Hickory Valley Golf Club

If you're struggling to keep it straight, especially off the tee, stay away from this course until you've worked out your swing. Accuracy is the premium here, and the length of the course from the back tees (especially on the back nine) guarantees quite a few mid to long iron 2nd shots to par 4s, so keeping it straight is essential to scoring. Course condition is good, although I found the fairways to be rock hard even though there's been ample rain lately -- this made for a tendency to thin short irons as the flanges bounced on the turf rather than digging through. Course is known for an "open" front nine and tight, tree-lined back, although this is a bit deceptive as the "out" nine has enough trouble spots bordering the fairways to penalize curve balls just as badly as the tree-lined "in" nine. Overall, a decent course with some interesting holes, but the challenge here really isn't so much the course itself as the player's swing. If you're hitting it straight, this really isn't a particularly difficult lay-out requiring strategic ball placement or club selection, and it will yield good scores fairly easily. If you ain't swinging it well, don't bother as there's little opportunity for recovery here.

Great course for the money. Always in great shape. Prefer the front nine which is newer and more links style with large greens, water, high grass etc.. Back nine is more traditional with tree lined fairways and small greens.

Amenities gets only 3 stars due to driving range limiting club usage to only irons and no other practice area other than two putting greens.