Review - The Links At Novadell - Hopkinsville, KY

I had the pleasure of returning, somewhat, to my roots yesterday. I was born at Ft. Campbell, KY, while my father was stationed there as part of the 101st Airborne, during the early ’60’s.

The Links at Novadell is located just a few minutes from the front gate and many of those stationed at Ft. Campbell live in and around Hopkinsville.

I travelled down from my home, picked up a couple of friends in Madisonville ( KY ) and headed down for our 10:30 tee time.

We got there with enough time to spare to allow me to peek around the facility. Impressive, clean, nice, friendly…those are the first words to come to my mind. The word friendly was brought to my mind several more times during the day…from the guy who came after our bags, to the maintenance workers, to the Pro Shop employees to those behind the counter in the grill room. To a person, they were bursting with good ol’ Kentucky friendliness !

To a man, EVERY worker around the course, on a golf cart, tractor, mower or using another piece of equipment waved and smiled. I have never had that happen. Ever. The place was in great shape and I see why, the people were happy to be there and to be doing what they were doing. And there were plenty of workers out there. They seemed to be fully staffed, for sure.

I made the days first mistake by waltzing in to their Pro Shop with denim shorts on. It was my first day of 8 days off from my day job and I had no thoughts of proper attire. Most of the clubs around home have gotten over the ‘no denim’ rules, since we no longer have guys wearing cut-off jeans. That went away, mostly, several years ago. My Levi’s shorts cost more than most khakis and look pretty good, but it was their house and I had to play by their rules. The young man behind the counter was extremely nice and very professional about it and even offered to sell me some khaki’s at 50% off to help me conform. Even though I’d have rather thrown a fit and left, just to speed up the ditchin’ of this silly policy, I complied nicely and now and the proud owner of another pair of khaki golf shorts. Wheee !

Off to the putting green we go and it’s in great shape. Plush is about the best way I can describe it. Lots of cups at different angles to practice putting to and you’ll need to practice ‘em all, as the greens at Novadell are very well defended by angles, mounds and slope.

The first hole was a very easy to play 350 yard par four, pretty straight and fairly easy to envision a 3-wood and a wedge. that’s exactly what I did and came away with a 3 putt par as I hit my 25 foot putt about 18 feet. The green looked like glass and played like velcro. Kinda wet and slow after last nights rain. That was the story of my day, could not get the ball to the hole. I left 10 putts, easily 10, a foot short and in the jar.

There’s not really any tree trouble, as it’s a links style course. Some patchy high weeds WAY around the edges, but it’s as fair a golf course as you’ll find. Very generous landing areas and room around the greens for when you’re a little off target.

Stay below the hole on the greens and hit the proper side for an uphill putt and you will not find anything to complain about here. Very plush, very fair, in good condition, despite the Japanese beetles trying their best to take root.

The wind was about 10-15 mph at all times and gusted to about 25 a time or three. I hit a 6 iron from 150 ( my normal 170 club ) and came up 15 yards short, if that helps you imagine what the wind does to the ball when it has nothing, like trees, to slow it down.

There were plenty of yardage markers in the fairways to make club selection easy enough, if the wind had not been so strong.

There’s enough water in play to keep you honest, but not enough to be offensive.

Lots of panoramic views of light brown tall grasses and green fairways. Lots of blue Kentucky skies and there was enough water jugs on the course to keep you cool, your towels wet and your golf balls clean.

If you’re near the Hopkinsville, Ft. Campbell, KY area and want a challenging golf course, a fair price, VERY friendly people and an overall great time, drop by The Links at Novadell and tell ‘em Mike sent you. Or shoot me an email and I’ll meet you down there !