight air, lol.

Thanks guys for the insight!

 

[cpljohnst]

Here's the one pic I took out on the course today. Lefty78 hit a perfect drive down the middle and ends up in the rough, because this tree is in the MIDDLE of the fairway!

 

[Ole Gray]

I play just over 6000 yards from the white tees at my course. I think DawgDaddy will agree with me on this. With the uphill shots we have on several holes at Monroe, it's plenty long enough for us. Does the Trophy club have mostly uphill carries. I know Lefty78, AtlantaGolfer, & Cpljohnst have all played my course. My question is, do you think the 6000 yard tees at the Trophy club, play similar to Monroe CC in length?

 

[Intimadator2007]

Here's the one pic I took out on the course today. Lefty78 hit a perfect drive down the middle and ends up in the rough, because this tree is in the MIDDLE of the fairway!

Driver, Balls, Putter, Tees, Chainsaw...check

 

[Ole Gray]

Driver, Balls, Putter, Tees, Chainsaw...check

haha Poulan or Stihl ? I usually carry a stihl in my bag :thumb:

 

[cpljohnst]

Bill, I think the 6000 yard tees would be comparable to MCC. The course is tighter on some holes than your home course but the uphill, downhill nature would be similar.

 

[v.man]

Barry did a great job summing up our practice round at Trophy Club, so I'll just add a few observations.

First his description that it is a "traditional parkland style course with tree lined fairways over rolling hills" is dead on and worth repeating. Let me add emphasis to the "tree line" aspect. The trees, especially on the right side of many of the fairways mark the end of the world! You cannot even walk in there, and in many cases they have marked them with red stakes. The "rolling fairways" in many cases will assist an errant tee shot towards those tree lines. The trees are a little more forgiving on the left side of many fairways and the starter will usually point that out on the first hole. I did not find the fairways to be all that tight; there was room, but, because of the penalty of missing them left or right due to the trees and the lush, long rough resulting from the wettest summer in years in Atlanta, you cannot spray the ball on this course. Accuracy should be favored over distance on this course.

We did not get a good look at the true nature of the greens today. Trophy Club are proud of their greens and tout their difficulty on their website description of holes as well as the starters spiel on the first hole. (We may not get that at our outing, but if we do, listen to him. His tips were pretty good). Today, they were slow and bumpy due to aeration, especially on the front nine where we all had trouble--I 3-putted four times on the front, none on the back, and I've been putting lights out lately). I tied to look at most of the greens as we played and imagine what they would be like in their glory. If they truly are 11.5-12 on tourney day we will definitely have a challenge.

Playing the "Champions" or "Tournament" (combined Gold and Blue) tees was quite a test for this old short knocker. But, I have to say that the only 3 par fours that I simply cannot reach even with my best shots are #8 (416), #13 (429), and #17 (395), and they are all from the Blues, so we'll all probably be playing them. I had more trouble though with the par 3's today, but that was because of poor iron play.

Hope to get one more round in on Trophy Club before the Invitational once the greens have a chance to heal up. Anyone planning on a round, please give me a shout.

 

[sparksjr]

a tree in the middle of the fairway only affects golf balls driven in the middle of the fairway.

I'm good.

 

[Ole Gray]

Bill, I think the 6000 yard tees would be comparable to MCC. The course is tighter on some holes than your home course but the uphill, downhill nature would be similar.

I think that is where the seniors should play (6000) yards. Any more would make it a bit uncomfortable. Lefty78 is long off the tee and he may prefer the 6400 mixed tees however personally, I think it would be a bit unfair IMO.