Course Review: The Wizard scores with touch of Ireland and playability

The Wizard Golf Club sets up scoring on a tee.

Sure, the Dan Maples design that opened in 1996 has its hazards and trouble. Some bunkers can be deep and penalizing, there are some tough up-and-downs around greens, fairways and greens are often surrounded by high mounding that contains native grasses that can gobble up golf balls, more than a handful of creeks cross fairways, and there’s a water-filled three-hole finish.

But if you bring your A Game, you can get an A on the scorecard.

Fairways are wide and often funnel to the middle, bunkers are sparingly placed, the back tee yardage of 6,721 is manageable, and bentgrass greens that are consistent and true aid the scoring possibilities.

“I enjoyed the playability,” said Gary Robinson of Fayetteville, N.C., a home builder and plus-1.7 handicap who took part in a review of the course in early November. “An 8 to 12 handicap can go out there and have some fun. I played from the back tees and found the course to be fun. It’s not that long so you don’t have to hit it that far. It’s very playable from every tee.

“For a lower handicap it would be a birdie fest. The greens are in very good condition. There’s just enough trouble to keep you interested.”

Joining me and Gary in the review foursome were his daughter, Lauren Robinson of Fayetteville, a project manager for Gary Robinson Homes and former pro golfer with a 4 handicap, and John Barr of Myrtle Beach, a 21 handicap and grounds maintenance crew leader at Coastal Carolina University.

The Wizard is a par-71 with five par-3s, including three on the front nine. “The course is very good for scoring,” Lauren said. “It’s enjoyable.”

The course provides a treat with its original G2 bentgrass greens that are still in excellent condition. “I’m not used to playing that type of greens in that great of condition,” Lauren said. “The greens are great, rolling smooth and very true to the line.”

The greens are generally large, though their size comes in depth rather than width. “The greens are pretty long and deep, which is good because it can change the course depending on the pin placement,” Lauren said.

The course is fairly open off the tee between mounding. “I was surprised I drove it as good as I did today because it’s so wide sometimes you can lose focus,” Gary said.

The course is well-manicured and includes 2,500 or more rose bushes that will bloom in the spring on holes 1, 3, 9, 10 and 14 and around the clubhouse.

The course has a fair amount of elevation change, often provided by mounding that populates the first 15 holes and is designed to be reminiscent of courses in Ireland. “The mounding was my favorite part of the golf course,” Lauren said. “It separates the holes. Even though there are holes around you, you still feel secluded.”

After the first hole, the only water present for the next 14 holes is in the form of narrow creeks that are crossed by the course’s many stone bridges. The last three holes are water-infested with a lake down the right side of the par-4 16th, an island-green par-3 17th and 18th hole that features an island tee box, island fairway and peninsula green adjacent to the clubhouse.

“The course is a wonderful layout and you’re not penalized too much if you miss the fairway,” John said. “It’s very playable and I would highly recommend it.”

Likes

Lauren enjoyed the topography. “I enjoyed the way the holes were shaped by the mounds, giving each hole its own shape and allowing the holes to not blend as an open field as some courses do,” she said.

The entire group enjoyed the bentgrass greens. “I definitely like the greens, if you can overlook the ball marks people don’t fix,” John said. “They’re receptive and the ball rolls true. I like the speed. They’re not too fast and definitely not too slow.”

John enjoyed presentation of the course. The rough was overseeded, though 45 acres of outlying rough was kept fairly high and allowed to go dormant along with the native grasses on mounding between holes. “I loved the visuals of each hole and you were able to see each green [from the tee],” said John, who also liked the healthy amount of grass in fairways. “You’re rewarded for a good shot with the ball sitting up nicely in the fairway.”

The group found the course’s rates very affordable, particularly a $39 annual membership that grants only cart fee charges for afternoon rounds throughout the year.

The Wizard has a fair amount of extras, as cart covers are available for $15, sand for divots is left for maintenance staff, yardage books are $2, there’s an extensive hot dog/burger condiments area, and stay and play packages are available.

Dislikes

Yardage books are highly recommended by John and Lauren, as local knowledge is helpful, particularly with yardages to the creeks that cross fairways. “If you didn’t have a yardage book it would be tough to know how far it was to the ditches,” John said.

Ryegrass was still growing in as the course was overseeded late in comparison to many other area courses. “I was not a fan of the fairway transition to the rough as there was no real distinction of the two,” Lauren said.

Gary and John found too much similarity in many holes, particularly on par-4s and on the front nine. “On the front nine a lot of the holes seemed the same with mounds on each side and very little trouble,” Gary said.

Lauren had difficulty finding a glove to fit her in the pro shop, with a selection of mostly small women’s and large or XL men’s gloves.

Par-3s

Par-3s measure between 167 and 208 yards, and between 138 and 173 from the white tees, though the whites were generally back near the tips on the par-3s for our round. “The par-3s played long and very hard, giving a good challenge to the five of them,” Lauren said. “The elevated greens are a great way to set up a tee-to-green experience.”

