The River Club

I'll preface this by saying I was playing in a tournament (scramble - blech) and we played from the gold (easiest, other than the forward, at 5946 yards, 67.9/119) tees on most of the holes. Disclaimer aside...

What I liked about Plantation the most were the greens. Even though they were very recently punched and as such a bit bumpy, you could tell they play hard and fast... they were still pretty fast yesterday even with the bumps. They also play pretty much as you read them, as long as you take the time to really read them. When designing (or playing) a course greens that play true are a great place to start.

Because it was a scramble, the one time I popped a ball in the sand I didn't have to play it; however, heading in there to retrieve my ball left me with good feelings about how they would likely play. Soft, with plenty of sand, I imagine them to play pretty much as they should, as well. All of them were well manicured and maintained.

The fairways and rough were not as meticulously kept. Not horrible by any stretch, but certain not "best of Boise" worthy.

Plantation is a rather short track (especially from where we played) but there are enough bends and (more relevant) old growth trees to keep things fairly honest. There isn't a lot of sand in general, although the par four 13th (pictured) feels like it has about as much as the rest of the course in general.

One of my big "tests" for courses is variety in their par 3's and Plantation delivers here. There are five of them with only 2 playing at roughly the same distance. From the gold (forward) tees there is still one that plays over 200, and when you slide back to the blacks two of them do with one over 190 as well.

I found the back nine to be both more challenging and aesthetically pleasing then the front, which was a little too sparse and open for me. My favorite hole was the short par 4 17th which visually tempts you to play over a tree into a slot between two other trees. As a group we pulled this off, but, if you are playing alone I'd advise the far safer drive and approach to the right.

Plantation isn't a club you'd join to be fully challenged day to day - my response to my brother asking how tough it played was "it's gettable." However, for a country club course, where the goal is primarily to have a good time playing... get challenged a bit without getting frustrated, they layout is better than average.

I found the pro-shop staff delightful, both to their temporary guests there for the tourney and to the regulars. Staff/service seems to be a real feature of this club. I'm uncertain if there simply isn't a driving range at the club, or if I just never saw it... this could be an important factor for some. There is a nice (but relatively flat) putting green right by the first hole.

Overall I enjoyed my afternoon at Plantation. It probably won't show up on any top 10 list of mine, but since I'm coming up on 100 courses played, that's not exactly an indictment. Given the chance I'd play again (in fact this was a charity tourney, and I'll likely play in it again next year).

Plantation CC is always in great shape. The fairways are nice, but the greens are better. Some of the best in the Treasure Valley. Certainly the best value in local Country Clubs. Very challenging par 3's.