Longview DGC reviews
14
0
chaddyboy_2000
Experience:
22.9 years
24 played
9 reviews
The beginning of something great! 2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:Mar 30, 2015
Played the course:once
Pros:
This place has terrain galore, and it was utilized excellently. You'll be playing uphill, downhill, over ravines, over water, and all with a good mix of semi-open to very tight shots through the trees.
Particularly great are several holes that just let you launch from the top of a hill, which is always so satisfying for more intermediate players like myself. Those of us whose drives max out at 300 feet or so can feel like a superstar on these holes, although the hill shots still require accuracy to navigate the trees, which makes them not a 100% proposition. Most courses, you're lucky if you see one hole like this, but this one had a handful.
I can't stress the greatness of the layout enough. Never did I feel like a hole was just put in because that's where it had to go. If the terrain is boring, they walked you to some interesting features so you could play the fun stuff. Excellent course design. Furthermore, the course is laid out to where you can play either the front or back nine starting and ending at the parking lot.
Signage is great (with the one caveat in the cons section), with navigation a breeze due to signage that points you to the next tee. The tees also have benches for when you want to take a short break, which was much appreciate due to the terrain which gives you a bit of a hike in places!
Three pin locations on each hole make for great variety, and most alternate pins will change the feel and necessary shots.
Particularly great are several holes that just let you launch from the top of a hill, which is always so satisfying for more intermediate players like myself. Those of us whose drives max out at 300 feet or so can feel like a superstar on these holes, although the hill shots still require accuracy to navigate the trees, which makes them not a 100% proposition. Most courses, you're lucky if you see one hole like this, but this one had a handful.
I can't stress the greatness of the layout enough. Never did I feel like a hole was just put in because that's where it had to go. If the terrain is boring, they walked you to some interesting features so you could play the fun stuff. Excellent course design. Furthermore, the course is laid out to where you can play either the front or back nine starting and ending at the parking lot.
Signage is great (with the one caveat in the cons section), with navigation a breeze due to signage that points you to the next tee. The tees also have benches for when you want to take a short break, which was much appreciate due to the terrain which gives you a bit of a hike in places!
Three pin locations on each hole make for great variety, and most alternate pins will change the feel and necessary shots.
Cons:
This is a criticism to be removed at a later date, but the major current con is that the course is still a work in progress. There are still a lot of trees to clear in order to make some of the holes reasonably playable. As of this trip, a ton of trees were marked for clearing, so I'm confident they must be working in the right direction. Although, one highlight of this round due to this con was a drive that I got all the way across a ravine of trees for a deuce where a bunch of them are marked for removal! A win on insane mode! 
Also, a situational criticism, all the baskets were at the blue pins, which are the long pins. This was a bit disappointing since it meant we had to grip it and rip it from pretty much every tee, which took away a lot of the potential shot variety. I'd enjoy playing this course more once the locations of the baskets weren't all set to blue. Since it's a work in progress though, there's probably a reason they had everything set to blue.
One thing we really didn't like about the signage at each hole was the weird angled Google Earth view that was used on the signs. It really didn't help you to locate the pins at all like an overhead shot would have, especially since the pins were often placed on the image without paying attention to the tree lines or anything. This is a bit nitpicky since the course is very nice, but we often found the signs not very helpful for locating the pins.
The only other minor disappointment was hole 18. It's great when a course goes out with a bang, but after 17 interesting holes, it felt like 18 was just a means of getting me back to the parking lot. It was a little like watching a great fireworks show that ended with a roman candle. Again, this is nitpicky since it's hard to find things to complain about at this course. If a hole like 18 was in the middle of the course somewhere, I probably wouldn't have thought much of this; it would have just been a brief break from all the terrain and trees. It's just that all of the first 17 holes seemed to have such interesting things going on, that it stuck out when the tamest one was last.
Also, a situational criticism, all the baskets were at the blue pins, which are the long pins. This was a bit disappointing since it meant we had to grip it and rip it from pretty much every tee, which took away a lot of the potential shot variety. I'd enjoy playing this course more once the locations of the baskets weren't all set to blue. Since it's a work in progress though, there's probably a reason they had everything set to blue.
One thing we really didn't like about the signage at each hole was the weird angled Google Earth view that was used on the signs. It really didn't help you to locate the pins at all like an overhead shot would have, especially since the pins were often placed on the image without paying attention to the tree lines or anything. This is a bit nitpicky since the course is very nice, but we often found the signs not very helpful for locating the pins.
The only other minor disappointment was hole 18. It's great when a course goes out with a bang, but after 17 interesting holes, it felt like 18 was just a means of getting me back to the parking lot. It was a little like watching a great fireworks show that ended with a roman candle. Again, this is nitpicky since it's hard to find things to complain about at this course. If a hole like 18 was in the middle of the course somewhere, I probably wouldn't have thought much of this; it would have just been a brief break from all the terrain and trees. It's just that all of the first 17 holes seemed to have such interesting things going on, that it stuck out when the tamest one was last.
Other Thoughts:
I'm sure this will be a 5-star course for me once all the work is done, so a bunch of my "cons" are really only temporary. I had a heck of a good time playing this one "as is", so I really look forward to seeing it develop! I live in Olathe, and would be willing to make the drive just to play it once in a while, especially once more tree clearing is done; it's that good.
This will be a real gem, and most of the facets have already been cut!
This will be a real gem, and most of the facets have already been cut!
3
0
tedkeith
Experience:
36.9 years
215 played
9 reviews
2+ years drive by
Reviewed:
Played on:Jun 22, 2013
Played the course:5+ times
Pros:
A lot of variety in holes and settings. Uphill, downhill, flat, fairly open, wooded. This course has is all. Three pin settings on every hole. Can be set pretty easy, very hard, or anything in between. Rewards distance and especially accuracy. Great signage, even extra signs between holes pointing to the next tee on some.
Cons:
The little 14-16 circle is odd but the holes are great so no big deal. The only restrooms are near the campgrounds down the road. The rough is brutal in places, so don't go there.
Other Thoughts:
This course is a bit out of the way but I find it worth the drive. The Corps of Engineers and area players have done a fantastic job designing and putting this in the ground. It will continue to get better and better over time.
