Redtail Mountain (Blues)
6676 yards – 72.3 Rating – 126 Slope – 81 Score
Day 19; May 9th, 2017
I’m going to preface this review by saying the day we played Redtail it was cold, wet and foggy, with an emphasis on wet…
The main point in starting with that is to let you know in advance that the pictures from Redtail are not going to do it justice, the weather just was not conducive to taking great pictures. What the weather couldn’t do; however, was ruin a terrific track and despite getting very wet, we really enjoyed this course.
One of the things I liked, in retrospect, was that Redtail starts you off “easy.” The first few holes are below the mountain where you can get your swing calibrated and build a little momentum. Further, after the up and down of the mountain holes, there are a few relaxing low land holes at the end as well to ease you into the club house.
In between you’ll find some of the most scenic and interesting golf around. Winding up and down the face of the hills, elevation change becomes a staple of almost every hole beginning with the 75 foot ascent to the green on #5 and culminating with the roughly 200 foot drop on the par 4 fourteenth.
Nothing quite matches number 12 though. The hole drops about 230 feet tee to green, and around 260 from the tee box to its low point in front of the green. This may be one of the most protected greens you’ll ever see when it comes to trying to get on the deck in two (it’s a par five). The hole is located at a 90 degree angle from the end of the fairway, with a rise and forest defending against attempting to cut the corner. As if all of that isn’t enough, there’s also a small rock wall in front of the green. It’s truly a fun and unique hole.
Another thing not to miss is the old burial ground tucked away on the right hand side of the fairway as you head downhill on number 14. It’s very cool, but easy to miss.
One of the least bunkered tracks I’ve played on this trip (at least the mountain stretch, there are a few more on the low-land holes), Redtail mostly relies on elevation and angles to defend itself, and it does a fairly good job of it. However, what I really liked was that, while the course design does make it tough enough that it’s hard to really “destroy” the course; at the same time, if you play smart and take what the course gives you, it’s certainly possible to post a good number (this is evidenced, I think by the rather high rating, yet not overly bloated slope of the course).
We found the staff to be simply wonderful. In fact probably the only thing “unreasonable” about our experience was them apologizing for the weather (obviously, there’s nothing they could do about it). Since we were, by and large, the only people crazy enough to play on this particular morning, I can’t say too much about the pace of play in general. However, we went out first and I was playing alone and it still took me nearly 4 hours walking. The moral of the story is, use a cart here if you want to finish in a reasonable amount of time.
If you are a shutterbug, bring your camera as there are no shortage of vistas and views and if you are golfer, bring your whole bag, because you will have a chance to use it all. We really enjoyed Redtail and would certainly return and play (a hopefully dryer round) again.
