I went down and played Addington yesterday. Jeepers! Talk about a course being stuffed in suburban hell. I don't know how people take livin down there. Anyway, some thoughts about the course.
1. It is one tough bugger! It has replaced Beau as the toughest short course I have played. The course is less than 6000 yards from the daily markers, but it plays much closer to 6500 yards, maybe more. Why? This is one of those Addington anomolies.
The club still lists bogey (71) on the card. Three of the bogey 5s are asterixed - #s 4, 12 & 15. All are under 460 yards so they are really par 4s. Mind you, #12 can't really be described in terms of par or bogey. In addition to these long bogey 5s there are four other holes which are over 400 yards. One might think there are no proper par 5s, but there in fact two. Well, one would probably surmise that there are only a few par 3s. Wrong, there are six - three of which are under 160 yards! I have never experienced anything like this before.
2. I have concluded that despite the course playing unusually long it is imperative to be able to hit a slinging hook 3 wood off the tee. I reckon there are five tee shots in which this is the best shot to hit. #s 6, 8, 10, 12, & 16. Three of these are long holes, but because of awkward angles off the tee, abrupt fairway ending or hog back fairways, layups are necessary. Additionally, the 3 wood could easily come in handy for nine other shots.
3. Addington has what I would call four contoversal holes. I expect all on this site know about #12. It can't be properly described anyhow. The other three are #s 8, 13 & 16. If there is any such thing as an over the top hole #8 is it.
#8 is a 400 yard hard dogleg to the left with a blind drive. Lets say you pull off a great slinging hook with a 3 wood. Bobs is your uncle right? Wrong! The fairway is humbacked with both sides falling sharply into trees. The kicker is that the player doesn't even know which side to look on because of the blind drive. Right, I can hear people saying well "LAY UP DUFUS!" Sounds an excellent idea. Only thing is, the humpback runs to about 20 yards short of the green and the approach for a layup is blind as well! I think this hole is a clunker, but I am sure there are many who sing its praises.
#13 is an evil 200 yard par 3 with bunkering left and right. Nothing but perfection will do. Very penal in nature, but great none the less.
#16 is an all world short 500 yard par 5 which slings hard left and down a hill. The hole begs the golfer to go for it in two mainly because the layup is more a less a wedge. You see, there is another one of those blasted ravines which cuts through the fairway just short of the green. Additionally, the fairway runs hard down hill about 100 yards out so the layup needs to be short of this steep area. Great hole! Probably the best on the course.
4. One of the most refreshing aspects of Addington is that the bunkering in no way defines the course. After seeing photo after photo of rows and rows of bunkers on new courses it was a delight see a course which was defined by its terrain. Don't misunderstand. The bunkering is alright without being too severe. Bunkers are generally well placed with few greens heavily guarded other than some of the par 3s.
5. Addington cannot be categorized. Cheeky Pete told me Ran felt Addington was in a category of its own. I would agree with this conclusion completely. Despite my misgivings about #8 and the most famous hole on the course, #12 (even though I question this hole I am still prepared to call it great), Addington is spot on in erring on the side of outrageousness.
I will try to organize some photos for posting.
Ciao
Sean