Royal New Kent (with pics)

[John Moore II]

Ronald-Good to know I out-scored someone at RNK  , Carl and Scott both beat me (I don't care if they were playing the black tees at about 1000 yards shorter, they shot lower than me, yuck; good playing guys)

I see what you mean about the par 3's resembling each other in the tee arrangement, I noticed that myself and announced it to the guys on the tee. I was thinking about the green site, not the tees.

RNK is just flat out unrelenting. You hit one offline and its a tough trip. Its very playable if you can hit it fairly straight, but if you hit it offline, the score can run up in a hurry. I think the slope from the back tees is incorrect; unless it is the case that some of the hazards are was too far away for bogey golfers to reach. But for Tobacco Road to be a 155 slope and RNK to be a 146 slope can't be right; and by the way, RNK has a course rating only one shot higher. No way.

[Ronald Montesano]

Kevin Lynch and I lost the rose-colored mist of strantz this year.  Tobacco Road and Tot Hill Farm might be considered his cute little courses, the ones that don't tip out (or seem to) very high.  RNK and Stonehouse will tie you to the saddle and drag you around the paddock until you bleed.  Unrelenting is the way I would describe both of them.  If I were to go back, ever, I would play them both at 6400 yards to compare them properly with the other two in North Carolina.

[Carl Rogers]

Ronald-Good to know I out-scored someone at RNK  , Carl and Scott both beat me (I don't care if they were playing the black tees at about 1000 yards shorter, they shot lower than me, yuck; good playing guys)

I see what you mean about the par 3's resembling each other in the tee arrangement, I noticed that myself and announced it to the guys on the tee. I was thinking about the green site, not the tees.

RNK is just flat out unrelenting. You hit one offline and its a tough trip. Its very playable if you can hit it fairly straight, but if you hit it offline, the score can run up in a hurry. I think the slope from the back tees is incorrect; unless it is the case that some of the hazards are was too far away for bogey golfers to reach. But for Tobacco Road to be a 155 slope and RNK to be a 146 slope can't be right; and by the way, RNK has a course rating only one shot higher. No way.

John,
As a way to evaluate a golf course, it is good to look at a how another type of player plays a golf course from a different set of tees as Scott's game and my game are too similar.  My take for the round was: for the super long playing from the tips, RNK, because of its extreme penal nature and many downhill tee shots, requires a great deal of very precise tee shot management and experimentation.  Once that process is worked through, a good score there is very possible.

It is a treat to tee it up there once or twice a year but not more than that.

[ed_getka]

Thanks for all the pix and commentary guys. I was thinking of taking my son up to see the course when the weather cools down. Its looking like a better idea by the minute.

[John Moore II]

Thanks for all the pix and commentary guys. I was thinking of taking my son up to see the course when the weather cools down. Its looking like a better idea by the minute.

Its like Tobacco Road only a good deal harder. Like I said before on this thread, I really really like Strantz courses, he honestly might be my favorite designer at this point in time. His work is very, very different from other stuff.

[Derek_Duncan]

I really enjoyed RNK. Shocking to see those photos from the pre-housing era. It looks like a completely different experience.

I'm surprised commentary of the 10th hole has been omitted. In my view it's one of the most interesting and striking on the course and one of the most strategic, with strong left-to-right/right-to-left movement and some evocative yet classically positioned bunkering.

The tee shot on this par-5 rewards the aggressive line--take it over the far right bunkers to catch a downslope for a great look at the green.


More conservative tee balls will leave something more daunting.


From near the gaping bunker on the inside of the second dogleg...


Closer...


This is the pitch shot when you lay up...


A look back at the green.

[Andy Hughes]

Derek, I can't really define it, but there has always been something offputting to me about #10.  Some feeling that it is too busy and too cluttered somehow. Purely subjective of course.

John and Ronald, I agree re #3--I always forget how very hard that hole is (and I have never played from the back tees like you masochists)

[Mac Plumart]

For what it is worth, I had the opportunity to check out Royal New Kent last week.  Frankly, I'd been a bit disappointed with the two Strantz's I'd seen prior to RNK.  (FYI, they were Tobacco Road and Stonehouse).

But I was very close to being blown away by Royal New Kent.  The only thing holding me back from being totally in awe of the place was the long green to tee transitions on seemingly every hole, the pretty awful routing between the homes especially between 13 and 14, and the not so great houses surrounding some of the holes on the back nine.

However, I mention the negatives to get to the point that the golf holes were plain and simply WOW!!!!  Some of the very best I've seen to date.  If you drop these holes on a piece of property like Askernish, Sand Hills, or even Pinehurst #2...then you've got a serious contender for a World Top 100, IMO.

Thanks for these photos and comments guys.  RNK is a must see.

[Sean_A]

Mac

Curious, I see a lot of Tobacco Road at RNK.  Why is it you hate one and adore the other?

Ciao

[Mac Plumart]

Great question, Sean.

I was thinking the same thing while out at RNK.  For me, it was the greens.  I thought the shapes and contours of the greens at Tobacco Road were over-the-top silly at certain points.  In fact, while out at RNK I mentally compared the greens at Tobacco Road to that Salvador Dali painting where everything is melting and being morphed into something out of this world.  Contrast that to RNK's greens which had interesting contours, but were not over-the-top Dali greens.

**However, I should put a sidenote on this that I've really been getting the itch to play Tobacco Road again.  I wonder if another go around that thing would be less shocking and, perhaps, I could appreciate it more.**

[Philip Caccamise]

I played a college tournament here back in 2000 and quite frankly did not enjoy it at all. It was just too hard from the back tees, especially for 36 holes in one day walking. It's the only course I've ever played where I walked off and didn't feel like I had any chance of breaking 80. Maybe I'd feel different today, with better technology, but the architecture (which does look cool in pictures) just was lost in the incredible difficulty.

[Mac Plumart]

36 holes in one day walking

At RNK, I'd imagine this was almost impossible.  I don't think I could walk 18 out there.

[Philip Caccamise]

It really was, especially considering I'm diabetic and even walking 18 holes at a place like that can be murderous. Thankfully, it was April and the weather conditions were ideal. It was hosted by either ODU or W&M, I can't remember which, but either way they decided not to return (ODU now plays their tournament at Kilmarlic, W&M at Golden Horseshoe.)

[CJ Carder]

The only thing holding me back from being totally in awe of the place was the long green to tee transitions on seemingly every hole, the pretty awful routing between the homes especially between 13 and 14, and the not so great houses surrounding some of the holes on the back nine.

Just to make sure there's no misinformation here, all of the residential 'mess' was done quite a bit later than the actual course.  I don't know for sure whether or not the housing was already planned, but I'm inclined to think it was more of an after-thought as the cart-path routing around 11-14 was substantially different years ago.  The long distances have always been there, but they didn't use to be anywhere near as bad.  Further, the cart path didn't used to be so slammed up against the back of 11 green and 12 didn't feel so removed from the course.