Road trip course #11! I played an afternoon round at Sultan’s Run on 09/08/12 from the gold tees at 71.4/134/6429. The course is located in Jasper which is about 15 or 20 minutes north of I-64 so it is reasonably easy to get to and certainly worth the detour from the interstate. I had never been to the town before and I would not have expected such a nice course to be located there as Jasper had a small town feel to it. It did not seem like that there would be enough golfers to support the course. The course features elevation changes on many holes, but I thought that it was friendly to play considering the elevation changes. Many courses that have the constant uphill and downhill can become frustrating to play, but I thought the designer did a good job to manage the severity of the elevation change as there were places to miss. The 2nd hole, a 171 yard par 3, drops maybe a club and a half, but did have a bail out a little long and left so that one could still manage a par. From the tees that I played I thought the course was a little short and if I ever play there again I would like to play from the back tees as I found it played a little shorter than the distance, especially on the front. The front had back to back short par 4s (#7 and #8) and while #7 required a layup #8 did allow someone to challenge with the driver so it was nice that the short holes did require some thought. The one hole on the course that I did not care for was #10, a 544 par 5 that doglegs right, as driver just did not seem like the play because of the angled fairway to the right. For the most part I thought the course was straightforward to play except for a couple shots. I did not think the course was to penal off the tee as most of the time I could find a wayward tee shot, but because of the thick rough it was tough to catch a mid or long iron solid from the rough. Hole #18 is the signature hole and for good reason, It is a downhill par 4 with an approach to a green that is framed by rocks, a lake, and a waterfall behind the green. All the par 3s played from an elevated tee box and I thought the par 3s were a very strong, if not the strongest, part of the course design. Hole #12, a 191 par 3, just required a good shot. As soon as I stood on the tee I knew that I needed to hit it solid and on line, certainly a challenge to play that one. The closing holes were peaceful to me as #15 thru #17 were in a little valley. As far as the conditions, it looked like the superintendent had not been able to get the mowers out for a little bit and a pretty big storm blew through the night before so the fairways were long with some standing water. However, the greens were in great shape and speedy. I think I paid ~$40 to play here on a weekend afternoon which is a great value. This course would command a twilight rate of $60 to $70 if its location was in a large metropolitan area. Sultan’s Run is definitely worth a play if traveling along I-64.

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