The Crossings Golf Club (Jonesborough, TN on 09/01/13)

Even with the rain delay I got done at Graysburg Hills around noon and therefore had plenty of time for some lunch and a decision on the afternoon course. I had an ambitious idea to make the drive to play River Islands but reason won and I opted for a nice drive over the hill to Jonesborough for some lunch and a local course. On my way I passed The Crossings Golf Club which was on my list as a possible course for an afternoon round. The course wasn’t busy when I drove by so I back tracked 10 or 15 minutes after lunch and got out right away. The course is a mom and pop course with the tip being the friendly black lab in the pro shop who greeted me with a wagging tail. The cost for an afternoon round was $38 to ride which I found steep considering Graysburg Hills was only $40 in the morning. If it wasn’t my second round of the day I probably would have walked as it wasn’t too hot and it looked like an easy walking course.

The course is in a cleared area and has a links feel to it in appearance only. Although the course played firm, that had to do with the dry conditions and bare spots. If it was in better shape it would be softer and demanded a ball in the air approach to score. The first few holes, and most of the course for that matter, are nothing special. The first hole of note is the 3rd which a monster par 3. It is 216 yards on the card and played longer into the wind with the back flag. Long par 3’s with trouble can be tough for amateurs in my opinion but this one had a large green so I thought it played fair. The 4th is a 385 yard par 4 that started a pattern on some holes with fairways that fall or rise out of sight off the tee. The fairways are wide but the up and down characteristic add some interest off the tee. A couple of the holes had some mounding around the greens which I like too. There are plenty of scoring holes on the front nine even from the blue tees. The two par 5s are about 500 hards and there is a 352 and 300 yard par 4. The back plays a bit longer and is the better nine as it has more interesting holes. The 10th is a 364 yard par 4 that plays downhill to a blind fairway. The 12th is a pretty par 3 on the perimeter of the property. The pin was tucked on the left when I played so the idea was to try to shape one in to avoid the short sided miss. The 13th plays out a chute of trees and is a scoring hole with a tees shot in play. The 15th and 16th are par 4’s that play up and then down a rise before getting to the 17th which is my favorite hole. The 17th is a 186 yard par 3 that played over some trouble to a green with mounding behind it. It reminded me of the 8th hole at Riverdale Dunes in Colorado when I played there last year. The finishing hole is odd as it moves hard right but the view and shot are blocked by some trees near the tee. It felt like it played across the 10th hole which ran parallel to it.

The course isn’t one that I would recommend due to the condition. While the greens were in good shape and rolled fine (although they were slower than the other courses I played on the trip) the fairways and rough were in poor shape. There were many bare spots that would have to be marked as ground under repair come tournament time. It didn’t help to hit the fairways because the ball sat down and required a digging swing to cleanly contact it. The design was tolerable but the maintenance hurts my opinion. On the plus side, the course would be a good course to get some exercise walking and it had some birdie holes so I didn’t get beat up score wise. For reference I played the blue tees at 70.9/123/6535. I don’t look back and regret playing here because my options were limited and I played a winner in the morning.

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