Westwood Golf Club
"The harder you work, the luckier you get." - Gary Player
(Played on February 19th, 2020)
We have been trying to find the inspiration to write about Westwood for a long time now. It has been a course some of us have been playing for over 5 years. However, we never really got around to playing a full 18 holes at Westwood together until recently. So, this review is well overdue. We are going to feature a few photos from our day, as well as some from our rounds over the past few years that we have collected. If you follow us on Instagram (@TheSundayGolfers) you might recognize a few of them.
Westwood has the easiest three holes to start a golf course you might ever see. The first hole is a dead straight, 450 yard par five, with only a couple bunkers in front of the green to stop people from running their shots up.
The second hole is a short, 230 yard par four that can be driven by most if they elect to hit the ball over some trees. This is a risky route that requires some accuracy and can lead to at least one member of your group, in our case it was Colman, having to take a drop.
The third hole is a longer par five, about 530 yards with a blind layup or approach. While this may seem a bit harder than the previous two, believe us, any hack can start off birdieing two out of the first three holes and still find a way to shoot over par on the front nine. Just ask Thomas!
After playing three straight wide open holes, Westwood moves to a dogleg right par four where you can either risk driving one over the trees to a green about 230 yards straight away, or play it safe and hit a long iron, followed by an awkward wedge into the green. After playing this hole for years, we still are not sure of a way to play it correctly.
Westwood is not going to try to force you to hit long drives or long tee shots into par threes. Where it can really trick you up is on the greens. Some of them are sloped in many directions and have undulations you wouldn't expect from such a tiny golf course.
The par three 5th hole, the first par three you play, is only 130 yards from the back tees. The green however, is sloped like a volcano. The flag is typically in the middle or on the back portion, and any putts missed short can roll down to the front. Colman hit his tee shot pin high to about 20 feet, and watched it spin down 50+ feet away.
The 6th hole, a par four, is the number 1 handicap hole. This hole is one of the few that might actually be too difficult for some recreational golfers. It requires a drive to the top of a hill that many players just cannot reach. If you can't reach the crest of the hill, your approach is tricky and blind. Some players might be better off playing from the forward tees instead of where they might usually play due to this hole. The photo above kind of flattens out the hill in the background, but trust us, its all you can see when you are teeing off.
On the other hand, longer players are given this interesting drive where if you go to far left you are out of bounds, or if you go too far right, you are blocked by trees.
Unfortunately, the next hole was closed for maintenance and we were forced to skip it. Westwood does have an extra "practice hole" for this exact situation, right off the 10th hole. While it is only 120 yards or so, we play it as if it were still a par four. Funnily enough, we all still made a "par".
The following hole is the par four 8th. It should be mentioned that there is not really a par four over 400 yards. If you can hit the ball a decent distance, you will probably have short irons or wedges into these holes. We all hit three woods on the 8th and only had sand wedges into the green.
The 8th is a neat hole because it doglegs slightly around a bend, directly next to the road. If you play with someone with a hellacious slice, enjoy watching them take their drive over the road, and probably some cars, and watch it drift back into play.
After the long par three 9th hole, you make the turn and play another shortish hole, the par four 10th. The green is blind and downhill, and has a few trees that make hitting your approach harder. The green is also sloped front to back, and can make some putts very difficult to read.
The major difference between the front nine and the back nine at Westwood Golf Club is the trees that start coming into play. Mishit your shot by just a little and it can come shooting back at you.
The par three 11th is one of the tightest par three driving holes you may ever see. Hitting the green in regulation can be seen as a miracle, and it is rare to see more than one person in your group actually pull it off.
The next few holes are not very interesting, just another short dogleg par four and a par three where the green is blind.
The par four 14th is where the action picks back up, and you are treated with another tight driving hole where hitting it straight is all that matters. Going left or right is not an option unless you want to take down some tree limbs.
The wind also can play tricks on you on this hole. If you safely navigate the trees on your drive, the second half of this hole opens up and you are treated with a wide open view for your approach. We don't know how, but we all came up short on our approaches into this green by at least a club from under 150 yards.
The par four 15th hole is, what we like to call, goofy. You hit a long iron about 170 yards to a tree that sits dead center of the fairway. Then, you have to hit your approach uphill, over a creek, to a two-tiered green that slopes hard from back to front. This hole is difficult to describe to someone who has never played the course, so if you get the opportunity to play this hole and find a better way to play it, help us out and let us know. We are still trying to figure out how this hole is properly played.
After the par four 15th, you reach the final par five on the course. The 16th hole is another right driving hole that favors a right handers fade. If you hit a good drive you have a great opportunity to reach the green in two shots. The green is an interesting complex, with a huge spine that runs right across the middle of it, almost making it into two smaller greens. If you end up on the wrong side of the green without the pin on it, it can lead to some very interesting putts. You can almost guarantee somebody in your group will have one. In our group, it was Chris.
