This was the last course that I played on my trip to Reno. I played here on 03/26/12 from the Blue tees (6653/71.3/130). I decided not to play any farther back because it cold and windy. The wind blew ~20mph all day with higher gusts. When playing in this strong of a wind I cannot reach some of the holes that play into the wind in regulation no matter how I hit it so I opted to move up a box up.
The course is maybe 20 minutes from downtown Reno and I had higher hopes considering that it looked awesome online. As the name suggests there is a lot of water throughout the course and it comes into play on about 11 holes. This resulted in some good risk/reward holes for someone who is hitting it well, but with the wind I was just trying to miss it in spots to get up and down. Unlike some of the other Northern Nevada courses that have desert in play the Lakes course does not. In fact, the scenery is the only indicator that I was golfing in the high desert.
It was my first time playing the course and I thought that it was relatively easy to work my around, especially since the carts had a nice GPS. The course was in early season shape and some greens were bumpy. The conditions did not affect my opinion as I expected less than pristine conditions after playing the other courses on my trip. The land that the course is built on is flat and routed through a housing community so it ended up being a bit boring to me. I didn’t much care for the par 3’s either as they were all on the longer side and play over a hazard. From the Black tees the yardages on the par 3’s were 201, 190, 171, and 221 yards. I did enjoy a couple of those risk reward holes including the par 5 5th which played around a corner and had water all down the right side. With a couple decent shot the hole is short enough for someone to get on in two shots but the play needs to be well thought out. The 13th is another good shorter hole. It is a 300 yard par 4 with a green that sits at an angle to the fairway. The more aggressive someone wants to get off the tee the longer the ball needs to be carried.
Because the ball went nowhere when I played I think it would an easier course to tackle in the summer. While there were some thought provoking holes I would opt for ArrowCreek or Wolf Run before the Lakes course. It seemed a little “vanilla” compared with those two. Plus, the value was lacking as it was the most expensive at $49 during the week in the off season.
Course Pictures (click any picture to scroll through the gallery):
