December 27/28 - Blackmoor & The Wizard  

Over the Christmas break was able to get 2 rounds in at  Blackmoor and The Wizard. Both courses were in fine shape for late December.

Blackmoor - Course in decent shape, from tee to green. Fairways a little wet in spots thus no roll, some mud balls and we had winter rules were in effect. It was CPO on about half of the holes, not including the par 3's. Greens were rolling surprisingly quick, they had them covered from the day before as the temps were quite low. We were fortunate to play in mid 50's as we started around 11:00 am.

POP was just 4 under hours but could have been better if not playing behind a 4some who we caught on the 5th hole. They refused to let us play thru despite multiple opportunities to do so. We caught them on the 7th tee (par 5) with no other group on the hole so we knew they were not being held up. 3 of the 4 proceed to hit it straight into the woods and refuse to let us move thru quickly while they find their balls. Then on 10th tee, they must have stopped at the turn, as they hadnt even hit yet as we arrived and again refused to hit thru. I understand it is not their obligation to let us thru but its the right thing to do and frankly helps them as well as nobody is on their back the entire time. Rant over.

Blackmoor is a nice little course, with a variety of holes and some good risk/reward options, particularly #8 (the shoot) and #12 (the bender) where me playing from whites at 6200 and my son from blues at 6600 both drove it right over the trees guarding the dog leg right in front of the green.

Fun course, especially if you work the ball left to right (I dont) and quite reasonably priced.

The Wizard - its been 5/6 years since I had played this one so I didn't remember a lot about it other than a few holes and the odd shaped castle clubhouse. We had an early 9:30 tee time and got there about 40 minutes ahead to warm up. Came to find there was a frost delay and both the range and putting green were closed. Not a great start as I especially like to hit a few when its colder out to loosen up.

Again, we played as 2 and there was 1 foursome with a time ahead of us. They were cool and let us tee off first and warned us they'd be on our backs. They weren't. 😀 Stiff as can be with temps not yet in the 50's we both piped our drives down the middle to 2 sigh's of relief. The starter told us to stay on the path the first few holes then come off around hole 5. The weather warmed to the high 50's and the course was in excellent shape, everything emerald green. My son and I were both in amazement as we didnt have high expectations coming in. I would have been happy in mid season with these conditions and it was late December. Very impressed !

Fairways were a little wet in spots but generally got a little bit of roll and the ball set up for the most part. The layout is fairly benign, I'd say solid but unspectacular. It's pretty open with the wind coming into play. most significantly on the closing stretch which plays along the lake next to the castle. 

We both really enjoyed our rounds and agreed The Wizard will be on the rotation going forward. It's a solid Mid-tier cost in great condition at a reasonable price which comes with lunch and 2 beers/drinks. If you havent or if it's been a while give The Wizard a shot.