At last!
A course I've actually played!
Jeff McDowell (in the Weiskopf/Morrish thread) says that The Wilds is an inconsistent layout.
I agree with that.
He says that he likes the par-5 No. 2 because of the hogbacked landing area, which gives the aggressive tee shot a boost and allows the possibility of reaching it in two -- and that he dislikes the steeply uphill par-3 No. 13, because of the near-blindness of the shot.
Everyone's a critic, right?
No. 2, a dogleg-left, is one of my least favorite holes on the golf course. The drive is totally blind, over a hill, with a marshy hazard all the way down the left. As far as I've figured out in four or five rounds there, the architects have given the player no clue as to the line one might take to find that hogback which Mr. McDowell admires, but which one can't see. Maybe if I played the course over and over again, I'd figure it out -- but until then, I'll be playing my conservative drive down the right side, possibly catching the right rough (and, with any luck, avoiding the GD cart path in the right rough, which'll kick ya right out of bounds). Then I'll have a middle-iron, to set up a wedge to the green. Nothing special, in my mind.
No. 13, by contrast, is one of my favorite holes on the course. I haven't played it in more than a year, but I think it's only a 5- or 6- or 7-iron from the back tees (depending on the wind; I think I used a 4 there once, into the wind). You can see the flag, if not much of the stick -- but you can plainly see, on the very steep incline to the green, the horrible, sandy (or deeply grassy) trouble you're making for yourself if you underclub or mis-hit to the right. The green is quite large, and relatively flat, and there's a bit of a backstop at the left rear (the fat part of the green). So it's a VERY fair (if fair is what you're looking for) shot. If you pick the right club and hit it properly, you'll be putting. If you don't, you'll wish you had.
Two of my other favorite holes at the Wilds are uphill: (1) the par-3 7th -- over a marsh with a long iron from the back tees, to a green fronted by a steep hill, with an equally steep backstop behind the green that funnels balls back onto the green; and (2) the par-4 9th. The tee shot is struck over a valley to a steeply uphill fairway -- leaving a reasonably good player with a TOTALLY blind second (of 130 to 160 yards) over a high-lipped fairway bunker that's 20 or 30 yards short of the green. The hill adds, I'd guess, three or four clubs to the shot. I've figured that out only in retrospect, having carded a series of bogeys and double-bogeys there after mis-hitting the uphill 2nd and dumping my shot into that bunker or just over it into a chipping/collection area to the right of the green and just short of a greenside bunker (which is the only part of the hole I don't like). Otherwise, terrific hole -- to my eyes.
Of course, I could be wrong.