The course seems pancake flat except for around the edges of the fairways and greens. The fairways seem generous enough. However, if you miss them balls tend to fall off and go down into ditches. I can't recall seeing so many players with awkward lies playing out of the rough, making approach shots even harder keep on the hard, undulating greens there.
This is the only good description I have seen here so far. It was pancake flat to start (less than ten feet from high to low unless you count the bottom of the ravines, which were not in play before). But in the end it's prettier than I expected due to the subtle ground movement created, which shows up much better on the ground than from cameras higher up. Fallaway greens like 14 and 18 are tough for the pros because you can't see the back half of them from the fairway - they would have worked better visually on slightly downhill terrain, but we had none of that here.
I am super pleased with the setup and the conditioning, with big credit to the super Jason Harsh, and to Don Mahaffey's team for their assistance. You can advance the ball out of the rough but it's very difficult to control - a couple of the younger players who came to dinner last night said if they see their ball in the rough, they are just trying to figure out how to make par and not have the bsll get away from them. And even if you're in the fairway, you've got to be careful what side of the hole you go. Fairways matter, and angles matter. Most players are still learning the course so I would expect some cries of unfairness: Dustin Johnson was pretty rough in his assessment Tuesday, but I doubt he is as harsh after 66 Friday.
I spent about 15 minutes with Brooks Koepka Wednesday and he just loves how it turned out; meanwhile Jim Crane who raised all the money and was concerned it would be too easy, is also very pleased with the result and what the players are saying. Besides myself, those were the two guys I wanted to please, and I think both are tough critics. I'm less concerned what grouchy JK has to say watching from his couch, but I think Rees Jones would hate the course and I assure you it's nothing like his work.