We opened our 2011 Bethpage Binge at Paramount. Unfortunately, the camera pooped out on the first green and I could not coax it back to life that day. Paramount was a marvelous round of golf, despite the intrusion of the road into the first and seventh fairway (didn't really bug me, as I played short of the road on one and we played 7 as a long par four from the forward tees.) The putting greens were the best we encountered all trip long, although the speed on the ones at Union Vale gave them a run for their money. Paramounts were easily the truest.
The golf course is in that state of "what might be," although "what is" is awfully good. Regardless of the order of the nines, you finish on a par three. Since I think Congressional made a mistake, this doesn't bother me. The land on which Paramount was built is divided into two segments, upper and lower. You only spend one hole going up and one hole going down, although 2-4 do a mini-descent/ascent, albeit in a perpendicular direction. Although the front nine is higher than the back, I felt more of a sense of vertical change on the lower portion of the course.
There is only one hole (16) that sits extraordinarily low, yet it is such a good hole that one can forgive occasionally-soppy fairways. The staff that we encountered, from club manager to superintendent (who joined us for 18 and dinner after) to caddies, was first-rate, passionately committed to their club.
Kevin and I had a great time discussing the merits of Tilly and Urbina with superintendent Brian. The third member of our binge is not a GCA guy and was exposed to IAT (incessant architecture talk) for the first time. As we went along, he confessed how impressed with what we saw in the golf course, versus what he saw, and how it affected the shots we opted to play. I encourage everyone to always play with a neophyte and to pick her/his brain after for a counter-vision of the golf course. Birds of a feather may flock together, but they don't learn nearly all they might.