Ran's Reviews '09 - You Decide

[Alex Miller]

Saw a post in another thread and it got me thinking... Ran had great write ups this year of some standout golf courses.

California GC of San Francisco
Clear Creek Club
Cascades
Country Club of Charleston
Eastward Ho!
Essex County
Lancaster
Cruden Bay
Loch Lomond
Machrihanish
Durban
Humewood

Which course would you play if given the opportunity?
Is there an element of great GCA that unites these courses?
Which one has the best site to work with / which course makes the best use of natural landforms?

Looking forward to 2010s

[Kevin Pallier]

Alex

I've only seen: The Cal Club / Lancaster / Cruden Bay / Loch Lomond and think Ran gives some great insights into all four.

Which course would you play if given the opportunity?
I think I'd most like to see Macrihanish

Is there an element of great GCA that unites these courses?
I would have to see more to answer that question - they are certainly from a cross-section of settings though. Poor Ran 

Which one has the best site to work with / which course makes the best use of natural landforms?
From those above that I've seen I would probably say Cruden Bay

I think the The Cal Club derserves a paricularly mention though. Whilst not a greenfield site -  for KP to incorporate the large ridge into the design he deserves credit and the layout is overall very solid indeed.

[Bill_McBride]

Alex

I've only seen: The Cal Club / Lancaster / Cruden Bay / Loch Lomond and think Ran gives some great insights into all four.

Which course would you play if given the opportunity?
I think I'd most like to see Macrihanish

Is there an element of great GCA that unites these courses?
I would have to see more to answer that question - they are certainly from a cross-section of settings though. Poor Ran 

Which one has the best site to work with / which course makes the best use of natural landforms?
From those above that I've seen I would probably say Cruden Bay

I think the The Cal Club derserves a paricularly mention though. Whilst not a greenfield site -  for KP to incorporate the large ridge into the design he deserves credit and the layout is overall very solid indeed.

The routing was changed at the California Club in South San Francisco?  I knew Kyle did a major renovation there but didn't know he brought new previously unused terrain into the course.  Please elaborate!

[Jay Flemma]

Cal Club.

[Phil McDade]

The Machrinhanish write-up is not new.

Essex and Eastward Ho! were the two that I really thought would be worth seeking out, based on the reviews.

Hard to tell about the best site, but Eastward Ho! looks like marverlous terrain.

I think one element that unites these courses is unpredictability -- the sense that the landforms yield uncertainty in the mind of the golfer, which I think in Ran's views (one shared I'm guessing by a fair number of GCA posters) is something to be praised.

[Jud_T]

Cruden Bay
Machrihanish
Clear Creek
Eastward Ho!

[Scott Warren]

As Phil touched on, several of those are old reviews that got a touch-up and/or new pics this year.

[Phil McDade]

Machrihanish just got a new date next to it in "courses by country;" nothing about the review (which, ironically, is the one that led me to this site in the first place) is new. I'm hoping new pics are posted sometime, as the quality of Ran's photos goes up in proportion to how recently he has posted them.

[Kevin Pallier]

The routing was changed at the California Club in South San Francisco?  I knew Kyle did a major renovation there but didn't know he brought new previously unused terrain into the course.  Please elaborate!

Bill

The 7th is a new hole - see pics in Rans review

I may be wrong but I was led to believe that the previous hole went downhill. It has been converted into the new driving range that plays uphill in the middle of the course.

[Sean_A]

I was incredibly impressed by the Cal Club review, but the course which draws me more is Eastward Ho!  I would like to play it because it is a Fowler design and it looks to be one hell of a lot of fun.  Maybe one day. 

Ciao

[Brad Swanson]

Eastward Ho!

[Ryan Admussen]

The Cruden Bay review/pictures definitely peaked my interest!