64 of 70 Arrow Creek Country Club: The Legends Course

At Arrow Creek, there are two golf courses, The Challenge Course which is a private course designed by Fuzzy Zoeller and John Harbottle III, and the Legend Course, designed by Arnold Palmer, a public course which we were welcomed to play. Both are desert courses overlooking Mount Rosa on one side, and the city of Reno on the other.

The fairways of the Legend Course are quite generous but that doesn't make it an easy course per se. There are still many a challenge awaiting you, would it be the numerous sand traps strategically placed over the course and particularly in front of the greens as a supreme defense, or the many creek crossing or deep dry gulches negotiated usually at great expenses. One is hardly ever safe until one has found the bottom of that 4 inches hole.

Sur ce parcours, il n'y a qu'un seul lac et on le retrouve au dixième trou. Il faut se souvenir que ce club de golf est en plein désert donc aucune surprise ici. On peut éviter la difficulté en jouant sur la droite mais ce choix ajoute un coup à la normale quatre comme de raison. Quant à moi j'ai fait bien pire et me suis retrouvé avec un 8 bien mérité. Tant pis pour moi! À vrai dire j'ai très mal joué au deuxième neuf mais c'est sans importance. Nous avons eu une belle journée et le parcours d'Arnold Palmer est de toute beauté.  À l'exception de quelques petits canards, la faune s'est faite rare mais la flore était superbe.

63 of 70 Rosewood Lakes, Reno, Nevada

For our first round in the Reno area we played Rosewood Lakes Golf Course which happens to be a lovely municipal course entirely surrounded by the ever present Sierra Nevada mountains. The course is routed amongst wetlands that come into play on each and every hole. For additional defense, the greens and the fairways have some unfriendly sand traps but the real danger here is to be found in the acres of bullrushes to contend with on every hole.

The front nine, with good course management, will allow fairly reasonable scoring. The average hole will look somewhat like the one pictured above. The back nine, however, is another story entirely. Holes 10 and 11 are quite tame but from the twelveth on fasten your seat belt. Look at the picture on the right, the bulrushes in front of the tee box are more than six feet high and the fairway is nowhere in sight. All you can do is look at the yellow losange (middle top of the picture), take dead aim and hope your drive can carry 180 to 200 yards in the air and pray that your ball will be in the fairway when you get there. The same scenario will be repeated on 14, 15 and 16. The fourtenth is a par 3 and is considered the easiest hole at Rosewood. The ranking must have been done by someone as blind as your tee shot.

Nos voisins américains sont loins d'apprécier nos outardes, pour eux ce ne sont que des nuisances et il est difficile de les contredire car partout on trouve du fumier sur les verts, parfois même des trous aussi grands que ceux dans lesquels on veut mettre la balle. Les outardes sont toutefois heureuse d'y retrouver leur cousin le héron bleu.

62 of 70: The Quarry, Edmonton, AB

The Quarry, which is another Les Furber design and perceived as one of his best, just opened in 2012. The course will eventually consists of three 9 holes: the Granite, the Slate and the Ironstone, allowing three different championship rotations. The first two opened this year and Ironstone is slated to open next season. The top picture presents a general overview of the layout, and the one on the left depicts the first hole of the Granite nine. When enlarged you will clearly see the severe undulation that not only comes into play, but also wants to bring you back to the lake. The greens are quite large and will require a two or three club differential on the approach shot depending on the pin placement. The greens are always well protected by large sand traps and the numerous natural lakes found all over the layout.

 

La photo du 9ième trou du Granite encore nous démontre assez clairement la difficulté de ce magnifique parcours. En terme de distance, le trou est relativement court mais il reste vachement difficile avec un lac de chaque côté où un drive imparfait risque de se retrouver. Un peu trop long et on plonge dans le ruisseau qui passe d'un lac à l'autre devant le vert. Une normale quatre ici relève pratiquement du miracle.

 

This will be my last round in the Edmonton area, next week will find me in Reno, Nevada. The weather here has gotten too cold with temperatures dropping to below zero at night. The courses are getting difficult to play as we encounter many deadpan lies and tricky rough patches. I still had fun today and greatly enjoyed Dale, Ed and Fred's company. I agree with them as to the worth of the Quarry and will return next year.

