FINALLY I had time to play this one. With the holidays and a backlog of rounds to play, I did not give this great course the attention it deserved upon release. Well, I did get to play a round tonight and I really enjoyed it.
As you would expect, its gorgeous and quite realistic to look at, with incredible blending of the background into the course. Its another Steve Holden instant classic.
Par 72, 7408 yards from the black tees.
Its fun to start your round with a seemingly friendly short hole, but with some wind in your face, its not going to offer you a cup of tea and biscuits.
Fairways are very narrow, so you will have to be accurate, and with the distances on some of the holes, you will by necessity need to overswing to avoid long iron approaches in. I was very pleased to find that you do not have to deal with extreme sidehill lies making a great teeshot into a circus act to the green, so you will get rewarded for short grass. Once on the green, putting is a very FAIR challenge. Pin 3 seemed to offer good chances if you landed reasonably close to the hole. One thing I was not successful at doing however was chipping into the hole from off the green. Usually I can nab 1 or 2 this way, but no dice here.
More than once, a poorly planned tee shot hit the short grass, but found an obstructed approach. Some local knowledge and proper planning can avoid these situations, so in serious play, beware!
I also liked the wind directions being well distributed during the course of the round. You will start hitting into the wind, but you get plenty of chances to have the wind be your friend later.
Lots of beautiful customs are scattered throughout the course and very tastefully presented.
This is another course which makes my "A" list for future tours.
Thanks for another wonderful golf course, and I'm sure the Old Timers will be coming here very soon!
Check out a look back to the tee on 15, par 3. That background is great looking to tee or to green.
Hole 18, approach shot. I was just a bit far to the right, and was left with this obstructed blind shot into the green well protected by those trees. I ended up power-swinging around to the left with a fair amount of fade, but ended up in the thick stuff. Its not something you consciously think about, but look at that cart path really adding something to this hole.