Guys, I am trying hard to be even-handed in my view of RC based on my many experiences there, and trying to address potential problems, shortcomings, etc. In that vein, I brought up that sometimes first thing in the morning the course is wetter than I'd like it (I probably should mention that I usually play RC around 6 a.m. this time of year, so when I say early morning i mean it.) You guys are making it hard to be candid though, because it seems like you are reading what you want to hear into what I am writing.
The bottom line is that David M. had it correct several posts ago. It doesn't "work" when it's kept anything but firm and fast, exactly because the line coming in from the right ceases to exact any penalty whatsoever.
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BUT... it doesn't play to the brilliance that it might.
That's kind of sad, but hey, the golf world isn't a fully happy place!
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And then enjoy the hell out of it if you do catch it firm and fast!
David M. - I still defer to you re this golf course. Am I close on this?
Tom, I am afraid you are not very close at all. In fact, I am having trouble getting how you could come to these conclusions based on what I said. RC 2 has "worked" just fine every time I have played it or seen it played. As for the line from the right "ceasing to exact any penalty whatsoever" where on earth did I say that?
The line on the right is always a much more difficult shot than the line on the left. I have never seen it so soft that one need not worry about the possibility of the ball releasing through the green. In fact, I cannot imagine a situation where trying to carry onto the green from the right would be a percentage play, just about from any distance, at any time of day. When I say that it is sometimes wet and overwatered, I am not saying that the ball will stick or plug (I've never seen a ball plug at RC); it just might not run every time like we would like it to. And, except on rare occasions, it dries up pretty early in the day. This, by the way, presents its own set of problems on this particular shot, because if you play it to run alot and it doesnt, you aren't left with the easiest shot.
As far as the course not playing to its full potential at every hour every day, what course does? It is not as if you have to win the lottery to hit it on a hard and fast day. Come play any day around 10 or 11 a.m. and you will have it plenty hard and fast almost all the time.
So it sounds like the hole is strategic when it's playing rock hard, and not so strategic for the long hitter when it's soft because you can hold the iron in.
Shivas, as I said above, the course never plays rock hard. If it did, it would be virtually unplayable, and not just for the "unskilled golfer." Further, I have played RC in all conditions, including first on the course after 3 days of rain, when rivers and lakes of water were visible on the fairways and greens 2 hours before we played, and it didnt play the kind of "soft" you are referencing. Even that day, the grass was wet, but the ground maintained that springy feel under foot. By the time we started our second nine, it hardly seemed as if it had rained. It just never gets that soft, no matter how much water. Miracle of sand, I guess.
So 'soft' is a relative term, of course, and 'hard and fast' a relative phrase.