I meant the chipping area behind the last hole melded seamlessly into #14 tees not #15.
Hole #14.
Par 4, 440yds.
This is the one big forced tee shot carry at Applebrook. When I first saw the hole being built I thought the carry across wetlands on this hole was far too much but they hadn't extended the fairway well out to the left yet as they have now. This is a tee shot that the golfer will need real experience and to really calculate the conditions correctly to figure out where to aim and where to carry his tee shot. The hole seems to play about 65 Degrees right off the cape carry which seems quite sharp but the good news is the hole's approach doesn't appear to play anywhere near as long as you think it will if you hit the tee shot farther left than you think you should have. The approach from over about 175 is blind up to the green. The green is interesting with its small left front tier running into a swalish center and in the back offering a partial little "kick-up". This is a green that you can use the ground game but you should probably go out there and watch tons of shots coming in to figure out exactly how. Again the chipping area on the left of this green melds seamlessly into the tee of #15--the back tee is interesting this way as it is separated from the green by a bunker surrounded by the chipping area.
Hole #15.
Par 3, 220yds.
A long downhill par 3 over wetlands that will play shorter with the elevation change as well as the prevailing wind. The huge green with interesting internal contour is fronted by a long, wide fairway area running into the green and featuring three moundy knobs on the fairway. Each of the knobs are named for one of Gil's three children. Good bunkering on the right greenside and rough and woods farther out on the left. The most significant feature on this hole is the pretty tree on the left off the tee about 50yds. The tree gives the hole a restricted feeling--I wouldn't recommend that it stay around too long. This is a fairly solid par 3 but for some reason doesn't really do that much for me.
Hole #16:
Par 5, 605yds.
This hole extends straight out for about 500yds with the green sitting across a wetlands directly to the right of the end of the straight stretch. The tees are set slightly to the left and there is a bunker that eats in from the left that is very well placed. With experience I think the play is well to the right of this bunker although for some reason the hole and the tee shot doesn't seem to set-up that way bringing the left bunker more into play than it should be. The wide fairway runs out at around 300yds at a narrow perpindicular creek and will slow up the long hitters. I was told that it's conceivable to try to fly this or bounce it over it but I wouldn't recommend that. So the tee shot is to lay it up as close to this creek as possible.
Then you have quite a unique situation which is not at first particularly apparent as to what to do. There is a great bunker and rough combo sitting right in the middle of an enormous second shot landing area. You know the hole is directly off to the right at the end across the wetlands so any golfer's natural instinct will be to lay up to the right of this bunker combo or even short right of it. The bunker combo is unbelievably visually deceptive as it looks like it's at the end of the fairway although there is a full 50yds of fairway behind it that can't be seen. With a little experience most golfer will probably learn to carry this center bunker off a good drive but most will try to get to the right of it or short and right of it. There not all that much real estate to the right of it as it runs into rough short and the wetlands out farther, but there is enough to appear to make this the only second shot play! Again like on #8 I would recommend that something be done to induce the golfer to think about the option of playing out to the left of this center bunker combo, something at the moment I can't see they would have any inclination to do at all. It appears playing out there is playing about 90 degrees away from the green when in fact you really aren't increasing the approach distance into the green as much as you think you are.
So what would induce the golfer to do something other than his immediate instinct to play short right or just right of this center bunker? Well when you talk about "instinct" you're again talking about the very motivation of Max Behr's "lines of charm" which is to put something right at the golfer's point of instinct thereby making him try other lines. So my recommendation would be to put something else short and to the right of this center bunker, again shrinking down more the golfers' available area to the right of the center bunker like on #8 and #10 (or at least make it appear that way with visual deception of some kind which would jibe well with the visual deceeption of the center bunker itself) and make the golfer look around for a less risky option like out to the left of the center bunker. I really think something more should be done on the right or the left option will rarely if ever be used. The third shot in across the wetlands is to a large par 5 green with again interesting internal contour and slope and a variety of nice pin placements some of which will dictate out to the placement of the second shot. This green apparently was the conceptual creation of Rodney Hine.
Hole #17.
Par 3, 175 yds.
Playing slightly uphill and most all carry across rough ground to a green that narrows a bit in the back and has a center perpindicular ridge that can create some real putting problems for a ball on the wrong side from the pin. This green is another example of many of the greens at Applebrook where it may not be enough to get your ball on the green to two putt. If some of Applebrook's greens aren't exactly "greens within a green" they're real close to being that! This hole has a bunker right greenside down a bit of a bank that looks from the tee to be almost out of play but is anything but. The interesting thing about this bunker is when you get up to the green you can see how much the bunker shares play on #17 with balls hit slightly long and right of the little par 3 #11.
Hole #18.
Par 4, 455yds.
Although this finishing hole will play down the prevailing wind to a degree it will probably play it's yardage and more due to the height of the green. The fairway is the widest yet over 60+ and even missing it right is no real problem. There is a left bunker but it really is far out there and with the width of the fairway shouldn't come into play at all. MikeC described this hole and some of the architectural issues he might have with it. There is the biggest bunker by far short and right of the green and at fairway grade well below the significantly elevated green. The green is wide but shallow for such a long hole with substantial bailout area to the left of the green making the conservative option to this hole play to a chip and putt half par! There is something about #18 down near the green-end that looks far more modern in concept than the rest of the holes at Applebrook. I can't really put my finger on it and I'm not talking about the waterfall to the right of it either.
So that's the holes of Applebrook. It's a different style than almost anything else we have around here and that's good. There are a few interesting aspects like how few forced carries there are on the par 4s and 5s (really only two) but three of the four par 3s are basically forced carries. I don't know why Gil did so many enormous accomodating fairways, maybe he did it because this is a wind course or maybe he did it to create a false sense of security and basically a second shot golf course or maybe for another reason. But most of it will be second shot or approach shot concentrated. Even that's somewhat subtle and the greens and the green surrounds will have a lot to do with that. It will probably be a course that does depend a lot on the force of the wind but even without the wind it may be a course that the golfer can hang himself slowly or even hang himself and not even realize why or how he did it.
Applebrook will be a course, though, that the members and Jarred Veriango need to keep the speed up both on the greens and particularly through the greens. That's what will really make Applebrook shine, it will make the big fairways play smaller and it will really bring to life all the interest in and around the greens. At least it sure appears to me that the course was designed for the need for speed and again for the members and Jarred not just speed on the putting surfaces but some real speed everywhere else--that's even more important, in my opinion. And with that Applebrook will be well respected as it should be!