 

En terminant, je vous laisse en plus de la photo de ces jolis canards, celle d'un rat musqué prise au 18ième et dernier trou. J'ai trouvé là toute une colonie de rats musqués mais le moindre mouvement et ils disparaissent sous l'eau. J'ai quand même réussi à en capter un.

 

Muskrat photographed on the last hole of the day.

 

 

 

61 of 70: The Ranch Golf and Country Club, Acheson, AB

 

View of the first fairway on the right of the pond and the 10th on the left.

The Ranch is ranked as the 14th best public golf course in Alberta and the second best in the Edmonton area. It is a beautiful course built, according to the scorecard, on the site of the former Flying Red Wheel Ranch and barely twenty minutes from downtown Edmonton. The architect has retained the mature natural forest. Many holes offer substantial elevation change as already evidenced in the first two pictures. One also has to negotiate a number of ponds from either the tee box or around the green.

 

Gordon, a member of The Ranch and my partner on this round, offered to guide me around the course as I was playing it for the first time in over twenty years. In his own words, he was to be my caddy and he was. Not that he had to carry my bag as we were riding but, he gave me the line of play, the distances to hazards or preferred landing areas, and most importantly, he read my putts just as Melias did for me when I was golfing in Malawi (see one of the very first posts). We had a good time together and had a reasonably good game considering the fact that on the back nine we had to play in a gale force wind. Just have a look at the flag in the next picture.

 

Au deuxième neuf il se préparait une tempête terrible et il faisait quasiment un vent d'ouragan. Voyez le ciel dans la photo de gauche et le pli des arbres et du drapeau. Pour atteindre ce vert par exemple, sur mon coup d'approche j'ai dû viser une trentaine de mètres à gauche du vert malgré cela, ma balle s'est arrêtée à environ trois mètres à la droite dans l'herbe longue. La tempête a duré un peu plus d'une demi-heure et on a eu du temps calme pour terminer la ronde avant que la pluie prenne pour de bon.

 

Les trois derniers trous sont probablement les plus difficiles de tout le parcours. Sur la photo de gauche on voit le vert du 16ième trou à l'avant plan, et de l'autre côté de l'étang, le drapeau du 17ième.  À droite, pour atteindre le vert du dix-huitième, il faut au deuxième coup traverser l'étang, soit en ce qui me concerne, une distance de plus de 180 verges. Un bon coup  quoi! À mon grand étonnement, je l'ai réussi et j'ai terminé la ronde avec une normale 4. Une très bonne fin de journée!

 

The only vestige left of the former Flying Red Wheel Ranch.

 

 

 



 

 

60 of 70: Deer Meadows Golf Course, Villeneuve Hwy, AB

It is getting to a point where I have played most of the Edmonton area public courses and on last Friday I couln't find a tee time. I eventually settled for a nearby 9 hole course by the name of Deer Meadows. I immediately fell in love with the course. It is set in a totally natural environment and feels as if the holes just fell into place of their own volition, perhaps in the same way as holes were cut out of nature in the old countries. All over the course you are playing along and over undisturbed marshes which to this day remain somewhat of a bird sanctuary.

 

I fell in love with the course, and wouldn't you know, it loved me right back. Something short of a miracle happened on that day as I parred each and every hole. That is correct, for the first time in my golfing life I parred every hole. A perfect 35 on a nine hole par 35, and Brenda was my witness. I did write in my last post that I felt my game was coming along, but this was beyond my expectations. Beside water hazards on each and every hole, perhaps this course had little difficulties, however, one must still make each and every shot. Credit might go to the beauty and the calm one experiences at Deer Meadows, just see for yourself.

 

Dans les marais de Deer Meadows il doit normallement y avoir une population d'oiseaux et d'oiseaux aquatiques d'une grande variété car on y trouve partout non seulement un habitat naturel, mais aussi un grand nombre de nichoir de toutes dimensions. Dans la photo du canard noir ci-haut on reconnaîtra peut-être la foulque d'Amérique qui favorise ce genre d'habitat. Quant à la photo de gauche, nous croyons qu'il s'agit peut-être de la femelle mais sans en être certain.

