Hidden Ridge DGC - N.KY Private Course

[InnocentCrook]

Robust preregistrations have us currently sitting with just 6 spots left! Get in while you still can.

Run the Ridge - DGScene

 

[InnocentCrook]

...and just like that. We're now full with a wait-list.

 

[brutalbrutus]

WIsh I could play but the shoulder still isn't cooperating and I'm probably too fat right now to survive that place anyway. Good luck man.:thmbup:

 

[InnocentCrook]

Results from our first tourney. Run the Ridge

Planning and execution was the name of the game. 5 weeks of building, brushcutting, bushhogging, mowing, and other assorted tasks. Between my brother in law, the TD, and myself I can't even guess the hours.

All in all, it really went off without a hitch. I was starting to sweat the parking situation around lunchtime but just as it was beginning to get really close to capacity the early morning cards started to roll out. A handful of friends came and volunteered which was a tremendous help. We had 2 folks controlling traffic at the entrance, another directing parking up top, and about 4 different spotters out on some of the trickier holes.

Learned some things we can do better next time, including purchasing or renting another port-o-potty so we can have one at Tourney Central and one around the halfway point.

Everyone really seemed to enjoy the course and the tourney in general. We raised a good chunk of change, a lot of which will go towards putting in concrete tees on a handful of holes.

Now I'll take a month or two off from course work and start planning on the same tasks to get it ready for the Fall/Winter/Early Spring season. (And probably another couple events because that was a damn good time.)

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Hosting a sanctioned event with 86 players in six divisons is quite an accomplishment. Congrats!

 

[InnocentCrook]

Hosting a sanctioned event with 86 players in six divisons is quite an accomplishment. Congrats!

Thanks for that.

First time TD to boot! He's run some weekly leagues and a putting league the last couple years but this was the first tourney either of us have been involved in putting together.

We may consider doing a 2-round tourney using just the original 18 holes in the future. Sat. would be Advanced and Open divisions, Sunday would be the Rec and Int. divisions or visa-versa. I'd love to see what the scoring would look like without the temp holes and we'd probably take away the harsh creek OB on hole 13 (12 on original layout). Looking at the stats it appears the par 4's really beat folks up.

 

[RUSSELL]

and we'd probably take away the harsh creek OB on hole 13 (12 on original layout). Looking at the stats it appears the par 4's really beat folks up.

if no one complained, scores be damned. if a bunch of people did complain, well...

 

[InnocentCrook]

if no one complained, scores be damned. if a bunch of people did complain, well...

I wouldn't say there were complaints but it certainly came up in discussions. Part of it may have been that at least 25-30% of the field was playing the course for the first time. Much like Idlewild there's certain areas where you need to hit a landing zone to set up your next shot, or holes where you REALLY need to decide if the risk of trying to bite off more distance is worth the lower percentage chance at the reward.

It's a longish par three as it is at about 340' with tight gap off the tee and a late flight right hand turn coming out of the woods. With the creek and left of it OB there were only three pars out of a Pro field of 14 players. A couple 7's, a 6, a 5, and seven 4's.

Here's a winter time pic, looks WAY different in the summer.

Pro Stats

Holes 1, 14, 15, 18-20 were the temp holes added to the 18 hole layout. I knew these would be the most "get-able" birdies and the hole stats seem to agree.

 

[RUSSELL]

hehe, yeah maybe just creek ob...

 

[goosefraba1]

I took a 3 on it, great drive. I made it out of the tunnel and didn't have a putt. I think the 2 cedars at the end get in the way for a putt. Otherwise, the first 2/3rds of that hole are incredibly fair. I would consider an alt pin placement either slightly shorter and left.... or just 40 feet shorter where the cedars come less in to play. Could consider making it a par 4 and pushing an alt pin to where TEMP C was (if that isn't crossing fairways).

I wouldn't say there were complaints but it certainly came up in discussions. Part of it may have been that at least 25-30% of the field was playing the course for the first time. Much like Idlewild there's certain areas where you need to hit a landing zone to set up your next shot, or holes where you REALLY need to decide if the risk of trying to bite off more distance is worth the lower percentage chance at the reward.

It's a longish par three as it is at about 340' with tight gap off the tee and a late flight right hand turn coming out of the woods. With the creek and left of it OB there were only three pars out of a Pro field of 14 players. A couple 7's, a 6, a 5, and seven 4's.

Here's a winter time pic, looks WAY different in the summer.

Pro Stats

Holes 1, 14, 15, 18-20 were the temp holes added to the 18 hole layout. I knew these would be the most "get-able" birdies and the hole stats seem to agree.

