Here’s the current leaderboard after Round Two at the American Express Championship. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t think too much of it, but it’s Tiger and I’ve got to think I’m winning a muffin. Of course, it’s only fair to point out that picking Tiger to win a tournament is like picking Lance Armstrong to win the Tour. It’s not like I’m going out on a limb here. Any Moving Day Predictions, anyone? Feel free to comment.
Anyhow, as Tiger looks to deny Furyk AGAIN on Sunday, I figure I could fill in some time with another Ontario golf course review.
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SEATON GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
2665 Brock Road
Pickering, ON L1V 2P8
Clubhouse: 905-683-3822
CATEGORY / RATING [out of 5]
Beauty – 3.5
Strategy – 3
Challenge – 3.5
Design – 3
Par 3 Holes – 3
Par 4 Holes – 4
Par 5 Holes – 3.5
Conditioning – 4
Fun – 4
Course Service – 3
Pace of Play – 3.5
Value for Money- 4.5
Food Quality – 3
Walkability – Good
Over All Rating – 4
For Scoregolf‘s Course Rating, click HERE
NOTES: I’d better come clean by saying that I consider Seaton to be our foursome’s home course, and therefore I’m obviously a biased fan of it. Amir doesn’t like it all that much, but the rest of us do: for $55 on a Sunday morning with cart, it can’t be beat, baby.
There’s some challenging little holes [Croucher has great local knowledge here he'll share with you, but the 7th is the toughest, and the 6th through 10th can really test you], and in general Seaton’s a great bang for your buck. If you’re like me and unable or unwilling to play $100+ golf courses around Ontario, you’re probably going to enjoy Seaton as much as I do. There’s no really stupidly-designed holes, the pin placement is almost always fair to us duffers, and the food at the clubhouse is edible. It’s a 6018 yard, par 70 course, so it’s walkable, and it’s not overly hilly, so you won’t feel like you need a mountain goat to carry your bags like you might at Dentonia. Here’s a course outline:
The bottom line at this place is that if you’re a weekend golfer looking to have some fun and be challenged a little bit without feeling beat up on by the course, Seaton’s worth the drive from anywhere in the GTA.
If you’re going, tell Mark that Kevin Croucher and his gang sent you. It probably won’t do you any good, but it might get us something!
CROUCHER’S LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: SEATON G&CC
[Kevin originally posted his words of advice as a comment, but it deserves it's own section.]
Stay to the left-centre of #3 and you will be rewarded with an easy chip to a longer than wide green.
IF you have the cojones for it, stay down the roadside of the fairway on #4. This will leave you with a nice approach into a very undulating green. If you do go up the right, be smart, chip back to the front edge of the green area, get up and down, and walk away with a 4.
Don’t be a hero on #5. Hit it to the 150 marker and stay to the left of this green. It runs away towards the east, and it is protected by a steep faced bunker.
Right is might on #6 if you have to bail anywhere, and oh yeah, stay below the hole. You may as well, because if you don’t and you hit your putt too hard, you will be there anyhow. Save a stroke, play smart.
On #7 you have three choices. Be scared by the trees in front and to the right. Let the trees on the left, and the hydro wires make your tummy turn, or you can block them all out, hit a club that will get you to the other side of the hill, shading to the left a bit, (not too far though as you will see when you get up there) and hit an easy second shot into a fair green and walk away with a par. Really easy to type, not so easy to do.
#8 is a nice, all carry Par 3 with a protecting bunker, and a hidden from the tee, very long, flat, fast green. Tight tee shot with trees on both sides, so hit a club that you can either carry 200 yards (from the blues) or bail to the landing area on the hill side. Either way, if you get a 4 on this hole, high fives all ’round, and walk quickly to #9.
#9 is about 310 yards fom the back tees, and if you stop and think about it, you can get a four on this hole without too much trouble. It looks hard, seems hard, but if you hit whatever club can get you to the 150 marker, hit another one that can get you 150 yards on an uphill track, then the only thing you will really have to worry about is the green which is quick front to back. So you get a 5. Take it and get to the clubhouse for a snackie-poo and you have made your turn.
# 10 is fairly straight forward. A 400 yards or so Par 4 that you should play on the right-center of the fairway. Longish green with a little slope at the front. Should be a nice 4/5.
I like #11, especially standing on the green during the fall and looking back up the hill. Gorgeous colours and a nice view. This is a downhill Par 4 that you can let it all out on. Play down what seems the right, but is really the centre of the fairway. Although, you can play down the left and your approach shot isnt that hard either. Big green that has a few big slopes on it. If you come in from the left you can land on the hilly side of the green and run the ball down to somewhere near the pin.
I HATE 12!!! Therefore, I say never speak of it again.
13 is a good Par 5 that you need to have your brain-cells meshing on. Out of bounds all the way down the right, and a pinched in fairway near the 150 marker with a freaking stupid big tree right in the middle up by the 100 yard pin. And if that isn’t enough, a bloody pond is to the left of the green that is deceptive. Hit your tee shot to the leftish center of the fairway. If you can hit a 3-wood or 5 wood long, then go at the green. If not, then be smart, hit it somewhere up near the 150-125 yard mark, and hit a high wedge into the green. You do that, and you can walk away with a par. Don’t do it, and you walk away with a double.
On 14 go at the 150 marker off the tee. Really. Downhill from there with a big green that is fast and runs away to the back.
# 15 is an all carry Par 3 that you will love in the Spring/Fall and hate in the Summer. This green slopes dramtically to the front so hit it high, land it soft and walk away quickly if you get anything less than a 5.
We are now in the home stretch. The tee shot on 16 needs to be more left than right, as the hole is a 90 degree dogleg right that will punish you for being a Republican. Just for this hole be a centrist, or even, dare I say it, a small L, liberal. The green, when you get there runs faster than Ben Johnson from left to right, so be smart. Play to the swale in front, and putt it in.
# 17 you can almost drive if you can hit it 300 or so. If not, stay in the middle, land your approach in front (not when it is wet though,) and keep in mind this is a small green that is very quick. Flat, but quick.
Let it all hang out on 18. You can get home from really anywhere in the fairway. (I said ‘fairway’ Tim). Big flat green, with only a few little bumps.
- Kevin
