By Gord Montgomery, Senior Writer, Inside Golf
If you’re headed out to take on the Cardiff Golf & Country Club, it’s best that you have one club in particular, your driver, keyed in ahead of time. You see, this 18-hole layout offers plenty of chances to air out the big stick, and by doing so hopefully take advantage of some of the holes here.
Speaking to the playability of his track, Head Professional Jeremy Lavallee had this to say: “To me t’s a fun golf course where you can hit a lot of different clubs from the tees,” but it’s here where the driver mainly comes into play.
The reason for that is there are par-5 tests here that can be reached in two eaving you honing in on an eagle putt or two. One of those holes in particular is on the back nine, No. 13, which plays to 470-yards from the Blue/White combo blocks. While it’s guarded by a small water hazard that element is easily taken out of play with two good shots. There are also several shorter par-4 holes here, mainly on the inward nine, again leaving you with a chance to put a circle or two on your scorecard.
At the same time, protection for this course which offers up wide fairways comes into play you when you reach the putting surfaces. The greens are relatively big but they all come with slope and subtle breaks.
“It’s a course that you actually have to know how to play it,” Lavallee agreed in relation to some tricky putts. “You’ve got to keep the ball below the hole. Yeah, there are some subtle breaks out here. You have to play the golf course quite a few times to figure out where to leave it and where to hit it,” including the ability to cut corners on some par-4 dogleg holes.
Interestingly enough, those sublime twists and turns you run into on the greens is due largely to what lays below all the grass here – an old coal mine. Lavallee explained that over the years the ground has shifted causing unexpected undulations to crop up, both on the fairways and on the greens.
As noted, there are places you can cut corners but this is a course, that is relatively flat other than the hill on No. 10 staring at you from the tee box. But, be sure you know where your intended target line takes you before taking a chance at shortening a hole.
“For the most part what you see is what you get. As you mentioned, our tenth tee box is uphill about 50 feet (which can result in a blind second shot into the par-4 359-yard hole if you don’t top that mound with your opening volley). “Even 11 is a pretty hard dogleg right. Here’s one place where you can cut the corner if you wish but you do have to play here a few times to know where to hit it otherwise you’ll end up in the soccer fields,” the pro explained.
Set in the rural countryside, at least for the most part, Cardiff G&CC is a place to get out and enjoy the game minus the noise of busy roadways and neighbourhoods. “It is somewhat out in the country but closer and closer to city limits, especially St. Albert these days, but our community of Cardiff is pretty quiet. There are houses across the road for a few holes but no houses, no cars!”
At Cardiff, you have the opportunity to warm up that driver on a well-marked range and there’s also a large putting green and chipping area, another two elements that can be handy when you take to the challenging green complexes at this course.
The par-3 holes here do offer good scoring chances as all but one of the four play to 150-yards or under from the Blue/Whie combo. And the one test that is longer than those three is under 170-yards. From the front tee the longest is 135-yards with the other three playing to 110, 113, and 103 yards. The one thing about these shorties though is the protection for them as all but one have a bunker directly in front of the putting surface, meaning a shot running up onto the green is much more difficult than landing on, and staying on, the green adding to the fun on this course begins.
“Like I said, it’s a fun place to play,” Lavallee said in closing. “A lot of space to hit driver everywhere. The par-fives are gettable. You can score out here quite well once you learn where to leave the ball. It can be a fun place to hit it around.”