Rocky Mount, VA

Waid Park - Championship

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Waid Park - Championship reviews

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Bennybennybenny
Diamond level trusted reviewer
Experience: 13.7 years 321 played 303 reviews
4.00 star(s)

Even Harder Than Buffalo Mountain 2+ years

Reviewed: Updated: Played on:Jul 1, 2022 Played the course:2-4 times

Pros:

-It's a brand new championship level course, and boy it's a wooded beast with two sets of green carpet tee pads and two innova disc catchers on every hole. Course is hard enough on the short to shorts, being over 7200' with lots of scoring separation. The longer three layouts, offer even more scoring separation, more trees to avoid, tougher lines to hit, and all rate over 1000 on an even par score.

-Great wooded and hilly terrain. Lots of elevation change. Holes five and six offer the greatest use of elevation. #5 and #6 from the long pads offer some dramatic elevation. #5 is a tight severe downhill par three over a small creek on a trail. #6 is a huge uphill dogleg left par four from the long pad. #17's long position is up a steep hill, making this par five even more terrifying. Mind you, it's already a double dogleg playing nearly 900' down a tight trail. Most holes have elevation changes that are at least subtle.

-Hole info on the short pads. There are diagrams of the hole with the long pads listed as well. They don't have tee signs yet, but I'm sure they will come soon.

-Great use of water on holes #13 and #14. #13 is a neat downhill right to left hyzer around a tree. If you hit the right side of it, you could land in the water OB. #14 is to me, the prettiest hole. It's a very tough par four around the river. The river is in play for the full length on the right side. The long pin is sharply to the left of the short pin. The creek breaks off to the left side at the bend so if you go long, you could be wet once again. The tee shot from the long pin is a ton of fun. Elevated pad giving a nice trail view. It's an absolute monster from the long pad to pin, since you have to throw a left to right turnover and then throw a big hyzer that breaks left right before the land drops off to the river. Yet, it's still not the toughest hole on the course.

-The shortest layout on this championship level course is still quite hard. Clearly an advanced level course. It's more accommodating to intermediate players. Several of the baskets from the short to shorts are clearly visible and every fairway is logical and fair from that layout. It's not so hard to where intermediates or some recreational players won't enjoy it, and its still tough enough even for pros. The other three, L-S, S-L, and L-L will make many players cry. I like how the shortest layout does not appear at all to be an afterthought. It's brilliantly designed, as for the S-L layout. Many of the long pads to short pins are fun too.

-There's a short nine holer further down the entrance toward the stadium. You'll need to play it for practice before you play this layout. You'll need to loosen up.

-Fairway diversity is wild. There are hyzers (#12, #13, #15, #18), anhyzers (#1, #8, #14), doglegs (#3, #4, #6, #11) double doglegs (#9, #17) and some straight (#2, #5, #7, #10, #16). You'll be throwing pretty much everything in your bag.

Cons:

-I feel that the long to long layout was simply taken too far. It's insane. Think about it, even par from the short to long layout was 1030+ rated in the grand opening. The long to long layout is even harder. That is, unless par is updated on a few of the holes from the long to long. #10 sticks out. Nearly 500' and tight the entire way. The line to get there is a tight left to right that is practically impossible to hold for 450+. The rough on the right side is almost death. This in my opinion is a true par four. I think it would average over 4 in a pro division with an average rating of 970. I'm guessing 4.25. #3 long to long is only about 600' but is absolutely sadistic. With it's distance, it should be a par four on a layout this hard. I just think this hole needs less trees. The line to get to either pin is very crooked. I took a seven on this hole and that was a triple bogey that didn't seem too bad. You start off throwing over an instant valley, instantly breaking right and leading you to a divided split fairway that a bicyclist would be scared to ride their bike down due to concerns of running into a tree. It's incredibly hard to throw an accurate shot off the long pad and have enough leeway to throw much of an upshot to the trail. Making a 4 is impressive. #4 long to long is pretty much impossible to birdie, could use less trees. The approach to reach the long pin almost creates a "vanishing point" for the line. #6 long to long. Again, only about 600'. The landing zone is up a 30' hill. The crossing point is only about 80' past the short pad. You could throw a flawless drive up the hill and be sitting in the fairway and still be left with a 420' uphill narrow second shot. I can't see anyone making a three on this one. Fairway on top of the first hill should either open up or the basket position in the long should be slightly shorter. This hole is a monster even from the short pad to long pin, since it is still uphill and narrow the entire way. Enough of a pro par four there.

-The rough. Boy it is mean. It's a strong contributing factor to why this course gets excessively hard.

Other Thoughts:

-Even the shortest layout (short to shorts) is very hard. Even rates over 960 on that layout. The short to longs (mind you, that isn't the hardest layout) rates over 1030. Eight over par was 986 rated in the grand opening tournament. My guess, even on the longest layout would be 1055 rated. I played my first round from short to longs and that layout at Waid Park is harder than any other course that I have played. Harder than Greenfield, Inverness, Hornet's Nest Gold, Angry Beaver, Buffalo Mountain. The long to longs is even more insane. If courses could kill, it would be Waid Park. I honestly feel like they went too far on the long to longs. I think that layout is just too hard. I think nine over would be 1000 rated. This sounds far fetched, but you'll see what I mean when you play it. In an open division with thirty players and an average rating of 970, I don't think there would be more than 20 birdies in a round from the long to longs.

-I really love the short pads. Some of the longs are a ton of fun. #5 and #6 give you the best of the elevation. #5 from the long is down a 60' hill and #6 is back up another huge hill. #16 from the long to long was a truly fun downhill par three. Tight but only about 340'. Gives a nice break before you get to the final two. Which are both monsters. #18 is down a winding trail fading downhill and left. The short pin isn't too difficult all things considered. The long pin is further up a narrow tunnel and guarded by several trees making the final hole mean and memorable. I liked it. It's brutal without being too "out there."

-I'm willing to bet that this is the currently the hardest course in the world. I haven't played New London Tech yet, but I've seen it on YouTube and it looks slightly more tamed. Waid has lines that are fair, but some of them seem impossible to hit the entire way through.

-And #9. You won't forget this one. 954' par five that's nearly shaped as a question mark to the long pin. I'll bet it's tougher than the infamous #12 and #14 at Northwood Black. I haven't played there yet either, but the lines appear to be wider from what I saw on the footage. Eights, nines, maybe a few double digit scores will be had. It looks obtainable at the start. Throw straight down a path maybe 20-25', and then it closes up a good bit and breaks off to another landing zone to the right side. Try to land there on a second shot maybe? Well, if you can execute a brilliant tee shot and a brilliant 250' layout while dodging hundreds of trees then maybe you can, but you still have about 500' to go. The trail breaks back left and you have several more trees in the fairway to dodge. The rough, not to mention, is death. You could through multiple great shots on this hole and be left fighting for a seven. Hardest hole that I've ever played. With ten long to long being nearly as vicious.

-Enter if you dare. It's great, but you've been warned. Get ready for tears! Hole #9 will give some people nightmares.
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