July 14th Day 39 - Crosswinds Championship Golf Course, Savannah, GA
Drove 38 miles
Crosswinds Championship Golf Course (they also have a par 3 course, therefore the "Championship" designation) was less than a 1/2 hour drive from my motel & this will be a rare stay in the same place for 2 nights day, so very little driving, basically to and from the golf course.
The golf course is a nice layout, but in VERY poor condition. Part of the problem is the time of year I visited the course. In the south golf is big in the winter and spring months, not so much in the summer because it's so hot most of the time the grass burns up. When the grass dies or goes dormant, the ground becomes a sticky, muddy mess so golf courses are much harder to maintain.
If I rated this course on the layout only it would have been a 2.5 or 3, BUT what I really disliked about this course is the location. If you google Savannah airport you will see that the main runways for the airport are directly east of this golf course and once they start flying it's a fairly steady stream of distracting noisy planes overhead. They are low enough for you to feel the "woosh"! There is also a military base nearby that flies maneuvers over this area. Not my idea of a good time, at least golfwise.
I played with three local guys, Ryan, Evan & Chris. Ryan was a pretty good golfer with a good all around game. The other two guys swung from the heels every tee shot and while I don't deny both of them could just kill the ball, it was rarely when it followed it's intended course. They were nice guys though, and I would enjoy playing golf with Ryan anywhere, except at this course again.
Only Langston was in worse condition than this course of ALL the courses I played and that's saying something. (There are a few more to come, but this one stands out!) The greens were slow, the sand bunkers were in horrible shape, the back nine is too short (lots of doglegs) and there is water in blind spots in a couple of places that a first timer couldn't know about. The course is fairly flat, but that's not a complaint.
I putted well for a change, after I got used to the slow speed of the greens, but I also hit 6 balls into hazards and two into unmaintained sand traps. My score wasn't pretty! I played the white tees at 5594 yards and a slope of 116, rating of 66.9. It should have been easy, but I made it play hard. And then there's those damn airplanes! The green fee with cart was $ 49 and they provided free bottled water for golfers at the start and at the turn for the back nine.
After golf I stopped at a Korean restaurant I had spotted the night before and had a great Bibimbap for lunch. If you've never tried it it's a HOT (usually stone) bowl of steamed rice with veggies, a choice of meat and a fried egg on top. It's tasty and my favorite Korean dish, just don't let the bowl burn you!
I really like Savannah itself. It's very old, but well maintained and not so big that it was hard to drive around in. Because I had a big lunch, I walked to an East Indian restaurant right next to the hotel and had a bowl of curried chicken for dinner, also quite good. Everyone else that came into the restaurant got their food to go (covid, you know!) until a couple came in to sit down as I was leaving. In the morning I will be off to Florida.
Prairieview GC (Byron, IL) 5 YES YES $
The Boulder Course (Winchester, VA) 5 YES YES $$
Wine Valley (Walla Walla, WA) 5 YES YES $$$
The Walker Course (Clemson, SC) 5 YES YES $$
Dakota Winds (Hankinson, ND) 5 YES YES $$
The Links at Greystone (Walworth, NY) 4.5 YES YES $$
Raccoon Creek (Littleton, CO) 4.5 YES YES $$
Brooks Golf (Okoboji, IA) 4 YES YES $$
The Legacy (Springfield, TN) 4 YES YES $
Awarii Dunes (Kearney, NE) 4 YES YES $$
Chicopee CC (Chicopee, MA) 4 YES YES $
The Architects Club (Phillipsburg, NJ) 4 YES YES $$
Lake Panorama Nat. (Panora, IA) 4 no*1 YES $$
Heritage Shores (Bridgeville, DE) 4 YES YES $$
Houston Oaks (Paris, KY) 4 YES YES $
Eagles Landing (Ocean City, MD) 4 YES YES $$
Brandon GC (Brandon, SD) 4 YES YES $
Viroqua Hills GC (Viroqua, WI) 4 YES YES $
Portland GC (Portland, CT) 4 YES YES $
Green Valley CC (Portsmouth, RI) 4 YES YES $$
Snow Hill CC (New Vienna, OH) 4 YES YES $
Links at Union Vale (Lagrangeville, NY) 4 YES*2 YES $$$
Bear Slide GC (Cicero, IN) 4 no YES $$
Pilgrim's Oak (Peach Bottom, PA) 3.5 YES YES $
Lochmere G & CC (Tilton, NH) 3.5 YES YES $$
Rivers Edge (Burley, ID) 3.5 YES ? YES $
Eastern Hills (Kalamazoo, MI) 3.5 YES YES $
Brattleboro CC (Brattleboro, VT) 3.5 YES ? YES $$
Monroe CC (Monroe, NC) 3.5 YES YES $
Martindale CC (Auburn, ME) 3.5 YES ? YES $$$
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 $$
Pryor Creek (Huntley, MT) 3 no no $ Johnny Walker Course (there’s also a Country Club course, but you need to play with a member!)
The Brookside Club (Bourne, MA) 2 no no $$
Crosswind Championship GC 1.5 no no $ (Savannah, GA)
Jones Course (Wheeling, WV) 1 no no $$$
Langston GC (Washington D.C.) 1 no no $$
*1 = would play again if a different yardage was offered, with slope and course ratings
*2 = would move up a tee and NOT pay weekend green fee. M-Th fee is $ 77 and $ 61 after 2 p.m.
These pictures of the golf course were taken in high golf season. The course I played didn't look anywhere near this good when I was there.
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