Just a few thoughts based on all the reading that I've done on it and the digital recreation efforts-
I don't really obsess about the Ocean much when I think about the original Lido. It only came into play on one hole and even that was very temporary. For most of its life, there was a boardwalk and a wall of cabanas blocking off the view of the Atlantic entirely from the course, yet it was still considered to be great. The original 8th was visually glorious with the Ocean bordering it and that version will have to remain in golf heaven. But the original 8th was a template after all and the Ocean part was just a bonus in the original version- atypical for a Biarritz. It's not like we are underwhelmed when we step up to the 3rd tee at Chicago GC. And who knows, maybe there will be a hazard there that will make it somewhere in between Chicago GC and the original.
On the other end of the property, you had the Channel. Again, it only came into play on one hole and rarely at that. There was a 10 yard buffer over the 3rd green to catch overplays and the hole was relatively long with a pitched Eden green. On the 4th, the right fairway was not the common path and there was 30+ yards of sandy waste area before the water came into play (you had an entire fairway's width of buffer). Up by the green, there was another 30 yard sandy buffer.
The interior water hazard came into play much more frequently. It came into play over the green on the 2nd, to the left on the 3rd, on the drive and 2nd shot on the 4th, over the green on the 11th, on the tee shot on the 12th, and over the green on the 16th since the ground chased down toward it over the green. That interior hazard will obviously have to be reconstructed and should preserve the original challenges.
It's tempting to dwell on the negatives, so here are some positives to consider:
- the sandy wasteland of SV will be a fantastic substitute for the sandy wasteland around the perimeter of the Lido and in pockets on the interior. The original course had more than 3,000 yards of that on the perimeter and it was mostly what was talked about in the writings. The SV sand is not as soft as the Lido sand and should be slightly more recoverable. I think that is a good thing.
- the wind patterns for Lido Beach and Sand Valley are almost identical in terms of prevailing winds and wind speeds. That was the other thing most mentioned about the original- how the wind was the ever present defense. Sand Valley averages 2 MPH more in wind than Lido Beach, which is very lucky.
- The SV version will drain way better than the original because the original had a water table just below the surface. The area to the East of the Lido was swampy and mosquitoes were supposedly horrible there. In some of the photos, there is standing water in the bunkers. SV drains incredibly well and always plays F&F.
- The SV version will have no road with heavy traffic bisecting it. As I said earlier, this seemed to be the major reason that they didn't rebuild it on the original site and instead opted to build more to the East.
But the biggest positive could be that it would exist vs not exist. Lido was designed to be a strategic masterpiece with every hump, bump, and bunker purposefully placed. That should remain no matter what the background looks like.