Broadlands Detail
This guide is written from the perspective of a bogey golfer, and is therefore shaded to the conservative side. The game is meant to be fun, and if you're feeling frisky and want to go for it when the stodgy advice is to lay up, well heck -- go for it. On the other hand, you do know deep down inside that your scores will be lower if you're conservative, right? I mean we're not exactly players of the caliber of Tiger and Phil, ... Anyway, this is written from the Gold tees, which play 6691 yards.
Hole 1 is a straightaway par 4. It's only 381 yards, and doesn't need anything special in the way of a tee shot. Get it out in the fairway, and set up an easy approach from the 150 yard marker, and you're well on your way to a good round. There's a bunker on the left as you approach the green, so make sure you're favoring the right side of the green.
Hole #2 is even shorter, but it's also trickier. It's only 363 yards, but it has a bit more trouble to deal with. There's a huge patch of rough down the right hand side. There are bunkers all down the left. By the way, there's also a bunker on the right if you hit it far enough. And up close to the green, there's an insidious finger of the pond reaching into the fairway from the right. Stay well away from this -- it's more of an intrusion than you realize until you get right up close to it. Play an iron or fairway wood off the tee down the left side, laying up short of the fairway bunker there. Then lay up short and left of the green on your approach. Note the "lay up" -- there's trouble both left and right of this green; keep it out of play! You'll have a good chance of an up-and-down par, and take double or triple out of the picture.
#3 is an honest-to-goodness 594 yard par 4. It doglegs right the whole way, but there is no chance to cut any corners because of the long swath of weeds leading to a huge pond on the right. Stay well to the left side, and let the tilt of the fairway roll you back to the middle. This is handicapped as the hardest hole on the course, probably because of its length, so if it takes you four shots to reach the green, stay calm and be happy with a bogey.
The fourth hole is a 178 yard par 3, which is just long enough to be dangerous if your accuracy isn't quite up to snuff. The back bunker on the right makes a good target when you're standing on the tee. A short miss on that line won't get you in trouble.
#5 is a shorter par 5 (than #3) playing 518 yards. It doglegs a little left, but not pronouncedly so. Obviously you want to avoid the fairway bunkers on the left. The fairway is generous enough to hit your driver, as long as you don't hit a wild slice (water on the right). The approach to the green comes in next to a pond on the left, so playing out to the right side on your second shot is generally a good idea.
#6 is a 164 yard par 3 with nothing but water all down the right side. The shot looks way more intimidating than it needs to. It looks like you have to hit it as hard as you can to clear the water, which of course invites you to top it every time. Pick the right club, line up at the left side of the green, and take a normal confident swing, and you'll be fine. Missing the green left is a good strategy.
#7 is a short 356 yard par 4. Hit an iron or a fairway wood off the tee, and aim at the bunkers on the left. This will set up an easy 150 yard shot into the green. There are lots of bunkers fronting the green, so play for a high soft shot on your approach.
#8 is a hole with some teeth. It's 415 yards, and it doglegs right around a long lake. Favor the left side, even if it means hitting your three wood off the tee. You don't want to be anywhere near that lake, because the fairway tilts that direction anyway. If this turns into a three-shot hole, so be it. Just stay dry, and you should do no worse than a bogey.
#9 is another long par 4 at 430 yards. There's trouble down the right side, so aim your tee shot at the bunker on the left. The approach is particularly tricky on this hole, since it's designed to drag everything off the cliff on the right and into the water. Lay up if you have to, but stay well left.
#10 is a longish par 4, at 413 yards. Furthermore, you can't see the flag from the tee because of a slight incline. Stay right of the bunker on the left (it's reachable), and that will put you at the crest of the hill where you can see the downhill shot into the green. There's a bunker on the right, and a big expanse of rough on the left of the green. The rough is better than the sand if you're going to miss...
#11 feels like you're teeing off in a chute. Settings like this always affect me worse than they need to. Take a little extra time, stay loose, and make a confident stroke on your tee shot. This puppy is 393 yards, and it's uphill, so you really need a decent shot off the tee. If you don't get one, be prepared to lay up on your approch. The green is long and skinny, and surrounded by traps.
#12 is 183 yards. The green is huge, and if the flag is back, this could easily exceed 200 yards. As one Bogey Golfer to another, my advice is to hit a six or seven iron here, which will land way short, and then chip on with a wedge. That should take all the trouble out of play, and ensure you get at least a bogey, which is a pretty good score here.
#13 is a 556 yard par 5. It bends slightly to the left, but that corner is well guarded with bunkers. Keep your shots out in the middle of the fairway, and this hole can be had.
#14 is only 139 yards, but it is fiercely defended by a veritable Murder's Row of sand traps down the left. Land in the first one, and you could easily spend the rest of your life in them. Take a deep breath -- it's not a very long hole. Hit a confident shot, and if you're going to miss, miss right.
#15 is one of those holes where you really owe it to yourself to stop for a look around. It's a par 5 that wraps around a lake. The lake has ducks, and geese, and frogs, and all kinds of waterfowl, and in the summer time sends up a cacaphony of wildlife noises. Your tee shot is over the lake, so you need to get your wits about you, and keep from pressuring yourself. From the gold tees, it's only 488 yards, so hit a fairway wood or an iron just left of the traps on the far right. Favor the right stide on your second shot to set up a short iron or wedge on your approach. There's a bunker fronting the green exactly in the middle, so you need a high soft shot in, not a bump-and-run. Keep yourself dry, and this is a pretty straightforward par.
The sixteenth hole is a lot like #7. It's only 350 yards, so hit an iron or fairway wood off the tee, and go right up the middle. Play a midiron into the green, and this is another scoring opportunity.
#17 is 369 yards, and it makes a sharp dogleg left around the 150 marker. Driver may not be the best choice here because you can run out of fairway if you're a big hitter. Hit something straight down the middle, to set up your approach shot. If you try to cut the left-hand corner, it's pretty easy to get caught up in that huge bunker, and then you're in trouble (there are more bunkers waiting...).
The home hole is 401 yards, and it's another one that you might not want to use the driver on. It doglegs right, and the fairway runs into a pond that you can't see from the teebox. On the other hand, if you lay up off the tee box, you could wind up with an uncomfortably long approach (with the pond ever present on the left if you lose it...). A lay up on the second shot is often appropriate too. Bogey's a good score here. Just don't turn it into a double or triple.
This is a course that's well set-up for golfers of all levels. If you're a scratch golfer, this will challenge your skills. If you're a bogey golfer, you'll take some bogeys, but if you keep your wits about you the course won't beat you up too bad. You can beat your handicap index on a good day.
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