Drive, Chip, Putt - Everything About Golf

Ravenwood Golf Club is a great public golf course on the outskirts of Rochester, NY that was named one of the best new golf courses in 2003 by Golf Digest (read the article here). This course provides a reasonable experience for the casual golfer while being challenging even for low handicappers. It’s undulating greens, well manicured fairways, and deep soft sand traps make playing this course a great experience. If you’re a walker, beware, the course is very hilly and you will be in for quite a workout!

Have a look at our Google map or view it in Google Earth if you have it installed on your computer.

Hole Descriptions

1. This course begins with a par 4 that has a nice downhill tee shot. You want to aim for the right side of the fairway with your drive. Being near the large sand trap on the right gives you an opening to reach the green on your second shot. This green is large and most putts seem to move towards the front of the green.

2. This short par 4 is more difficult than it looks from the tee because the elevated green is surrounded by bunkers.

3. This par 4 is a dog leg left with a large pond along the left side of the hole. Play it safe and aim for the right side of the fairway off the tee.

4. Hole 4 is the longest par 3 on the course although it does have a large green. When approaching the green beware of the bunkers surrounding it.

5. This long par 4 is the most difficult of the course. This hole is entirely uphill and it has 3 fairway bunkers along the right side. When you finally get there, you will be faced with a relatively flat green.

6. This is the first par 5 on the course and it plays downhill with fairway bunkers on the right side. Your second shot will need to factor in a small creek and trees that help protect the green along with a large bunker.

7. This is another short par 4 playing only 289 yards from the Men’s tees. Be careful with your approach shot because the front left side of the green slopes off into a “catch-all” area and the back right corner of the green has a slight slope away from the green.

8. On this par 3, beware of the wetland area off the a tee and off the large two tier green.

9. Finish the front 9 with a dogleg left par 5 is a true test of length and accuracy. If you try to cut the corner with your drive beware of the fairway bunkers on the left. When approaching the elevated green, take care to avoid hitting over the green.

10. On the back nine you will start with this par 4. Avoid the large bunker on the right and you’ll have a clear shot at the level green.

11. On this par 4, you can really try to hit your drive because there is not much trouble off the tee. Just make sure to avoid going over the green on your next shot.

12. This par 5 is the longest hole on the course. After driving out to a large landing area, you’ll want to make sure your next shot clears the bunkers down the left side of the fairway. Fortunately, this green is large and forgiving to give you a reasonable chance of hitting it.

13. On this par 4 avoid the bunkers on the right hand side. There are no green side bunkers, but there are mounds to the left front of the green.

14. This par 3 isn’t too long but it requires a careful tee shot over the large lake. If you clear the water, you need to avoid ending up in the bunkers behind the green.

15. This par 4 is is very narrow and challenging. Your second shot will be long and uphill towards a large green protected by bunkers on the front left and right.

16. This par 4 is much shorter than hole 15 but still challenging. This hole requires your drive to carry over wetlands and a kidney shaped green is tucked behind a large bunker to the front left.

17. This par 3 has water to the front and right of the green.

18. Your day at Ravenwood will finish with a par 5 that doglegs right. The green is tucked into the woods with a hill behind it. There are also seven bunkers guarding the green and approach area. Once on the green, you will encounter a fairly level putting surface.

Ranking info:
Cost: 5
Maintenance: 8
Difficulty: 6
Scenery: 7
Originality: 6
Overall: 7

For official information visit www.ravenwoodgolf.com.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 1st, 2008 at 10:52 pm and is filed under golf course reviews, new york. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.