Eclectic 2016

[Kyle Harris]

Rules:

An eclectic golf course made of my first-play courses for 2016, which are as follows:

The Loop at Forest Dunes
Old Town Country Club
Adena Golf and Country Club
Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club
Gasparilla Golf Club
Grand National Golf Club (RTJ, Sr. Golf Trail)
Winter Park Country Club
Black Diamond Ranch - Ranch Course
Black Diamond Ranch - Highlands Course
Isleworth Country Club

Par is whatever I want it to be and no effort is particularly made to "balance nines" or some other such tripe. Also, I must have finished the round to make this list, so no Julliette Falls or Black Diamond Ranch - Quarry Course.

First Hole: Winter Park Country Club (Hashtag:WP94LYFE)

Oh, that little bunker just far enough left and 250 off the tee. It's in your head if you're attempting to drive the green. Perfectly placed, and no, it's not just to save shot from entering the road.

Honorable Mention: Old Town Country Club

Second Hole: Isleworth Country Club

The only hole at Isleworth which created some sort of "fizz" moment for me. It's a long one-shotter to a narrow target. Ballsy enough to stand out on the otherwise good-not-great Isleworth.

Honorable Mention: The Loop - Black Routing

Third Hole: Adena Golf and Country Club

I'm a sucker for nice trees that don't immediately tell the golfer "no." This hole is loaded with them. At first the look is narrow but there is breathing room. Also, this is the centerpiece of the beautifully strange and tasteful opening stretch at Adena.

Honorable Mention: Gasparilla Golf Club

Fourth Hole: Old Town Country Club

Proof that success is not the only thing that breeds favoritism. I still wake up in a cold sweat over my performance (both rounds) on this hole.

Honorable Mention: The Loop - Black Routing

Fifth Hole: The Loop - Red Routing

Tom Doak buggered this list big time this year. The highlights of The Loop for me are how certain areas play in both directions, and it's near impossible to separate how well that concept works otherwise. The individual holes are great, too, but in a sense that is taking away from the greater whole.

If only Tom Doak weren't as vague in demonstrating how buggered I'd be for taking dead aim at the back left hole location into this green...

Honorable Mention: Adena Golf and Country Club

Sixth Hole: Gasparilla Golf Club

Like it's quirky predecessor, this long Par 3 feels narrow and "hemmed in." The back drop of the bridge/clubhouse is keen, as is the front hole location. Maybe I'm just a sucker for interrupting someone's breakfast with the sound of a crisply struck long iron.

Honorable Mention: The Loop - Red Routing

Seventh Hole: The Loop - Black Routing

This hole descend into, and extracts itself out of, utter chaos and confusion. It's complement going the other way is similarly quirky. I'd be curious if Tom Doak could compile a list of his quirkiest holes because this one is hard to beat in that category.

Honorable Mention: Winter Park Country Club

Eighth Hole: Old Town Country Club

Certain Pittsburgh-raised golf course shapers are often wrong, and this is yet another case of that. So much room off the tee, or is there?

Honorable Mention: Isleworth Country Club

Ninth Hole: Winter Park Country Club

For reasons only half attributable to the finer aspects of golf architecture.

Honorable Mention: Gasparilla Golf Club

Tenth Hole: Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club

Before being magically whisked away to Eastern Georgia, this hole stands as a rigid sentinel to the whimsy which follows.

Honorable Mention: Winter Pa... I mean, Adena Golf and Country Club

Eleventh Hole: The Loop - Red Routing

This list is about to get laden with Loop. A good, no great, Par 3 which leads into the more chaotic bits of The Loop.

Honorable Mention: Black Diamond Ranch - Ranch Course

Twelfth Hole: The Loop - Black Routing

I could vomit words on to this screen and attempt to describe how neat it is that this green serves a short one-shot hole and a short two-shot hole brilliantly at a near right angle. Just go play it.

Honorable Mention: Old Town Country Club

Thirteenth Hole: The Loop - Red Routing

A two and a half-shot hole. The extra half-shot depends on where you place your tee shot or where the hole is located on the putting green. 

Honorable Mention: The Loop - Black Routing

Fourteenth Hole: Ade... KIDDING! Old Town Country Club

Oh, the difference the afternoon round makes to the morning round. A little bit wiser, I was.

