A pretty desert course, set around small rocky hills (with a few houses far away), quite wide open but with a big lake, plenty of deep rough and a few well-placed bunkers to watch for.
Right away, you better bring your A game, as three of the first five holes are par-5s, starting with the dogleg right 1st, where you will have to hit a tee shot over a huge lake landing hopefully past bunkers midway (on its left bank) and lined up all the way (on the right) to the green (hard to reach if your tee shot landed too much to the left), before facing the wide open dogleg right 3rd hole, with plenty of sand and rough around the fairway and a couple of tall cacti to admire near the green.
Then, after the pretty par-3 4th hole and its beautiful panoramic view of the desert as you reach the green, you will move on to the last par-5 hole (on the front 9), the 5th, straight and slightly uphill, along trees (on the right), ending halfway, and with deep rough and bushes (on the left) all along toward the green.
Three other holes, worth mentioning, are the scenic par-4 7th, with a flag, straight in line, but with a big lake in front, branching out to the left then ending in front of the green (to the right), you will need to hit your tee shot over it to the right onto the fairway, before hitting your approach to the left over the water again to get to the green.
Then, after the dogleg right par-4 8th hole, with nice flowers (to the right of the tee box) and a slightly-elevated green, offering a nice panoramic view, you will walk over to the dogleg left par-4 9th, with a tee shot over part of a lake, landing near three bunkers, midway (in the inner corner), and with a slightly-elevated green.
The back 9 is nice too, especially the dogleg left par-4 12th hole, downhill all the way, along a little mound, ending midway (on the right) and with a big pond behind, splitting the fairway across, over which you will have to hit your approach to reach the green.
As if you did not have enough challenges, the last four holes will definitely “give you a run for your money”, starting with the two beautiful par-3s and their peninsula greens, the 15th, with a tee shot over a wide lake, and the 16th, again with a tee shot over the lake, but with a big tree standing in front of the green (to the left) to avoid.
Then, after the dogleg par-5 17th hole, downhill all the way and bending slightly to the left, with a tee shot over deep rough landing onto an undulating fairway, split midway by more deep rough (and a green reachable on your second shot), you will finish with the nice dogleg left par-4 18th, with an undulating fairway hugging a wide lake and slightly uphill all the way to the green.
Needless to say, with its pretty landscape, vegetation and its water hazards, this Tortoise Crawl GC is another great course from rlslay that you should... hurry to download before slowly... crawling along to admire it !