Oakridge, tips, insight?

[tacks]

Playing Oakridge for the first time tomorrow. Based on the positive comments about the course I've seen on this site over the years, I'm really excited. Any tips or insight into the course? Conditions? Is it walkable? Thanks.

[HellaciousSeeds]

Pretty course. Fairly narrow fairways, good mix of different layouts. It is walkable but there's a decent amount of elevation change. Bring bug spray

[casher19]

I haven't played it this year, but it's one of my favorites in Durham region.

Good layout - makes you use your head on some tees - it's not a no-brainer driver on every par 4 or 5.
Greens are generally softer and more receptive than other area courses. But that's good and bad - late start to the year should make it ok, but as the year wears on, the many unrepaired ball marks takes it's toll on the greens. Especially on the de-elevated greens.
As mentioned - decent amount of elevation - for comparison, I'd say it's just as walkable as Lakeridge Links - but not as "easy" of a walk as Watson's Glen, for instance.
Just an overall fun course to play - I find it's one of the few courses where I've used all 14 clubs in my bag during the round.

Enjoy! And keep us posted on the current conditions.

[Bosco]

Walked it this morning 😀 holes 1, 3, 6, 7 will give you a quick wake up call if you don’t pay attention to your landing targets - all have water in play.
opens up a bit after that. Was in pretty good shape.

[midlifecrisis]

Tough course. Tough walk. But great fun if you enjoy a challenge. Choose your tees wisely. For example, the 6,100 yard tees, which you would think should be very manageable, are Slope rating 140. Be forewarned.

[Bosco]

Tough course. Tough walk. But great fun if you enjoy a challenge. Choose your tees wisely. For example, the 6,100 yard tees, which you would think should be very manageable, are Slope rating 140. Be forewarned.

Yes to this - we play either the golds or the mix of gold and back tee option on the card. I play with one group that always drags me back to 6,100 - lot of woods for me 😀

[Mr22putt]

Tough course. Tough walk. But great fun if you enjoy a challenge. Choose your tees wisely. For example, the 6,100 yard tees, which you would think should be very manageable, are Slope rating 140. Be forewarned.

I've never seen...though it exists .....a course under 6100 play to 140....it must be tricky.

[tacks]

UPDATE

First of all, thank you for the responses. They were very helpful, particularly the bug spray recommendation.

Played first off the tee this morning with three wonderful gentlemen. There's an early bird special there (take that you gouging courses!). The staff were all polite. All COVID protocols were seemingly in place and well thought out. Took a cart to do as the romans.(The other three guys had carts and I'm a sucker for peer pressure.) The course is walkable. There are a few holes which were a trek to get to the tee box and quite a bit of elevation change. The changes wasn't particularly drastic, but rather more constant and persistent if I could put it that way.

Course conditions were great in my view. It rained the night before so the course was soft. No roll on the fairways but greens were holding. Putts were somewhat slow but that was due to moisture rather than care. Putts rolled well. Everything was green. Rough was fair. Tee boxes in good shape. One of the guys I was playing with (and I agree) mentioned that the tee markers didn't always 'aim' the golfer to the desired line and were a bit random. Bunkers were thick because of the rain so it wouldn't be fair to judge them today.

The guys I was playing with were regulars who told me that the course suffered through what it seems many courses went through post-break, high rough, very slow greens, less maintenance in spots. They and I were impressed with the efforts to get the course in the shape that it was.

Course layout was very interesting and a lot of fun. Not the longest course but it protects itself well. You're forced by the very careful with your landing spots due to water hazards, narrowed fairways or in a couple cases, narrow tree shoots. I'm not the longest hitter and I found that there were more than a few holes where the course forced me to take on the challenge as I wasn't long enough to bomb it past and the 'smart' play would leave me too far back to realistically reach the green in two. There are quite a few blind tee shots which were mitigated by two things. One, the guys I was playing with were a tremendous help! And I found that when the circumstance arose, I could drive to the target in view and work out the hole from there without fear of driving through the fairway and getting myself into needless trouble. Quite a few green side bunkers on the course which to my eye looked fairly deep. Pin placements were well thought out and often on corners. Greens were slightly undulating and filled with subtle (often unseen by me) breaks. There were a few putts today that I thought I had on line only for a unseen movement in the last foot and a half.

Thoroughly enjoyed the round. Can't wait to get back and use the course knowledge I gained today. One tiny criticism. I often found the course marking for yardages (both on the tee and in the fairway) did not match my garmin watch. For example I'd be standing on the 150 marker and my watch would say 162. I tended to trust my watch and I think it was right more than the course. In any event, highly recommend the course.

