It struck me as i played The Addington today, my fourth round there, that perhaps it was the holes I so ignorantly slandered here about a year back that make the course as good as it is.
3, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16 and 17 are obviously brilliant holes.
8 and 12 provide the controversy.
That much is unlikely to be challenged too much.
But 2, 4, 5, 6, 11, 14 and 18 are really good holes in their own right.
2 and 14 have such brilliant front-to-back greens
4 and 5, are tough fours with super greensites and some of the best internal green movement on the course
6 is super strategic as the speed slot on the left gives you so much help and takes the Wodehouse bunker out of play
11 is so unlike any other shot on the course.
The course couldn't handle another half a dozen holes like 9, 13 or 16, I don't think. It would be too much. I am starting to think more and more that those other holes connect the "highlight" moments really well, ostensibly giving you a breather, but not without making you hit really good golf shots and keep thinking your way around.
I can see more and more why Tom D chose it as one of his 31 flavours of golf. There is something unique about The Add that just demands that you return and more and more, I feel that those holes that sometimes get overlooked, or even criticised, are a huge part of that.