Honorable Mention: The Loop - Red Routing

Fifteenth Hole: The Loop - Black Routing

It becomes difficult to get away from The Loop because of "areas" like the one covered by the fifteenth. It naturally follows on a reversible course that one-shot holes will be clumped together one way and the other. What made this hole stand out for me is that it plays across the most timid shared corridor of the lot of one-shotters, yet the green is compelling from both directions. The long right miss on the Red Routing is the short left miss in this routing and both are their respective jails. Similarly, going on long on Red is death, but using the short run up on Black is fun...

Really, the analysis is endless.

Honorable Mention: Old Town Country Club

Sixteenth Hole: Black Diamond Ranch - Ranch Course

The Ranch Course is a fine golf course in the same sense that a Ford Fusion is a fine car. It's good but has very little that gets the fizz going. The sixteenth is a bit of a soft exception, however. I enjoyed the chaotic hazard of trees/sand toward the green. It's a fun hole on the more violent part of the property.

Honorable Mention: The Loop - Black Routing

Seventeenth Hole: The Loop - Red Routing

This green is my favorite on the property because it serves a long opening hole well. Going the other way, it's a subtly falling away from the tee proposition that is attacked with a mid-to-short iron in hand. The run up is available in both directions. The approach sheds poorly judged run-up attempts like an editor shedding a tortured simile.

Honorable Mention: Isleworth Country Club

Eighteenth Hole: Gasparilla Golf Club

I believe in easier finishing holes. Gasparilla's is easy, but it certainly doesn't look that way.

Honorable Mention: The Loop

[Tom_Doak]

Kyle:


Cool to see so many holes from The Loop on your eclectic.


I saw 35 new courses this year but only played 16 of them:


Buenavista Golf, Tenerife, Canary Is.
Tecina Golf, La Gomera, Canary Is.
CC of Scranton, PA
Harvester, IA
Barton Hills, MI
Old Silo, KY
Idle Hour, KY
Laval-sur-le-Lac (Green), Montreal, QC
Royal Montreal (Blue), QC
Mt. Bruno, QC
The Loop (Black), MI
The Loop (Red), MI
Minchinhampton Old, England
Cleeve Cloud, England
Ocean Dunes, King Island, TAS
Cape Wickham, King Island, TAS


So here's my eclectic:


1st - Cape Wickham - dramatic and frightening tee shot, a little severe for the opener
       honorable mention - Minchinhampton Old, Barton Hills
2nd - Ocean Dunes - a short par-4 where you have to stay right to get any idea of the blind approach - needs
   thinning out of native grasses on dune in front of the green
       HM - none
3rd - The Loop (Black) - difficult par-4 with green along a ridge
       HM - Ocean Dunes
4th - Tecina - a drop shot par 3 hanging off the edge of a ravine, hundreds of feet above the ocean
       HM - The Loop (Black), Ocean Dunes would win this hole if they could keep grass on the green
5th - Idle Hour - short par-4 with lots of bunkers for the lay-up, green that's tough to hold
       HM - Barton Hills, Cleeve Cloud
6th - Harvester - downhill par-5 with third shot over water - Augusta National with a farm windmill
       HM - Royal Montreal (Blue), The Loop (Red), Old Silo
7th - Cleeve Cloud - downhill / uphill two shorter with a tremendous green site
       HM - Cape Wickham, CC of Scranton
8th - Minchinhampton Old - great par-3 with earthworks just short of the green sitting in a pocket
       HM - The Loop (Black)
9th - Cape Wickham - difficult short par 5 with one of the most photogenic backdrops in all of golf
       HM - The Loop (Red)


10th - Buenavista Golf - downhill par-5 to a bowl green site with the ocean behind it
       HM - Minchinhampton Old
11th - Laval (Blue) - lovely dogleg par-4 with strong second shot to elevated green
       HM - Barton Hills, Ocean Dunes
12th - CC of Scranton - short, uphill par 5 with one of the wildest greens I've ever seen
       HM - The Loop (Black) - hated to make the two great short 4's on The Loop both runners-up
13th - Minchinhampton Old - a weird par-4 playing along and then across a deep ditch hazard
       HM - The Loop (Red)
14th - The Loop (Black) - very long par-4 playing up into the back of the Redan on the Red course
       HM - Harvester
15th - Mt. Bruno - a long par-3 with its green divided left and right by a huge ridge - reminiscent of old 3rd Eden
       HM - Cape Wickham, The Loop (Black)
16th - Barton Hills - not the best of its great set of par-3's, but it fits this course best
       HM - Cleeve Cloud
17th - Cleeve Cloud - never seen a hole like this, on top of a huge hill and then falling way down into a pocket
       HM - The Loop (Red)
18th - Cape Wickham - beautiful dogleg around a beach
       HM - Mt. Bruno

[Michael Graham]

Kyle,


I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Adena G&CC and Golden Ocala. My wife and I are visiting some of her family just outside Ocala in April. I'm wondering whether it's worth making the effort to try and see both courses, bearing in mind we'll only be in Florida for a couple of weeks.


