Upon our arrival in Reno, Nevada I started checking the prices of local golf courses online. I noticed that the Sierra Sage Golf Course mentioned that winter prices were still in effect so I called and made a twilight (after 1:30) tee time. I was told that it would be $25 per person to play an eighteen hole round of golf with a riding cart, which is very reasonable.
The unexpected good news when we arrived at the pro shop was that we were actually only charged $40 for the two of us to play golf: $15 each for the greens fee and $5 each for shared use of a riding cart. Better and better.
We were teamed up with a local couple, which is always nice when you are playing an unfamiliar course because they can tell you where to try to land a shot or even how a dogleg runs. Play was a tiny bit slow ahead of us, but that gave us a chance to talk to Mike and Jan about the Reno area and each other while we waited. Denny and I commented that the course was a bit rough, especially the greens, and Mike said that normally the golf course was in much better condition. When I say the greens were rough I'm talking recent aeration, bald spots and burned spots. Three putts were almost a given on these greens.
Sierra Sage Golf Course is a links style course complete with rattlesnakes in the summer. The distance from the blue tees is 6604 yards with a rating/slope of 70.4/122. The white tees have a yardage of 6230 yards with a rating/slope of 68.7/119 and the women's tees have a yardage of 5597 yards with a rating/slope of 70.3/120.
Depending on your shot shape, water can come into play on five holes although only two holes have water directly in play. The setting is scenic and the course is walkable due to its flat and open nature. With the recent lack of rain and snow, the brush area is open enough that you can locate errant shots especially at this time of year when it's too chilly for the rattlesnakes to be out. Later in the season, Mike says he doesn't bother to look for balls in the rough--the snakes can have them.
All in all, due to the company we had an enjoyable afternoon on the golf course but we really had a problem with the very rough greens on this course.
