Just got back from a practice round with Mandel brothers, and boy, those practice rounds are long (~6 hours). It was very educational and enlightening, however. It was very fun watching players of this caliber try to take this course on.
The group included a couple of Marc's friends and Randy Haag, a very accomplished amateur player from San Fran (has blog -
http://randyhaag.com/, will be posting his review of the course tonight).
Overall, the course is going to be a BEAR if they play from the tips on every hole. Guys were definitely exhausted at the end of the round and every 500+ yard par 4's brought a little groan from the group. The planned hole placements are on the easier side from what I can see. Every hole has easy, medium, hard, and impossible pin areas and I saw none in the impossible category. Few of the shorter par 3's and par 4's had a hard pin positions but most others were easy or medium placements.
But that does not mean the course is going to play easy. The course is about as brown as it can get (quite good looking, in my opinion), and greens are quite firm (though it probably can get little a bit firmer, but not likely with some rain in the forecast). I saw no pitchmarks, even with wedges. There is no way you are going to land the ball next to the pin and have it stay there. On most holes, even with wedges, the ball will bounce at least 10 to 15 feet away from where it lands.
Marc guessed that the average score will be around 78 or so and I agree after seeing the course today.
Here are some hole by hole highlights.
#1- 501 yards, par 4 It is playing extremely long. Most players cannot carry the initial ridge off the tee and are not getting any roll because of that. These guys will be playing 210 to 230 yard shot into the green. There was a perfectly hit shot that landed in the front part of the green, ran through to the middle, got caught in the dip in the middle of the green and rolled right off the green (about 10 yards away below 10 feet). I must say, that brought a smile to my face. If you get caught in the left side way below, you will be lucky to get a double bogey.
#3 190 yards, par 3 They are playing from a tee that I didnt even know that existed! This hole is absolutely impossible to play from this distance. Anything it in the middle of the green was running through to the back bunker. If you hit it short, most got caught in the upslope and stopped before the green. The group hit about 10 shots and none of them came within 40 feet of the hole. And I thought this was going to be a birdie hole.
#4 568 yards, par 5 Although this is playing uphill, these guys were able to reach this in 2 (at least to the front). Because it is a new green, it is still soft and running about 1 to 2 feet slower. This is definitely a birdie opportunity.
#6 479 yards, par 4 What is a nice 3 wood, 9 iron hole from the sand tees is an absolutely brute from this distance. Because of the severe slope from the back to front, this is one of the few holes where you can attack the pin. But with the back pin position and the fact that it is hard to feel the wind from the fairways, there will be many shots that will land short, leaving a tough 2 putt.
#7 508 yards, par 4 I knew this hole was going to be hard, but this hole is borderline unfair right now. The balls were not carrying much and guys were barely carrying the sand trap to the fairway, leaving about 200 yard shots to the a severe uphill pin. With the long irons and 3 woods, even the balls that landed in the middle of the green were running straight to the back, even running into the long fescue in the back, which is STILL preferable to leaving it short and kicking it back 60 yards down the fairway. The pin is way in the front and the putts and chip from the back of the green will be treacherous. And you HAVE to be on the right side of the spin that runs in the middle of the green, if you are left, you can hit the green in the middle and still have the ball run up and back down the false front. It is just a brutal, brutal hole. There will be plenty doubles. A par is a VERY good score here.
#9 227 yards, par 3 Houston, we have a problem. The normal play is to land on the sideboard and let the ball feed down to the green. That is not possible from this tee box. Although guys were hitting 6 irons, the balls that landed in the middle bounced straight through and the ball that landed on the sideboard were running straight in to the sand trap on the right. The balls that landed short left were mostly staying there. The only way to get the ball close to the pin is to hit a low running shot well short of the green and letting it run to the ridge. Not sure how many guys have that shot.
#12 304 yards, par 3 The guys were little puzzled when I told them not to bother laying up on this hole, but driver is the only play here. All four hit there drives in the front of the green and had very reasonable birdie chances from there. The pins is probably in the easiest position possible (front left in the middle of a saddle) and there are probably 6 or 7 ways to get close which all the players tried. If you can drive, this is a birdie hole.
#14 521 yards, par 4 From this back tee, the bunker in the middle of the fairway is out of reach for most. These guys were barely carrying the waste area towards the bunker. There will be many people laying up to the right of the bunker with 240 yards in to the green. Good thing the pin is in the relatively easy position. If the pin was front right, nobody will birdie this hole.
#15 246 yards, par 3 - I hope they do not use this tee during the stroke play. With any wind, there will be many people not reaching the green. Very, very difficult to hit and hold.
#17 183 yards, par 3 There is absolutely no way anyone holds the green if they aim at the planned pin (in the right peninsula), not even Tiger unless there is a stiff head wind. I believe they will play from the tee box up, which means it will probably be about 175 yards and downhill. Even from there, these guys could not hold the green on the right. Even if you leave the ball right in the middle of the green, you are going to have a very difficult putt to the pin as you have carry an uphill hump from which the green runs down to the sand. Any birdie on this hole will be almost by accident.
#18 604 yards, par 5 This hole is playing very easy from tee to green as the bunkers are out of reach for most players and the landing area for the second is very wide. But with the planned pin in the back just left of a hump, not many guys are going to get it close. Even with a wedge from a 100 yards, either you hit the tier before the very back and stayed in the middle about 40 to 60 feet away or you landed on the top tier, hit the backboard and roll right back down. The only way you can get it close is to hit a wedge to the well right of the pin and let it feed down. Not sure how many guys saw that today.
The general consensus after the round about the course was very positive (much more positive than I thought it would be). These guys raved about how it played and how tough it was. Randy even liked it better than courses in Bandon. We shall see how these guys feel about it when the wind blows a bit harder (practically no wind today).