Thousand Oaks

[ramylson]

Grand Rapids, MI

Cut from over 430 acres of ridges and valleys, through the typical northern hardwoods of oak, maple, aspen, and ash sits a course that one would swear was situated in the norther portion of the state versus the flatter south-western. Not to mention, anything but just outside of a major city. But, Thousand Oaks pulls it off very nicely.

Opening in 1999, this Rees Jones designed course has conditions and a layout of a course that was developed decades earlier. It's very "old school" in feel with directional bunkering, wide fairways, and large undulating greens. Everything here is almost oversized, from tee-box to green. With many elevated tee-boxes, each hole literally sprawls out before you. Although, while being very asthetically grand in appearance, it becomes a bit similar as you continue from hole to hole. But, the layout is still in enjoyable thoughout. When you considering the conditioning, there's not much else that you could really find as a fault.

Yardage:
Front: 3546/3365/3135/2678
Back: 3582/3312/3002/3650
Total: 7128/6677/6137/5328

Rating/Slope:
Men -
Blue: 74.3/142
White: 72.1/136
Gold: 69.7/130
Women -
Gold: 75.4/137
Red: 70.2/120

#1 - 408/398/364/307 (par 4; hcp 15)



#2 - 417/389/367/288 (par 4; hcp 9)



#3 - 211/179/163/134 (par 3; hcp 13)


#4 - 443/428/407/353 (par 4; hcp 3)



#5 - 531/507/483/454 (par 5; hcp 7)


#6 - 465/449/427/340 (par 4; hcp 1)



#7 - 161/142/124/112 (par 3; hcp 17)


#8 - 380/356/307/271 (par 4; hcp 11)



#9 - 530/517/493/419 (par 5; hcp 5)


#10 - 640/553/505/475 (par 5; hcp 2)



#11 - 431/385/344/308 (par 4; hcp 16)



#12 - 505/485/461/423 (par 5; hcp 12)



#13 - 391/372/337/304 (par 4; hcp 10)



#14 - 368/353/327/251 (par 4; hcp 8)



#15 - 182/152/132/106 (par 3; hcp 18)


#16 - 408/388/337/295 (par 4; hcp 6)



#17 - 206/192/168/147 (par 3; hcp 14)


#18 - 451/432/391/341 (par 4; hcp 4)

[mwk6403]

I am the guy that ruined Ramyleson's picture on #2 and I promised him I would throw in my two cents on the course. On this trip, we played five courses. Thousand Oaks was my second to least favorite. The course is beautiful with some great views from elevated tees and well manicured. The greens are top notch. It felt very "country club- ish" to me upon arrival. The golf lesson facility also looks impressive, with one knock... I am not a fan of ranges that are that dramatically downhill.

 

Anyway, the reason this course falls to the bottom of my list is simply that I can not remember most of the holes. Most of them have a very similar feel and look. I think a great example you can see from Ramy's pictures are the tee shot from #1 & #6. Usually, when I am done playing a round, I could give a shot by shot reproduction of what I just did with hole descriptions to anyone stupid enough to listen. At the end of this round, I was trying to remember a birdie hole and could not.. still can't. Overall, I found the course un-inspiring. I also see that they are building homes around it and there are many lots for sale. IMO, this will take away the best thing this course has going for it... the serenity and picturesque landscape.