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Rock Ridge Park reviews
3
1
very wooded John Houck course 2+ years
Reviewed:
Played on:Oct 6, 2016
Played the course:once
Pros:
A John Houck designed course, he's the best out there! Two tees on every hole with excellent next tee signs with arrows pointing to both long (blue) and short (red) tees made it easy to navigate between holes after finding #1 and #10.
The tee signs are excellent, showing the many different paths/fairways available. Some of the holes had two different distinct fairways, #7 and #17 for sure.
#17 is the signature hole, loved it. #10 is a great downhill wooded hole, #11,#12 and #14 were good too with the last 2 of these being par 4's.
Very good use of elevation.
The course map and Olorin's links found on this site are very good.
Large and very clean port a john on site.
The tee signs are excellent, showing the many different paths/fairways available. Some of the holes had two different distinct fairways, #7 and #17 for sure.
#17 is the signature hole, loved it. #10 is a great downhill wooded hole, #11,#12 and #14 were good too with the last 2 of these being par 4's.
Very good use of elevation.
The course map and Olorin's links found on this site are very good.
Large and very clean port a john on site.
Cons:
One lane gravel road in/out of the park.
Completely wooded course, no open let it rip shots (not that I can throw it far). A little too tight for my liking in most places.Typical NC golf from what I've seen.
A lot of straight shots from the short tees, it seemed repetitive at times (8 holes under 200 ft) from the blue tees.
#5 had three lanes from the tee and 6 lanes approaching the basket, all of them tight. I've never seen a hole quite like this.
Completely wooded course, no open let it rip shots (not that I can throw it far). A little too tight for my liking in most places.Typical NC golf from what I've seen.
A lot of straight shots from the short tees, it seemed repetitive at times (8 holes under 200 ft) from the blue tees.
#5 had three lanes from the tee and 6 lanes approaching the basket, all of them tight. I've never seen a hole quite like this.
Other Thoughts:
Rubber holed tee pads filled in with sand/gravel were good but not like cement which I expected for a Houck course.
I didn't play well and expected better tee pads from a Houck course. I'd like to rate it 3.75 but see why most golfers would give it a 4 star review.
I saw 2 local cops walking the park paths (not on the course itself) when there were a total of 2 cars in the parking lot. Kinda of strange in such a remote area/park.
I didn't play well and expected better tee pads from a Houck course. I'd like to rate it 3.75 but see why most golfers would give it a 4 star review.
I saw 2 local cops walking the park paths (not on the course itself) when there were a total of 2 cars in the parking lot. Kinda of strange in such a remote area/park.
Designer response by johnrhouck
Hi, Dave. Thanks so much for the kind words. Just wanted to correct one factual item for people reading your review. You said "A lot of straight shots from the short tees, it seemed repetitive at times (8 holes under 200 ft) from the blue tees." It's actually 8 holes under 200' from the RED tees. Of those 3 are very uphill, and 2 are slightly uphill, so those holes play a little longer than the numbers indicate.
Just FYI, as with most of my courses, the Red tees are designed for people who can throw up to 200' accurately, so the par threes are generally around 200', and the par fours are generally around 400' before accounting for elevation. The Blue tees definitely give a richer and more challenging experience, but many will be 'tweeners for players who can't throw 300' accurately. Whenever possible, I like to add white pads in the middle for new players working their way up the ladder and older players working their way back down. Thanks again.
Just FYI, as with most of my courses, the Red tees are designed for people who can throw up to 200' accurately, so the par threes are generally around 200', and the par fours are generally around 400' before accounting for elevation. The Blue tees definitely give a richer and more challenging experience, but many will be 'tweeners for players who can't throw 300' accurately. Whenever possible, I like to add white pads in the middle for new players working their way up the ladder and older players working their way back down. Thanks again.
