Angel Park - Mountain Course
This guide is written from the perspective of a bogey golfer, and is therefore shaded to the conservative side. This is written from the Championship tees (blue), which play 6223 yards.
Hole #1 is a wide open 398 yard par 4. The only obstacle in sight is a bunker on the right, but there is so much room here that you can easily avoid it to the left. Driver is the right play due to the hole's length.
#2 is a short par 5, playing 483 yards. What's the big deal? Well in addition to the bunker on the right, there's a pond jutting out in the fairway behone the bunker that you can't see. So the play here is to hit your three wood out left of the tee on your first shot. Then a mid iron well to the left of the fairway. This will set you up for a wedge or short iron into the green, avoiding the pond and the greenside waste area on the right.
#3 is a short par 4, playing 306 yards. It's wide open, so you can certainly hit your driver. But it's also short, so you can certainly hit your three wood just to make sure you don't stray into one of the bunkers. All of the trouble on this hole is collected right in front of the green, so put yourself in position to hit a quality shot into the green.
#4 is a 136 yard par 3. There's trouble everywhere, but since it's a reasonably short hole, there's no reason to hit into any of it. Just make a smooth swing and you'll be fine.
#5 is a par 4, playing 369 yards. The look off the tee box is a little intimidating with a forced carry and kind of a narrow opening. However, that's all just mind games -- the fairway opens up just as wide as any of the others out here. You just need to focus on making a good swing. Once you're off the tee, this hole is pretty benign.
#6 is a longish par 3, playing 189 yards. There's a waste area on the left and some trees on the right, and a bunker just short of the green. The important thing on this hole is to hit a quality shot. You don't have to land on the green, you just need to hit a good straight shot. Lay up if you have to, just stay out of trouble.
#7 gives you another intimidating tee shot. Don't fall for it! It's important to land on the grass, so hit a club that will let you do that. There's trouble up around the green too, so don't get too agressive on your approach shot. If you're on in three, you can still make par...
#8 has another waste area to deal with off the tee, but once you're over that, the hole is pretty straightforward -- just long (410) yards. Make a good swing with your driver.
#9 is a visual puzzle, mostly because of the pond which fills up so much of your field of view. It's about 180 yards to clear that pond, and the hole basically is straightaway over the pond. The only question is: Hit your driver straight over, or bail out right? I bailed out right and wound up in a trap on the next fairway over, which was a really bad idea. If you're going to bail out, use an iron. Otherwise, grit your teeth and hit it straight!
The tenth hole is a straightaway par 4, playing 359 yards. While there is a bunker on the right of the fairway, there's plenty of room here to hit a driver.
#11 is a par 3 over a waste area. It's only 133 yards, so no big deal, right?
#12 is a longish par 4 at 380 yards. Plenty wide open, and safe to hit a driver, though.
#13 is a par 5 with the tee shot over a waste area. I topped my drive and drilled it into one of those little bushes from which it never returned (while I didn't stick my hand in there, I poked around a fair amount with my five iron, but no luck!). Despite the lost ball, driver is still the right play here. It's straightaway and plenty wide.
#14 is another 380 yard par 4. Again with the waste area on the tee shot. Ignore that, and steer left of the fairway bunker on the right, and you'll be fine.
#15 is a 160 yard par 3 next to the snack shack. Take a smooth swing and ignore the waste area. (Yes I topped it into the junk!)
The sixteenth hole is a 348 yard par 4 that runs alonside a waste area on the right. Obviously, you want to steer to the left side of the fairway. Hit your three wood or a long iron if you're not confident in being able to do that.
#17 is a 529 yard par 5, and is rated as the most difficult hole on the back nine. There's a waste area running diagonally across the fairway. While there's room enough to hit your driver, you must stay to the left of the waste area in order to set up your second shot. The hole is long enough that you need to be able to hit a hybrid or long iron on the second shot, but once you've accomplished that, you're home free!
#18, like #9, is another visual puzzle. The play here is a driver, straight over the junk. There is plenty of room in the landing area, before the hole doglegs left around the lake you can't quite see from the blue tees. After a decent drive, all you have to do is avoid the lake on the right, and
The home hole is a 400 yard par 4.
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