Let's get discussion and pics going on this thread.
For me, the great star of Elie is the routing. A round at Elie feels like something more than a typical out and back links experience. In roughly chronological order, the "themes" if you will are: mountain, town, sea, neighborhood, club. The course gives us both intimate and expansive senses of these themes. It's over the mountain and down, it's to the sea and back, it's to and from the town and the neighborhood. At Elie we run a lot of errands, ferrying our golf balls here and there. In the middle, we take a stroll along the beach!
It's a neat piece of property, starting with the mountain over which the 1st, 2nd and 3rd holes are played. The use of the mountain on the 2nd provides a total depth-perception discombobulator. It's a long way up! Bunkers left and right at the 215 mark must do a lot of business for those who "prudently" choose to lay up.
From there we pass by -- some of us unfortunately visit as well -- the town of Earlsferry to the left of the 4th, 5th and 6th holes.
The 6th gives us a peek at the Firth of Forth and the seaside stretch of holes to come, but for now we turn back for our first visit with the neighborhood on the other side of the course. So we head up the interior of the property, very much aware we are playing literally through a neighborhood. Those who fail to appreciate this will come to appreciate this should their tee ball on 8 find the narrow gravel road passing through the course -- or their approach be forced to negotiate traffic.
(During our morning round a Royal Mail truck passed through. The golfer's instinct to hit the "range-ball picker" ("Manchurian Candidate," golf version) must be overcome -- one player in our group failed lead the picker properly and missed by a good 20 yards. The better for us!)
Come the 10th and Elie's routing takes us down to the sea. It's an up and over hole and the walk down to the firth is inspiring. A turn along the coast comes at the 11th, and here I have a question: is anyone reminded here of the excellent 5th and 6th holes at New South Wales? Elie is like a protean, shorter version of those two holes and while no one would say they are identical twins, perhaps they are fraternal twins.
But there the similarity stops, for New South Wales turns inland where Elie gives us two excellent par 4s along the firth, the 12th and 13th. An inspiring vista stretches out: the firth on the left, headlands beyond, and a series of greens and tees along the left.
Like any trip to the beach, this stroll has a communal feel to it: as we walk up we pass friends on the 10th tee, 6th green, 7th tee, 9th green, 16th tee, 15th green, and lastly 13th tee. If you can muster no conversations, no friendly waves -- uh, no "Fore!"s -- along this walk, may I suggest therapy? More likely, however, your reticence is down not to a Hoganesque personality but a Hoganesque game: you have hooked your tee shots on each hole, and badly!
14 turns us away from the sea, 15 gives us one last peek (have we forgotten something at the beach?), and then it's head for home. 16 takes us to the neighborhood and from there it's off to the club.
17 and 18 both are excellent match-play deciders, and in opposite ways: 17 is a survival hole of sorts, 439 yards with bunkers pinched into the driving zone and brutal, brutal rough (at least in June!) lining both sides. And 18 is a gambler's dream: potentially driveable, but with ruin waiting for us in two spots. First in the two bunkers short of the green, and second the green itself, a massive, 37-yards deep affair.
I have a few pics and will post later!
Mark