Course: Ironwood
Location: Hinckley (Medina County)
Directions: On Rt. 94 (State Road) Easy from I-71, I-77, Rt. 303 and Rt. 82
Dewsweepers Tee Time Was: 632AM
The Dewsweepers were shorthanded this week, but we still headed it over to Ironwood. A nice and challenging course in the hills, and we do mean hills of Hinckley. Beef had business, and Joe Red was out of town, so Tex and I represented, and teed it up bright and early.
Ironwood is of moderate length and tree lined for the most part. The story of Ironwood, is it is very hilly. Many of the greens are elevated and many are undulated. This course has taken on a bunch of water and is still a bit wet today, but this has been a heavy season with persistent rain in Medina County. Ironwood is not in bad shape, but you can see where some of it has been wet for while. The fairways played very well, and the greens were fast, and extremely true. Your putts did what you thought they would do. And it is best to stay below the hole. Just sayin..!
Ironwood has a great starting hole, a huge 410 yard par 4 down the hill tree lined right, with spotty trees down the left. It is an intimidating first drive. A heavily sloped green, back to front. Best to be putting uphill. Number 2, is a 185 yard par 3, off a huge hill to a big green. Welcome to Ironwood!
The par 3's here are great. All four either play straight uphill, or down. All challenging. Only 3 par 5's, all play slightly uphill to uphill to give them extra length. Most of the par 4's are moderate length, but most fairways give you awkward stances and make them tougher. I would not call Ironwood an easy course at all. And today with the dew and the damp conditions, it was really tough. Much of this has to be managed properly or you will really rack up the numbers. You need to play a bunch of clubs, as this is well designed.
Tex hit the ball well most of the day, but the damp conditions gave him (or me) little to no roll, so the course did play longer. One problem Tex battled was one that all of us non-pros battle. It seemed he was putting from 30 plus feet all day long, when in fact I think he was. Lots of pressure on the putter. Tex fought through it for the most part. He had played steady until back to back triples on the front derailed him. But Tex recovered and shot better on the more difficult back 9.
I played pretty well for the most part. I fought an inconsistent driver today, but hung in there after a slow start. I drained a 40 footer on 4 for a par. From there I played one over par over the next 9 holes. The back gave me fits on 15 and 16 as I took my only bad numbers a double and triple. I putted well all day and it saved me. In addition to the gagger on 4, I made a 20 footer on 5, and a 40 foot birdie on 7. But two 3 footers missed kept me from going low on the front. I Treaded water on the back.
Course highlights? In addition to number one, great par 4's are number 5, number one handicap, number 8 a long down hiller. 15 and 16 are really tough with hard to hit greens. All par three's are great, as you go up and down the hills. The approach shots on 1, 5, 14, 15, and 16 are among the best on the course. Again the greens were very receptive and putted very well.
Ironwood is a great place to play, very quiet and serene and wonderful setting away from the city, and worth the drive. Great location makes it not far from anyone. We'll be back.
Scores
Wynn -- 83
Tex -- 96
Next week The Dewsweepers hit a terrific MetroParks course, Manakiki.
Other courses we've recently played and reviewed and some and articles too.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment