As a unabashed C&C lover, I had hopes that they might be able to take a vastly inferior piece of land and make it as interesting, creative and great as PD and BD. Through 13 holes, I thought that they had pulled it off. Then I hit #14. This has to be the single worst hole on a top 20 course ever.
More amazing, the routing had to be screwed up to get you to the teeing area (More on that later). So after having you take a golf cart to get up the hill, you are faced with a 325 yard hole with no way to reach the green and no option other than hitting a shot that will end up in a bottom collection area 40 - 100 yards out on the right. The green is then the most severe push-up on the course with 8 paces (Yes I paced it twice) of green on the front 1/3 (Where the pin was both days). In essence they built a zero reward risk hole with an impossible green to hold. The second day, I played three balls off the tee with a Driver, Hybrid, 6-I.
They all were hit almost exactly where I wanted, all rolled into the collection area and none left me a shot where I could hold the green. Two of my second shots hit the green and went long (Where you have no chance at all). I chunked the third into the front bunker and got up and down for par. So in essence, it is a zero reward risk hole where the best play is 6I, chunk SW, sand shot, putt. Simply puke.
#15 and #16 were not bad but certainly not as strong as the first 13. Then came #18. What a mess. Again the fairway is so severely sloped that no matter where you hit, the ball ends up in a collection area low left with a PW into the green. Boring. Even more so, because #18 is needed to settle matches and a skanked 3W ground ball is going to end up right next to a pure down the middle DR.
Here is what really had me lost. Why didn't C&C simple make a L to R Dogleg par four to connect #13 to #14 and lose #18 completely. They could shuttle you back to the clubhouse after the round. I cannot get why they messed up their routing and forced you into a cart only to end with such a bad hole.
Statistically, if there are 8,000 modern golf courses in the country, than the difference between 20th and 40th is .0025%. Can a course really have two absolute stinker golf holes and a routing that requires a cart even for walkers and really be in the top 20? No matter how good the first 13 holes were, this is what I am struggling with as a consider the Bandon Trails experience.
What did everyone else think?