Michael

[Matthew Petersen]

Let's see if I can recall my new courses for 2016:


Grand Canyon University GC, Phoenix
Los Caballeros, Wickenburg AZ
Wickenburg CC, Wickenburg AZ
Poston Butte, Florence AZ
Paiute (Wolf), NV
Falcon Dunes, Waddell AZ
Silverado, Scottsdale
Wigwam (Red), AZ
Shadow Ridge, Palm Desert CA
PGA West Stadium, CA
La Quinta (Mountain), CA
Indian Wells (Celebrity), CA
Blackstone, Peoria AZ
The Duke, Maricopa AZ
Links at Terranea, Ranch Palos Verdes CA
Rustic Canyon, Moorpark CA
Moorpark CC, CA
[size=78%]Angeles National, CA[/size]
Oak Quarry, Riverside CA


(Wow! The huge majority of my rounds of the year were at courses I'd never played ...)


#1 Oak Quarry - Short uphill par 4. Could be drivable with the right wind (usually into wind, I gather) and if it weren't the first hole. One of the most unique first holes I've played.


#2 Los Caballeros - This course uses trees as hazards more than maybe any course I've played, especially for a course in the desert. This is probably the best. Hole is a gentle dogleg right with a bunker on the right. If you can clear the bunker, you have a wedge up the hill to a nice shelf green. If you have to play left of the bunker then there's a mesquite tree in the fairway that could be problematic.


#3 Rustic Canyon - Plenty of options off the tee and a green that keeps them all interesting.


#4 Oak Quarry - LQM's fourth is great but I've never played a hole quite like this. Steeply downhill to a divided fairway, then downhill again into the quarry to a green ringed by sand. Often plays downwind, which brings in the option of hitting driver at the green into what seems like a narrow stone box.


#5 Shadow Ridge - A shortish par 4 but not drivable. Still, you can play the drive a couple ways--try to go toward the green, which requires a long desert carry uphill, but if successful leaves a simple pitch in. Or you can play down the lower left fairway and leave an uphill approach with the length of your choosing.


#6 PGA West Stadium - Not many holes like this. Seems like Pete basically tried to recreate the strategy of Cypress Point's 16th with a fake pond and lots of railroad ties.


#7 PGA West Stadium - Not much longer than #6 but the angles make this a two-shot hole. For what is basically a drive and pitch hole, the options and risk/reward here are really strong. Good green, too.


#8 Rustic Canyon - Wonderful do or die par 3


#9 Blackstone - Just an all-world green site set between a wash and a natural desert rock wall. The brave can try to get home in 2 but the risk almost certainly outweighs the reward. Huge;y tiered green makes even short wedges in feel dicey.


#10 Rustic Canyon - The huge, long skinny green is the star but I also really liked the bit off as much as you dare take on a Hells Half Acre theme.


#11 Shadow Ridge - Another really good short four. Maybe drivable, depending on tees or wind, but more often a drive and pitch hole with various options for angles, length of shot, etc


#12 Indian Wells Celebrity - Rustic and Angeles Natl both had really good entries here, but I have to give it to this hole which distinguishes itself by being the most truly reachable par 4 I've ever played. I hit three wood to the back of the green (I'm pretty long for an amateur). My buddy was pin high but offline with a driver and the two older gentlemen we played with were right in front as well. So many 'reachable' holes are still 300ish yards, so they're reachable for Rory and those boys, but not many people who aren't playing for money. There's not a ton of strategy here, frankly, but it's a drivable par 4 that's actually drivable for almost everyone playing it, and that's eclectic and unique.


#13 Angeles National - Par 5 with a centerline bunker and a big decision on the second shot. If you think you can get there it's all carry over a long bunker with a big mound between it an the green. If you're not going you have to commit, because the play is to go way out left and still to hit it as far as you can to get a better view for your third.


#14 Oak Quarry - Is this a great hole? I dunno, it's a park 3 in a dramatic spot where almost anyone would have built a hole. But it's still a unique view and as dramatic a shot as you can have.


#15 La Quinta Mountain. Just an outstanding and unique use of a natural feature. Hard to build a hole like this anywhere else because the mountains in La Quinta are so unique in the way they come straight down to a flat valley floor. Really a cool hole.


