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Oak Grove Park - Gold reviews
5
3
Not All That Glitters 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Jul 3, 2014
Played the course:2-4 times
Pros:
Half the holes have new teepads, 4'x10', concrete, ribbed, raised.
Cons:
The older teepads (1-7, 16-17) are short/narrow, and due to the course being watered the two days I played, quite muddy just before/after the concrete pad, making for slick conditions.
The flow is quite choppy - the map is a necessity - and there are multiple chances to end up in a neighbouring fairway, or near a different basket/teepad.
The flow is quite choppy - the map is a necessity - and there are multiple chances to end up in a neighbouring fairway, or near a different basket/teepad.
Other Thoughts:
This quite flat course zigzags its way through the open space and scattered large trees of a multi-purpose park. The water, popular with fisherman the two days I played, looms nearby on a few holes, but will not likely come into play except for the most errant of throws. The majority of the fairways will be comprised of green grass, except the outer-edge holes (basket-9 through tee-11, near loud I5, and baskets 16&17.
If you manage to endure the first six holes, which I found dull, plodding, and pedantic, the holes do improve somewhat in the middle portion of the course, especially number-8, playing under an increased number of smaller trees, and number-14, one of the few elevated tees, where a spike hyzer appears to be an appropriate attack. For most holes, straight off the tee will suffice. There are three pin positions per hole, but the current signs (maybe a future teesign upgrade will accompany the teepad upgrade) do not indicate the current position.
Navigation: To find tee-1, park in the small parking lot immediately to the right after the entry gate, Just past the end of this lot is a footbridge - cross it, then find tee-1 to your left (and probably basket-3 to your right). If playing both courses back to back, from gold basket-18, purple tee-1 is diagonally across the parking lot, behind the Miwok trail sign.
Navigation: If a visitor or infrequent player, you'll need the map. The first six holes zigzag upon each other (easy to move from basket-4 to tee-6 by mistake). From tee-6, basket-2 is much more visible (basket-6 way to the right, but the early mando forces a right-turner, vice throwing over the edge of the water. After basket-7, cross the footbridge to to find tee-8 just to the right of the path. Tee-11 is by the freeway fence, way left of basket-10. Tees-12&14 are near each other. Re-cross the footbridge to find tee-15 immediately to the left. Pass by baskets 6&2 to find tee-16. Number-17 plays perpendicular to number-16, then walk back to find tee-18 on the paved path.
While an upgrade to the teesigns and remaining older teepads will help, they will not improve the current flow and overlap issues. If I was a local, I'd mostly play the Purple course, and/or safari my way through the space containing 1-6, play most of the middle (easy enough to skip straight/open 12&13) holes, then work my way back.
If you manage to endure the first six holes, which I found dull, plodding, and pedantic, the holes do improve somewhat in the middle portion of the course, especially number-8, playing under an increased number of smaller trees, and number-14, one of the few elevated tees, where a spike hyzer appears to be an appropriate attack. For most holes, straight off the tee will suffice. There are three pin positions per hole, but the current signs (maybe a future teesign upgrade will accompany the teepad upgrade) do not indicate the current position.
Navigation: To find tee-1, park in the small parking lot immediately to the right after the entry gate, Just past the end of this lot is a footbridge - cross it, then find tee-1 to your left (and probably basket-3 to your right). If playing both courses back to back, from gold basket-18, purple tee-1 is diagonally across the parking lot, behind the Miwok trail sign.
Navigation: If a visitor or infrequent player, you'll need the map. The first six holes zigzag upon each other (easy to move from basket-4 to tee-6 by mistake). From tee-6, basket-2 is much more visible (basket-6 way to the right, but the early mando forces a right-turner, vice throwing over the edge of the water. After basket-7, cross the footbridge to to find tee-8 just to the right of the path. Tee-11 is by the freeway fence, way left of basket-10. Tees-12&14 are near each other. Re-cross the footbridge to find tee-15 immediately to the left. Pass by baskets 6&2 to find tee-16. Number-17 plays perpendicular to number-16, then walk back to find tee-18 on the paved path.
While an upgrade to the teesigns and remaining older teepads will help, they will not improve the current flow and overlap issues. If I was a local, I'd mostly play the Purple course, and/or safari my way through the space containing 1-6, play most of the middle (easy enough to skip straight/open 12&13) holes, then work my way back.
