I had the good fortune of experiencing the Gil Hanse-restored/renovated Sleepy Hollow last week. Many years ago, when I was just starting in the game and my focus, foolishly, was on swing and score instead of design, I played the pre-restored/renovated course on two separate occasions. The course I played last week seemed at once familiar and brand new.
Jon's superb photographs and words, as always, do an excellent job of conveying the experience, so I will limit my comments to a few additional observations. What's always interesting to me about tree removal is that it counterintuitively makes a course more intimate. Although a de-treed course takes on a more open and expansive feel, the ability to see more of the course at a single glance also ties it together in the golfer's eye. At Sleepy Hollow, the extensive tree removal (to say nothing of the remolding of the bunkers and green complexes) allows for epic long views beyond the property--the "Short" 16th hole, set atop a hill with the Hudson River and its cliffs framing the background, now vies for most photograph-ready hole in the world. But the tree removal also allows for numerous long views within the property, making the experience more cohesive even if at the same time revealing a scale that few other courses can compete with. A single vantage can yield views of upward of five separate greens, and, in certain instances (2 and 16, 4 and 14 most notably), ever-pleasing side-by-side greens.
My incredibly generous host was kind enough to drive me back, at sunset after our round, to the hill overlooking the 2nd and 16th holes, as well as Sleepy Hollow's famed wooden bridges, to take additional photographs. Although Jon has been gracious enough to allow me to post a few of my photographs in this thread, I do not want to clutter it, so I will limit myself to a few of my favorites from twilight. I'll consider posting more in a separate thread.
I very much hope others get to experience a course that is now, for the first time in a long time, in all its glory.
