I finished my round at Brickshire quickly and decided to go play until it got dark. Fortunately I squeezed in another 18 holes here at Stonehouse. I have played a couple other Mike Strantz designs and loved the designs so I have been anxious to play here. I played an afternoon round here on 09/29/12 from the black tees (73.3/136/6551). This course is a par 71 and a couple tees were moved back so it played a little longer than the yardage. Normally this is where I would be say that I do not like courses with only three par 5s, but Strantz did such a good job with the design to keep things so interesting that I did not miss the extra scoring hole. Strantz is know for his wild and crazy course designs, many of which are tough to play and Stonehouse is no exception. Right away on the 1st hole, I was greeted with a rugged, deep fairway bunker and then a downhill approach to a green in a bowl. I did not play the tees all the way back as I thought that would be a little more course than I could handle, but some of the back tees looked really fun to play. Many of the gold tees (the tips) were set in spots which changed each hole so if I get back here I would like to try playing from the gold tees. Moving on, the 4th hole requires a blind tee shot over a juniper bush and the 5th, 6th, and 7th holes all have blind tee shots that required me to pick a line and hope that there was golf course on that line. The 8th hole, a 168 yard par 3, had a green that rose maybe 5 or 6 feet from front to back and that was in an “L” shape so it made important to get the distance right. Controlling the distance is an important element of the game on Strantz courses that I have played. He gives some room to miss, but typically it is left and right versus short and long. I thought holes #11 thru #13 were a little weak because they had some houses nearby, but other than those holes the course was mostly house free. I would say that hole #14 is the signature hole as it has another blind tee shot and an approach that drops to a small green set in a natural area. All the par 3s where fun to play and most dropped a club with the elevation change. The course had many memorable holes and because I never knew what the next hole was going to do, it felt like I was on a roller coaster. Normally, blind shots, severe greens, deep bunkers, and undulation in the fairways make me uncomfortable when golfing, but there is something different about a Mike Strantz design that makes me enjoy these features. I hit a few poor shots that ended up in play so just like Tobacco Road, I did not find it as penal as some folks say that it is. The course maintenance was good, especially for the $30 that I paid on golfnow. The greens were fast, rolled true, and were fun to putt because of some of the severe breaks. For the most part the fairways and the rough were in good shape, but there was some crab grass and spots that could be considered ground under repair come tournament time there. Time wise, I flew around playing in a little over 2.5 hours and had a good scoring round, so all in all it turned out to be a great time. I would definitely recommend playing here if possible due to the condition and layout.
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