#16 PGA West Stadium - You've seen the pictures. I'm a pretty decent player, sand doesn't horrify me. But I played away from the left side of this hole like it was water or OB. Happily, I made birdie, then tossed a ball down into the bunker just to try it and got it out with one swing.


#17 Los Caballeros - Just a beast of  hole. Long and uphill, often into the breeze. No bunkers here, just a rumbling fairway and a lot of ground to cover.


#18 Paiute Wolf - Water somewhat in play off the tee (you can drive it past the end of the lake actually) but otherwise not the traditional Dye finisher at all. But it's just a nasty bit of hole with trouble everywhere.

[Jim McCann]

Tom:


Glad to see two holes from your Canary Islands courses made your eclectic 18-hole course for 2016.


I'd heard no mention over the last 12 months of your trip to La Gomera and thought you might have been
upset that my recommendation had been a waste of time!


Then again, maybe the other 17 holes at Tecina were a disappointment (like Abama)...
 

[Jason Topp]

I tried to come up with nominees from the new ones I played but am really struggling to even remember the worthy candidates.  Based on my memory, it seems that nearly every hole at Prairie Dunes is at least worthy of consideration for my list.  I don't think I can say that about any other course, even though I played some very good ones. 

[Thomas Dai]

From courses first played during 2016 - some wonderful holes, some less so, some simply memorable for various reasons not necessarily asociated with architecture.


1st - Carne Kilmore - a 'proper' par-5. 3 full shots and then probably some more.
2nd - Carne Kilmore - delightful downhill par-3, sandy blowout and all
3rd - Tralee - small green, wind, sea, beach, cliffs, bay, castle, Mt Brandon
4th - St Enodoc - a cunning little rascal of a par-4
5th - Carne Kilmore - another 'proper' par-5, very high sided and snake like
6th - Sunningdale New - a really inviting hole and with a big step in the green
7th - Carne Kilmore - wonderful par-3, great bit of routing
8th - Carne Kilmore - a bloody good, strong par-4
9th - Ballybunion Old - unheralded hole (?), terrific green
10th - St Enodoc - not sure if it's a great hole (?) or an awful hole (?), but it's certainly memorable.
'Halfway' house - Sunningdale. Yum, yum, sausage sarnie etc.
11th - Ballybunion Old - much heralded, pretty difficult to exclude
12th - Cleeve Cloud - up, up and up to a terrific half-hidden green
13th joint - Tralee - once seen, not easily forgotten
13th joint - Cleeve Cloud - up and over and then down to an epic greensite and backdrop
14th - St Enodoc - not by any means a great hole but pretty unforgettable green and viewing spot
15th - Ballybunion Cashen - up-n-down and up again.
16th - Yelverton - significant earthworks at halfway dogleg and then more around the green
17th - St Enodoc - just a really nice par-3 with a wonderful view
18th - Dawlish Warren - fencing, OB, green right next to the railway line wall. Once played not easily forgotten


Atb

[BCowan]

Hole 1Belvedere GC

Hole 2    Palatka GC

Hole 3    Champion Hills

Hole 4    Belvedere GC

Hole 5    Forest Dunes

Hole 6    Oakland Hills South

Hole 7    Moraine

Hole 8    Harbor Point

Hole 9    Birmingham

Hole 10  Palatka

Hole 11  Oakland Hills South

Hole 12  Brookesville

Hole 13  Moraine

Hole 14  Birmingham

Hole 15  CC of Jackson (MI)

Hole 16  Belvedere

Hole 17  Oakland Hills North

Hole 18  Timuquana

[Cory Lewis]

I told Kyle the other day that doing an Eclectic would be impossible because of my bad memory and the # of courses I play each year but I love a challenge.  I played 80 new courses in 2016 and I limited my selections to 1 per course otherwise Dismal Red, Rock Creek Cattle, and Oak Tree National would have had several.


#1. Castle Pines
#2. Oak Tree National
#3. Huntsman Springs
#4. Fort Mill
#5. Snake River Sporting Club
#6. Dismal River (Red)
#7. Wykagyl
#8. Essex County(NJ)
#9. Gasparilla
#10. Twin Hills
#11. Links of ND
#12. Tamarack
#13. Orangeburg
#14. Alotian
#15. Rock Creek Cattle Company
#16. Southampton
#17. CC of Little Rock
#18. Escondido

[Sean_A]

I think I played 11 new courses this year.

