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Course Review Ballyhack Golf Club

@bigbov I like this game!

Favorite shot for me was second shot on 15. Hit a 5i hugely downhill and left myself a look at the green from around 250 or so to the front and hit a really solid TSR2 16.5 to just short of the green. Was able to chip close from there and make one of my few birdies on the week! It was a great TSR fairway showcase for sure 💣
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SkiBumGolfer said:
@bigbov I like this game!

Favorite shot for me was second shot on 15. Hit a 5i hugely downhill and left myself a look at the green from around 250 or so to the front and hit a really solid TSR2 16.5 to just short of the green. Was able to chip close from there and make one of my few birdies on the week! It was a great TSR fairway showcase for sure 💣
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That's a rip of a FW... I played it right each day and still didn't get there in 2 either time.
 
SkiBumGolfer said:
@bigbov I like this game!

Favorite shot for me was second shot on 15. Hit a 5i hugely downhill and left myself a look at the green from around 250 or so to the front and hit a really solid TSR2 16.5 to just short of the green. Was able to chip close from there and make one of my few birdies on the week! It was a great TSR fairway showcase for sure 💣
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I really glad I didn’t miss this shot, it was just so good.
 
bigbov said:
That's a rip of a FW... I played it right each day and still didn't get there in 2 either time.
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I did the same the first day and screwed it up with my 4h. I meant to play it right this time but pulled it, and had a number that fell right in for the 16.5. Perhaps that was the golf gods telling me to hit more TSR fairway 🤘
 
Kmench said:
I really glad I didn’t miss this shot, it was just so good.
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Thanks! I would say your fairway wood on 6 was pretty darn solid too 💣💣
 
Muchmore18 said:
It's absolutely a course that I'd jump at a chance to play after what I saw in the live thread!!
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Going back through this thread again and would you look at this. Should be a fun time next year 🔥
 
Muchmore18 said:
Going back through this thread again and would you look at this. Should be a fun time next year 🔥
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Weird, because I am talking with Budget Golf and Bag Boy today as well. Would it be weird to start planning food already?
 
JB said:
Weird, because I am talking with Budget Golf and Bag Boy today as well. Would it be weird to start planning food already?
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Not at all
 
After playing twice in perfect weather this is a crazy fun, beautiful, and corky course. There are very few flat spots out in the fairways, and I’m definitely not used to that at all. I really hate downhill lies come to find out. But it’s still so fun either going into a green that you can’t see, just the top of the flag, or hitting down onto them. It’s something that I really don’t get to experience in boring Ohio. The beauty, you guys have all seen the pictures. I’ll say it again, until you see it in person you really just don’t understand how truly amazing this place is. Some of these holes are just a little goofy. 1st I’ll say split fairways are not my favorite thing, and I didn’t like them before this trip. This course has two of them and multiple where you have to really pick a side of the fairway because of bunkers and rough. So it’s almost like target golf a little bit for some and especially depending on which tee boxes you play from. The greens, all I can say is they definitely have some characteristics to them and you better be below the hole or on the same tier. Saw a few balls roll off the green back onto the fairway a ways back.

Hopefully I’m lucky enough in the future to be able to play it again. If so I’ll move back a tee box or two to really let the driver rip on the extra holes played.
 
JB said:
I’m already ready to go back and play it again
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It's in my home state and on my bucket list. I've got to find a way to play it.. the pictures are incredible!!!😍
 
93civiccpe said:
It's in my home state and on my bucket list. I've got to find a way to play it.. the pictures are incredible!!!😍
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I would make the 8 hour drive south again in a heartbeat.
 
Kmench said:
After playing twice in perfect weather this is a crazy fun, beautiful, and corky course. There are very few flat spots out in the fairways, and I’m definitely not used to that at all. I really hate downhill lies come to find out. But it’s still so fun either going into a green that you can’t see, just the top of the flag, or hitting down onto them. It’s something that I really don’t get to experience in boring Ohio. The beauty, you guys have all seen the pictures. I’ll say it again, until you see it in person you really just don’t understand how truly amazing this place is. Some of these holes are just a little goofy. 1st I’ll say split fairways are not my favorite thing, and I didn’t like them before this trip. This course has two of them and multiple where you have to really pick a side of the fairway because of bunkers and rough. So it’s almost like target golf a little bit for some and especially depending on which tee boxes you play from. The greens, all I can say is they definitely have some characteristics to them and you better be below the hole or on the same tier. Saw a few balls roll off the green back onto the fairway a ways back.

Hopefully I’m lucky enough in the future to be able to play it again. If so I’ll move back a tee box or two to really let the driver rip on the extra holes played.
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Downhill lies are not my friend as I found.


bigbov said:
I would make the 8 hour drive south again in a heartbeat.
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I’d head back out there in a instant from RVA.
 
bigbov said:
I would make the 8 hour drive south again in a heartbeat.
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I’ve got my travel app on standby, waiting for the call to Ballyhack!! 😜
 
We have already announced multiple experiences going there in 2023.
 
JB said:
We have already announced multiple experiences going there in 2023.
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I know Budget Championship is one, what is other?
 
