Played: BD, CK, StAB, BN, PD, OM - favorites this month are...
KP: sorry you didn't get to see the real Ballyneal underneath all that snow.
Almost every hole mentioned below have internal undulations and contours throughout the green complexes that add a layer of skill and fun to all of these great holes.
Par 3:
7 Barnbougle - short is better, more decisions required on the tee, more often the golfer is tempted to try a shot they may not normally play, left is DEAD, short is a reasonable miss and setting is beautiful;
13 Barnbougle - so many different pin positions on this most fun of golf greens, requiring all sorts of different shots, and many different ways to get it close, and then even if you don't get it close, getting into to the hole is great fun as well, sits perfectly into the Dune behind;
11 Pac Dunes for ocean/cliff short and treacherous and 3 Ballyneal for a great little fun hole on a 90 degree turn that seems to fit just right into the routing and you just know that something special is waiting on the other side of those dunes...
Wind depending...
Short Par 4:
7 Ballyneal; just a super short par 4, with a few decisions to made on the tee, but the green is very special, and I liked the opportunity to glimpse where the flag is walking down 4. Again fits nicely into the flow of holes.
2 St Andrews Beach: again , multiple club choice and shot decision off the tee, troubling mound short of green, nice bunkering as KP said - I like the trench coffin type bunker at the back, and the wilder sand and flora short left.
4 Barnbougle; Just one of the best looking short par 4's I have seen, with fun shots to be had everywhere, a high road and a low road, and a dell green and easily the highest and steepest bunker face ever seen.
Longer Par 4:
15 Barnbougle- not super long, but is often into the breeze, one of my favorite approach shots on any course. Trouble to be found all around.
7 Old Mac - Ocean, again another favorite approach shot, cool bunker over the back, and the view...
17 Barnbougle/4 Pac Dunes- again, both not overly long, depending on the prevailing, but fun and challenging tee shots, both heavily affecting by large bodies of water! Cool green sites also, 17 BD can bite very hard at the pointy end, especially in a tight match and a tricky front pin.
Par 5:
8 Ballyneal - super looking, excellent use of cross bunkering, it feels like a figure 8, and then the green is wild and can turn eagle opportunities into bogies in a flash, just seems to fit so nicely into the chop hills, and I like that you can see the green and flag from the tee on a par five.
15 Cape Kidnappers - never have I had such fear of hitting or spraying a shot either direction off the entire length of the hole, 140m drop off the left and 20m to the right, to a green perched on the fingernail of a cliff edge, as dramatic as you can get, and the only time I will ever enjoy play a hole that is 549-594yards long (that may be meters!)
4 & 16 Ballyneal - loved both of these holes, for different reasons, and didn't want to leave either out, 4 just to unveil it all before you, and then challenges the entire length of the hole to an exciting green. And 16, a tee shot where position is key to set up a short cut across the chop hills to the green in two, maybe one of my favorite approach (2nd) shots on a Renaissance P5
Opening hole:
Cape Kidnappers: downhill reverse 's' shaped hole with interesting shots required and not what you expect from the cliff edged ocean views of CK, nice little cluster of bunkers green side, and a rally great way to begin a round with it all layer before you.
Old Macdonald: tons of room off the tee for an opening tee shot, but get the focus working early for the wonderful double plateau green.
Closing hole:
St Andrews Beach - raised tee, to a deceiving set of bunkering, and what seems like a ton of room, but position is key to get to some of the interesting pins of this finishing green snuggled into the ridge line, great wide green and excellent bunkers...pity about the long haul up the hill home.
Old Macdonald - seemingly wide fairway to a massive punch bowl green site, a perfect finish for mine, no bunkers, just some good chipping and putting to finsh the round off.