Palmetto
Aiken
Hope Valley
Welshpool
Elie
Eden
Kingsbarns
Lundin
Luffenham Heath
Celtic Manor 2010
Gleneagles Kings

1. Palmetto: medium 4, good opener with some trouble with a false front plateau green.

2. Eden: longish 4 with a tough green.



3. Gleneagles Kings: medium 4 playing to a heaving fairway then up and over a large rise.



4. Kingsbarns: longish 4 with a troublesome drive.



Honourable Mention: Palmetto

5. Gleneagles Kings: medium length 3 with a volcano green



Honourbale Mention: Eden

6. Kingsbarns: short 4, downhill



Honourable Mention: Lundin

7. Luffenham Heath: medium 4 to a plateau green.



Honourable mention: Palmetto & Gleneagles Kings

8. Welshpool: medium 3, downhill to a sloped green



Honourable mention: Palmetto, Eden & Gleneagles Kings

9. Gleneagles Kings:  medium par 4, down n' up to a wicked green



10. Lundin Links: medium 4 legging left over a donut bunker.




11. Hope Valley: medium par 4 legging right along a road to a raised green.

Honourable mention: Eden (really the best hole, but not chosen because it was a par 3)

12. Lundin Links: medium 3, sharply uphill

13. Elie: medium 4 to a raised, shelf green



Honourable mention: Kingsbarns & Gleneagles Kings

14. Gleneagles Kings: short 4 over a string of bunkers

15. Aiken: blind, shortish 4 to a pimple green fronted by a swale.



16. Celtic Manor 2010: longish 4 jiggering right around bunkers to a raised green.

17. Welshpool: medium 3 with a green angled on a ridge.



18. Welshpool: long 4 legging hard left from a high tee.



Honourable mention: Lundin Links

Ciao

[Brett Hochstein]

18. Welshpool: long 4 legging hard left from a high tee.



Honourable mention: Lundin Links

Ciao

This photo of the 18th at Welshpool is incredible.  The blend into the landscape is perfect, from color tones to texture to the blending edges to the unusual overall layout of the playing corridor.  You can hardly tell this is a golf hole, and that is just brilliant.

[Thomas Dai]

Brett,

Welshpool GC -

Open this streetcam type link and see the hilly terrain etc up close - https://www.instantstreetview.com/@52.655904,-3.228388,32.29h,-19.62p,1z - the cameracar must have scared the usually present sheep away!


By the way, the brownie coloured areas are not gorse or heather they're ferns. Earlier in the year they're green. The streetcam view shows them closer up.

Atb

[Matt_Cohn]

#6 PGA West Stadium - Not many holes like this. Seems like Pete basically tried to recreate the strategy of Cypress Point's 16th with a fake pond and lots of railroad ties.

Huh. I never thought of that.

[Tom_Doak]

#6 PGA West Stadium - Not many holes like this. Seems like Pete basically tried to recreate the strategy of Cypress Point's 16th with a fake pond and lots of railroad ties.

Huh. I never thought of that.

I did.  [When I was drawing the plan.]

[Brian Finn]

I played 33 new courses in 2016.  My selections were dominated by the 12 courses I played during my first visit to Scotland.  I limited selections to one hole per course - otherwise, there would have been multiple holes from courses such as North Berwick, Cruden Bay, The Old Course, and others.

Hole	Course	Par	Distance
1	Royal Aberdeen	4	409
2	True Blue	4	335
3	Leven Links	4	352
4	St. Andrew's Jubilee	4	371
5	Crail Craighead	3	231
6	St. Andrew's New	4	445
7	St. Olaf (Cruden Bay)	3	123
8	St. Andrew's Eden	3	178
9	Tanglewood Park	4	418
10	NCR South	5	524
11	St. Andrews Old	3	174
12	St. Andrews Castle	4	415
13	Crail Balcomie	3	214
14	Cruden Bay	4	360
15	Cliffs at Mountain Park	5	535
16	North Berwick	4	378
17	Cliffs at Keowee Vineyard	3	253
18	CC of Salisbury	4	395

Par 68 - 6,110 Yards

[Criss Titschinger]

Played 6 new courses last year.

Wilmington Muni
CC of the North
NCR (South)
Woodland in Carmel
Broadmoor
Wolf Run

1) Wolf Run - 430
2) Wilmington Muni - 524
3) Wilmington Muni - 437
4) Wilmington Muni or NCR (South) - 206/390
5) Wolf Run - 450
6) NCR (South) - 552
7) NCR (South) - 428
8: Broadmoor - 185
9) Wilmington Muni - 513
10) Wolf Run or NCR (South) - 565/548
11) Woodland in Carmel - 529
12) NCR (South) - 460
13) Woodland in Carmel - 479
14) Broadmoor - 393
15) Woodland in Carmel - 462
16) Wolf Run - 150
17) Broadmoor - 567
18) Wilmington Muni - 428

Par 75/76 - 7,258 / 7,425

I didn't expect Wilmington Muni to get so many spots. In a couple of cases, especially with hole 10, I couldn't pick between two options. I almost gave a token entry to CC of the North on 18, but the hole is so prototypically Nicklaus fade I just can’t.

