Jack Frost National

This was a new course last year so it will benefit from some maturing. Especially considering the brutally hot summer the N.E. has last year as well as a tough winter. Club house is a trailer...hence strike 1 against amenities. But I don't go to golf courses for the sake of the clubhouse. The course is stellar. Fairways still a bit thin and greens were recently airated and top dressed. But still, I was impressed with the layout. At a 9 handicap and a good drive for me is 260-270, from the advanced black tees (not champ tees), you couldn't just automatically pull out the driver. A few dog-legs you needed to back-off to the 3 wood to prevent driving through the fairway. The price is great and definitely fair. $70 on a weekend mid season with a cart is not unreasonable and their noon and twilight rates help. Definitely worth playing now and this course should only get better with age!

Greens weren't mowed, lots dew made it difficult to putt. But as the course dried out it became obvious that it wasn't necessary. They were very quick without mowing that morning. Bunkers washed out by rain from previous week.

Front 9 is fairly level after the 1st tee shot until 9th 2nd shot. Back 9 has more elevation changes and is tighter. Big distance from 3 to 4 was not marked at all making it very confusing about where to go.

Our golf cart misfired 3 times.

The May review hits the mark on the club house.

Very simple distance markers on fairways and cart paths. $5 yardage book available. Not player friendly, but bottom line friendly. Plenty of sprinkler heads out there that could have been marked. Only thing Split Rock has on this course is the on cart GPS.

Practice area very good.

Overall, a far better golf course than the one across the road, but with some niggling problems which may or may not bother you.

Given the choice, JF over SR every time.

We played Jack Frost on 05/15/10 as part of our annual trip to Split Rock Resort (right next door). We'd played all 27 at Split Rock the previous day and decided to hit Jack Frost before heading home. The course is an eclectic mix of holes. Fairways are generally wide, but your angle of attack into the greens is important, so shot placement is the key to lower scores. The fairways, rough and tee boxes all seemed to be in decent shape for a 3 year old course. The greens were in excellent shape, despite being aerated just 2 weeks prior. We felt that the short game was also critical to scoring here. The greens can eat you up with undulation and changing conditions as the day progresses. Carts were gas powered and in good condition. The clubhouse is nothing to write home about, but the food and merchandise seemed fairly priced as compared to Split Rock. The greens fees for a weekend morning were a touch steep, but not crazy ($55 pp). Overall, we'd recommend the course.