I'd love to hear form others on this course. I know that Tom H knows it well, and has a love-hate realtionship due to the fact that they did a bit of bait and switch in terms of the pricing a few years ago.
Well Rich, I knew this day would come. To say I have a love/hate relationship with this, MY BABY, is the understatement of the year. But it's not ME you want to hear from re Cinnabar I'm sure, as you and I have sure batted this back and forth MANY times.
For the edification of anyone else that might care about this course that I frequent at least once a week (for its practice facility) and have been doing so since it's opening, I will say that my complaints about the golf course are two-fold:
1. It is unwalkable. Oh, Rich will likely argue this point, but don't be fooled. At the very least, it is a LONG TOUGH walk. That doesn't really bother me too much - hell I ride all the time. But #2 really does... which is...
2. When this course opened, the MAXIMUM one could pay was $60 with cart. That's now $120. That pisses me off to no end. This is the "bait and switch" Rich mentions which colors my view of this course to a great extend, and for which I make no apologies. This is also why I was a charter "member" there, a status I gave up after one year in protest over the price hikes. I am proud now to keep my handicap at a non-pretentious, much more "bang for your buck" club a few miles away: Santa Teresa.
With that in mind, understand that I followed the development of Cinnabar closer than any other golf course in my life - given the proximity of it to me, and the excitement of what it became as it was designed, shaped and grew in... The land is indeed wonderful, and what Harbottle et al created there is indeed quite good. I call this "my baby" because I did follow it so closely and damn right I was there opening day and many times thereafter that first year...
But I rarely play it any more, due to the price. That is sad.
That being said, I actually do agree with Rich on a lot of this, with my only disagreements in the "is it worth the price" area. I'd pay $15 more for Pasa ANY time, that's for sure. Maybe familiarity does breed contempt. I'd also be very happy for them to dice all the artifacts and scale down the clubhouse if it means getting the prices back to where the were two years ago...
But ok, we're supposed to take price out of the equation. Doing so, Rich is right - there are a lot of great golf holes there. Let me amplify on his thoughts with:
"The seemingly simple opening 5 on the Lake that leaves you a visually daunting, but actually very makeable chance to start off the round with a putt for an eagle."
WHOA - slow down there fella! Reaching #1 on the Lake in two shots cannot be called very realistic except for the very longest of hitters, particularly from the back tee. It is indeed relatively short distance wise, but it is also VERY uphill. Darn good hole but let's not give people the wrong idea re how reachable it is...
The redanish 2nd.
#2 on the Lake, playing app. 175 yards, with prevailing wind across from left to right howling at you as you stand on top of a plateau and try to hit the hook required. Skyline green also. This is one GREAT golf hole.
The intriguing short-4 4th with the witches tit rock pinnacle to aim at.
#4 Lake - another wonderful golf hole, improved tremendously since inception as two large trees on the left were lost/cut down. I have a little secret I can share re the tee shot here after playing it 25 times... but it will cost you...
The blind driveable 6th.
You mean #5 Lake - if you can drive 6 then Tiger bows to you. 5 is indeed driveable, but only in the right wind conditions. Remember it is 360 yards from the tips! Yes, the last part does go quite down hill. But hey, I've yet to drive this green and well, I'm not ready to say I'm that much of a shortknocker! So again, careful with the descriptions here.
The amazingly tempting green on the 150 yard 8th.
NOW you are talking. That is one bewitching, devilish green. It's about 35 yards wide and maybe 15 deep, max. It takes one great shot to hold that green no matter what.. and the internal contours are a wonder also.
The long 4 3rd on the Mountain 9.
Another great hole - 437 from the tips, playing downhill, dogleg right, with deep bunkers at the outside of the dogleg and severe rough on the inside. Angle is much better from the right, the tee shot is much safer hit left... risk/reward most definitely. Another great green with good contour. Generally plays into the wind. Tough, fun hole.
The world class 4th on the same.
GOOD MAN! I've said since inception that this is the best hole of the entire 27. Another slight dog leg right, with a tee shot requiring MANY choices... and a devilish oak tree right in the fairway to complicate things even further. Second is uphill and very hard to judge. Just too much to say about this hole to put briefly here!
Then the great short 5th.
Well described on the web site... Now this one IS driveable! But only at pretty great risk...
The 7th, with the 2 Carnoustie bunker right in the middle of the driving area, but with a narrow gap to the left to cut the dogleg.
Oh yes! Now THIS is a reachable par 5 - in fact short-knocker me has reached this with various different irons down to a wedge once (from the white tees on tee shot). The bunker in the middle is just classic and absolutely makes the tee shot. It might have been more fun when the hill on the left was less grown in - you could find a ball there whereas now it's gone - but it did need to be "toughened" I guess... Wonderful hole with another under-rated green.
Just about ALL of the Canyon 9!
Yep, every hole on Canyon has something good to say about it... But the best by my take are:
#3 - short par 4 just brimming with choices that I like better every time I play it. I've spent hours on just that hole, late in the day, a few times trying to figure out where best to leave the tee shot.. and no matter where you do, the 2nd is a challenge as that is a tough green to hit and hold even with the shortest wedge!
#6 - classic risk/reward par 5, just plain beautiful, actually improved since inception as an overly severe green was softened (it collapsed!).
#8 - now this is a redanish par 3, just needs a bit more contour to kick the ball left to be a real redan. Great hole, definite challenge at 220 from the tips!
As you can see, I can go on and on and on about this golf course. Ever love something and hate something so much at the same time? It just pains me to no end how this course was "taken away" from me... But as you can see, I do love it so. And in the end, Rich is right: if you take out the dollar side of it, Cinnabar does hold its head up quite well with any of the ones he mentioned. I just kinda wish it didn't!
Those who are interested in the course should go to their website - it is filled with quite a bit of useful info and a few good photos. That's at:
http://www.cinnabarhills.com/And if any visitors want to sample this course and don't mind a lot of cursing, let me know. I am always happy once I'm on the course and have forgotten how much I paid and I do like to show it to visitors.
Funny, I'll be there in about 90 minutes. Need to do some practice putting in anticipation of a little game I have going on Wednesday.
Sorry for the long rant.
TH