Do the lesser holes at The Addington make the course?

[Scott Warren]

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.

[JNC Lyon]

I think the so-called "lesser holes" do make the Addington.  The holes without the dramatic terrain carry the strategy.  On four, the player must flirt with the trees on the left and keep it on the high side of fairway for the best angle.  On five, the player needs to hug the dogleg left.  However, he cannot hug it too much.  Otherwise, he is blocked out by trees.

6 is a fun and shortish par four.

11 is a superb par three in my book.

14 has similar strategy to 4.  The greensite makes an approach from the right a nightmare.

18 is a good finishing hole with the most interesting bunkering on the course.

2 has a great greensite--the green was one of my three favorites on the course.

Ask me later about the so-called "brilliant" holes.

[Tony_Muldoon]

!$ seems like an easy breather after some firework holes.  But when it's F&f controlling the ball is so dififcult. The fairway tilts L-R and the green R-L beautifully simple.

I agree with your general premiss Scott.