Spirit Hollow Golf Club

If you're within a couple-hour drive, it's worth the trip. If you live within an hour, you'll end up playing here a few times a year.

I've played here approximately 50 times (live about 45 min away & had college practice here), and it's still one of my favorite courses. Both nines are fantastic, but I think most will agree the back is a bit better and more challenging. No. 13 and No. 14 is a brutal stretch. Three of the four par 5s (No. 2, No. 10, No. 18) are very fun and risk-rewarding. I played a best-shot tournament here recently, which was really fun with these holes. If you hit it in the fescue from June - August, good luck finding your ball, let alone hitting it out. As long as you keep pace of play up (or you're waiting to hit) you can find a lot of balls in the fescue. The greens are a good test, but they aren't incredibly challenging.

Conditions of the course are usually fantastic. Bent grass fairways are awesome. The rough is a tough test when playing the ball down. The sand quality in the traps is average, and some of the traps at the low points on the course do not drain well.

Speaking of which, some of the holes that are at low points on the course do not drain well. Basically, if you play the day after rain, you can expect cart paths only, which if you go on a weekend can lead closer to a five-hour round. Weekdays you can usually fly around the course, and the twilight deal (weekday and weekend) is the way to go from a price and pace of play standpoint.

The last two times I've played here they haven't had drinking water on the course. They used to have water at No. 4, No. 7 and No. 13/No. 16, but the coolers were no longer there. Maybe it was just bad timing, but it was a really hot day out and hopefully this isn't a method to get golfers to constantly buy bottled water from the beverage cart. Also, this course no longer has GPS in their carts, which obviously isn't a huge deal, but the computer system they had before was awesome and unique.

Anyways, I still highly recommend this course. It's a perfect place for outings, and there are plenty of tee boxes for all skill levels. However, if you are a double-digit handicap, bring plenty of golf balls.