Tim, now that's what I'm talking about! Too many of the other comments about my design and those of the other contestants have, in my opinion, been short on details. As you can tell, I have no illusions of grandeur. So no need to worry about crushing my spirit. The only spirits left at The Recession Club are poured into a glass. Let me take your points one by one
Just off the top of my head, you had a disregard for playing on ridges. I remeber the northern fairway and a par 3 that made me cringe.
I only see three holes (14 and 15 and maybe 6) that could be argued play on ridges. I'm not sure that's materially more than most of the other entrants, including the one you rated #1.
Only one (or 2) tees meant you were designing for a small segment of the golfing demographic.
I will admit that I did not put a great deal of effort into showing multiple tees. But most of my tees were pretty long (usually 50 yards or so). My intent was that they could accommodate multiple tees. And in virtually every case, additional tees could easily be added if needed.
Some of the transitions from green-to-tee were problematic.
I am a bit surprised by this comment since I thought one of the few strengths of my design was the compact routing with close greens/tees. My biggest issue is probably with the transition from the 8th green to 9th tees. If I had it to do all over again, I would have changed #9 some to fit better. Are there other transitions you thought were poor?
The small piece of fairway just off the tee, on the left side of the creek, that no one will ever use.
Guilty as charged. I really like the way the creek on #18 at Quail Hollow acts in part as a center line hazard. I was trying to do something similar, but with admittedly poor results. In fairness, as I mentioned when Charlie noted this hole as one of his "All-Stars", #1 was one of the last holes I designed and clearly fell into the catagory of a transition hole to make the routing work. It's definitely not among my favorites.
The green in the oxbow will probably flood.
Perhaps. But 11 of the 13 entries had something down in that space (green, tees, fairway). Is mine really any worse? Plus, we specialize in drainage at The Recession Club.
No clubhouse,range, putting green or irrigation source we also big negatives.
Oops. The honest answer is "I forgot". Thank God this class is pass/fail.
Ed