[Ian Andrew]

Laval-sur-le-Lac (Green), Montreal, QC

Hi Tom,


Really pleased you liked the hole.
Just letting you know it's on the Blue Course


Ian

[Tom_Doak]

Hi Tom,


Really pleased you liked the hole.
Just letting you know it's on the Blue Course

Fixed.  I was going to double check that before I posted, but it was a long post and I forgot by the time I was done!  I could not remember whether the Blue course at Laval was supposed to be the premier course as at Royal Montreal, or if it was the Green instead.

[Ian Andrew]

I could not remember whether the Blue course at Laval was supposed to be the premier course as at Royal Montreal, or if it was the Green instead.

Neither in their case, at least that was our long-term intent. Nobody would play the original Blue course.
I picked Blue because it's my own work, it's a little different and I wanted to get your feedback.
Funny enough, the work on the Blue brought me more latitude on the Green to finally go back.

[Stewart Abramson]

I played 36 courses for the first time in 2016. I limited my eclectic 18 holes to no more than one per course, otherwise I might have ended up with 6 each from LACC, Teeth of the Dog and RCD. I also tried to have four par 3’s and four par 5’s


#1 Shell Landing
#2 Portsalon
#3 Royal County Down
#4 LACC North
#5 Royal Portrush Dunluce
#6 Punta Espada
#7 Teeth of the Dog
#8 Carne
#9 Narin & Portnoo
#10 Fallen Oak
#11 White Clay Creek
#12 Corales
#13 Enniscrone
#14 County Louth (Baltray)
#15 Portmarnock
#16 The Preserve
#17 County Sligo (Rosses Point)
#18 The Island





Shell Landing #1 from tee  979



Portsalon #2 from tee 879



Royal County Down #3 g 572



LACC #4  (this photo is from GCA Courses by Country article)



[url=https://flic.kr/p/K9sQEU]
Royal Portrush Dunluce #5  approach 457



Punta Espada #6 par 5 second shot dogleg left



Teeth of the Dog #7 par 3 zoomed 





Carne Hackett #8 x above crest green is finally visible 279




Narin & Portnoo #9 g from crest of fairway142


Fallen Oak #10 from tee short par 4





White Clay Creek #11 from tee 880





Corales #12 200 yards out left fairway bunkers at dogleg 440r





Enniscrone #13 downhill dogleg right green light in dune signals clear green  229




County Louth Baltray #14 from tee 693




Portmarnock #15 par 3 190 yards 713




Preserve #16 view from back of green 965r  par 3 200 yards with bold green


County Sligo Rosses Point #17 uphill approach at dogleg 432


[url=https://flic.kr/p/LFc6fw]
the-island-18-from-tee-615_27908879745_o
[/url]

edited to fix photo links[/url]

[Tom Dunne]

 

• Cape Kidnappers. Par 4. 439 yards. (H.M.: Paraparaumu Beach)

Kidnappers was one of those courses that I really wanted to see with fresh eyes, so I avoided profiles/media on it as much as I could. It wound up being the wildest round of my year, played in an insane 30-40 mph wind straight out of the Arctic. I loved how the front nine traverses a side of the property that never shows up in the magazines—the wild, super-undulating sheep station country. This is a muscular opener—I’m only going to show the tee shot, but the approach plays to a green benched high on the next ridge. I’m not 100% sure as no one in my group had less than 200 in, but the temptation to play right and get down the hill might be negated by then drawing Johnny Miller’s dreaded “uphill shot from downhill lie.”


2. Paraparaumu Beach. Par 3. 202 yards. (H.M: The Loop (Red))





For much of this process I had the 1st hole as Pram’s representative. The place has a killer rumple game, and that first tee shot just begs you to get out and play. But I wanted a par-3 and really liked this one, and after the drive PBGC 1 doesn’t quite measure up to its Kidnappers counterpart.   


3. Arrowtown. Par 4. 340 yards. (H.M.: Ullapool)





Arrowtown reminded me a bit of Fowler’s Bull Bay in Wales with all the funny bounces off rock outcroppings and greens set on shelves. I love how this hole is nicknamed “Punchbowl”…except that the punchbowl has been flipped over!


