Central Valley Golf Club

I really struggled with whether to rate Central Valley as a 3 or 4. I decided to go with an overall 3 because it's just a little too confusing with the layout. With that said, I really enjoyed my round at Central Valley and would play again.

My biggest struggle, as a first time player, was figuring out which hole to play. I was told the course layout was set up by the original owners, which is cool, but leads to a strange setup. Central Valley feels like holes were added one at a time without any thought to the best routing.

I found the variety of the holes to be challenging. There is a good mix of short and medium length par 4s, with only one long par 4. The par 5s were fun and challenging. I would have liked to see a little more variation in distance on the par 3s. The first par 3 was short, but the other 3 par 3s were 175-200 yards. Each par 3 after the first felt like a repeat of the prior par 3.

I was told the clubhouse is new, and you can tell. It's small but very nice. The club house staff stocked each cart with several water bottles and free tees. The carts have GPS, which was a nice bonus for a small town South Dakota golf course.

I would really like to play Central Valley again. The greens had just been aerated and the summer has been dry. The greens are big and very sloped. I could see this course being very challenging with faster greens and more lush rough. At less than 6400 yards from the tips, fast greens and thick rough are really needed to protect the course.

I look forward to my next round at Central Valley.