Holiday Hills Resort and Golf Club in Branson, Missouri
There are some excellent golf courses in Branson, the live-country-musical capital of the world and budding golf destination - just not Holiday Hills Resort and Golf Club.
The course suffers from a myriad of problems. The fairways are too close together for one thing, too many parallel playing corridors. All too often, you're waiting on the tee for the fairway to clear because of one, two or even three people in front of you playing to another fairway.
The course isn't in particularly good shape. The tee boxes could use some tender loving care - weeding, for example - as could the fairways. The bunkers are desperately seeking a good rake.
All that being said, the course must have its charms, because it is busy. On the day I played, for example, it was packed.
It does have history on its side. It is the oldest golf course in Branson - Charlton Heston used to play here.
The interior of the course is very open and susceptible to wind, making the yardages seem a little longer, and the few trees mostly along the perimeter of the holes are lovely.
Also, there are some interesting green complexes with some multi-tiered greens that are challenging to putt; the bentgrass greens themselves, while not in great shape, are in better repair than the rest of the course. Some of the mounding around the greens is imaginative, and the fairway mounding does what it can to keep wayward balls in the proper fairways.
In addition, there are some relatively dramatic elevation changes, not unusual in this part of the Ozarks.
Holiday Hills was in Branson long before the city got famous. It used to be known as the Golf Ranch Country Club, and many of the music stars can still be seen on the course today. It was renovated fairly recently, and nine holes were added.
( - Have you played Holiday Hills? Rate it!
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