I've been lucky enough to play twice now and it's a lovely walk.
I liked the short-4s, 3 and 11. I'd be excited to take on the hero shot there every time knowing there was a viable option if the wind was hard against. I also really liked the 9th as the stand-out old school par 4, which arguably featured the most interesting green on the course. I wish they’d taken more risks with one or two of the other greens, especially on the short par 3 8th which is a stunner but doesn’t play as challenging as I’d like for a wedge shot. All that said, there is certainly enough variation to keep us all interested.
As Marty pointed out, the par 4 5th features the split fairway design but has a fairly makeable carry if you're playing off suitable tees for your ability. I'm not sure why anyone playing off the correct box wouldn't just wail away over the bunkers. If anything, the forward tees are the most challenging relative to the ability of the players from that box, meaning they pretty much have to go the long route from that angle. From memory it was around 210yds carry off the 6500 tees to a wide fairway, with the carry proportionately ratcheted up the further back you go.
I preferred the riskier option on the par 5 15th as it did reward those who successfully took the right-hand side route with a shorter and indeed much better angle to the green. I doubt anyone would go the longer left-hand route as a strategy, unless they didn’t fancy a medium to long carry with their second shot. On reflection, I'm not convinced those split fairway holes truly work but I’m happy to be proven wrong.
Many of the high sides of the pot bunkers were away from the direction of play; in a way kidding you that the course featured really deep Scottish links bunkers when in fact when you were in them (not saying it was easy!) they weren't the hardest to recover from. Perhaps no bad thing! In the same sense, much like Doonbeg, you skirt the real dunes in the SSSI and see so much water you are happy to be taking a walk in what can feel like real dunes land. The team have done a good job there and no doubt avoided a considerable planning headache.
As you can maybe see from the pictures, there was (I feel) a little overuse of rear bunkers. Possibly to break up the mounds of fill, but given the amateur miss is short and the pros won’t be going that far over these huge greens, I doubt they'll get much action. Perhaps when the stark white sand gets a little grubbier and matches the odd exposed patch of natural sand, the bunkers will fit into the surroundings better.
I feel sorry for the team and investors that they haven't had the big opening international season they would have wanted, but what has worked to their favour is all the Scots going to play the course. The fairways, greens and surrounds are in superb condition and a true credit to the greens staff. This has resulted in large percentage of golfers leaving saying it's one of the best courses they have ever played. And if we all like it……
Excellent putting surfaces, wide fairways and cracking views will win hearts time after time. I'm sure the vast majority of visitors will leave very happy and that can only be a good thing for Fife/Scottish golf.
All that taken into consideration I'd have it at a Doak 6, which I guess means it doesn't quite touch the highs of KB, Castle Stuart, Trump Aberdeen or Renaissance but is still very much worth the play. If you hadn’t played it before and are in St Andrews for a few days, it would be a shame not to head over.
PS. Tried to modify spacing, but jeezo does my laptop not like GCA.