As is my usual tradition, I have compiled my eclectic golf course based on first time for me in 2012. This year was fairly prolific with the big "get" being my day at Pinehurst #2 in July. Gulph Mills, Dormie Club and Lake Nona were other highlights.
I try to consider course balance and other personal factors in these Eclectic threads, and some selections reflect personal highlights in lieu of architectural merit.
Author's Note: I am not including either course at Streamsong in my calculus for this thread.
First time courses included:
Pinehurst #2
Dormie Club
Gulph Mills
Lake Nona
Highlands Preserve, Davenport, FL
Lone Palm, Lakeland, FL
Buckhorn Springs, Brandon, FL
Quail Hollow, Wesley Chapel, FL
1. Pinehurst #2: When the Director of Maintenance at the Pinehurst Resort offers you a Breakfast Ball on the first tee. You take the Breakfast Ball.
2. Dormie Club: Bill and Ben have a way with their visuals of making a hole seem much straighter than it is. This is the first of a handful at Dormie Club, and fits my ball flight nicely. Cory and I thought it may not rain at this point in the round.
3. Pinehurst #2: I was not expecting the view from the green, nor the back right hole location, nor the subsequent 4-putt which resulted from my distraction at the first point.
4. Gulph Mills: Who doesn't love a good quarry? Who doesn't love stuffing a soft, punch 9-iron to within 5 feet in front of Tom Paul?
5. Pinehurst #2: I never had the pleasure of Pinehurst before the recent restoration work, but this hole captures the immense scale of the place perfectly with a fairway that seems to slide across the cross-slope.
6. Lone Palm: A shockingly good visual Par 3. Not sure how much Dick Wilson is left, but this hole is a highlight on the first nine here.
7. Pinehurst #2: I got into trouble right of the green short-sided. The sandy waste look hides a generous fairway well. The green is downright nasty.
8. Gulph Mills: Perry Maxwell's touches at Gulph Mills are very nice, and the short approach to this benched green supposedly inspired Maxwell's changes to Augusta National's 7th. The sand save from the front bunker with Tom Paul watching was an added nice touch.
9. Gulph Mills: With the Maxwell green on the 8th forcing a change to the tee location, this hole feels hemmed in a bit at first look, but the approach up the hill is superb and the green a treacherous affair.
10. Lone Palm: Best two-shotter on the golf course IMO. Check it out when in Lakeland, FL.
11. Lake Nona: Similar to the 2nd at Dormie, this hole bends farther left than first appears and to my eye invites confidence from the tee.
12. Pinehurst #2: Lob Wedge. Right Hole location. Up and down.
13. Pinehurst #2: Made birdie from 20 yards into the waste left. Dropped a 40 foot bomb from the back of the green.
14. Dormie Club: It's not raining that hard, then, Pouring Rain. I know this hole has met with criticism, but strategy works in more than one direction. I especially like the shaping work down at the green to bench it into the hillside and the bunker effectively hides the hand of man.
15. Dormie Club: Pouring Rain. Striped Drive. Interesting walk to the fairway.
16. Dormie Club: Pouring Rain. Stuffed a 6iron to within 15 feet.
17. Lake Nona: The shot heard 'round my world for 2012. I am way down in a Hawk game with Deucie Bies and Brian Joines, amongst others. Playing the Hawk, I knock a 4iron to a back hole within 10 feet and call Hawk to lead to erasing a 21 point deficit.
18. Pinehurst #2: Again, not expecting the movement of the terrain and how much uphill the hole plays. I felt oddly at peace with the end of the round, and from the daily tee knocked a great drive over the crest and into the left part of the fairway, leaving a wedge and a two-putt par to finish my highlight round of the year.
It is tough to include highlights at some of the more pedestrian courses I've seen with big hitters like Pinehurst, Gulph Mills and Dormie in the fold. Quail Hollow is perhaps worth a second 18 if one finds themselves with time in Tampa. Highlands Preserve would also fit a nice emergency 18 after a round at nearby Southern Dunes.
Also worthy of consideration is Lone Palm, Dick Wilson coaxed some good golf from a flat piece of property.