Last, but not least, I met up with Mayday and Bill Dow for a game at Rolling Green. I gotta say, that if there is a person more enthusiastic than Mayday about his course, then Lord help us! Mayday seems to know every blade of grass on the course and revel in trying to retain or regain what Flynn produced. Bill, well, he is quite simply one of the finest chaps you could hope to meet anytime anywhere. It was a joy to watch him have at it and come back to the cart with a smile no matter the result.
First things first. The greens at RG were the toughest I saw on this trip - hands down. I say this with the belief that they weren't rolling any faster than the others. Its all about the slopes effecting putts and they just cannot be read. One simply has to learn the greens. Jeepers, is RG hilly or what? In truth, it is probably a bit too hilly as many of the approaches seemed similar as uphill between bunkers. The par 3s were very good and difficult. I do admit to struggling round not least because of the shanks which was a bit more controlled, but also because there are a lot of tuff shots to hit. I think we played the members tees and the course seemed every bit as difficult as Merion, maybe tougher. I probably drove Mayday nuts with my comments that the club is missing a trick with not widening several fairways. The opportunity is there.
#1 - A gentle opener with a wicked green. I will stop mentioning the greens becasue they are all wicked.
Approach to #1
I really liked the 2nd hole. Its a fairly long par 4. The fairway is cool as it sheds balls to the right if one can't get onto the plateau.
Approach to #2
One can see the perils of a front pin pn this, the short par 3 3rd. Many of the greens have this quality of almost being false fronts.
The 4th
This is the other look which is popular at RG - the sort of uphill approach to a green that can't fully be seen.
The 5th is a lovely hole which bends to the right. This is the approach.
Another tuff par 3 of about 190 yards.
I really didn't like the look of this par 5 - very clausterphobic. In general, I though the par 5s were the weakest element of the course. None were much better than average for a course of such high quality.
The hole does get better the closer you get to the green. I think a load of trees could come out on this hole.
#8 is an awesome par 4 that will crush your spirit if you give it half a chance. Again, fairway out to the right over the water should be there - loads of space for it.
This pic is so deceptive. That green has to be 30 feet above the floor and the green is seriously sloped toward the fairway.
Approach to the par 5 9th.
The 10th is a cool runup Redan-like par 3 without the green.
I really liked #11. You just bang a driver as far as you go on holiday and then pay attention to the approach. I found this green to be a mystery.
A closer look for the approach.
#12 is a neat little hole. Its best to layup, but I got bad advice from my caddy who said carry the bunker. There is nothing to be gained by this play.
A closer look at #12.
13 is an odd hole both visually and how it plays. The drive is blind to a fairway which runs into rough. This is the approach - which strikes me as quite an old school look.
A look at the 14th green - perhaps one of the most severe par 3s I have ever seen. Its brutal!
#15 is a cool hole - though I wish the corridor wasn't such a long narrow thing.
The approach to 15. This really is one of the best holes on the course.
Along with # 10, I like the par3 16th a load.
I am not sure about 17. It seems to be lacking something. It would probably be better as a shorter hole that is more easily reachable. This shot is after the turn, but its a long whack to get home.
On second thought, 18 is not a bad hole at all. Its reachable with two long shots and the bunkering is decent. Though, the hole has way too many trees. That is Bill in the picture.
That was my first experience of Flynn and to be fair, I came away with mixed feelings. There are several very good holes, but the course didn't bowl me over. Its probably a bit too hilly for my liking. Also, I think I need to see the course more times to figure out the greens. There were several putts I literally didn't have a clue about. I think the course is good and shouldn't disappoint anyone who turns up for a game. To me, this place has potential to be much better if fairways were widened and trees taken out. The combo of crowded fairways and many severe uphill approaches really doesn't work together.
Ciao