Pine Valley Golf Course, North Little Rock

This is a great course for beginner and experienced player alike. It is not a long course, but offers many challenges such as small greens and tight fairways. The 16th is a fairly short par 5 that requires an accurate tee shot, in fact most of the holes need that type of shot with the narrow fairways. I enjoy playing Pine Valley because it is not to difficult for me as a high handicap player, it is not too crowded and can be played easily in under four hours.

Pine Valley is a well-maintained public course nestled into the hills north of Little Rock. It isn't fancy and it isn't real long. There are a lot of tight fairways on the par 4's and 5's. The 2nd hole is a par 3 sitting on the side of a hill and the green can be held with a well-placed tee shot (not too much spin now!!) The signature hole is number five, a long par 3 with the tee box elevated above the green by about 75 ft. The green is fronted by a large water hazard, pretty much surrounding the green on 3 sides. It takes a very accurate tee shot. If you fly the green, a chip or pitch back has a good chance of rolling back to the water. Holes 4 and 5 do have a problem since they run down the side of the ridge leading to the fifth hole. The fairways are sloped to the right and just about any shot in the fairway winds up against the fence on the right. Those 2 fairways are also fairly hard so the ball tends to scoot quick when it lands. Overall Pine Valley is a very scenic course with some tough holes but is very playable.

Pine Valley is a good tight, short, golf course with a lot to offer the experienced golfer as well as the novice. There are some problmes. Hole 3 is a problme because the fairway has an exerated slope to the right and even a good drive off the tee box won't hold the course. Additionally, some of the fairways are rocky. The green at #5 should be made bigger, as it is, only a very good tee shot will hold, and the rest get a watery grave. Overall, it is a good course, and can be played in 3.5 hours or less. Additionally the price is right.