4. Apache Stronghold. Par 4. 480 yards. (H.M.: The Loop (Black))





Given its travails over the past x years I feel fortunate that I got a crack at Apache Stronghold at all, albeit in scruffy (but playable!) condition. No hyperbole: the place has a weird magic to it. At one point while searching for a wayward drive I suddenly found myself in a huge cloud of tiny yellow butterflies. At another point I saw a hawk floating in place in the thermals, seemingly motionless. You’re not far off from real-deal, Cormac McCarthy high desert wilderness. Anyway, Stronghold is an amazing walk. Fourth hole is a strong one through a valley corridor—fade off the tee over a mound, draw approach. Super-cool “Holy of Holies” tier in the back left corner of the green.   


5. French Creek. Par 3. 117 yards. (H.M.: Apache Stronghold) 





The short par-3 has become one of Gil Hanse’s signatures, and I think he does them really well—though I still need some selling on Inniscrone’s. I like how the ridge runs at just a bit of a diagonal, and the fact that you can’t see the bottom of the flagstick adds some uncertainty, as well. The fact that a 117-yard hole is not French Creek's 18-handicap on the card says something...


6. Lawsonia (Links). Par 4. 439 yards. Hon. Mention: Reay





Being first off as a single at the crack of dawn at Lawsonia in late summer is something else. L&M’s long-arcing landforms and voidlike bunkers create an unreal kind of shadow world—an interplay between shadows created by organic forms and those that derive from engineered features. Sounds like bad beard-pulling, but I bet those who’ve been there know. Also: Lawsonia was in *incredible* condition in ’16, not in a posh way but in promoting exactly what’s needed to let L&M’s architecture shine. Great job by Oliphant Golf, superintendent Mike Lyons and all who’ve had a hand in this success story.
 
7. Tara Iti. Par 4. 292 yards. (H.M.: Desert Forest)





Without my One Hole Per Course rule in place, I fear what Tara Iti would’ve done to this mix tape. My favorite first-time play of ’16—a magnificently beautiful links with holes as finely textured as the native grass surroundings. The 7th, in my view, plays a similar role as the 7th at Ballyneal—that short-four you just can’t wait to play. It’s even shorter and more tempting, but the green is a nasty little tabletop—I can’t even imagine how many 5s and 6s it serves up from inside of 40 yards. 


8. Gairloch. Par 5. 526 yards. (H.M.: Saratoga Golf & Polo)





Gairloch is easily the tiniest nine-hole course in terms of acreage that I’ve ever seen, with all kinds of crossing shots and shooting gallery moments. It has one spectacular hole, though—the 8th, which runs along the top of the dune wall, then plunges down to a sunken green. This one is just a nice reminder of why we travel…


9. Dooks. Par 5. 506 yards. (H.M.: Royal & Ancient Chappaquiddick)





Dooks…what an absolute charmer. This par-5 plays right along the beach, swinging a long, gradual crescent arc to the green. If you play two overly conservative shots away from the beach fencing and off to the right, as I did, you’re left with this view. When you get up to the green itself you can see the surface doesn’t actually tilt that hard to the left, but nevertheless…fortune favors the bold!


Front 9 Card: Par: 36 Yardage: 3,341

[Tom Dunne]

  10. Whistling Straits (Straits). Par 4. 336 yards (green tee). (H.M.: Jack’s Point)





Making the turn…. This was the last hole to be placed in my “routing.” I don’t think it’s a world-beater by any means, but it’s got a bit of history, and I wanted to give the Straits a shout as I think in some circles (ahem) it gets run down a bit more than it deserves. Sure, it’s maximalist to the core and absurdly over-bunkered, but that’s just a gimmick that belies some nice substance. It’s walkable and well-routed (though I wish the 5th could’ve been avoided), and it’s playable—more so than Blackwolf Run (River), which my friends insist is the better course but is in my mind inferior on all three of these counts. (Though the River does have a better set of greens.)   


11. Sand Valley. Par 4. 417 yards. Hon. Mention: Tralee





I appreciate it when architects offer up a quiet moment in the routing, especially around this point in the round. I guess you could call it a “breather hole”, but it’s more about dialing down the visuals and the nerves rather than simply being easy.   


