[Tiger Jr.]

Playing the Mountain Ridge course at Crystal Mountain on Saturday, and I was wondering if anyone had played it before, and if so, what were your impressions? I've heard that the "Mountain" part is a bit of a misnomer, but don't know much else about it.

[Tiger Jr.]

A little surprised at the lack of responses. I would have thought some people would have played at Crystal, given its proximity to a lot of other places on that side of the state.
It was a decent track, but not near the best in the state. A good mix of doglegs left and right, so it favors a player who can work the ball both ways off the tee (I couldn't -- total hookfest for me this weekend). The par 3s kind of lacked variety. Three of the four were in the 200-209 yard range, and there wasn't a lot of elevation change to make them play different yardages.
In general, the course is pretty tight. If you miss the fairway by much, you're in the woods. But it was surprisingly easy to find errant shots in the trees -- there was very little growth along the forest floor. I was playing with a guy who hadn't played in a couple of years (had a decent swing, but rusty), so we spend a little time looking for balls, and only lost a couple.
I found the par 5s to be very scoreable. Playing from the tips, all were reachable in two, assuming a decent tee shot. I made my first eagle of the season on #9 after a very good 2-hybrid approach, and had a putt at another on #18 after crushing a drive and hitting a nice 4-hybrid into the green.

Overall, if you find yourself staying at the resort, or if you're near Thompsonville, I'd say it's worth playing. If you can do twilight (after 3:00, I believe), I'd recommend that, because I don't think it's worth what they charge ($89 for the public -- $79 for resort guests) for their standard rates.

I'll try to post a couple of pics later. I didn't take too many, because it was pretty dreary, and we dealt with a fairly steady drizzle for the first 10 holes.

[Tiger Jr.]

A few pics:
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Not me swinging
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[mrfitz]

Been away a bit... I used to have a limited membership out at Crystal Mountain and I actually preferred the Valley course. It seemed to have a better variety of holes. The Mountain course is their "premium" course, but I really don't think it is "better".

I gave up on Crystal Mountain because the pace of play tended to get a little painful once the resort guests started showing up at the end of May.