Gentlemen,
I concur that somehow this golf course had been lost in the shuffle and perhaps due to the short season, it has not yet gotten its due. Incline has been the destination most years for a tournament (Lake Tahoe Inv.) I've attended since 1983.
To give a demonstration of my opinion of the golf course, the founders of the event originally brought it to Edgewood for the first few years. Lamenting the obnoxious attitude of the staff and escalating fees at Edgewood, I suggested Incline for the following year and they decided to go with it.
To a man (and lady), everyone liked Incline better than Edgewood and unanimously voted to remain there - where except for the remodel years - it has remained.
I think the main attraction is that Incline presents a continuous stream of risk/reward options, inviting players to use the contours of the putting surface to direct their ball. You have to pay attention though; the cant of the green can also take what looks like a good shot and dispatch it to 3-jack territory.
Tucked pins are almost always accessible if you just have enough creativity. Actually, every shot on the course gives you something to think about.
I noticed that there was no response to this thread, which seems odd given how many of us are in California. Kyle did a wonderful job of peppering the landing areas with well thought-out bunkers, but his main accomplishment was to leave the soul and spiritual Chi' of the layout intact.
It is normally a putrid cliche' to state that "If so and so architect were alive, he would have done it this way/approve blah blah blah."
Horseshit.
Most of the time, remodel work ends up looking like a bikini on Rosanne Barr. Here, I can state with unqualified certainty that Jones Sr. would not only approve but admit the cumulative effect of all Kyle's little tweaks moved the golf course to the next level.
There is no point in going through chapter and verse on the specific modifications here, unless somebody else has played it in the past and is interested in a recounting of the improvements.
If so, respond if you are interested. I'm thinking I've played it - starting from the age of 16 - more than fifty times. I recommend Incline be included in any itinerary near Reno.
In fact, most of the courses in the Reno "valley" - I've not played Montreaux - are repetitous pap; the typical "high desert, rocky, "dozer mound poo poo" that numbs the brain.
The two Harbottles out in Carson (Sierra Nevada and Genoa Lakes) are worthy of a special trip, but a "7 club wind" is too often the losing ticket in the weather lottery out there. With rare exception, my experience is that nearly every summer morning at Incline is sparklingly beautiful.
Incline is 45 minutes from the Reno airport (at most) because the Mt. Rose highway dumps out just down the street from the course.
Joel is correct to mention Coyote Moon and Lahontan - on which I based an article several years ago aimed at identifying what particular components I'd include in a club I organized and founded.
Both of these tracks are delicious, but there is something viscerally magical about Incline. There are some houses along parts of the course, but somehow it all flows together in a comfortable, natural way. If I ever was enough of an idiot to buy a house adjacent to a fairway somewhere, I think Incline would be it because there is an intimate, organic quality to the whole organization and routing of the course.
Someday, Kyle Phillips is going to be recognized as one of the top guys in the design racket; Morgan Creek outside of Sacramento knocked my socks off. I thought Kingsbarns would have done the trick, but in my view, he still remains grossly under-rated.