12. The Loop (Black). Par 4. 381 yards. (H.M.: Erin Hills)





This photo sums up The Loop for me, in a funny way. I’ve now made two separate trips to Forest Dunes, walked The Loop, played it, taken scores of photos, and yet, for the hole I wanted to highlight here, I still could only come up with a view of the green heading the other direction. There’s just so much to learn here, but also much fun to be had. The fact that you always have to think about whether your shot can hold a green on the fly or if you need to run it on somehow is never boring.


13. Titirangi. Par 5, 512 yards. (H.M.: Wick)





This is “The Wrecker” at Titirangi in Auckland—one of the most spectacular “FU” holes I’ve ever seen. The drive isn’t just “blind”—it feels like you’re actually leaving the property. Then you walk through the forest, find the golf hole, find your ball (maybe), and note the tree in the middle of the fairway and the fallaway ground to the left. And then some other things happen and eventually you reach a pretty green with some MacKenzie bunkers. This hole is hilarious—it warrants two photos. 





14. Applebrook GC. Par 4, 444 yards. (H.M.: Kauri Cliffs.)


The only hole in this tour for which I don’t have a photo. A strong hole with a drive slightly reminiscent of 15 at Dormie Club. I was impressed by Applebrook; it strikes a nice balance between challenge and everyday fun, and has a very appealing club atmosphere. I wonder why it flies beneath the radar? It’s true that it’s bordered by houses, interrupting some of the longer views, but the real estate is never obtrusive.


15. Kinloch (NZ). Par 3. 200 yards. (H.M.: Durness)





Jack’s course on Lake Taupo has drawn some criticism for its faux-linksiness and a slant toward the aerial game, but I rather enjoyed it. It’s now almost a decade old, and the staff has done a nice job of managing the native so that wayward shots can be found and advanced under half-stroke penalty. 15 is a pretty dramatic one-shotter—left looks dead, but I can testify that it is possible to at least make 4 from down there. 


16. The Hills. Par 3. 183 yards. Hon. Mention: Blackwolf Run (River)





Well, this one certainly adds to my “eclectic” quotient. I just thought it would be fun to leave this one here and roll down the window if anyone wants to comment.


17. Brora. Par 4, 438 yards. Hon. Mention: TPC Scottsdale





I get it now—Brora is the ultimate architecture-nerd secret handshake. How many places draw out the simple joy of being alive and out on the links the way this one does? The 17th just epitomizes freedom to me. This photo was taken at about 11 PM; shortly after we finished, Brora’s “Midnight Golfers” came in for pints and their awards ceremony. The winner received an owl trophy; the runner-up a box of After Eight mints, which she passed around to all present. 


18. Royal Wellington. Par 5. 497 yards. H.M.: Cape Kidnappers





Greg Turner and Scott Macpherson did some nice work at Heretaunga. There are a handful of new holes, plus some reimagined greens and bunkers. The 18th is dead flat and sort of plain at first—though there is a diagonal cross-bunker to reckon with on the tee shot—but I thought the setting and arrangement of this green was a rather stylish way to conclude the round.




Back 9 Card: Par: 36 Yardage: 3,406
Total: 6,747 yards. Par 72

[Tom_Doak]

16. The Hills. Par 3. 183 yards. Hon. Mention: Blackwolf Run (River)

Well, this one certainly adds to my “eclectic” quotient. I just thought it would be fun to leave this one here and roll down the window if anyone wants to comment.

The par-3 with the little ditch/creek along the high side of the green?  That's one of the strangest holes I've seen. Challenging, certainly.  But good?  Well, it's a good thing you redeemed yourself quickly with the 17th at Brora.  And you have some great photos in there!

[Tom Dunne]

16. The Hills. Par 3. 183 yards. Hon. Mention: Blackwolf Run (River)

Well, this one certainly adds to my “eclectic” quotient. I just thought it would be fun to leave this one here and roll down the window if anyone wants to comment.

The par-3 with the little ditch/creek along the high side of the green?  That's one of the strangest holes I've seen. Challenging, certainly.  But good?  Well, it's a good thing you redeemed yourself quickly with the 17th at Brora.  And you have some great photos in there!

Tom, that one is definitely for entertainment value. After all, it's an Eclectic!

[Martin Lehmann]

18. Welshpool: long 4 legging hard left from a high tee.



Honourable mention: Lundin Links

Ciao

This photo of the 18th at Welshpool is incredible.  The blend into the landscape is perfect, from color tones to texture to the blending edges to the unusual overall layout of the playing corridor.  You can hardly tell this is a golf hole, and that is just brilliant.

Couldn't agree more! This is what I call minimalistic design. No bunkers with rough edges, manmade dunes, water features with bended bridges, et cetera!