Philly Golf Guy
#PGG
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2012
- Messages
- 9,103
- Reaction score
- 7
- Handicap
- USGA 14
Thought I should include a review of a course in the Philly area, since my last couple posted were in other areas and in keeping with my hashtag and all...
6,561 yards, 143 Slope, 6,094 yards, 137 Slope, 5,790 yards, 131 Slope
Course: Ah...Inniscrone. An enigma if I've ever played one. In Avondale, PA (just south of Kennett Square off Route 1), the 'Crone was designed by Malvern based Gil Hanse, one of golf's "it" architects that was recently pegged to design the 2016 Olympics course in Rio. His other courses include Castle Stuart in Scotland, the Boston Golf Club, Rustic Canyon out in CA and Applebrook in Malvern, among others. Inniscrone was initially a private country club and I believe the course was designed to challenge the membership, whom were mostly lower handicapped players. So upon opening, the course was just that, a visually stunning, out of the ordinary/never seen before design, terribly difficult course that evoked strong reactions from those who played it. The course hosted a PGA event very early after it opened and received some good, and some bad, feedback. Regardless, the course was an ambitious design and there were a lot of things to like.
The course was built during the golf boom in the late 1990's and once the economy turned south in the 2000's, membership began to dwindle. It was then sold and turned into an upscale daily fee course. It was during this time that I first played here. Me and a couple friends shelled out close to $100 for the round and were annihilated by its difficulty. What did we do afterwards? We replayed then and there, certain that we'd do better now that we had a feel for the place. It helped very little. Years went by and my game improved slowly, so I would show up every now and then to give the place another crack, but I always walked away not really enjoying the round. I also started realizing that conditions were getting worse. I don't think I was alone in my experience here. And looking back, the issue was a bunch of average Joes like me were playing a course that wasn't meant for us. It was designed for better players. And although it started as a high end daily fee course, I suspect that in conjunction with its location, it couldn't sustain enough rounds to keep conditions respectable. Eventually, it appeared there was a change in ownership and I started hearing that good things were happening with the course. Try as I might to stay away, I couldn't help myself to a recent round to check everything out yet again.
I played on an early Sunday morning. The parking lot is on the other side of a ravine from the clubhouse, so there are guys driving carts to your car so you can load up and drive over. I paid a pretty reasonable green fee, which included use of the range. That was new and a welcome change for sure. The starter realized I was a single and was scheduled to go out with 3 players, but offered that I could go out as a 3 some if I was willing to play 10 minutes earlier. That sounded good and was glad he suggested it. After warming up at the range, I made my way to the First hole when I looked down at the scored card for the first time and realized there were 4 sets to choose from, which I believe is also new. Once I picked my tees, which was still pretty high on the slope rating, I stood over the First hole with my driver, yet again subjecting myself to the enigma that is Inniscrone.
The course itself is set on rolling hill terrain that ranges from gentle to severe amongst wetland areas, some of which are environmentally protected. The bunkers range from immense to meddling, but all are masterly shaped and provide a lot of the course's character. The rough is immediately off fairway and is extremely deep. Fairways slope boldly in varying directions. Finally, the greens here are very fast and contain tons of undulations, demanding laser precision approach shots and careful putting. The holes climb and descend the hilly terrain and almost tunnel through wooded and wetland areas. There are a number of forced carries and many places where hitting off fairway puts you on very severe hillsides leading down to ravines. Much of the course is also visually intimidating while blind shots are strategically placed throughout.
The First hole starts off pretty tamely, with a 380 yard par 4 (all from the Gold tees). The fairway is wide off the tee, which makes its way to a diagonal row of bunkers just before the green. Almost every approach shot must carry one of the bunkers, which makes for a nice test right off the bat. The green slopes from back to front and, just like all of them, is fast.
The Second is a 296 yard par 4, but here's where the fun starts. The tee shot is blind, as the fairway goes downhill. A bunker is visible before the drop off.
Most players will take driver out and aim over the bunker, thinking they'll be ok. Probably not. The fairway slopes severely downhill and slants to the left, so most balls will roll into the rough on the left of the hole, or down into the large bunkers at the end of the hill. The play seems to be a power fade off the tee to short of the green, as I think the green is too fast to hold any tee shot, unless you run it up. Regardless of being short, it's a tricky hole. And if it's your first time playing, good luck.
The Third is an even shorter par 4 at 290 yards, but is also difficult. The entire hole is in front of you on the elevated tee and the downhill fairway proceeds at an angle in a 2:00 direction. The green is narrow and long, but surrounded by bunkers, with the fast green sloping severely towards the bunkers on the left. Your options are to lay up to the wider part of the fairway and take a longer approach shot, or flirt with the right side of the fairway so your ball comes down, giving you the best look at the green out of the path of the bunkers. Anything off fairway and you're in deep rough, which makes it more likely you'll go in one of the bunkers. And the fringe of the greens goes immediately to rough as well, putting the bunkers back in play. That was a noticeable difference this time around, the rough around the fringe. At least it kept balls on the green level instead of everything falling into the bunkers on the left.
Now things get downright hellish. The Fourth is a 368 yard par 4. The entire hole needles through a narrow chute with trees on both sides of the fairway, which slopes severely from right to left. The left side of the fairway also has deep rough and a steep bank drop off. The green also slants severely right to left and off to the rear side of the green. Severely. So yeah, anything off center and bad approach shots will be punished with extreme prejudice.
Usually, I'm ready to check out after this hole. The green used to be impossible to hold, the fairway was usually too beat up and I ended up on the left side of the hole, only to take a ton of strokes just to get to the green. But this time I noticed a better, more solid fairway and green, along with more rough surrounding the green to hold balls on that level. Subtle changes, but effective.
