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Johnny Goodman stays
true
to the roots of old golf courses
The designers of Omaha’s Johnny Goodman Golf Course left nothing out,
and in doing so, built a great golf course.
This
course surprisingly presents different challenges with its sweeping
doglegs, steep
elevation changes and severely undulated greens and
fringe areas. And besides a few isolated areas in the trees and some
sand traps, the course looks terrific.
Filled-out
trees outline the fairways and gobble up stray tee shots, and the greens
roll very smooth.
Johnny
Goodman avoids design flaws many new courses encounter with it numerous
doglegs. Six holes on the front nine give you clear shots to the middle
of the fairway, and allows frequent visitors chances to place their
drives to set up for better-than-adequate second shots.
Add to all
of that the par threes, where water waits and distances test your club
choices.
Built in
1971, Johnny Goodman (formerly Applewood) features many facets that all
golf courses should, setting up its guests for a high-level round.
A
closer look
The challenge of maneuvering through doglegs at
Johnny Goodman Golf Course in Omaha begins with the first hole and
stretches straight through to No. 4.
No. 2, a
537-yard par five, is especially interesting with the fairway wrapped
around trees and shrubs that lie directly between you and the green.
On each of
the first three holes, you’ll notice the sharp changes in land
elevation, making approach shots hard to judge.
One reason
Johnny Goodman is so challenging is two of its par 3s require serious
carry of about 185 yards over water to reach the greens.
No. 4, for
example, measures 193 yards from the back tees. Slight land changes near
the greens make it truly tough to simply roll the ball up toward the
greens on No. 5 - handicapped as the hardest hole on the course - and 6.
Hole No. 7
is a par 3 where you must carry 160 yards over water. The second par 5
on the front nine, the eighth hole, measures 540 yards and is the second
longest hole on the course, yielding to the 577-yard sixteenth hole.
(Rain showers prevented me from finishing my 18 holes.)
At 6,928
yards, Johnny Goodman leaves no shot to chance. |