À gauche, un nichoir pour malard aussi appelé col-vert en raison de la couleur vert luisant de la tête et du cou quand le mâle est revêtu de son plumage nuptial. À droite il s'agit d'un nichoir bien ordinaire mais le bleu du ciel est typique de l'Alberta. En rentrant à la maison nous avons vu sur la route une espèce de faune assez curieuse, à vous d'en juger.

 

The strangest example of wildlife was seen on the street on the way home from the course. Not halloween yet, but we did have a full moon that night.

 

 

59 of 70: The Links at Spruce Grove, Spruce Grove, AB

 

 

Je profite toujours de l'été indien pour poursuivre dans la région mon projet de 70 parties sur 70 terrains différents. Au cours de la dernière semaine je me suis retrouvé à Spruce Grove pour y jouer le Links, un parcours conçu en 1983 par l'architecte Bill Robinson qui a aussi signé Lewis Estates et Cougar Creek, deux terrains que j'ai joués récemment. Lors de mon passage au Links de Spruce Grove j'étais seul; personne devant, personne derrière pour un bon trente minutes. Une occasion extraordinaire de bien gérer le terrain et de planifier chaque coup avec toute l'attention voulue.

 

The Links was built, as are many courses, amongst an ongoing housing development, yet, it is only in a number of street crossings that you are aware of it. Robinson has used the natural rolling terrain well, and after 30 years the mature treelined fairways offer a fairly quiet refuge for golfers who normally enjoy a natural environment. Water comes into play on six of the eighteen holes and the course has been peppered with 70 large and strategicaly placed sand traps. The large bent grass greens are well contoured and may demand a club selection varying by two or three clubs.

 

My full attention was on my game and my game alone on this day and consequently I was scoring quite well until I got to the 17th hole. Having missed my drive on this relatively easy par 5,  I was forced to lay up as I couln't carry the water hazard facing me, from there I found myself first in a green side bunker, then over the green and ended up with a dreaded 8. On 18 I managed another 7 and failed to break 90 by one shot. In spite of that I felt good about my game which I believe is well on the mend.

 

En somme, je me suis bien amusé au golf mais aussi à faire de la photographie pseudo artistique pour mon bon plaisir. Tout en méditant sur le parcours, j'étais aussi à l'affût de toute faune. J'ai bien vu un lièvre passer mais le temps de retirer mon appareil photo de ma poche qu'il était déjà sous les arbres. Comme toujours il a fallu que je me contente de photographier les outardes mais j'en ai toutefois trouvé une bien occupée à lire un panneau d'avertissement du danger possible.

 

That is one curious Canada Goose!

 

 

 

 



58 of 70: Pioneer Meadows Golf Course, Edmonton, AB

 

For a long time I resisted playing Pioneer Meadows because it is an "executive" golf course playing at barely 4711 yards from the tips but I couln't have been more wrong. This course will put you to the test from the first to the last tee shot. Some reviewers consider Pioneer Meadows a golfer's nightmare, particularly on the drive. I might have to agree.

 

Most of the holes play really short, including the two par 5's  which average 450 yards from the longest tees. That doesn't mean that it is an easy course. Some of the drives are blind shots, others will have a long carry over large ponds (as in this picture), while others have substantial elevation change either up or down. Add to that a few tricky dog legs and unplayable rough of over a foot tall, and you have a real challenge.

 

En dépit des difficultés, Pioneer Meadows est un joli petit parcours qui mérite d'être joué et Brenda et moi avons bien l'intention d'y retourner l'an prochain. C'est un excellent endroit  où pratiquer et le "drive" et le "petit jeu" comme disent les Français. Et comme nous connaissons toujours une vague de chaleur, c'était une ballade agréable.

 

Je dis une ballade parce que pour une fois nous avons marché plutôt que de circuler en voiturette. Une ballade agréable aussi en raison des couleurs de l'automne plein les yeux. Nous avons vu également un rat musqué mais le temps d'aller retrouver notre appareil photo dans le sac de golf il avait disparu. Impossible d'attendre son retour car nous avions un couple de golfeurs sur les talons. En revanche, nous avons trouvé au 18ième trou une jolie courge et ses fleurs.

 

A gorgeous squash by the 18th tee box.