[Arthur Dailey]

UPDATE

First of all, thank you for the responses. They were very helpful, particularly the bug spray recommendation.

Played first off the tee this morning with three wonderful gentlemen. There's an early bird special there (take that you gouging courses!). The staff were all polite. All COVID protocols were seemingly in place and well thought out. Took a cart to do as the romans.(The other three guys had carts and I'm a sucker for peer pressure.) The course is walkable. There are a few holes which were a trek to get to the tee box and quite a bit of elevation change. The changes wasn't particularly drastic, but rather more constant and persistent if I could put it that way.

Course conditions were great in my view. It rained the night before so the course was soft. No roll on the fairways but greens were holding. Putts were somewhat slow but that was due to moisture rather than care. Putts rolled well. Everything was green. Rough was fair. Tee boxes in good shape. One of the guys I was playing with (and I agree) mentioned that the tee markers didn't always 'aim' the golfer to the desired line and were a bit random. Bunkers were thick because of the rain so it wouldn't be fair to judge them today.

The guys I was playing with were regulars who told me that the course suffered through what it seems many courses went through post-break, high rough, very slow greens, less maintenance in spots. They and I were impressed with the efforts to get the course in the shape that it was.

Course layout was very interesting and a lot of fun. Not the longest course but it protects itself well. You're forced by the very careful with your landing spots due to water hazards, narrowed fairways or in a couple cases, narrow tree shoots. I'm not the longest hitter and I found that there were more than a few holes where the course forced me to take on the challenge as I wasn't long enough to bomb it past and the 'smart' play would leave me too far back to realistically reach the green in two. There are quite a few blind tee shots which were mitigated by two things. One, the guys I was playing with were a tremendous help! And I found that when the circumstance arose, I could drive to the target in view and work out the hole from there without fear of driving through the fairway and getting myself into needless trouble. Quite a few green side bunkers on the course which to my eye looked fairly deep. Pin placements were well thought out and often on corners. Greens were slightly undulating and filled with subtle (often unseen by me) breaks. There were a few putts today that I thought I had on line only for a unseen movement in the last foot and a half.

Thoroughly enjoyed the round. Can't wait to get back and use the course knowledge I gained today. One tiny criticism. I often found the course marking for yardages (both on the tee and in the fairway) did not match my garmin watch. For example I'd be standing on the 150 marker and my watch would say 162. I tended to trust my watch and I think it was right more than the course. In any event, highly recommend the course.

Thanks for the detailed review.

For many years Oak Ridge was our go to course. When we first played there the 'clubhouse' was a 'trailer' type of structure. The value proposition and pace of play made it worth the drive.

Unfortunately as the GTA has expanded it is no longer 'out in the boonies' and the price and number of players have increased.

It is I believe one of McBroom's first designs. I find the front 9 to be a bit more interesting than the back 9.

[midlifecrisis]

Tacks: good post and I'm glad you enjoyed one of the GTA's (not so hidden any more) gems. One small quibble -- its hard for me to accept your assessment that the course is walkable when you took a buggy. Walk the damn thing and let us know what you think! 😃

Anyway, thanks for your post and glad that Oakridge seems to be in fine form for 2021.

[tywl]

After about 10 ish years... will hopefully be playing Oakridge again this weekend...I will likely walk and carry a Sunday bag of clubs.

Will likely play the Gold Tees...
Question...On Tee # 1 ( 375 yards on the scorecard ), can you hit Driver ? as not sure how far the lake is down there.
My good drive carrys 200-210 ish and can roll out to 220-235 ish

[Weirfan]

After about 10 ish years... will hopefully be playing Oakridge again this weekend...I will likely walk and carry a Sunday bag of clubs.

Will likely play the Gold Tees...
Question...On Tee # 1 ( 375 yards on the scorecard ), can you hit Driver ? as not sure how far the lake is down there.
My good drive carrys 200-210 ish and can roll out to 220-235 ish

You should not need to worry about reaching the lake with your posted driver distance. Its often pretty soggy at the bottom so not much roll

[4underthru9]

I've never seen...though it exists .....a course under 6100 play to 140....it must be tricky.

Of note Michael Giglic a TGN member who has not posted in a few years, and is now a PGA golfer holds the track record there a 61 in 2012 from the tips of course.

[Joel]

First time there about 15 years ago shot a 75,second time there last Sat shot a 88 how times change!Beautiful golf course!