[Golf Review] Pristine Valley - 5th time's the charm, finally broke my jinx and played well

Review of Pristine Valley

• My favorite place in Gapyeong
• Even more attractive than Gapyeong Benest
• Has its own driving range
• A place that triggers a desire to challenge due to its quite tough difficulty
• Strangely, a place where I always struggle whenever I visit
• If I perform poorly again today, should I just stop coming altogether?
  
  
  A welcome sight at the entrance
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  First half: Valley Course
  Actually, I had a terrible headache
  after sleeping with the window open.
  I took some medicine at a pharmacy near the golf course
  and took a 30-minute nap in the car.
  I thought I was going to fail again today,
  but I was stunned because it went better than expected.
  As expected, life and golf don't go as planned.

Another unique characteristic
I always start the first half with the Valley course.
I've visited 5 times so far, and without exception...
First of all, the Par 5 on Valley Hole 1 is quite difficult.
Usually, the 1st hole is made easy
to serve as a warm-up.
But Valley Hole 1 is not like that.
If your shot curves even slightly, it's "Left OB, Right Hazard."
There are also plenty of bunkers in front when hitting your 2nd or 3rd shots,
so getting a Par is harder than it looks.
Rather, the difficulty seems to ease up after the middle?
Thanks to warming up for 10–15 minutes at the on-site practice range,
my shots were more consistent than expected today.











Second half: Pristine Course
The biggest reason I haven't had much fun at Pristine Valley so far?
It's the tough difficulty of the second half "Pristine Course."
If your Driver lands accurately,
you can play without much trouble.
But amateurs can't always do that.
When you stand on the tee box,
it's full of blind spots
and obstacles on both sides that disorient your vision.
Usually, in an easy place,
you'd think, "I won't lose much even if I hit it mediocrely,"
but standing on the Pristine Course tee box,
you think, "Wow, how am I supposed to hit this?"
"If I mess up, I'm dead."
"If my direction is off, I won't even see the green on my 2nd shot."
There is quite a difference in difficulty between the first and second half courses.
Fortunately, my Driver was hitting well for once today,
so I was able to overcome it to some extent.












Fairway by hole
Pristine Valley shot pattern check
First half: Valley Course
Hole 1 (Par 5): 1 o'clock, Push, Right Hazard
Hole 2 (Par 3): 12 o'clock, Straight, On-green
Hole 3 (Par 4): 1 o'clock, Draw, Fairway (0.5m Birdie)
Hole 4 (Par 4): 1 o'clock, Draw, Fairway (Super clean hit after a long time, 260m)
Hole 5 (Par 5): 1 o'clock, Push, Right Bunker
Hole 6 (Par 4): 1 o'clock, Draw, Right Hazard (Saw it bounce, but lost it)
Hole 7 (Par 4): 1 o'clock, Draw, Fairway
Hole 8 (Par 3): 12 o'clock, Straight, On-green (Hit hard out of fear of strong wind)
Hole 9 (Par 4): 1 o'clock, Draw, Fairway
Second half: Pristine Course
Hole 1 (Par 5): 12 o'clock, Draw, Left Rough
Hole 2 (Par 4): 12 o'clock, Draw, Fairway
Hole 3 (Par 3): 12 o'clock, Straight, On-green
Hole 4 (Par 4): 12 o'clock, Draw, Fairway
Hole 5 (Par 5): 12 o'clock, Draw, Fairway
Hole 6 (Par 3): 1 o'clock, Draw, On-green
Hole 7 (Par 4): 1 o'clock, Draw, Fairway
Hole 8 (Par 4): 1 o'clock, Draw, Fairway
Hole 9 (Par 4): 1 o'clock, Push, Right Rough
Fairway Hit Rate: 9/14, 64.3%

• First half 4/7
• Second half 5/7
  Green in Regulation: Decent in first half, decent in second half
  I've always struggled whenever I came to Pristine Valley,
  but today I truly redeemed myself.
  Well, if I've been here 5 times, I should have one good round.
  Since Pristine Valley has its own practice range,
  warming up for about 15 minutes before the round
  was a huge help.
  It's a must for me.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Greens by hole
  Green speed around 2.6~2.7
  The greens are relatively average.
  Sometimes they are placed in wicked positions
  and give my companions a hard time.
  On this day, at Hole 3 (Par 4) in the first half,
  my 2nd shot from 120m landed right on the pin for a birdie.
  "It almost went straight in"
  An eagle I haven't been able to do even once this year @.@
  
  
  Unique score design
  I struggled quite a bit at the beginning of the second half.
  I thought I might not break my jinx again today,
  but thanks to finishing well after the middle,
  I recorded my best score at this golf course.
  Now, about my companions.
  The young couple was very quiet.
  They were so gentle that it was almost distracting?
  The other lady came alone;
  it was her first time joining a group solo.
  She had made a big decision to come out
  to practice what she learned in her recent lessons on the grass,
  but she was very upset because things didn't go as planned.
  From what I heard about her lessons,
  "Hit hard with the power of your arms"
  "Flick the head back for an in-to-out trajectory"
  She has about 4–5 years of experience,
  but it felt like she was being forced into a one-size-fits-all approach
  that might differ for everyone.
  Since it doesn't always go as planned,
  there are quite a few women who come out alone.
  I remember someone like that at Lassa last month.
  
  
  Pristine Valley
  Course Rating 70.3 / Slope Rating 135
  The perceived difficulty is tougher than that rating.
  The Pristine Course has a higher course rating than the Valley Course.