got to play here the other day...just reopened after being closed for almost 2 years ...LOTS of work done by Steve Smyers, Patrick Andrews and the crew of Butterfield , led by Mike Vercautren....27 holes here and they were all worked on, I played the blue and the red nines..I played with Mike (thanks Mike and Alex!) and he stated that he feels that all 3 nines are of similar quality...the routing is the same.....the course also now drains the surrounding community....
wasnt able to take pictures just yet, as they want to take some themselves, understandably...perhaps later in the year
I did NOT play the prior version of the course, so obviously i cannot compare the current version to the old...but some impressions:
the course's terrain has some elevation/character to it, adding a cllub to one's uphill shots for example...this adds to the quality of the holes
bunkering is big and bold...I had an Old Memorial flashback on one of the tees...
greens are full of character and challenge...2 putts by no means a certainty on the greens as they possess ridges and slopes and the like
several greens have square corners, including the 6th where the back left corner is set into a hill!
a few of the holes have slopes near a side of the green, so one can play his approach off of that if he likes
most of the holes are NOT straight
you need to be able to golf your ball ther, esp with the greens as they are...definitely a challenge but not brutal like nearby Butler
the course is in very good condition
bottom line: if you get a change to play Butterfield, jump on it!