After the par four 17th, you finally reach the home hole. The 18th is not very special, other than a blind tee shot. As long as you avoid the branches that hang over the green you should not have more than a short iron into the green. We don't happen to have any great photos of the hole, but some interesting things happened nonetheless.
Colman and Thomas were tied after the 17th and decided on a $10 bet to the best score on the final hole. If they both tied, no money would be owed, but on this hole, anything can happen.
Colman bombed his drive but half-shanked his approach into a green side bunker. Thomas hit a terrible drive, but launched his approach onto the front portion of the green. Colman got out of the bunker, and hit his par putt two feet by the hole. Thomas hit a poor first putt and ended up missing his second for a bogey. Colman, battling a poor putting performance all day, hammered his putt through the break and lost the bet with a double bogey on the 18th.
While that drama was happening, Christopher happened to chip in for bogey to break 90 after a great first nine but a difficult second nine. We all were happy to see that happen.
Here are a few more photos from our day at Westwood Golf Club:
We hope you enjoyed our review of Westwood Golf Club. The course is open to the public and we recommend to anyone to go out and play it. It is relatively inexpensive and the only issue you might run into it slow play. It won't beat you up on distance and gives you many chances for birdies, or even eagles!
We have been wanting to review this course for awhile so now that we have finally gotten this one done, we can move onto more in our area that we have been putting off. Stay tuned for more reviews as the weather gets better and we have more time on our hands to play golf. Thank you for reading.
- The Sunday Golfers
"The harder you work, the luckier you get." - Gary Player
(Played on February 19th, 2020)
We have been trying to find the inspiration to write about Westwood for a long time now. It has been a course some of us have been playing for over 5 years. However, we never really got around to playing a full 18 holes at Westwood together until recently. So, this review is well overdue. We are going to feature a few photos from our day, as well as some from our rounds over the past few years that we have collected. If you follow us on Instagram (@TheSundayGolfers) you might recognize a few of them.
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| Colman on the par five 1st hole. |
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| Thomas teeing off the par five 1st hole. |
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| Christopher launching one right down the middle on the par five opener at Westwood. |
Westwood has the easiest three holes to start a golf course you might ever see. The first hole is a dead straight, 450 yard par five, with only a couple bunkers in front of the green to stop people from running their shots up.
The second hole is a short, 230 yard par four that can be driven by most if they elect to hit the ball over some trees. This is a risky route that requires some accuracy and can lead to at least one member of your group, in our case it was Colman, having to take a drop.
The third hole is a longer par five, about 530 yards with a blind layup or approach. While this may seem a bit harder than the previous two, believe us, any hack can start off birdieing two out of the first three holes and still find a way to shoot over par on the front nine. Just ask Thomas!
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| The teebox at the downhill par five 3rd. |
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| The green at the par five 3rd hole. |
After playing three straight wide open holes, Westwood moves to a dogleg right par four where you can either risk driving one over the trees to a green about 230 yards straight away, or play it safe and hit a long iron, followed by an awkward wedge into the green. After playing this hole for years, we still are not sure of a way to play it correctly.
 |
| The par four 4th hole. |
Westwood is not going to try to force you to hit long drives or long tee shots into par threes. Where it can really trick you up is on the greens. Some of them are sloped in many directions and have undulations you wouldn't expect from such a tiny golf course.
The par three 5th hole, the first par three you play, is only 130 yards from the back tees. The green however, is sloped like a volcano. The flag is typically in the middle or on the back portion, and any putts missed short can roll down to the front. Colman hit his tee shot pin high to about 20 feet, and watched it spin down 50+ feet away.
 |
| The par three 5th hole at Westwood Golf Club. |
The 6th hole, a par four, is the number 1 handicap hole. This hole is one of the few that might actually be too difficult for some recreational golfers. It requires a drive to the top of a hill that many players just cannot reach. If you can't reach the crest of the hill, your approach is tricky and blind. Some players might be better off playing from the forward tees instead of where they might usually play due to this hole. The photo above kind of flattens out the hill in the background, but trust us, its all you can see when you are teeing off.
On the other hand, longer players are given this interesting drive where if you go to far left you are out of bounds, or if you go too far right, you are blocked by trees.
 |
| Chris hitting his approach into the par four 6th, after a terrific drive, dead center of the fairway. |
Unfortunately, the next hole was closed for maintenance and we were forced to skip it. Westwood does have an extra "practice hole" for this exact situation, right off the 10th hole. While it is only 120 yards or so, we play it as if it were still a par four. Funnily enough, we all still made a "par".
 |
| Colman hitting his approach into the practice hole. |
The following hole is the par four 8th. It should be mentioned that there is not really a par four over 400 yards. If you can hit the ball a decent distance, you will probably have short irons or wedges into these holes. We all hit three woods on the 8th and only had sand wedges into the green.
