The Other Doral Courses (Red, Gold, Silver, White?)

[Kevin_D]

I played the redesigned Doral Red Tiger this morning.  I thought Hanse did a really nice job with it.  The course has smallish, undulating greens, and well placed (and executed) bunkering.  There is quite a bit of water but it is all pretty avoidable - I am not exactly the most accurate player, but I didn't lose a ball all day...up until 18, when I caught my approach to the island-ish green a little heavy from one of the fairway bunkers and it ended up in the drink.  The course is also in pristine condition, especially the greens.  The only "complaint" I can think of is there is a long, somewhat awkward walk from 17 green to 18 tee.  But my overall impression was that the course was a shorter, sportier version of the Blue Monster (which I like very much), or for another comparison, a south Florida version of Siwanoy.

Sorry, no photo tour, though others will do a better job than me on that front anyway.

Based on what I've seen at Blue and Red, I hope to give the other Hanse designed/rediesigned courses there (the Golden Palm and Silver Fox) a try as well.  I am no Trump fanboy (don't get me started on his Pinehurst comments) but Doral is shaping up to be a really first rate facility with several excellent courses from which to choose.  Not a bad option for mid January!

I would love to hear the thoughts of anyone else who has also played the Red (and would encourage people to give it a try).

Kevin

[Bill_McBride]

What happened to the White?   Still exist?   Anybody played it?

[Howard Riefs]

What happened to the White?   Still exist?   Anybody played it?

It's about to be carved into housing and office/retail space:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-29/gic-to-sell-florida-golf-course-bought-from-paulson-group.html

[Kevin_D]

Bill - not sure about White - it seems like it's still listed on the web site?

I updated the thread title to reflect all the non-Blue courses.

I also wanted to add a caddie recommendation for anyone: Mark (from Jamaica). He's a caddie at Wykagyl in the spring/summer/fall, a great guy and terrific at reading greens.

[jeffwarne]

Kevin D,
You're very generous.
I was terribly disappointed given the team involved.
I'm assuming they had "input"
Congrats on losing one ball-that's a record as our group of 4 pros didn't find the water very avoidable.
Can't even imagine the average hotel guest out there.

I'd say it's the same as before(not very good even for florida) just with more interesting bunkering and difficult greens.
Amazing they were able to take a course whose biggest fault was too much water, and add more water

Played Ocala GC for $22 today.
Place was packed.
Given 10 plays Ocala all 10.


By the way, Miami springs just down the street is about $35 and is an excellent Ross though the conditioning is a bit rough and ready

[Kevin_D]

Jeff,

I am quite puzzled. It's like we didn't play the same course.

I did not play it "before" so have no basis for comparison, but I don't get the "brutal" comment about the greens at all. I can think of probably 10 courses or more with more undulating greens (off the top of my head: Streamsong Blue, Quaker Ridge, Sebonack, Stonewall North).  Of course, getting off at 7 and playing in 2 hours 40 minutes didn't hurt either.  Overall, I enjoyed the course and would be happy to play it again.  I would love to give Miami Springs a try next time I'm down, but as for value comparison, Red is only a slight premium to weekend mornings at Miami Beach Golf Club, which I found to be pretty terrible the one time I played it.  (Also, my gatorade and protein bar from the cart girl was $8...seemed pretty normal).

I do get a laugh out of losing less balls than 4 pros!  I probably average losing 2+ per round at my home course.

[jeffwarne]

Kevin,
I would agree that all the courses you mention have tougher greens, but thye're all renowned for their difficult greens.
But those aren't winter visit resorts with water everywhere, and most with way more width.
To be fair we only played 12 holes.
and it was very windy
How about the second shot on the par 5 first hole?
Where does the shorter hitter hit it?
or the second shot on 10-you either make it or you chip it down the fairway(which all four did)
or the par 5 forced carry tee shot 90 degree dogleg, followed by a tiny island green.
A lot of it was there before-it's like they kept the worst features and added few of their own.
For that matter our last hole, the 12th has water both sides on the tee shot.

Perhaps my expectations were simply too high given the architects.

Just isn't where I'd want to take a winter fragile member, or expose my own winter fragile game.
Didn't feel that way at all at Streamsong

[Kevin_D]

Jeff,

I would have to think through most of those holes, but don't remember any issue. I am not a terribly good player (13 index) but do hit it a good length.  I played the gold tees (6400 yards).

As to the 90 degree dogleg par 5 with the carry over water - it is a very short par 5. You don't need to hit driver off the tee. I did hit driver with an aggressive line and ended up on the front fringe with a 7 iron approach. Just missed the eagle putt, tap in birdie.

Also - conditions were essentially perfect - sunny, very light wind.