Day 18 27 holes in Arkansas
About an hour southwest of West Memphis, hidden away in the woods, just off a small state highway sits The Ridges at Village Creek Golf Course. This is a state park golf course (fairly common in the south) and at least 18 of the 27 holes I consider a GEM! There weren't too many people on the golf course when I was there and after talking to the grounds crew guys it is not unusual for them to be slow. One of them said the course was one of the state's "money pits". The course is never advertised and there are no towns (therefore no motels) to overnight in nearby. The closest population center is West Memphis and they (the staff) told me they have some regular weekend players that come from there that won't tell anybody else about the golf course so as not to screw up their "good thing". There are no towns / motels for people to stay at near
The course was started as a private venture and those people finished the west nine and most of the north before going broke. Arkansas stepped in, finished the north nine and built the east nine later.
I played all 27, cart paths only, on some of the steepest terrain (the west nine, like Indian Canyon on steroids) I have ever played. The other thing is, PARTICULARLY on the west nine, the cart paths do not run close to the golf course in most cases (by the original planners design, wanted to hide the cart paths) so the walks to and from the ball were often long and arduous.
They started me off on north nine & I played the blue tees 3012 yards. On this course white tees are longer, green tees are shortest and the black tees are over 7,000 yards regardless of the combination you play. The north is the shortest nine and judging by the slope and rating for 18 holes, the toughest nine. IT IS NOT THE TOUGHEST IN MY OPINION! FROM MY TEES North/West combo 134 slope, 69.7. North/East combo 131 slope, 69.5, West/East combo 129 slope, 70.2.
One of the two pro shop/cart guys told me the west was the hardest to play and to walk and the east was the easiest. I decided to play the North/West combo and if I had the energy I would play the east last as it was the easiest to walk back & forth from the cart paths while playing.
I played by myself, so no score posting. The ground was soggy as they had had a preponderance of rain like the rest of the south lately. Not nearly as bad as the day before in Mississippi, but there wasn't a lot of roll out there either. I bogeyed the first two holes (three putted #2, a par three) and the birdied the third, easiest hole on the side according to handicap. (Oddly enough, all three nines have #3 as their easiest hole!) I parred #6 (a short par 4) and bogeyed everything else to shoot a 42 (par 36). I was pretty happy with that. Great set of holes except for #9 which almost forces the shorter hitter to lay up short of a large water hazard on the 2nd shot. When the greens on this nine were deep, they were not wide. When they were wide, they were not deep. The greens are well bunkered, but the fairways are very accessible (from the tees I played).
The west nine plays 3079 RUGGED yards from my tees. I made a two putt bogie on the first hole & the 9th of the west nine, parred #3 and the rest were disasters, three of them x-out pickups. The three toughest holes on this nine are #2, a 532 steeply uphill after the tee shot par 5, #4 (the #1 handicap hole)) a 420 yard steeply uphill after the tee shot par 4, and #8 a 547 steadily uphill par five with a narrow landing area for the 2nd shot. All three of these are at at least 40 yards too long for the caliber of player that will usually use these tees (like me). Lots of sand traps on the nine and huge changes in elevation on almost every hole. The greens are larger than the north nine and not as contoured.
I was pretty tired after the west nine, but decided to play the east anyway. If I had played the west last, I know I would have quit after about five holes. The east nine played 3023 from my tees and would be 3794 yards from the blacks. The slopes in these fairways were much gentler and the greens are the largest of the three nines. They are not the easiest to putt (that would be the west nine) as you can be on green and a long way from the hole. I managed a 49 on this nine, playing on legs that were completely worn out. This would be the ONLY night I would have some leg cramps after golf.
I hope this golf course survives. It is a good track, it just needs to be promoted a little. The scenery is beautiful there, even if your golf game isn't.
Drove to Fort Smith AR (on the western border w/Oklahoma) and spent the night. I drove around the town a little. A nice place. Arkansas was green where I played golf, but not here. Louisiana and the part of Mississippi I was in. Very nice people. I was lucky to have that experience everywhere I went.
These are all crappy pictures. There wasn't much sunlight this day.
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