The 8th is a neat hole because it doglegs slightly around a bend, directly next to the road. If you play with someone with a hellacious slice, enjoy watching them take their drive over the road, and probably some cars, and watch it drift back into play.
 |
| Chris hitting his drive on the par four 8th hole. |
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| The two front bunkers on the 8th hole. |
After the long par three 9th hole, you make the turn and play another shortish hole, the par four 10th. The green is blind and downhill, and has a few trees that make hitting your approach harder. The green is also sloped front to back, and can make some putts very difficult to read.
 |
| The green of the par four 10th. |
The major difference between the front nine and the back nine at Westwood Golf Club is the trees that start coming into play. Mishit your shot by just a little and it can come shooting back at you.
The par three 11th is one of the tightest par three driving holes you may ever see. Hitting the green in regulation can be seen as a miracle, and it is rare to see more than one person in your group actually pull it off.
 |
| Thomas on the tight par three 11th. |
The next few holes are not very interesting, just another short dogleg par four and a par three where the green is blind.
The par four 14th is where the action picks back up, and you are treated with another tight driving hole where hitting it straight is all that matters. Going left or right is not an option unless you want to take down some tree limbs.
 |
| Thomas teeing off the par four 14th. |
The wind also can play tricks on you on this hole. If you safely navigate the trees on your drive, the second half of this hole opens up and you are treated with a wide open view for your approach. We don't know how, but we all came up short on our approaches into this green by at least a club from under 150 yards.
 |
| Christopher hitting his approach well short on the par four 14th. Great finish though. |
The par four 15th hole is, what we like to call, goofy. You hit a long iron about 170 yards to a tree that sits dead center of the fairway. Then, you have to hit your approach uphill, over a creek, to a two-tiered green that slopes hard from back to front. This hole is difficult to describe to someone who has never played the course, so if you get the opportunity to play this hole and find a better way to play it, help us out and let us know. We are still trying to figure out how this hole is properly played.
 |
| The tree you hit to before your approach to the par four 15th green. |
After the par four 15th, you reach the final par five on the course. The 16th hole is another right driving hole that favors a right handers fade. If you hit a good drive you have a great opportunity to reach the green in two shots. The green is an interesting complex, with a huge spine that runs right across the middle of it, almost making it into two smaller greens. If you end up on the wrong side of the green without the pin on it, it can lead to some very interesting putts. You can almost guarantee somebody in your group will have one. In our group, it was Chris.
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| Thomas letting the big dog eat on the par five 16th. |
After the par four 17th, you finally reach the home hole. The 18th is not very special, other than a blind tee shot. As long as you avoid the branches that hang over the green you should not have more than a short iron into the green. We don't happen to have any great photos of the hole, but some interesting things happened nonetheless.
Colman and Thomas were tied after the 17th and decided on a $10 bet to the best score on the final hole. If they both tied, no money would be owed, but on this hole, anything can happen.
Colman bombed his drive but half-shanked his approach into a green side bunker. Thomas hit a terrible drive, but launched his approach onto the front portion of the green. Colman got out of the bunker, and hit his par putt two feet by the hole. Thomas hit a poor first putt and ended up missing his second for a bogey. Colman, battling a poor putting performance all day, hammered his putt through the break and lost the bet with a double bogey on the 18th.
While that drama was happening, Christopher happened to chip in for bogey to break 90 after a great first nine but a difficult second nine. We all were happy to see that happen.
Here are a few more photos from our day at Westwood Golf Club:
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| Christopher hitting his wedge into the par four 4th. |
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| Thomas getting the distance at the short par three 5th. |
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| Nice. |
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| Thomas on the par three 9th hole. |
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| Great shot of Thomas hitting a pitch shot on the par four 10th. |
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| A cart, on a bridge, on the par four 12th. |
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| Christopher on the par three 13th hole. You can't see the green, but none of us hit it anyway. |
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| If you look closely, you can see Chris and Thomas behind Colman's drive on the par four 18th. |
We hope you enjoyed our review of Westwood Golf Club. The course is open to the public and we recommend to anyone to go out and play it. It is relatively inexpensive and the only issue you might run into it slow play. It won't beat you up on distance and gives you many chances for birdies, or even eagles!
We have been wanting to review this course for awhile so now that we have finally gotten this one done, we can move onto more in our area that we have been putting off. Stay tuned for more reviews as the weather gets better and we have more time on our hands to play golf. Thank you for reading.
- The Sunday Golfers
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