Coral Canyon Golf Course Detail
This writeup is from the Blue tees, which are 6527 yards. While the Black tees stretch out to 7200 yards, I found at least one forced carry off the tee that I couldn't handle (#18) from the blues, so I'll leave the back tees for a Par Golfer to review...
While this course has a fantastic layout, it showed signs of needing some maintenance. Specifically they were having problems with their sprinkler system, and a few of the greens were kind of patchy.
The first hole opens with a bit of eye candy, and is a gentle par 5, playing 485 yards. This is a good place to practice hitting straight shots. You shouldn't need any hybrids or long irons. Just keep it in the middle of the fairway!
The second hole is a long par 5 with a waste area stretching across the middle. You need a really good drive to clear the waste area on your second shot. If your drive is a bit weak, you'll need to lay up, and go for a bogey.
#3 is an intimidating par 3. It's only 160 yards, but it's all carry, and you need to hit it straight because there's a chasm on the right waiting to catch stray shots.
#4 is an uphill par 4. Because it's uphill, it plays significantly longer than the 363 yards on the scorecard. This is another one of those holes where straight is your friend. Taking three shots to reach this will give you a better score than hitting into the desert, or one of those deep bunkers.
#5 is another intimidating tee shot. It's only 365 yards, and it's downhill, but... To allay my fears, I hit a hybrid to make sure I'd find the fairway. It turned out that I had plenty of room in front of the waste area if I'd hit it straight. While it left me a longish shot into the green, it was still a smart play. No regrets...
#6 is target golf. It's 122 yards, but there is no room short, left, right or long.
#7 is the hardest hole on the front nine. It's 432 yards, with a dogleg left. The ideal shot would stay just to the right of that bunker on the left side of the fairway. Actually, just aim straight at the bunker on the right side of the fairway. Bogey is a great score here, just keep it in play!
#8 is a really confusing hole. On the one hand, it's only 287 yards. On the other hand, it has a forced carry across the desert. But on the first hand, it's only 287 yards. Hit a five iron at the bunker on the right. It clears the junk, it stays short of the bunker, and it leaves you a wedge or a short iron in to the green.
The ninth hole is another hard hole. It's 405 yards, with a forced carry off the tee. Discretion is the better part of valor, don't bite off more than you can chew! Do not aim at the green! Stay well out to the right!
The tenth hole slopes to the right, so you want to favor the left side of the fairway. Of course, there's a trap to catch you if you're too far left, but that's preferable to the desert on the right. Lots of bunkers fronting the green -- take plenty of club on your second shot!
#11 is a 141 yard par 3. There's a fairly deep bunker fronting the right side, so bail to the left.
#12 is a 410 yard par 4. The waste area is out of reach from the tee, so swing away -- you want to get as far as you can, because it is in play on your second shot!
#13 is kind of a long narrow par 3, playing 202 yards from the white tees. Sometimes, when I don't have confidence in my 200 yard shot (like more than half the time), I would choose to lay up rather than hit one into the snakes.
#14 is a really long par 5 (554 yards) and is the second hardest hole on the back nine. You need three really good shots to get home in three here, so don't waste any time!
#15 is even harder. It's 455 yards and it's only a par 4. From the tee box, there is trouble everywhere you look, plus it's difficult to see where the green is (the fairway gives you a head fake that it doglegs left, but it's really straightaway. So the basic strategy is a) hit your best possible tee shot, and then hit whatever guarantees you will get across the waste area. If you take three shots to reach the green, that's okay, just keep it in play!
#16 would scare you to death, except that it's a short par 5 (495 yards). Take advantage of that. Get your tee shot across the junk, and then hit mid irons into the green.
#17 is a long par 3 (188 yards) from an elevated tee, over the desert. There is some fairway short and left if you want to bail out and lay up.
The home hole is a long uphill par 5. My first tee shot I hooked into the junk. My second one was a pretty good hit, but couldn't reach the fairway. Perhaps I was playing from the wrong tees... Anyway, after you get to the fairway, it's a long ways to the green because of the steepness of the fairway. Still focus on hitting it straight!
Despite a discouraging last hole (did I mention I couldn't reach the fairway?) this was a fun course. I'd certainly recommend it if you're in the area.
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