Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The Legends (Massilon, OH)

The Legends is a great example why you shouldn't try to fix something that ain't broken. John Robinson's original eighteen holes was well received, and tho it was pretty much modern golf at it's core where aerial shotmaking was the only way to hit a green in regulation, it was nonetheless a worthy test of golf. For whatever reason, the owner decided to expand and bought more land to put another nine holes in. However, these nine holes would be integrated into the others, so there would be three nines, each with three new holes. It absolutely destroyed the continuity of the course! It's so disjointed, that some of the walks between green and tees is several hundred feet! And the quality of the new holes are terrible.  

The original eighteen was always awkward, but the holes blended together. 
The hole above is a perfect example. The inside hazard protects the shortcut to the green but a successful challenging drive left a short approach. The more conservative drive had to be more precise, and left a longer second shot. 

Not sure you can tell in this pic, but many of the original holes was fronted by a bunker, so there was never running it in. 
And this was the old eighteenth hole, a beautiful risk/reward par five that was reachable with a good drive. Now it's just the ninth hole on the south. Meanwhile, holes like this permeate each nine. 
Seriously, what the hell is this?!! The old asylum is an interesting hazard but the right side (which isn't visible in pic) falls off into a water hazard! Also, many of the new holes have huge mounds in the front of the green so shots hit to a front pin bound forward and over the green. They're absolutely ridiculous!!

My friend Harley joined here. He raves about the conditioning, and I have to give it that, it's in excellent shape. That is clearly the only reason why the parking lot is busy everyday of the week. It's in beautiful shape! But I felt like I wasted a morning coming down to play it. I give it a 3 rating (average). (And that's only because of the terrific job the superintendent is doing.) 

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