Iowa City Area - Blue Top Ridge & Finkbine golf courses.

[NoTalentLefty]

Went on a 4 day golf trip staying at the Riverside Casino for 3 nights.

 

Our first Iowa course we played was the University of Iowa course, Finkbine. Many of us played the course at the white tees which measured just under 6000 yds. The course was well maintained and had a fairly rolling layout. The greens could break severely even at 2 feet. What stood out was the course was tough even at 6000. Not a lot of water on the course and was easily seen from the tees when in play. Most of the holes were friendly to a draw or fade. On a scale of 1-10 give it a solid 8.

 

The 3rd and 4th days we played the Casino course Blue Top Ridge. If you like a lot of uphill / downhill shots this is the course that produced that in spades. Almost every hole had one or the other or both and some severe. The front nine is a bit easier, but this was tough for the 55 plus crowd and the not so long guys to play the course at 5800. It felt like a course playing over 6000 easy. You could stray a little but the course had some bad Word not allowed rough if going beyond that. The two holes I will remember most will be the 12th and 16th. 12 is a par five where you hit over a small ravine to a fairway that starts an ascent upward to the flag. (birdied it on the last day. Took an eight the day before.) Bunkers on both sides of the fairway and you cannot afford to stray left. Right gives you something but it too can lead to tall grass. The 16th, another par 5, was a hard slant downward with a creek that was out over 290. after that it becomes an uphill monster. The green has a ridge that when the pin is in the back right, that will send a balls back to your feet if you don't get to the top of the ridge. (Nicknamed 5 Putt after playing this hole) Overall very tricky greens to read. Lot of sand that I couldn't get out of.

 

We played TPC Deere run on the first day in Silvas Illinois. Great layout.

 

If I had to due this over again. Would play Finkbine twice and Blue Top Ridge only once. Silvas and Finkbine both get an 8.0 and Blue Top gets a 7.0. Blue Top has a lot of gimmicks.

 

Food:

 

Our group tends to stay away from places you can eat at home. Here are the reviews of the places we ate.

 

For breakfast at the casino had a nice breakfast buffet. Omelettes were the choice of the morning on Saturday and Sunday with all the fixings. Thursday and Friday was at Cracker Barrel and Hardees. They were okay.

 

Lunch: We had at the golf courses. Finkbine wins hands down with their brats. The others nothing fantastic.

 

Supper:

 

Casino had a buffet we ate at on Thursday night. Surf and Turf. The Turf had whip marks on it. Tough as leather. The shrimp was good though. Wouldn't eat there again.

Casino had Ruthie's Steakhouse which was very good but not conducive for a group of 16 guys. Also seemed to be too quiet for my taste.That was on Friday night.

Saturday was my favorite night. We went into Riverside Iowa to a local place called Murphy's. It's a bar and grill setup that noise was expected. We could all sit together as a group. Special was a Ribeye dinner for 20 dollars. It was great. Love the feel of this places. Waitress was very pleasant and the bartender actually asked how my Jameson and Ginger Ale tasted. (he used bitters with sprite to make since he had no ginger ale) Loved that aspect of small town USA. While the prime rib the night before was very good I'd rather eat the Ribeye here, just because of the ambiance.

 

The casino:

 

I don't gamble or donate to them. Went in though to smoke a cigars and have a drinks of Jameson. The bartender said they don't won't people to drink too much in the casino. Came to the conclusion they want the money to go to the gambling.

 

Overall a great golf trip and some good golf courses in Iowa. Who knew?

[sleuth]

I agree with you on Blue Top. Rees Jones is notorious for setting up courses to prohibit scoring. I couldn't stand the tiered greens and how incredibly penalizing it was if you missed the 5ft landing spot.

 

If you return for another trip, there's much better courses in Iowa to play.