It's praises are sung by quite a few here and with good reason. So on a crisp Sunday morning I wasn't going to let a little fog deter me...
1st Hole - 355 Metres
A left to right dogleg with a rumpling sloping fairway and a green tucked into a bowl behind some ridges. They were extending the tee by about 20-30 metres when I was there, which seems a little odd. The approach is tricky no matter what length it is played from...
2nd Hole - 457 Metres
Justifiably the best known hole on the course. Features a large, sort of hourglass shaped green with a subtle left to right slope throughout, and a slightly sunken level area middle right. Not to mention a rather neat drive.
3rd Hole - 337 Metres
A short par four with a double green that features a lot of subtle ripples leading into it. Classic drive into rumpled linksland.
4th Hole - 507 Metres
Terrific tee shot and long second through a great rumpled valley to a sort of half sideways Biarritz type green - the right section sits lower than the rear.
5th Hole - 185 Metres. A tough par three to a plateau green in the opposite direction of the previous hole. There's a shallow rear tier, and a steep fallaway on the right, not to mention the big mound front right too.
6th Hole - 435 Metres
A tough par four heading in the same direction as the long fourth. It's a drive into a suspiciously flat valley that gives way some 80 metres from the green into classically rumpled linksland. The approach is slightly uphill to a plateau green with a steep falloff to the right and in front.
11th Hole - 499 Metres
A fairly straightforward but interesting par five along flattish ground. The approach is easier from the right, but the hummocks make that line a tighter choice from the tee.
The green resembles something you might see at Dornoch. It's well protected with a pot bunker left, and some sloping ground that can either steer a downwind approach up onto the green, or into more trouble.
13th Hole - 328 Metres.
A slightly odd feeling hole. You drive blind over a sloping ridge, the left hand side of the fairway protected by trees, then fire a second over a rumpled basin to a right to left sloping green with some subtle ripples. It's a nice hole, but that green location beside a 25 foot high rock wall doesn't provide many favours in colder weather...
14th Hole - 395 Metres. A classic links hole named "Matterhorn". A blind drive leads to a fairway that plunges down from the high ridge onto a rumpled fairway. The green is brilliant, a bunkerless number set beyond a shallow ridge. Amongst other things, there's a right hand side spine, a front left bowl, a stack of ripples and spines feeding into the surface. You can have great fun here just putting around for half an hour...
15th Hole - 140 Metres.
Slightly uphill, it looks somewhat innocuous from the tee, but if The Old Course had a par three this good, it might be worth getting upset about the changes. This is from 25 metres in front of the tee.
The most heavily undulating green on the course, with an absolutely evil back left pin in a bowl behind the bunker that feeds off down the hill.
You might be able to get some idea of it from this.
16th Hole - 376 Metres
On a ledge high above the course, this is an up and over job with a great second shot from a rippling fairway over a stream to a subtly rippling green with a back right ledge. It would be even better if the club removed those stupid trees from near the bridge.
The only negative thing one could really mention are the three different bunker styles on the course, which is presumably why Paul McGinley is involved. No matter, this is a course easily worth the trip. For €50 odd euro, it's hard to think of better value.