Rosapenna Old Course: How much of Old Tom's layout exists?

[jeffwarne]

bump

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

I forgot to mention that the new Strand 9 holes designed by Pat Ruddy (and renovated/altered by Tom Doak) is being opened this month. This will become the first 9 of the "old" course and will tie in with existing "valley" holes on the old course. I assume they will use holes 10-18 of the old course as the 2nd 9.

The 13th on the old course (present 3rd) has not been lost. The coastguard holes 1st-9th still exist and will be used as an "Academy" nine (not sure what that means). In other words, they'll probably wait until the economy picks up again and build a few hundred holiday homes on it 

Dónal.

So has anyone played the new Strand nine at Rosapenna?

I'd be curious to hear Pat Ruddy and Tom Doak's thoughts on the process and how pleased they are with the finished product.
And if they've seen it since it opened( in 2009?)

Is the Strand nine closer in character to the Valley nine? which used to be the front nine of the Morris course and is now the back.
Or does the Strand nine more closely resemble the Ruddy course? Or a hybrid of the two or something altogether different.
Thanks

Jeff,

I haven't played the Strand nine, but have viewed the 1st and 9th holes. The terrain is less hilly than Sandy Hills and IMO it's not too dissimilar in character to the valley holes. It looks like a good fit. The greens were re-done by Tom Doak's team in 2007. The 9th green looks like a lot of fun. I only have a couple of photos, one of the drive at the 1st and the 9th green. I'll post them as soon as I can.

[jeffwarne]

I forgot to mention that the new Strand 9 holes designed by Pat Ruddy (and renovated/altered by Tom Doak) is being opened this month. This will become the first 9 of the "old" course and will tie in with existing "valley" holes on the old course. I assume they will use holes 10-18 of the old course as the 2nd 9.

The 13th on the old course (present 3rd) has not been lost. The coastguard holes 1st-9th still exist and will be used as an "Academy" nine (not sure what that means). In other words, they'll probably wait until the economy picks up again and build a few hundred holiday homes on it 

Dónal.

So has anyone played the new Strand nine at Rosapenna?

I'd be curious to hear Pat Ruddy and Tom Doak's thoughts on the process and how pleased they are with the finished product.
And if they've seen it since it opened( in 2009?)

Is the Strand nine closer in character to the Valley nine? which used to be the front nine of the Morris course and is now the back.
Or does the Strand nine more closely resemble the Ruddy course? Or a hybrid of the two or something altogether different.
Thanks

Jeff,

I haven't played the Strand nine, but have viewed the 1st and 9th holes. The terrain is less hilly than Sandy Hills and IMO it's not too dissimilar in character to the valley holes. It looks like a good fit. The greens were re-done by Tom Doak's team in 2007. The 9th green looks like a lot of fun. I only have a couple of photos, one of the drive at the 1st and the 9th green. I'll post them as soon as I can.

Thanks Donal,
I loved the valley holes of the Morris course, wasn't crazy about the holes on the higher ground (although there was a really cool hole bending down and righ continuously to the water on that nine.)
The new Strand nine sounds like a good fit and a great compliment to the Valley nine.
not sure this should be called the "Morris" course as many people have now had a hand in this course. How about just calling it Rosapenna, and call the other course the Ruddy course? (as they do)
I've got to find some extra time in my May trip to see the new nine.

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

As promised, here's a couple of photos of the Strand course. They're not great photos, as I just snapped them as I was making my way along the 11th on the old course.

This is the view from the first tee. I believe it's a 420 yard par 4.



Here's a picture of the 9th green, looking back down the fairway.  I only had a quick look at this green, but the slope in from the left looked fairly severe.

If you're reading this Tom Doak, how do the Strand greens compare to the Valley greens? The 4th and 5th greens (now holes 12 and 13) in the Valley have wicked slopes, but the other greens are quite tame in my opinion.