Played here recently, and here's my report:
This one was a bit of a milestone for me, as pictures of the wild RNK piqued my early interest in golf architecture back in my early to mid teens.
The course was great! It played firm, with smooth, fast greens. Playing the third tee down is rare for me (usually a back or second-tee player), but 6733y was plenty. With firm conditions, the theme of linksy/dunescape golf fits very well despite its location.
I didn't notice any obvious non-restored play areas, the creek presentation was just fine, and there was plenty of water on the carts...mine had four bottles, for no additional charge, with more bottles available at the turn.
Quick hole reactions:
1. Wow, Strantz! Shades of Tobacco Rd first hole, but very forgiving off the tee. Not so much on the second shot, a slight miss will end up far from the green.
2. Unbelievable scaling...on the second shot, everything looks further than it is. The layup is not the easiest shot either.
3. So much tee variety, then you get to the enormous green with 25+ pin locations...redan-esque at the back half.
4. Blindness for the sake of blindness is not my favorite, but the hole would be dull otherwise. You can play well left of where it looks.
5. Great view from the tee, but I'm not sure if I love the how the fairway ends into the three bunkers. The hole was downwind and probably needed a 3-wood from the tee. The greensite is pretty too, another hole that has a sandhills feel.
6. Wild green! I had a back pin location that was on a tiny shelf. Would love to attack that with a short iron, but I found a fairway bunker off the tee, thus making it very hard.
7. The best-looking par three at RNK, and it has a fun green. I was on the front to a middle pin, and the closest i could putt in several tries was about 10'. Part of me wished it was possible to pull off the putt (and it looked much more possible from the elevated back section to the middle)...but I missed the central bowl so it wasn't a good tee ball.
8. Similar to #1 off the tee, but with a partially-blind second shot. A very cool hole, would be murder on high-cappers.
9. I wasn't a huge fan of this hole, despite good strategy...play left and you are blind to the flag with plenty of runway, or play along the creek and see the flag but have an all-carry approach. Was there originally fairway right of the creek?..That could change things.
10. Great second shot on this risk-reward par five that rewards playing along the tight line of charm.
11. Wow on this sweeping green with only a few pin placements despite enormous width. Right side pin locations would be very tough.
12. Not sure this green is cool or nuts, but it would've been much more difficult to a back pin with a long iron. The pin was very front for me, an area which is crowned.
13. Pretty boring and enormously wide...not much advantage for hitting toward the green from the tee.
14. Really neat greensite surrounded by pine bushes that look like gorse. I liked the berm at the front of the green.
15. Do or die par three, come up short and you'll be 30' below the green. Once on the green, it's the flattest at RNK.
16. Longest par four, but one can cut the corner to earn a short-iron approach.
17. Another hole like #10 where there is SO much room, but the line is very tight if you want to try for the green in two shots. A bit of an awkward greensite.
18. A benign tee shot, but a very challenging second shot over water to a shallow green. It doesn't fit very well, as the course has no other pond in play, and could be improved by filling the ditch behind the green. A bit of a blah finish.
Overall, I loved it. As much as I want to say in top shape that it would have a chance to be T100 public, we have too many great courses in the US. Easy T50 affordable ($65ish)...maybe 100-150 range for publics in the country. RNK gets so many things right that other more pedigreed courses on that list do not, especially the firmness and the smooth greens.
I played on a Thursday afternoon and the place was near-deserted...same trip, Golden Horseshoe was crowded on Monday afternoon. Let's hope word travels and the place earns the popularity it deserves!