Ballyhack needs to add one of these to the goat pen

 
So I'm a big fan of course architecture and thought I'd give a little review of Ballyhack from a couple weeks back at the Titleist Experience. Before getting into the course though, I've got to say that the greenskeeper has that place in PERFECT shape. I loved how it played firm and fast, the greens were just spectacular, and I really appreciated the "junk" being cut down enough to find balls as well. As far as the architecture, the views were amazing and literally every hole was instagram-worthy. Major credit to Lester George on putting together one heck of a course with such challenging land.

Some quick thoughts about each hole...

#1 – Unique starting hole. Had to hit iron from our tees, but any further back would have been a rear-clenching start! Liked that you had a better angle the closer you got to the cliff on the left.

#2 – FUN drive – grip it and rip it! The fairway had to have been almost 200 yards wide, but the bunkers still make you focus. A really good par 5.

#3 – Great par 3 due to the green. The pin placement changes everything – I saw shots that hit 10 feet from the hole end up 60 feet away, and shots that hit 40 feet away roll to tap-in range. I could hit shots to the bowl on the left all day!

#4 – I liked this hole much better than I thought I would. Split fairway is more visual that anything, as you really want to bomb it over the hill to the flat collection area just short of the creek. Playing from the tips in my replay round, I bombed a (hill-aided) TSR3 about 345 yards here! Really fun approach that allows you to use a side hill to bring it in. Saw one holed out chip and several more near-hole outs on this one as well.

#5 – My favorite hole even though I didn’t play it very well. Get your drive anywhere out there and you have a really cool approach shot with a killer false front. I got caught by it once and ended up 75 yards down the fairway. Only criticism is that there’s rough in front of the right half of the green. The play was to hit it over there, so if you ended up short, it would stay up there. It sort of seemed like cheating…

#6 – Great risk reward hole. Do NOT take too much club and go into the bunker on the hillside, lest you have to take an unplayable lie like I did.

#7 – Solid par 3 in the valley. Loved having the tee right off the fringe of #6.

#8 – Another great risk reward hole. I don’t think the drive to the right side was that difficult, however the blindness of it definitely added some discomfort! Our caddy told us that the tree on 18 is so vital to the hole that it’s insured by the club. I’d have to imagine the tree in the middle of the creek on this one is insured as well.

#9 – Love/Hate relationship with this one. I think the landing zone is too narrow, and my understanding is that they’ve narrowed it from the original design. Everything that stays in the fairway ends up on the right edge or in the trap. Otherwise, it’s a tough penalty to lose it down the hill (or even worse – trek down there and almost pass up on the way up). After that, the hole is fantastic. You absolutely cannot miss long. I did and the front pin position was absolutely impossible to stop on the green – instead it rolled down the false front 30 yards. I’m ok with that on a par 5 – it’s the risk you take for going for it.

#10 – Absolutely gorgeous tee shot! If laying up, it’s a pretty cool decision whether to stay short or go over the bunker on the knob to the left.

#11 – The only real tree-lined hole on the course, it makes you pucker up even though the fairway is plenty wide. The approach is blind – only thing I didn’t like is that it looks like everything right will feed left down towards the hole, but I saw two balls that stayed over there. On a blind hole, I personally think it’s better to build some visual cues and stick with them.

#12 – Great driving hole where a long drive bounds down a 100-foot slope. If you don’t get down there, good luck! I like that for such a long hole, this was one of the more restrained greens out there.

#13 – One of the “wow” moments of the round…the double green is just so cool.

#14 – I THINK this is a really good hole, but I’m still torn on it. You’ve got to know your distances off the tee, then you need the perfect distance up the hill to avoid the false front. I think for a blind second shot, the huge tier in the green was a little overkill, but it sure makes recoveries interesting!

#15 – The most debated hole in our group. The option for the little iron to the right where it bounds down the hill is fun, and you can have anywhere from 210-240 out. I just don’t understand why that landing area is so big. The “long way” is such a tough par 5, that I can’t see any reason to play that way. The shortcut could be taken out completely, or at least narrowed to make it really penal if you don’t hit the perfect shot. It’s a shame, because I think the long route on it’s own might be the best par 5 out there.

#16 – Excellent golf hole – love the long green on an approach shot that’s usually with a mid to long iron.

#17 – Beautiful par 3! Do NOT go long.

#18 – Great way to finish the round. The tree on the right makes the hole and gives you something to think about off the tee. The largest green in Virginia is fascinating. I don’t know if they ever do it, but I would love to see the pin in the back sometime. A running long iron up the hill bounding up the green would be a really fun shot.

As someone who really likes golf course architecture, I wondered why this wasn't considered a top 100 course upon first view...it surely had that feel. I think at the end of the day, there are just a couple of holes that just don't quite hit the Top 100 mark. 1, 9, 14 and 15 all have some awkward moments that might keep it from ranking with the best of the best. That doesn't mean it's not an amazing course, and one you'd want to play over and over again. The green complexes are out of this world and I couldn't wait to see where pin positions would be on day 2. It was really special to get a chance to play this course. Roanoke might not be the easiest place to get to, but it's absolutely worth it to this spectacular course.
 
Missing you Ballyhack

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