The 186-yard second hole has a slightly uphill tee shot to a deep green that slopes off a back right plateau, the 181-yard fourth has an elevated green that slopes to the back and left with a trio of bunkers to the right, and the 208-yard sixth has a green that slopes to the front and right with bunkers left, right and front contained inside mounding.

The 167-yard 12th has mounding around the right side and back of a green with a mild slope to the right away from a bunker front left. The 180-yard 17th has a downhill tee shot to a mildly rolling 40-yard-deep island green that slopes off mounds front left, front right and back left and has a pot bunker in front.

“Overall the par-3s played fair, without a lot of bunkering that came into play,” Gary said.

Par-3s measure between 113 and 143 yards from the senior tee, and 94 to 123 from the red. “The par-3s are a reasonable length for the average player, which plays into my game,” John said.

Par-4s

The par-4s are generally mild in yardage, measuring between 367 and 424 yards. “The par-4s are overall good mid-length holes with lots of character with various angles to the holes,” Lauren said. “Some holes allow you to cut corners to get better and more aggressive angles.”

The 405-yard third is a dogleg right with a rock-lined creek crossing the fairway 100 yards from an elevated green, the 398-yard fifth has an elevated green raised in the back and sloping to the front, and the 414-yard eighth is a challenging hole with a creek angling across the fairway beginning 100 yards from the fairway on the right and running alongside the front and left side of a flat green.

The 392-yard ninth has a green sloping to the front and surrounded by mounding, bunkers front and front left and a rough-filled swale to the right. The 367-yard 10th is wide with bunkers on either side of the fairway, the 408-yard 13th has a green that slopes from the front and back to a middle swale, and the 405-yard 15th turns slightly right around a pair of bunkers.

“A lot of holes felt the same off the tee, though the second shots were different with the visual effect,” Gary said.

The look and difficulty of the course changes beginning with the 424-yard 16th featuring water down the right side and a pair of trees on the right side that can impede uphill second shots. Shots on the 421-yard 18th must be accurate enough to hit an island fairway and heart-shaped peninsula green with water on all but the left side and bunkers front left and front right.

Par-5s

The par-5s are pretty straightforward. Two are longer than 560 and two are shorter than 520. “The par-5s are fair and easier for the lower handicap players,” Gary said. “I did not find any risk-reward.”

The 569-yard first hole turns right around water from tee through green with a pair of bunkers at the bend off the tee and a bunker front left of the green. The 568-yard seventh runs along a school to its right, has a bunker to the left off the tee, mounding left on the second shot and a fairly flat kidney-shaped green.

The 510-yard 11th has a creek that crosses the fairway 120 yards from a green that slopes mildly to the front, and the 518-yard 14th has a creek crossing the fairway that begins 225 yards from the green and can be reached by many off the tee. A green with a mild back plateau is tucked to the left behind a sparse tree line and front left mound and bunker.

“A couple par-5s were too long to reach in two, but a couple allowed you to try and reach with a decent drive,” Lauren said.

Par-5s measured between 442 and 498 yards from the gold tees. “I like the par-5s,” John said. “They’re a nice length and challenging enough that the average player still needs three shot to reach the putting surface.”

Favorite holes

Lauren’s favorite hole was the par-4 18th, which measured 394 yards from the white tee and was inundated with seagulls on the front portion of the fairway. “It forced you to hit good shots, making you keep the ball in play,” she said. “It’s a very beautiful hole, birds and all.”

Gary identified the first hole as “a good starting hole with water along the right but plenty of room to play safe.” He also enjoyed the challenging 18th and par-3 17th. “Conditions will dictate that [17th] hole,” Gary said. “With no wind and 85 degrees it would be a mild hole, but with the wind direction today it was long.”

John’s favorite hole was the first, measuring 486 yards from the gold tee. “It’s a long first hole,” John said. “A lot of courses do have a par-5 to start. I like it because you know you can grip it and rip it off the first tee. It has a huge fairway and is a very picturesque starting hole, which can get you pumped up to be playing golf at that moment.”

Least favorite holes

Lauren’s least favorite hole was the par-4 16th, measuring 396 yards from the white tee. “It just did not set up to my eye,” she said.

Gary’s least favorite hole was the 208-yard par-3 sixth because of a fairly large tree to the left side in front of the tees and smaller trees on the right side. “With trees in between the tee and hole, the hole just did not look appealing to me,” he said.

John’s least favorite hole was the par-4 ninth, which measured 324 yards from the gold, because of what he considered a severe pin placement. “It’s a huge green but the pin is located six paces from the front with a trap in front of the green,” John said. “A swale on the right side left no bailout area other than long.”

This story was originally published December 13, 2014 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Course Review: The Wizard scores with touch of Ireland and playability."