(June 23rd) Day 18 – Houston Oaks, Paris, KY AND
Snow Hill Country Club, New Vienna, OH drove 313 miles
Paris, Kentucky is just a few miles east of Lexington and Houston Oaks was a planned golf course to play. Houston Oaks has five sets of tees ranging from 6854 yards to 4925 yards. I played the Silver tees at 5891 yards with a course rating of 70.8 and a slope of 130 (according to GHIN). With all the rain, the golf course played a little longer because the roll was diminished in the fairways and even more so in the medium length rough. This sprawling golf course has only a few holes with houses on them, and NONE of them are close to where you might hit a golf ball (unless you were trying!). There is a creek that runs through the course and a few ponds to cross along the way. Most of the holes have sand bunkers and there are lots of trees, many of them in places that make you consider them when navigating the hole. I think this is a very well designed golf course and the price was ridiculously low at $ 31 for green fees with a cart. The course has reasonable elevation changes, but would be a chore to walk as spread out from one green to the next tee as some of the holes are. The course was well maintained and all the crews were out mowing now that they had a day with out rain. I would recommend this course to anyone.
I had my first experience with Cicadas at Houston Oaks. They are INCREDIBLY loud, sort of like amped up crickets. I guess when they first come out of the ground they are into everything. I may never have a chance to experience them again unless I choose to go east in 17 years (for some reason).
The land the golf course occupies used to be a thoroughbred horse ranch. One of the features of the golf course is the cart patch that takes you through an old stable (once on each nine actually!) that has about 8 horse stalls in it.
After golf I needed to fuel up and was heading out of town when I spotted a tire shop. They didn't have many cars in their lot so I stopped to see how long it would be until they could get to me. They were happy to oblige me, so $40 and 40 minutes later I was on my way to Ohio with my tires rotated.
Most of this trip has been done avoiding toll roads and I'm glad I set up my GPS that way. The state, county and U.S. highways that I have mostly traveled on take me through small towns and allow me to see much of the country that you would never see from the Interstates. I also encounter less truck traffic on these roads and the bit of extra time it takes me doesn't bother me and is a bit less stressful.
I crossed the Ohio River (had no idea it was that wide!) and drove through many small towns to reach New Vienna, OH and the Snow Hill Country Club. New Vienna is also a small town, east and slightly north of Cincinnati. Snow Hill CC was established in 1924 and has been open to the public for quite a while now. They were very busy and I had no tee time, but arriving in the afternoon allowed me to get on the course and I ended up playing in a reasonable amount of time. I caught up with a family golf outing and they let me play through. Soon after (on the 8th tee) I caught up with a Mr. Jason Pugh and he and I played the last 11 holes together. Jason lives in one of the towns I traveled through to get to the course and is a building contractor. He had been too busy to play a lot of golf of late, but had some game and was helpful telling me where NOT to hit it. I enjoyed his company very much and he MAY be reading some of this blog.
Snow Hill cost me a whole $38 for green fees and a cart. It has four sets of tees ranging from 6501 to 4940. We played the gold tees at 5989 with a slope of 120 and a course rating of 69.8. The golf course maintenance was OK, but not as good as many I have played. The course has a great variety of holes (a 591 yard par 5 to a 132 yard par three, from my tees!) and was never boring. Everyone in the Pro Shop, the beer tender and of course Jason, were all great and I can readily recommend this golf course.
After golf I drove to St.Clairsville, OH to spend the night, just short of the West Virginia state line. It had been another busy, but worthwhile day.
Randy’s golf course ratings play again could recommend Price
Prairieview GC (Byron, IL) 5 YES YES $
Wine Valley (Walla Walla, WA) 5 YES YES $$$
Dakota Winds (Hankinson, ND) 5 YES YES $$
Raccoon Creek (Littleton, CO) 4.5 YES YES $$
Brooks Golf (Okoboji, IA) 4 YES YES $$
The Legacy (Springfield, TN) 4 YES YES $
Awarii Dunes (Kearney, NE) 4 YES YES $$
Lake Panorama Nat. (Panora, IA) 4 no*1 YES $$
Houston Oaks (Paris, KY) 4 YES YES $
Brandon GC (Brandon, SD) 4 YES YES $
Viroqua Hills GC (Viroqua, WI) 4 YES YES $
Snow Hill CC (New Vienna, OH) 4 YES YES $
Bear Slide GC (Cicero, IN) 4 no YES $$
Rivers Edge (Burley, ID) 3.5 ?? YES $
Eastern Hills (Kalamazoo, MI) 3.5 YES YES $
Birch Creek (Smithfield,UT) 3.5 no good golfers only $
Kimball Golf Club (Kimball, MN) 3 no no $
Buffalo Golf Club (Buffalo, WY) 3 no no $$
Pryor Creek (Huntley, MT) 3 no no $ Johnny Walker Course (there’s also a Country Club course, but you need to play with a member!)
*1 = would play again if a different yardage was offered, with slope and course ratings
These first pictures are of Houston Oaks. The aforementioned stable.
These are pictures from Snow Hill CC. There ARE a few good elevation changes on this course, but this has to be an aerial photo. The water comes into play on #s 12, 13 & 14.
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