Ravenwood (Blacks)
6642 yards – 72.1 Rating – 130 Slope – 87 Score
Day 32; May 22nd, 2017
Sometimes, less is more. I can’t necessarily point to any one hole or even course characteristic of Ravenwood that makes me so fond of the course; it’s more the sustained quality of the holes, one after the other.
It’s still pretty early in the season, but the course was in great shape (despite quite a bit of recent rain, which dampened the roll on the fairways… but not my enthusiasm for this track). The greens were rolling well and the fairways and tee boxes were manicured and in stellar shape.
I found the greens to be fair and playable, yet they held serve by still being challenging enough; not complicated to the extent of being impossible to read but taking too quick a glance could also lead to an unnecessary three putt. The cuts around the greens were very clean and with enough increasing thickness to ensure that all but the most overheated of approaches would at least stay on the fringe once you managed to place a ball on the putting surface.
There is also a abundance of wildlife on the course that adds to the scenic beauty and pleasure of playing the course. My wife (and trust photographer) took almost as many pictures of various animals as she did the golf course!
While the course is fairly open and playable, the rough can be pretty thick and grabby so accuracy is still at a premium here. Other than 12 and 18 there really isn’t a ton of bunkering, but what is out there is well placed in potential landing areas. My score for the twelfth hole reflected the mistake of playing a little too much of a draw on my second shot as I found not one, but two, of the bunkers that are strung out along the left hand side of the fairway. Similarly, I plugged my ball into the top of a bunker on 17 when the water on the right hand side of the green caused me to club up a little and play away from it; just good course craftsmanship.
My favorite hole was probably the par four third, which doglegs around a long pond, defying you to bite off more of the corner than you can chew. Eighteen is a really nice finishing hole as well, a par five long enough to require a couple 200 yard irons before a wedge or a really well struck driver and a long iron to try to attack the elevated green in two (I took the former route to a relatively easy par). Either way it’s certain to make you want to come back and play again.
The staff was warm and engaging as we chatted with the starter for about 15 minutes as we came off of 18. Pace of play was good both for me and for the people I saw coming through the turn as I was wrapping up my round. We’ll play Ravenwood again if we are in the region.
