Cordova is a classic old-school muni layout. The pluses for me are :…read more1) Reasonable pricing, Senior discount available.
2) You don't have to rent a golf cart if you don't mind walking, it's a shorter length course overall ( please Ignore this comment when the temperature gets over 90 !)
3) Small practice putting green and large driving range available.
4) They do have a small restaurant, with patio seating available, and alcohol is served :)
5) Friendly staff, from the pro shop, to the rangers, to the restaurant staff. There are no water fountains on the course, but there is a cooler available at the Driving Range, plus on hotter days, a Course Ranger drives around in a golf cart with a big water cooler on it.
6) The "old school" muni course feel. I grew up on courses like Cordova in the Chicago area, and because I'm now officially an old fart, I'd much rather play a fun muni I can still walk, just like Cordova, than play a ridiculously hard upscale ("expensive") course (like Apple Mountain, close to me) that Army Rangers would have a tough time walking !
The minuses for me are :
1) I like to walk on, instead of having a tee time, since I have about a 45 minute drive, and can never tell how busy the roads I have to take will be - plus I can never guess if the course is going to be really busy or not ( and watch out for high school golf teams in the afternoon), as I like to play fast, and you WILL encounter some slow groups (and usually when it's so busy that you can't play through !)
2) Although there's plenty of grass, and a lot of it is in good shape, (kudos to the Groundskeeper !) some areas are either way too wet, way too dry, or way too much dirt instead of grass.
3) It is a shorter length course overall, so don't get a big head if you think you're hitting it longer all of a sudden ( you're not, the holes are just shorter !)
4) Grass conditions (and/or lack of grass) can vary widely from hole to hole, and even shot to shot) as you can end up in a nice patch of fluffy country-club quality grass, to a real soggy area, or to #$@% rock-hard dried mud. But c'mon, it's a busy Muni, don't complain, just consider it part of the experience !
5) Bunker conditions can also vary widely hole to hole, from basically hardpacked cement to wow, this is a nice trap !
6) Although the rangers do a great job driving around offering cold water on warm days, I literally never have seen a ranger get involved in dealing with slow play groups.
But overall, Cordova gets two thumbs up from me !