New, cool, Preserve at Rathbun yields big numbers

MORAVIA -- So, after No. 2 I had an ugly 16 on the card.

This is what happens when you three-putt and lose two balls on the back-to-back par 5s that start your round at The Preserve on Rathbun Lake. It wasn't the course, it was me. It was all me. Boy, was it ever.

The course is tremendous. It has rolling hills on its rolling hills. The flowering areas and native prairie grass are enough to make you proud to be an Iowan. The views of Rathbun Lake are beautiful. The greens are good and fast, just as the greens for a $50-per-round course should be.

The course has been open just since September 2008, so the fairways have some maturing to do. But in terms of general beauty and challenge, The Preserve is right there with Iowa's best.

Built in 2007, The Preserve has some newness to it. A few of the fairways have patches of clover and some brownouts, but nothing that comes close to a dealbreaker.

The Preserve is part of Honey Creek Resort State Park. This entire layout includes lodging (28 luxury cabins), a water park, interpretive programs, biking, a grill/restaurant and, of course, Rathbun Lake, Iowa's largest.

This doesn't “feel” like a state park golf course. This is closer to a country club.

The 6,987-yard, par-72 layout has five sets of tees and bentgrass tees, greens and fairways. With 24 acres of restored native shortgrass prairie, tall fescues in the secondary rough, dramatic elevation changes and great views of the lake, The Preserve is a natural beauty. There are no swing sets to be found (no offense to swing sets).

There are a lot of courses built into communities that I really do enjoy (Hunters Ridge and Fox Ridge, right of the top of my head), but The Preserve is a nature walk in golf spikes. When the course was built, it was a candidate for the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program, so you know it's nature times 10.

Let's not forget about the golf.

Herfort Norby Golf Course Architects designed The Preserve. The firm did an excellent job balancing the natural beauty of Rathbun with the constructed environs of a golf course.

No. 5 danced on the graves of playing partner Mark Jensen and me. It's a 536-yard par 5 with an open tee box and a landing area some 180 to 200 downhill.

From there, it's straight uphill to the green.

For some reason, we failed on the landing area part. I took a drive over the area and into the fields from “Little House on the Prairie.” He drove to where “the hills are alive with the sound of music.”

I had seven sixes and still broke 100.

It wasn't the course, it was me. Believe me.

If you go

• For tee times, prices and more information, call (641) 724-1400 or 1-(877) 677-3344; or visit http://honeycreekresort.com

The lowdown on The Preserve

Toughest hole - No. 1 is the No. 1 handicap on the scorecard and it's a hole I underestimated. It's a mid-range par 5 at 560 yards, but it's all uphill to the green. Off the tee, you want to aim at the right fairway bunker and draw the ball into the fairway. A draw is fantasy for me. Instead, I faded right, which set up OK. From there, I pounded a 3-wood that drifted into the grass hollows on the right. Took a while, but I found my ball. Stay out of the linksy grass. I was OK from there but put the approach into the bunker and three-putted for a woeful double-bogey 7.

Easiest hole - No. 11 is The Preserve's shortest par 4 at 354 yards, just 312 from the silver tees. The obstacle is risk/reward. You can lose your drive in the woods to the left, so that shapes your thoughts. Also, you have to decide if you want to go at the green. With four bunkers surrounding, that's a tough choice. I chose to lay up and still ended up in a greenside bunker on the left. It was a tough out, and I ended up with double-bogey.

Overall impression - Moravia is a two-and-a-half hour drive from Cedar Rapids, so you have to commit to The Preserve at Rathbun Lake. It's OK, though. Commit away. I worked in Ottumwa in 1993 and had forgotten the beauty of southern Iowa's rolling hills and prairie. The Preserve is a bundle of that southern Iowa beauty.