Old Toccoa Farm review a/o August 2022

[me05501]

A friend just bought a rental property near McCaysville/Blue Ridge GA and he invited us to come stay the weekend and play Old Toccoa Farm. We ended up playing there Friday afternoon. It was the first time there for everyone in our foursome. 

 

The new clubhouse is finished and the restaurant recently opened. We had lunch and dinner there and both were great.

 

The range has a casual feel with a food/beverage trailer and a few picnic tables plus music piped in. There's an extra large putting green and a practice bunker in addition to an all-grass range. Range access is included with the round which cost $125 per player (carts are included as well, and probably mandatory considering the routing). 

 

The course conditions were excellent from tee to green. The fairways are notable in that regard...Zoysia I think? The greens are bent grass and were punched a few weeks ago. You could still see the small tine marks but they ran fast and true. Most of the greens are large and undulating and would seem to offer many pin locations. There are a wide variety of tee boxes as well. 

 

The layout is somewhat compromised in my opinion. Maybe it's less the layout and more the combination of the layout and the incredibly penal areas of tall grasses and briars just off the preferred line of most holes. 

 

It's a mountain course, full stop. There are 4-5 holes in the valley near the Toccoa River but those are the exception and almost seem to belong to a different, friendlier course. The rest of the holes feature elevation changes including some dramatic ones. 

 

Many of the landing areas can be missed in every direction: long, short, left or right. It is a placement course off the tee and on the approach. Bailout areas are hard to find. It's visually intimidating and seems to favor defensive play. Most players can leave their driver in the trunk at OTF and probably should. 

 

By the end of the round we were all feeling beat up. Some of that was the heat and humidity, which were stifling on the day we played, but a lot of it was playing from a place of fear instead of joy. Pace of play was also a bit of a slog at just over 4.5 hours. I don't see how they could enforce a faster pace. Every foursome we saw was looking for wayward balls just as often as we were. 

 

We had a second round booked for Saturday but with weather conditions looking the same we decided we'd relax instead. I'd like to have another crack at it when the weather cools now that I know a little more about what to expect. 

 

 

 

 

A random shot of my buddy's deck. The shed on the right is getting a hot tub. The structure on the left is a screened room we spent a lot of time in. 

IMG_2516.MOV

 

Edited August 28, 2022 by me05501

[jamgam]

Played it this year also.  Starter asked us if we brought a lot of golf balls headed to the first tee.  Lol

 

nice review

 

we had fun but I didn’t care for the slowness

[Stonedude]

I like OTF more in the winter months than summer.  Being able to find your balls just off fairways instead of wading through briars with full foliage (impossible) makes it a little better for me.