Tempest

[Trying4Better]

Has anyone played this course recently, like the past month or so. I am curious how the conditions are. Dead grass isn't an issue for us, but patchy greens and fairways are. By patchy I mean bare spots showing sand or dirt that become unplayable.

[DivinDave]

I play there all the time. I played today too.

no bare spots on the FWs or Greens. Considering its middle of winter, I would say its in very good shape.

[Trying4Better]

I play there all the time. I played today too.

no bare spots on the FWs or Greens. Considering its middle of winter, I would say its in very good shape.

 

Some wrote the greens are in bad shape. I know they are new and this can happen. But, we are bringing out 8 guys and don't want to drive 2.5 hours if the greens are bad. Curious what you think of the course? Seems like the rating and slope isn't that high, but lots of people comment on it being very tough. We really like hard courses, no clue why just do, but how would you rate the course in terms of difficulty, scenery, elevation change (if that happens in texas)? Thanks

[DivinDave]

The greens aren't in great shape. They didnt have time to grow for very long before the weather got cool.

 

The green keeper does a good job in keeping them sanded and rolled. They are playable tho and roll smooth. FWIW it worth, the greens will be the least of your worries though. Whatever they are lacking, the rest of the course more than makes up for.

 

Yes, there are elevation chages. East Texas is hillier than most folks think and Jeff Brauer took advantage of it to the fullest extent.

Many of the elevation changes are not benign. Not in the least. For a flatlander like us Texans, the word severe comes to mind.

 

And sideways sloping fairways.

All but about 3 of them are "sculpted" with furrows, mounds, dips, slopes, burms, and everything in between. Uphill lies, downhill lies, ball above your feet and below your feet lies. And there seems to be no relief from it.

 

There are bunkers galore around the greens. Some of them are massively deep too. The sand is deep and soft.

There is also other sneaky trouble around almost every green also. Some so severe, Its almost unfair

 

The course a lot more difficult than the slope/ stroke rating suggests. Whoever rated it was smoking dope.

 

I see your HC is about a 13? That;s about me also. Playing off a 13 HC, and not having played it a few times, I will be surprised if you break 100, maybe even 105.

 

Its a hell of a challenging golf course and its just a gorgeous place, to boot.

[Trying4Better]

So the greens are sandy, but roll true? I only ask because every time I have ever played green with a bunch of sand, the ball never rolls true.

[DivinDave]

Pretty much

 

So the greens are sandy, but roll true? I only ask because every time I have ever played green with a bunch of sand, the ball never rolls true.

[JMG_02]

If you are driving that far and want excellent conditions I would say head to Pine Dunes. Played there last week and it was in incredible shape. Greens were perfect.

[North Texas]

If you are driving that far and want excellent conditions I would say head to Pine Dunes. Played there last week and it was in incredible shape. Greens were perfect.

 

Haven't played Pine Dunes in several years but have been there 3 or 4 times in the past several years. Conditions have always been good and the greens are very good.

[DivinDave]

June 1, 2019- Played Tempest again today. Its in great shape and the greens have finally filled in and are just beautiful.

[North Texas]

Friend of mine played Tempest yesterday. He like the course but was disappointed with the conditions. Said tee boxes were hard and greens were really slow.

[DivinDave]

Played Tempest Thursday, and again today, and will play there tomorrow too.

Wednesday morning and again late Wed night, we had a couple of doosey Texas thunderstorms. A couple of small areas on Greens 8 and 10 suffered a little bit of damage from the torrential run off. If you played Tempsest, you know both of those greens are multi tiered and seriously STEEP going over the humps.

The bunkers also suffered some serious washout.

 

Fast forward to today (Saturday), the greens have been repaired as well as can be and the green keeper is keeping the pins well away from the repaired areas, and all of the bunkers are 100% fixed. Hard to believe they did that much work in a day and a half, but they did.

 

For the most part, the tees are no longer hard, they were aerated last weekend and the greens are rolling considerably faster than they have in several weeks.

 

Oh yeah, and all of carts now have GPS in them with built in bluetooth speakers. So there's that.

 

 

 

 

[tlknight]

Played on 7/11. Greens were good with decent speed. Some tee boxes were nearly impossible to get a tee in. They had #11 playing as a 100 yard par 3 as they were digging in the fairway (not sure exactly what they were doing it for).

[DivinDave]

I havent played there since July 4, but Yeah, No 11 has had a terrible drainage problem where they are working is a drain. It stayed way too wet in that spot on the fairway and carts driving over it left huge ruts. A couple months ago they roped that part of the fairway off as GUR. When they started digging, they made that a temp par 3, are digging it up to fix or do whatever it is to solve the drainage problem.

 

 

 

> @tlknight said:

> Played on 7/11. Greens were good with decent speed. Some tee boxes were nearly impossible to get a tee in. They had #11 playing as a 100 yard par 3 as they were digging in the fairway (not sure exactly what they were doing it for).

 

 

[burge]

Anyone play in the last week or two? If so, how are the conditions? Considering driving 2.5 hours from LA but only if it is worth the trip. Thanks

[scratchswinger10]

Not worth the trip yeah they dropped alot if money on it but its a shit range horrible deathly slow greens and it always looks like the nursing home let out for recess lol go to alpine in Longview it's about equivalent to the temptest !!! ?

[Trying4Better]

> @scratchswinger10 said:

> Not worth the trip yeah they dropped alot if money on it but its a **** range horrible deathly slow greens and it always looks like the nursing home let out for recess lol go to alpine in Longview it's about equivalent to the temptest !!! ?

 

Wow, haha seems like an honest review.

[North Texas]

> @Trying4Better said:

> > @scratchswinger10 said:

> > Not worth the trip yeah they dropped alot if money on it but its a **** range horrible deathly slow greens and it always looks like the nursing home let out for recess lol go to alpine in Longview it's about equivalent to the temptest !!! ?

>

> Wow, haha seems like an honest review.

 

An honest review in semi-english. Kind of hard to read, lol.

[North Texas]

Played Tempest today. Give this course about another year and you can put it in the MUST PLAY category. It is already better than Pine Dunes or Links of Land End. No issue at all with conditions and it is a very fun and interesting course to play with lots of character.