I want to take everything in with a grain of salt because I understand the need to redesign versus closing it down completely. The west side of the metro is in serious need of 18 hole courses, especially since our only options are Bryant, Crown, HSSA, and Elm Creek. Bryant is great, but like HSSA is more southern than western, making it somewhat of a drive for those of us who live in the northwest suburbs (look at a Twin Cities map, the NW is the only corner of the four that does not have numerous 18 hole courses). It also does not help that it is open maybe 5 to 6 months of the year. Crown, like Bryant, is also a considerable drive. Elm Creek just does not feel like a legitimate course with so many 400+ holes that play essentially the same. It has four or five competitive holes and that is it. We really needed a competitive Acorn.
So as much as I understand that an 18 is better than a 9 or nothing, at best I give the improvements a 6 or 6.5 out of 10. I for one have no current complaints with the tees or signage because they are definitely an improvement. They have better footing and makes the course look more legitimate (versus a spray painted line on the walking path).
Holes 2-4 are still very fresh and could stand (for better or worse) to lose a tree or two to make the fairways or secondary lines fairer. Right now there are plenty of tight singular windows on numerous holes. Yet I really enjoyed everything from Holes 1 through 7.
If there was an area that I was disappointed with, it was Holes 8-14. As individual holes, they are fine, but it felt unfulfilling to play so many sub-200 foot holes in a row. Acorn has always been a slightly under par course, but the challenge was trying to remain a few under par because there were a few spots that could get you. Up through Hole 7 you still have that feeling, as I was maybe -1 or -2 both rounds, but if you are not -6 to -8 after Hole 14, you do not feel like you have been shooting well. Essentially those holes almost feel like a different course. I think breaking up old Hole 11 and 15 was a mistake because leaving those long would have kept it more "Acorn". Do not get me wrong, I understand the need to redesign and maybe there was no possibly way to save 11 or 15, but I am back to the only thing that really detracted from my truly loving the changes, that of so many short, almost repetitive, holes back to back to back.
All in all, I think the changes were more positive than negative, but I think the negative changes are going to keep this from ever being considered a championship level course. I know that this was not the intention of the redesign, but now more so than ever, it makes it glaringly obvious how much the Westside needs a course like Kaposia, Lakewood, Oakwood, or The Valley. Even Vision Quest, definitely a premiere course, once "open" to the public is still 35-40 minutes for most players.
