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They're building a golf course (or, rather, a housing development with a golf course meandering through it) in a community about three miles from where I live. It's called "Whispering Woods" and it's being done by the same fellow who designed the Upper Course at Peek 'n' Peak.

This course has been, apparently, a while in coming. It is scheduled to open next spring (it's routed and seeded and growing in, currently). It was going to be a private club, then high-end public, and now maybe more of a semi-private type of club.

Clearly, driving five minutes beats driving 25 minutes, so I am curious as to whether I may some day switch from Lake View to this club. It boils down to a number of things:

• Design of the course.
• Cost.
• Whether I'd be allowed to walk.
• Membership "perks" or "limitations."

Incidentally, the third one is a doozy. Carts are mandatory at the Upper Course at the Peak.

When I reviewed the Peak's Upper Course, I found the architecture to be adequate though not spectacular. The land available to Whispering Woods is similar in many ways, but the housing around and through the course is not similar.

I could see a few holes. The first, entering, is a par 4 with a green well below the fairway. The fairway ends abruptly some 300+ yards from the tee and a large pond well below the level of the fairway and right will catch shots. Another hole slopes up and to the right along a ridge and behind some condos to a green protected on the left side by two very large trees. Containment mounds - the bastard children of golf course architecture in housing developments and a very, very cheesy way to "define" a golf hole - were employed heavily on this hole, much to my dismay. The fairway was not wide at all - 18 yards or so - despite what appeared to be a reasonable-length hole of about 420 yards uphill.

I'm hoping to get a tour of the course from the superintendent (Rob) some day soon, and I'll have more to say then. I'm hoping some of the other holes have wider fairways and don't rely on gimmicks like fake mounding quite so heavily. The development (nor the course) doesn't have a site yet, either, so I am interested to see if I could help them out as I've helped out Lake View with their site, the superintendent's blog, etc.

P.S. I'm not sure what the name of the golf course is. If you want to see where the golf course is, then this map will show you. I think you can even make out some of the holes…