Gray's Crossing - Detail
Gray's crossing has four sets of tees, plus the scorecard has two combo sets.
This writeup is done from the "Blue/White" combo, which plays at 6426 yards.
From the back tees it stretches out to 7466 yards, which big hitters can get their
teeth into, especially at 6000 feet of elevation.
The opening hole is a straightforward par 4 with a slight bend to the right. It's 375
yards, so you need a decent drive, which sets up a midiron approach. There's plenty
of room to bail out left if you're worried about the trap on the right.
The second hole presents itself with a bit more of a visual challenge off the tee.
There are fairway bunkers on the right, but those aren't the ones to worry about --
it's the ones on the left you need to stay away from. Hit the ball straight over the
right hand bunkers, and you'll be fine.
#3 is a 563 yard par five. It looks fairly daunting from the tee box, with all those
bunkers, and the barranca across the fairway. Relax. You can't reach any of the
trouble until your second shot. So hit it as far as you can, right up the middle!
Okay, now it's time to worry. The barranca means you can't top your shot, or it's in the junk.
so take the longest club that you feel confident that you can get in the air.
By now, the angle of the traps on the left should have improved enough that you don't need to
hit at them. However, on your third shot, there is trouble fronting the green, so
make sure you have enough club. Great hole.
#4 is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) hole. It's a 156 yard par 3, with bunkers on the left.
Take a smooth swing with the right club and you should be fine.
#5 is a challenging hole. It's a 381 yard par four up a slight hill. There is all kinds of trouble
on the left, so you need to keep it in the fairway. Then there's all kinds of trouble fronting
the green. So you either need to hit a really good drive so you can reach the
green with a midiron, or you need to lay up on your second shot.
#6 is a strategy hole. It's a 274 yard par 4, so one strategy is to bomb away and try to
drive the green. Since I'm The Bogey Golfer, I don't have that shot, so I chose the "lay
up with a hybrid" strategy. Of course, that then requires some deft wedge play, because this
green is well-defended with bunkers.
#7 is a 514 yard par 5. The main challenge (really the only challenge) is to
keep the ball in the fairway. There's a drop off on the right side that can get
you in trouble real fast if you get too close to the edge. From the white tees, it's
only 514 yards, so you can play conservatively and still get to the green in
regulation.
The eighth hole is a 178 yard par three. With the creek running down the left side,
there's every reason to lay up if you're not confident in your long irons. Bogey
is not a bad score here.
The ninth hole is a 406 yard par 4. It's a blind tee shot, but the hole plays
straightaway, so hit a driver up the middle. I stubbed my drive and had to hit
a hybrid on my second shot, but the hole doesn't need to play that difficult
if you get a decent drive.
(By the way, they discourage stopping at the clubhouse after #9, so drive on...
The tenth hole is a strategy hole. It's a blind tee shot, and the hole doglegs left.
It looks wide open from the tee box, but it's really not, because you can run out
of fairway on the right too soon. So the fairway is really only half as wide as it
looks. You need to hit it to the left half of the fairway, which sets up a
decent approach to an otherwise normal green.
#11 is a 152 yard par three. Lots of trouble left, so favor the right side of
the green.
#12 is a 413 yard par 4. With this much distance, you need a really good drive
off the tee. The hole is straightaway, so this is all about power.
#13 is another 412 yard par 4. Unlike the previous hole, this one requires a bit of thought
in addition to power. There's a lake on the right. Fear of the lake will make you favor
the left side of the fairway, which makes the hole play a bit longer. In fact, this
hole is rated as the most difficult hole on the back nine. So I would say the right
strategy is to hit a fairway wood off the tee (assuming you hit that straighter
than your driver), followed by a midiron layup (we're still avoiding the lake), and a
wedge into the green. You'd still have a par putt, but you'd be delighted to come
away with a bogey (and your original ball, of course).
#14 is the easiest hole on the back nine, playing just 334 yards. It doglegs left
around a complex of fairway bunkers, daring you to drive over them. The other approach,
of course, would be to lay up to the right of those bunkers with a hybrid or fairway wood.
Your choice...
#15 is a 525 yard par 5. It's pretty much straight away, so whatever you do, stay in the fairway.
#16 is a long par 3. Regardless of what the scorecard says (this one is handicapped as 12),
I think long par 3s are difficult. This one invites you to lay up short and left,
since there's a big bunker on the right. On the other hand, if you've been
hitting your long irons well, go for it!
#17 is a mind game. There are ugly bunkers on the right, and an ominous looking
barranca looming in the distance beyond them. The hole is 354 yards in distance,
so you don't need a monster drive off the tee, but you do need a good one. The
best strategy is to aim left of the bunkers. If you hit it hard enough, you can fly the
bunkers, but taking on the bunkers is risky because if you spray it right at all,
you're in the woods where I went. I flew the bunkers but sprayed right, got a free drop
away from all the molehills, and was able to reach the green with a seven iron. So if I
had hit a three wood left of the bunker, I might have had to hit a five or six iron
across the barranca. So this hole is a combination of power and strategy.
The home hole is a real strategic puzzle. It's a short par 5 (475 yards) with
a split fairway. The puzzle is where (or if) to cross fairways. Ideally, you'd hit
a huge drive up against the right side of the fairway. At that point, you're well-positioned
to cross the hazard on your second shot, leaving you an easy approach into the green.
Unfortunately, I pulled my drive, so I was on the left side of the fairway, and trying to cross the junk
looked like a bridge too far (so to speak), so I played my second shot as a layup to the end of the first
fairway, which is a reasonable idea (because a well-executed layup leaves you a short iron into the green).
Unfortunately (again), I hit my second shot too
far and it went into the woods so I couldn't reach the green on my third shot. Anyway, great hole!
This is a fun course. It has a combination of power holes (you just have to hit
high quality long shots) plus strategy holes (where you have to put on your thinking
cap and make the right choices).
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