6,561 yards, 143 Slope, 6,094 yards, 137 Slope, 5,790 yards, 131 Slope
Course: Ah...Inniscrone. An enigma if I've ever played one. In Avondale, PA (just south of Kennett Square off Route 1), the 'Crone was designed by Malvern based Gil Hanse, one of golf's "it" architects that was recently pegged to design the 2016 Olympics course in Rio. His other courses include Castle Stuart in Scotland, the Boston Golf Club, Rustic Canyon out in CA and Applebrook in Malvern, among others. Inniscrone was initially a private country club and I believe the course was designed to challenge the membership, whom were mostly lower handicapped players. So upon opening, the course was just that, a visually stunning, out of the ordinary/never seen before design, terribly difficult course that evoked strong reactions from those who played it. The course hosted a PGA event very early after it opened and received some good, and some bad, feedback. Regardless, the course was an ambitious design and there were a lot of things to like.
The course was built during the golf boom in the late 1990's and once the economy turned south in the 2000's, membership began to dwindle. It was then sold and turned into an upscale daily fee course. It was during this time that I first played here. Me and a couple friends shelled out close to $100 for the round and were annihilated by its difficulty. What did we do afterwards? We replayed then and there, certain that we'd do better now that we had a feel for the place. It helped very little. Years went by and my game improved slowly, so I would show up every now and then to give the place another crack, but I always walked away not really enjoying the round. I also started realizing that conditions were getting worse. I don't think I was alone in my experience here. And looking back, the issue was a bunch of average Joes like me were playing a course that wasn't meant for us. It was designed for better players. And although it started as a high end daily fee course, I suspect that in conjunction with its location, it couldn't sustain enough rounds to keep conditions respectable. Eventually, it appeared there was a change in ownership and I started hearing that good things were happening with the course. Try as I might to stay away, I couldn't help myself to a recent round to check everything out yet again.
I played on an early Sunday morning. The parking lot is on the other side of a ravine from the clubhouse, so there are guys driving carts to your car so you can load up and drive over. I paid a pretty reasonable green fee, which included use of the range. That was new and a welcome change for sure. The starter realized I was a single and was scheduled to go out with 3 players, but offered that I could go out as a 3 some if I was willing to play 10 minutes earlier. That sounded good and was glad he suggested it. After warming up at the range, I made my way to the First hole when I looked down at the scored card for the first time and realized there were 4 sets to choose from, which I believe is also new. Once I picked my tees, which was still pretty high on the slope rating, I stood over the First hole with my driver, yet again subjecting myself to the enigma that is Inniscrone.
The course itself is set on rolling hill terrain that ranges from gentle to severe amongst wetland areas, some of which are environmentally protected. The bunkers range from immense to meddling, but all are masterly shaped and provide a lot of the course's character. The rough is immediately off fairway and is extremely deep. Fairways slope boldly in varying directions. Finally, the greens here are very fast and contain tons of undulations, demanding laser precision approach shots and careful putting. The holes climb and descend the hilly terrain and almost tunnel through wooded and wetland areas. There are a number of forced carries and many places where hitting off fairway puts you on very severe hillsides leading down to ravines. Much of the course is also visually intimidating while blind shots are strategically placed throughout.
The First hole starts off pretty tamely, with a 380 yard par 4 (all from the Gold tees). The fairway is wide off the tee, which makes its way to a diagonal row of bunkers just before the green. Almost every approach shot must carry one of the bunkers, which makes for a nice test right off the bat. The green slopes from back to front and, just like all of them, is fast.
The Second is a 296 yard par 4, but here's where the fun starts. The tee shot is blind, as the fairway goes downhill. A bunker is visible before the drop off.
Most players will take driver out and aim over the bunker, thinking they'll be ok. Probably not. The fairway slopes severely downhill and slants to the left, so most balls will roll into the rough on the left of the hole, or down into the large bunkers at the end of the hill. The play seems to be a power fade off the tee to short of the green, as I think the green is too fast to hold any tee shot, unless you run it up. Regardless of being short, it's a tricky hole. And if it's your first time playing, good luck.
The Third is an even shorter par 4 at 290 yards, but is also difficult. The entire hole is in front of you on the elevated tee and the downhill fairway proceeds at an angle in a 2:00 direction. The green is narrow and long, but surrounded by bunkers, with the fast green sloping severely towards the bunkers on the left. Your options are to lay up to the wider part of the fairway and take a longer approach shot, or flirt with the right side of the fairway so your ball comes down, giving you the best look at the green out of the path of the bunkers. Anything off fairway and you're in deep rough, which makes it more likely you'll go in one of the bunkers. And the fringe of the greens goes immediately to rough as well, putting the bunkers back in play. That was a noticeable difference this time around, the rough around the fringe. At least it kept balls on the green level instead of everything falling into the bunkers on the left.
Now things get downright hellish. The Fourth is a 368 yard par 4. The entire hole needles through a narrow chute with trees on both sides of the fairway, which slopes severely from right to left. The left side of the fairway also has deep rough and a steep bank drop off. The green also slants severely right to left and off to the rear side of the green. Severely. So yeah, anything off center and bad approach shots will be punished with extreme prejudice.
Usually, I'm ready to check out after this hole. The green used to be impossible to hold, the fairway was usually too beat up and I ended up on the left side of the hole, only to take a ton of strokes just to get to the green. But this time I noticed a better, more solid fairway and green, along with more rough surrounding the green to hold balls on that level. Subtle changes, but effective.