Blog 58 – CT River

Nomadic_golfer : August 2020

Par 72, 5946m, slope 119, green fee $55 ($30 Mondays)

4 par 3s from 128 – 179m, 10 par 4s from 293 – 402m, 4 par 5s from 441 – 495m

This was the furthest north we ventured in 2020, the second of 3 August trips to Tweed Heads, this one for the River course.

Very similar to the West course (see the previous post), with the generally narrow, tree-lined fairways and little scope for escape. Its probably a little prettier and some views of the Tweed River to boot. There are however, more short par 4’s here (5 under 320m) which I don’t mind but some of them don’t give you a valid driver option to provide that risk/ reward equation, eg the 312m 12th is a hard dog leg left where a high sharp right to left drive has no chance of settling on the fairway or putting surface, and this hole is wedged between 2 other c.315m holes. 13 on the other hand (main photo below) is a ripper, a straight 314m with a lone pine behind the green as a line, the fairway is very narrow and dome shaped with trouble on both sides (water left). This gives the temptation to hit driver and get close – has some risk / reward here.

Other highlights are: 7 (strong 179m par 3 flanked by water on both sides that doesn’t really come into play, but front bunkers on either side and pin placement determine the required shot-shape); 8 (375m dogleg right over trees and a corner bunker with mounds and the river if you stray left); and 16 (a straightish 374m with bunkers and trees jutting out on the right to a diagonally positioned, well-bunkered green)

A good overall test of golf; good condition, plenty of well placed bunkers & many choices to make off the tees. As I said in the West review, I might be on my own, but I actually rate the West course higher. It might just be because @tomsoulsby trounced me on 2 occasions around the River, he was much more consistent than me at the required right to lefters on those short 4s.