The Upper Course at Thousand Pines is a course laden heavily with potential. The second hole's line of play and green make it a borderline signature hole. The third hole is very challenging but playable. The fourth's intended line of play is a tough par 4. Heading out beyond that and then back through to hole 14 is ripe with deuces, but you have to work for most of them. Holes 15, 16, and 18 are all very interesting shots, with 16 a moderate difficulty par 4.

The course takes strong advantage of constant elevation changes (every hole features some significant elevation). It runs through a dense pine forest with fairways that force you to shape a line.

Reading all of the pros it may sound like much more than course getting a "reasonable rating." Keep in mind the title of this review: Potential abounds...

Almost every teepad is unacceptable. A few of them are solid, with firm footing and placement safely away from the baskets - however: most of the teepads are within 5-10 feet of the baskets, and most of them feature tee signs at the front of the tee that impeded your follow through. In both cases a safety hazard.

On top of this - hole 17 is a true "unfairway." There is simply no available route off of the tee without taking a 45 foot pitch to the direct left of the teepad direction.

The course also suffers from a few teepads that are placed in locations that create a very awkward immediate line off of the teepad - with the teepad placed immediately left or right of where it should logically be sitting to play a shot up the fairway.

This is my new home for the time being - and I am going to be working with the course designer to help make improvements to all of the teepads. Additionally the safety issues will be taken care of. The tees that are awkward will be placed in better locations. And so on. Hopefully by the time I leave this place I can re-review with a much higher number. It is a 4 star piece of property.