Again, I haven’t played it. But I’ve consumed as much of the course from a distance as I can reasonably attempt in the last couple days. I’ve tried to really understand it. And there are parts of it that definitely would require some on-the-ground experience to see. But there’s also a lot that I think can be gleaned from at least attempting to study it from photos and other people’s posts all over this DG, in good faith.
And part of the reason I buy into that idea is because it appears to be a course with a really unique balance of understated shaping and unprescriptive strategy in a rather spectacular environment.
Consider the idea of a course like Pebble Beach – the gold standard for resort courses. It’s loaded with spectacular holes, but not necessarily with variety within how those holes present. It doesn’t take a lot of plays in a lot of conditions to begin to understand where you should and shouldn’t hit the ball. It gives the holes a tangible quality. Even before you play Pebble Beach, you might know you need to avoid the right side on 1 and prioritize accuracy over distance to set up an approach. It won’t take a player with a savvy eye for strategy very long to know that you’d rather miss right of that green than left. And that same general logic holds throughout the course. You can usually see that there are places to hit the ball, and places to avoid. Certainly after a play or two, you can understand the central challenges of each hole. It’s a very digestible course in that sense. It’s spectacular, demanding, and thrilling… but it’s not deceptive.
Streamsong Blue strikes me as a course that would take a LOT of plays to “figure out.” A course that reveals more and more of itself over time. And I’m not saying anything groundbreaking there – that’s sorta the Doak ethos right? From photos, it looks like a wonderfully alluring driving course. Step to the tee on 2 at Pebble, and you know exactly where to hit it. Step to the tee on 2 at the Blue, and you understand quickly why we praise width all the time. Several potential lines jump out, and you’ll want to play it over and over to see how they all work. And if you miss your intended line, there’s still a pretty good chance that you’ll feel like you get a valid taste of a different strategy. I’ve played Pebble once, and I pulled my tee shot on 2 into a bunker, and I want to play it again so that I can play the hole the “right way.” I want to play Streamsong Blue 6 times so that I can get a feel for the 6 different lines I want to take on the 2nd hole.
So… great. We’ve proven it’s a course with width, and strategy, and most of us know those to be good things. But part of the appeal of the course for me is that it doesn’t appear to have a ton of “right answers.” It’s loaded with alluring shots… the drive at 3, the approach at 4, the drive at 8, acreage to explore at 11… and plenty more. But those are all shots where I might vary my strategy from one play to the next for 6 plays, 12 plays, maybe forever. And that’s awesome!
The downside? Well, without a WRONG answer now and then, the lack of risk can compromise thrills. That’s part of why I find that approach to 4 so sexy. Or the tee shot on 7. I mean, 7 seems like it might be a little much. Then again… as a guy who hasn’t played the course, I can only imagine that I probably made an ace on 5 and then driving the green on 6 so by the time I’m standing on 7 tee, I’m ready to be challenged. In the context of the rest of the course, a brutally tough par 3 fits very nicely there from my vantage point.
So I appreciate that the course finds a certain balance. From a distance, I question whether that balance is paced the way I’d like. I’m on record – I’d rather not open with a drive-and-pitch par 4. I’m not sure I want to come home with three monsters either. I suspect that, for me, the pacing might not quite feel as ideal as the holes themselves.
But I gotta say, after two days of looking at photos and reading people’s takes, it’s shot WAY up my list of courses I’d like to play. And not just once, but over and over. It seems like almost the perfect member’s course, where you can find new good spots and new bad spots round after round.
A couple questions for guys who have been there:
What are playing conditions like? How firm and tight are the fairways? Are those bunkers “native” sand, or filled? If native, are they spoils from mining with a unique character? And how unplayable are the native areas – they look unplayable…