 

[InnocentCrook]

There is a nice little "flat" area just past a the mid-fairway pinch point where the creek bends in. It would shorten the hole to just shy of 300' if I had to guess. Out the chute and then farther right is certainly a possibility since the only things it would interfere with is two temp holes that I'm not overly concerned with. (One of them is the more boring hole C. Hole B will likely always remain as a fun extra but not part of any layout because it just looks so sweet.)

I think the biggest issue is the hanging foliage of the cedars. I've trimmed them up fairly regularly, but after a year or two they start to droop down again. I'll probably trim them up, remove the harsh OB, and see how it plays next time before any major changes take place.

I'm gonna check out the line for an alt. pin at hole C's basket. That could make for an interesting par 4 and would really create a brutal punch of par 4's of 10, 11, and 12.

 

[brutalbrutus]

Seeing the pics you've posted over the years is one thing but seeing the tourney video is a whole nother…


That sure is a beautiful piece of land and a fine course you've built.:thmbup:

One of these years I'll get my fat *** down there...

 

[InnocentCrook]

Seeing the pics you've posted over the years is one thing but seeing the tourney video is a whole nother…


That sure is a beautiful piece of land and a fine course you've built.:thmbup:

One of these years I'll get my fat *** down there...

Thanks Brutus! I still think finding this place was harder than figuring out where to put the holes. Once we found it, and I had time to get out and walk it, it all kind of just came together.

I'm looking forward to it whenever that day may come.

 

[InnocentCrook]

In case folks don't jump in the tourney video post...

 

[InnocentCrook]

Next "tourney" coming up in a few weeks! April 17th, 2021

Redbud Bloom - Birdie Tourney

Flex start, minimum 3 players per group.

$10 per round, can play multiple rounds, only your highest score counts.

1 point per birdie, 2 points for an ace. No points for pars and worse so go ahead and run everything!

36 hole layout. All holes will be between 125' and 250'.

Divisions:
Open
Advanced
Intermediate
Mixed Couples

 

[InnocentCrook]

Despite a bit of light rain off and on all day we had just under 70 rounds played at the Redbud Bloom. One hearty "ironman" actually tackled the layout 3 times! I'm sure his legs were burning by the end of the day.

We got lucky and timed the tourney about as perfectly as can be because the redbud trees were in full bloom.

Had someone tell me it was aesthetically a top 3 course for our area and another tell me it was the most beautiful course he'd ever seen. Hearing things like that never gets old.

 

[InnocentCrook]

Playing around with a gopro...

I acquired a GoPro Hero7 Black along with a handheld gimbal last year. I've played around with it just a little bit, but recently had the idea to attach the whole apparatus to the end of a hiking staff/monopod to act as a boom to create a somewhat "drone like" perspective. Due to the predominantly low ceiling nature of the course I think this works out fairly well all things considered.

This is hole 11, the longest hole on the course when it's set up in this pin position so it's also the longest any of these type of videos would be for the course. Daisy dog even makes a brief appearance.

I'm an absolute newb when it comes to video editing so please go easy on me. Now that the course is effectively closed until late summer/early fall I may try to create more of these.

 

[Luckj]

I acquired a GoPro Hero7 Black along with a handheld gimbal last year. I've played around with it just a little bit, but recently had the idea to attach the whole apparatus to the end of a hiking staff/monopod to act as a boom to create a somewhat "drone like" perspective. Due to the predominantly low ceiling nature of the course I think this works out fairly well all things considered.

This is hole 11, the longest hole on the course when it's set up in this pin position so it's also the longest any of these type of videos would be for the course. Daisy dog even makes a brief appearance.

I'm an absolute newb when it comes to video editing so please go easy on me. Now that the course is effectively closed until late summer/early fall I may try to create more of these.

This is really nice and would work as a great preview for someone (like me) who is considering coming to the course at some point. My only suggestion would be to speed up the footage much like Jomez and others do. It helps visualize the line while keeping the entirety of the hole in perspective.
Nice Work!

 

[Countchunkula]

Looks good! Agree with Luckj that speeding up the footage would be good. A useful, but more difficult addition would be to trace camera position on the hole map throughout the walk through.

For whatever reason, this camera technique reminds me of the shakey cam used for Evil Dead. Maybe incorporate some of the music/sound fx from the movie?

 

[InnocentCrook]

Thanks for the comments.

I felt like the 3+ minutes was a little long too. So I tried to speed things up a couple times, but it seemed to me that everything felt a little "off" when I did that. Eventually I got frustrated with the whole thing and just called it a day. I'll keep tinkering with things and figure out a good compromise. Would design/strategy commentary be useful during the walkthrough?

I have a handful of other holes prerecorded from that same day but...

I started to work on Hole 8's video but quickly realized my computer and memory card are almost completely used up by the gopro videos. I need to order a new micro sd card so I can transfer the completed stuff. When I bought this computer a 32gb card was almost as large as was available. Now you can get 512gb or even a terabyte for a fairly reasonable price.