Steve, by Tuesday morning, the course had firmed up quite a bit more than the early part of the weekend, and in our last round, I got "Kingsleyed" a number of times. The most dramatic came on #11. The pin was cut on the upper tier, and my ball landed just below the flag about 10-12 feet, pretty close to the middle of the green. We sat and watched as it rolled all the way down into the bowl on the right, leaving a 30-40 yard chip, which of course rolled back again. Though after about 160 holes in 4+ days at that point, I was probably wearing down a bit.
I was asked a number of times about my favorite hole, or my favorite nine, and it's just so hard to choose. Every time I thought about my favorite stretch of holes, it seemed so unfair to leave out the holes before, or the holes after. I think my favorite hole is #2. From the left tees, you don't see the full size of the green (which is pretty small to begin with) as it sits around eye level, with whisping grass in between. For me, the anxiety one feels after hitting the tee shot is unmatched anywhere, followed by either the relief of landing (and staying!) on the green, or the anguish of finding the trouble. Just a wonderfully fun hole to play.
With regard to #4, the swale on the right side of the fairway, leaving a blind approach, felt like a second home after a couple days. That will happen when you play from there eight out of ten rounds. The bright side is that I now know exactly which tree to line up to without having to walk up the slope to get a look at the green. And as you mention alternate tees, don't forget playing six from the blue tees on #2. Really opens up the look of the tee shot and makes the hole a little easier. I think DeVries got it right with where he set the traditional tee boxes on #6.
I posted my thoughts on #13 on another thread, but that back pin was just too much fun. Probably the first time I've made bogey on a par four after hitting it into three different greenside bunkers, finally getting up and down from arguably the toughest one. On Monday afternoon, I was looking at about a 20 footer for birdie to that pin from the fringe just above the left bunker. I walked to the green with both putter and sand wedge in hand. I had no intention of playing that shot with a wedge, but the odds of rolling my putt over the green into the back bunker were too high, and I didn't want to walk back to my bag to grab the wedge.
This was my first visit to Kingsley, and I though the whole facility was phenomenal. How fun is it to stay on the property, play down #18 as a warm up hole in the morning, and back up #10 at night? Unassuming clubhouse, friendly staff, and don't even get me started on the fire pit.
