My new courses:
The Country Club, Brookline
St. George's, Ontario
Mill Creek, NY
Restored CC of Rochester
Monroe, NY
Hanover CC, Dartmouth
Camp Creek, FL
Greystone, NY
Ontario, NY
Terry Hills, Batavia, NY
My Eclectic 18 from these courses:
1) Ontario, 586, Par 5. Great long five to start the day. Ideal play is up the right, as it allows for the shorter carry over the creek on the second shot. Of course, the bunkers just right of the fairway on both the tee shot and the second shot are cause for an unsatisfying start.
2) Camp Creek, 350, Par 4. Diagonal carry over marshlands left yields excellent strategy, as the farther left one goes, the less they have to contend with a plethora of bunkers to the right of a slender green.
3) Terry Hills, 122, Par 3. Already had three from the Country Club, so I decided to throw this little gem in here. Drop shot to a green fronted by a stream and pitched severely from back to front. A shot hit long results in a difficult two-putt, great strategy for a hole of this length.
4) The Country Club, 335, Par 4. What more could a person what from a short par four?? From the ravine in front of the tee, to the bunker-lined ridge off the tee, to the downhill approach to a tiny 2,000 sq. ft. green, this is the best hole on the course.
5) Mill Creek, 530, Par 5. This is a classic double fairway hole, where a player go safely low and right, or he can play to the perilous upper fairway, requiring a long carry over a deep bunker. The green is also of great merit, with a deep bunker left to compliment the one off the tee, as well as some great feeding features within the green itself.
6) Monroe, 210, Par 3. Ross gem of a hole plays up a narrow valley, with bunkers 40 yards short and flanking the two-tiered green. Not hitting the right part of the small green can lead to bogey. This exacting par three is complete with a ladder leading into the bunker behind the green, which also comes into play for a badly topped shot off the seventh tee.
7) Mill Creek, 430, Par 4. A par four with more excellent bunkering. The tee shot plays up over a ridge, with a bunker cut smack into the middle of the ridge. The ideal play is to thread the ball between the center bunker and the bunker just right of the fairway. This provides the best angle to the wild green, which has a bunker left and severely tilted from left to right.
Hanover, 440, Par 4. Double fairway with ninth is 50+ yards wide, but with enough room for good strategy. The heroic approach over a pond is made easier by a drive down the perilous right side. An excellent long par four.
9) CCR, 440, Par 4. Here the drive plays out of a hollow, with the tip of a fairway bunker peaking over the horizon. A long drive over the fairway bunkers is just the start of the adventure. A bunker sixty yards short gathers the poorly-struck woods of the short hitter, while providing deception for the long hitter. The green is glued to the ground, and can only be read by the most experienced of players with the course.
10) The Country Club, 285, Par 4. Wethered and Simpson picked the Alps as a perfect "bad" tenth hole, and my pick is in much the same vein. A very neat hole with a mound directly in front of the green, no one our group could muster a par here.
11) St. George's, 520, Par 5. Great routing, with the hole playing off a high tee into a valley below. The bunkering is restored and makes the hole, as does the long, slender green. This hole is more player-friendly and more gambling than the 11th at TCC.
12) St. George's, 380, Par 4. A great hole at a bad length, this hole has magnificant fairway bunkering left off the tee, but the real attraction is the steeply-pitched shelf green. Just a neat hole.
13) Greystone, 180, Par 3. This hole is basically all fairway, but the hole is exposed to the wind, which runs directly against it. The two tiered green is made even higher by this wind. A simple-but-excellent par three.
14) St. George's, 460, Par 4. The tee shot plays over a rise, but offers no real test. The second shot, however, will be from a downhill lie over a stream. Add in the bunkers and the length, the hole seems nearly impossible. However, since the bank right of the green has been uncovered, one can use it, as I did, to achieve a par. Great hole.
15) CCR, 460, Par 5. Even with deep bunkers off the tee on this uphill par five, the hole seems very wide at the start. However, the trouble closes in fast on the second shot, with three new, deep bunkers right and OB probably five paces left of the green. The green itself defends par, as hitting it in two leaves much doubt about the final outcome. The green is pitched VERY hard from left to right, and it rends many pins almost unplayable.
16) Monroe, 195, Par 3. Another great Ross routing brings this hole from high point to high point, with the green seemingly slipping of the front edge of the second hill. Very neat.
17) Camp Creek, 540, Par 5. This hole is very different from the other wide open holes on the course. The Florida scrubland starts out well back from the fairway, but, along with a very deep bunker to the right, juts in to portect against the reckless golfer. Excellent penultimate hole, allowing for several swings in fortune.
18) The Country Club, 430, Par 4. One of the best finishers in the world. The strategy is awesome, with loads of room to the right, but with the shortest route (higly coveted on this long par four into the wind) being along the bunkers on the left. The green site is unbelievable, with the bunker in front and the flare in the back of the green making the hole the best aerial game hole I've ever seen. To show the effect the wind has at the Country Club, I hit driver/5 wood over the back of 17, then at 18, only 30 yards longer, I hit driver/3 wood/Full Pitching Wedge to the middle of the green.