Pros:
Redwood Park was an unexpected, excellent 9-hole course. Don't let a couple design flaws take away from a fun, little round.
- I did not expect one of the best 9-holers to be in a small park in Hudson. Considering this course has gotten so little attention, my expectations were low.
- Course starts out with an excellent opening hole. The Lefty is a downhill, 350-foot, dogleg left layout. There's plenty of room to the right side of the fairway begging you to throw a big, sweeping shot. A excellent opener. From here, it's a short walk to #2.
- #2 is the first of several ace run holes. #2, 8, & 9 all offer ace-run chances, letting players be aggressive with little penalty. #2 is slightly downhill, so it plays shorter than its listed 170-foot distance. I hit the pole with my tee shot here, and parked my shots on #8 & 9. The biggest penalty on these 3 holes is the creek on #2. Go long, and you're looking at an easy par at worst.
- #3, 5, & 6 offer challenges with sharp doglegs: #3 & 6 hang to the left; #5 is to the right. #5 also features a basket up on a hill with an outfield fence behind the basket. #6 is like #1 in that the best shot to hang your shot far right and let it sweep back to the basket.
- #7 is the longest hole and the only real chance to air it out. The fairway starts out semi-narrowed (hit an easy gap) before becoming wide open. Big arms may see putts for 2s. For the rest of us, it's a simple two-shot hole to be in putting range.
- I like that each hole has a name. I like even more the descriptive tee signs: hole layouts & distances. The best feature is showing the entire course with specific hole highlighted.
- Simple small-town park with various amenities: walking trails, ball field, swimming pool, playground. Very convenient location - less than 3 minutes off 321.
Cons:
The only con is the layout. If the course and/or park are crowded multiple holes may be unplayable. Or at least played with EXTREME caution. Based on lack of attention this course receives on this site, I doubt it's often heavily played. That said, be aware of these issues.
- Holes overlap other holes and/or other park amenities. On #3, for example, it's a blind tee shot to your dogleg left. On top of that, your tee shot overlaps hole #8 and the walking trail.
- Tee shot on #5 is a blind dogleg right that overlaps hole #6. Plus, the basket plays right behind the outfield fence of the park's ball field.
- Hole distances are off on several holes. #5 is much longer than its listed 260-foot length. I'm guessing it's in the 300 - 350-foot range. #7 is much shorter than 495 feet. I'm guessing it's around 400, 425 tops.
- Pay attention to the tee signs. It would be easy to throw to the wrong hole if you're not paying attention. On #7, the only basket you see from the tee is for #8. Standing on the first tee, you see baskets for 4 holes, none of which is yours. Just a wee little, micro problem.
Other Thoughts:
The only little thing about Redwood is that it's 9 holes. It offers plenty of punch to appeal to many players.
- I would have liked to see a little more of the rolling hills incorporated into the design. Too many holes played across the hills rather than going up or down them. It also would have been nice to see the holes spaced out more, so they wouldn't be overlapping. There's plenty of room here to make that happen.
- The course reminded me a lot of Mint Hill's 9-holer in terms of layout, feel, and play. It's weird how similar a lot of the holes played.
- The worst, or dumbest, thing about the course? It's the design of #9. You finish #8, walk past the first tee, tee off away from the parking lot, play the hole, and then turn right back around, walk the length of the hole right back to your car. This area had room for 7 solid holes. Then you finish with the two easiest holes on the course.
- That said, I really liked the course. There's plenty to like on the first seven holes to tolerate two ace runs to finish up the round.
- It's one of the better nine-hole courses I've played; easily in my top 10. The positives dwarf the negatives. It just stretches out big enough to reach the threshold for courses I rate 2.5.