Mac,
I would start a discussion on Stonehouse with...how true does it play to Strantz' original intent? I found the 13th and 14th to be overgrown in exactly the places where Strantz might have shaved them down...the mound in the layup area on 13 and the entire funnel, both left and right, leading down to the 14th green. The overgrown bracken on both holes prevented golf balls played smartly from ambling to their intended destination.
I love challenging Strantz with the driver. I played Stonehouse from the tips and loved the drives on 2, 4, 5 (missed the tee deck back right!), 9, 11, 12, and 16. It seemed that Stonehouse was cut from some extremely dense and wet property and could stand some tree removal/air exchange. I wasn't nearly the fan of Stonehouse that I was of Royal New Kent. Of the five Strantz courses I've played to date, I would rank them thus:
1...Tobacco Road
2...Royal New Kent
3...Tot Hill Farm
4...True Blue
5...Stonehouse
CJ,
Eveyone missed us. We were exhausted every day after playing and barely had the strength to retire back to the condo, pop open a bev and upload photos to photobucket. I don't think that I would compare RNK and Ballyhack ever. They are completely different courses. I will say that neither has a truly driveable par four. Both have holes of that distance, but neither removes enough penalty to make the hole reachable. This is a small foible, I'll admit. Ballyhack had 15 brilliant holes and 3 for whom my own personal jury is still out (they're only great fits at this juncture.) RNK is fairly manicured in comparison with Ballyhack...there is a wild quality to the Roanoke-area course that RNK has lost over time. I think that both architects come/came at golf courses from a perspective slightly akimbo, which is never a bad thing. I am currently going through a phase where most comparison is a bad thing...check out the photo shoots on photobucket from both courses and decide for yourself. I think that most people would enjoy RNK and fall in love with Ballyhack, always based on the provision that you play the proper tees.
John,
I believe I hit (from the tips) five iron to the downhill 3rd, three iron to the uphill 7th, 5 iron over the downhill 12th and 7 iron to the downhill 16th. I found them to be cousins from tee to green, yet not too similar. In terms of putting surfaces, #7 was the most treacherous, with 3 and 12 next in line. 16 was pretty flat, although the tee ball to the island green thing might have been the reason (if you reach land, I'll give you a flat run at birdie.)