Not clever enough clues, just some ground-eye photos of selected holes. They were taken on July 30, 2003, and are available
here.
The first hole, from the tee:
The third hole, from the tee. It looks harmless...
...but if you find yourself short of the green, here is your view. Architect claims inspiration from the 14th at Royal Dornoch.
The fourth tee; where is the hole? The area between the traps looks inviting, but turns out to be quite small. A layup is called for, but this hole will lure the heavy hitters into trouble.
180 yards away, and still, where is the hole? The rock in the middle of the green wall indicates where to aim...
Once over the hill, most balls will roll towards the punchbowl green, making the hole easier than it looked 10 minutes ago. The home construction in the background was a bit distracting...
The fifth tee; a long, uphill par 4:
The fifth green; large, crowned, tiers; tough:
The sixth tee; another long par 5, and again, where is the green?
280 yards left (didn't catch the downslope); if you look between the house on the left and the white box truck, you can see a speck of yellow flag. Sorry, forgot to take a picture of the thin, deep, two-tiered green. I can't believe anybody would buy either of the two homes in this photo. The member who brought me said that the members were misled a bit about how close the homes would be to the course.
The 7th tee: short par 4, but at least you can tell it's a dogleg left. One of the guys I played with knew the hole, and went right over the rocky outcropping on the left, and ended up in trouble. The fairway is deeper than it looks, so you probably won't go through the fairway.
The 7th green. The photo doesn't do justice to the deep bunker on the left. The green is quite rectangular.
The 8th tee; another short par 4, but what's my angle? I aimed at the tall tree in the center, and hit into the worst place on the golf course; a steep dropoff full of 3-foot tall grass that you see at the Open Championship, golf's oldest and most prestigious championship. A short iron to the top of the hill would have been better, or a drawn 3-wood would have been excellent.
The 8th green. The bunker on the right swallows up the agressive driver's attempt to hit the green, leaving him with a delicate 30-yard sand shot to a small green with a steep drop-off behind. I'm getting the feeling that this architect likes to torture the bombers.
The 9th; a par 3 where you can't see the green from the tee. Bunkers left and right, and the Redan green has an extreme slope from front to back, right to left. Sorry, left the camera behind.
The double-tiered 11th green:
The 12th, a long par 3 from an elevated tee. It looks like the smart shot is to hit it left of the green, and have the slope bring it back towards the flag.
The 12th green from behind; this is the penalty for the "smart" shot that is hit too far.
The 13th is a short (~330 yards), downhill par 4. The view from the tee (which I didn't manage to photograph) makes it look very tight, and by now the gorillas might be a little shell-shocked, and decide to lay up. But this view of the green reveals that this hole is begging for the driver. The green is one of the trickiest on the course.
The 14th is a short (525-yard) par 5, with a bunker back left that can't be seen from here. I blew my 3-wood into that bunker, thinking that left is better than right. With the pin on the left, and the green sloped from back to front, I was wrong, and didn't get up and down.
This picture doesn't do justice to the approach shot on the 16th, another short par 5. The green has an
extreme slope from right to left. Long right is a large hump, then a 4-foot dropoff to the chipping area you don't want to find.
16 again, looking back toward the tee, revealing the bunker that lines the right side. This makes the decision to cut the corner from the tee a little trickier.
The 17th. We played this hole twice, and the wind, which can't be felt on the tee, managed to knock my "perfect" drive into the bunker on the right both times. Fool me once...
The 17th green. The approach is from farther to the right; this photo was taken from the 13th tee.
The tee on the
long 18th. The
long bunker on the right got both of my drives. The green is far to the right.
The 18th green. The clubhouse location, right behind the green, takes something away from the hole.
If anyone wants a list of all ground-eye views shown to date, e-mail me and I'll send it to you.