Willbrook Plantation Golf Club opened in 1988 amid a mad dash of courses on the south end that all aimed to prove themselves different from the rest.
The result at Willbrook was an 18-hole course that charged players with less power than touch. The same rings true more than three decades later because the course hasn’t needed much change to stay current.
For players who want to think their way through a fun round, Willbrook can still do just that. These five holes are audibles in the making, small portions of the course that flex with their own ingenuity.
NO. 2, PAR 4, 360 YARDS
The snaking fairway. The pond running all the way up the right side. The club you need to succeed. It all makes the second hole at Willbrook downright intriguing to the golfers among us. For as much advice as we could possibly give you about this hole, the fact that there are three different ways to play it and still succeed also provides one heck of a dealer’s choice here. After all, we’ve seen people par this hole using only irons to get from tee to green. (pictured right)
NO. 5, PAR 4, 369 YARDS
Another relatively short Par 4 mixes in water, too, but in a completely different way than No. 2. On the 369-yard fifth, a short forced carry off the tee leads players to the fairway peninsula straight ahead. The furthest edge of landing area is then cut off from the false front and green by another portion of the pond. The second forced carry is equally easy to fly, but a dry ball isn’t always a happy ball. Mounding to the right of the green can be infuriating. (5th hole top photo)
NO. 6, PAR 3, 107 YARDS
Yep, you read that correctly. It’s a laughable 107 yards from the tee to middle of the island green from the whites, with the back tees measuring 127 and the women’s tees just shy of 90. The putting surface itself is huge by comparison (it’s nearly 40 yards long), and there is space all the way around it before hitting the water. What gets lost until you see it in person, though, is the bulkheads and how it creates a raised effect with your depth perception. (pictured right)
NO. 15, PAR 5, 538 YARDS
There’s no getting around the fact that Willbrook’s longest hole of the round (from the whites) needs to be approached with some thought behind it. Big hitters can flirt with the longest stretches of the initial fairway and the waste area that separates it from the second. Short hitters might even need a layup to get that far. Because once you cross over into the final stretch, it’s 190 yards to a protected green that is significantly smaller than the one on No. 6.
NO. 16, PAR 4, 381 YARDS
You can’t call this a dogleg because the final 100 yards bend around a large waste bunker. But the turn is every bit as evident and so, too, is the elongated bunker covering most of the front edge of the green. This is a precision hole that plays exactly like a precision hole. Yet, why do so many falter here? It’s because this hole also appears fun as all get up and many take advantage. Chances are meant to be taken, right? (pictured right)
