I do indeed consider the Plantation course as a 'great' one because:
1. It possesses great golf holes - 5, 7, 14, 17, 18.
2. The standard of hole is very high - what are its weakest holes? I couldn't nominate a single one as being less than a 6 out of 10, despite the difficult/awkward topography. For this reason, I place it a notch ahead of another, more famous island course- Mid-Ocean - which has some marginal holes (or at least 7 and 11 were before Doak began his work there).
3. Great green sites/short game interest - 4, 8, 10, 13, 15, which, apart from other obvious benefits, helps make the course interesting in no wind.
4. Tremendous variety found within the holes, from the longest hole on the PGA Tour (the 18th) to the tiny green at the drivable two shot 14th.
5. The Plantation Course possesses thoroughly unique holes - 1, 6, 9, 12 in addition to some others already mentioned - with an important result being the course (ala other greats such as NGLA, RM, Oakmont, Sand Hills, etc.) reminds one of no other course in the world.
6. The slopes in the landing areas off the tee combined with the fallaway greens and tightly mown green side banks highlight the joys of the ground game like few courses.
7. The requirements asked of the golfer continually shift, for instance bouncing an approach 10 yards shy of the front to back 7th green is followed immediately by the only forced carry on the course (the approach over a ravine to the well guarded one shot 8th).
8. The setting is genuinely spectacular at every turn, which still counts for something in my book and the development of the area hasn't compromised the course - there are no houses behind any of the greens, for instance. I would cry if some monster house was ever built behind the 7th green.
9. And as others have mentioned, the course is off the chart for FUN, in any wind. The golfer is constantly given the room/opportunity to invent shots, and to improve.
Yes, there are three tough green to tee walks but still.....the above more than compensates, at least for me.
IBF commented at the start of Sunday's telecast that the hole locations have been 'average' difficulty thoroughout the week. I can only imagine that the PGA Tour is anxious for the year's first event to get off to a flying start and in their mind, that translates to lots of birdies and the entire field under par.
On the infrequent occasion when a tricky hole location was used, the hole played much harder (example: the 12th hole was the only hole on the back over par on Friday, thanks to its right hole location).
If left to his own, Gary Planos would have great fun moving the holes around to some of the edges so that, for instance, the sight of a greedy approach sucking back 40 yards off the left front of the 10th green would occur with greater frequency. And when that starts happening, the pro golfer's entire thought process changes from one of attack, attack, attack to a more selective/defensive one.
But as at Royal Melbourne, stick the holes in the middle + no wind = lights out scoring. Unfortunately, much of the merit of the design gets masked when those are the cards that are dealt.
I still maintain: BRING THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP HERE and let them set the course up fast/firm with the full range of hole locations. One upside - can anyone think of a more thrilling hole to end a major championship on?!
Cheers,