#11 par 3 Out at the end of one of the fingers of land. Another daunting par 3! Missing left is oblivion, but bailing right is no picnic with bunkering and a sort of swale on that side. There is bunkering short right, so theoretically you could try to land short left, but between the carry off the tee and the calamity of a miss left, there is really only one option, on the green. There is some nice internal movement in this green if I remember correctly. We had a back right pin.
#12 par 4 I don't really remember this hole, even after looking in the yardage book. It looks interesting with the way it moves right to left. There is an interesting swale short of the green, but I don't remember if it affected the hole.
#13 par 3. Another testy par 3 (the constant theme of the trip). It was tough to club for this one and the target looks so narrow, but there is more room than it appears and you can miss short and be fine if you are on line. Missing the green requires some short game skills.
#14 a great short par 4 with seemingly any conceivable shot being a challenge. I don't know if there is somewhere you can be and feel comfortable on this hole. The fronting bunker commands absolute respect for any approach shot. Even when the pin is over on the right side of the green, there is a dropoff right of the green, so you would like to fudge left a little to be safe, but that darn bunker is in just the perfect place to add anxiety to the approach shot.
#15 par 5 A long par 5 (600 yards from our tee) that makes you feel like you need to hit driver off the tee. In hindsight, unless I turn in to Fred Funk I think I would play long to mid-irons until the final approach shot where you feel like there is some room to work with. The RGD team was nice enough to put some bunkers down near the green on the periphery to save wayward approach shots from plunging to their death over the cliffs.
Not a favorite hole for me, but it certainly tests your ability to keep your ball in play and think your way along the gangplank.
Now the course turns away from the water and heads home. But not before you hit a golf ball off the tee out into the ocean and watch it hang in air seemingly forever before splashing down to a watery grave.
#16 par 5 I found this hole much more interesting than the previous one. Well placed bunkering forces you to move around on every shot to try to get yourself in position to attack. The approach is uphill to a green that is well-protected short right by sand, and the internal movement of the green keeps the test going until the ball is holed. I think the bunkering short left (about 50 yards) is some of the best-placed on the course. A really good hole IMO.
#17 par 4 A quintessential finishing hole, only it comes one hole too early. A VERY stout par 4 that requires two excellent shots to get home in two (437 yards from our tees). A dogleg right that plays primarily uphill to the green. Well-designed for the thinking golfer with some fairway out to the right for those inclined to play it as a "par 5". Given the length of the hole and the way it turns right, one is inclined to try to play down the right, but that tack is fraught with disaster, as there is thick grass down in the hollow and the approach is blind if you miss the fairway right.
#18 par 4 An odd driving hole with a hogsback type ridge of fairway set on a bit of a diagonal to you on the tee (from 4 o'clock to 10 o'clock). If you negotiate the tee shot, then you have an approach into a bit of an elongated punchbowl type green. The miss right will end up in sand or grass that can be played from, shots played to the left will feed down off the slopes and onto the green, although due to the length of the green you may not be near the pin due to the elongated nature of the green. A good test to finish with, but feels quite a bit different than the rest of the course. I think that is the main reason for the general dislike I have heard of this hole. I think the gripe is the randomness of the result off the slopes down into the green.
All in all an outstanding course IMO. I am not very good at envisioning routings, I tend to think the way I see a lot of courses is the best possible routing. However, given the nature of the land at CK I really can't imagine any way the routing could be improved upon
I give this course an 8 on the Doak scale. I could see going even higher, but there is so much to figure out over multiple plays that I feel this is an appropriate starting point. I think one of the great things about CK is that it isn't all obvious with the one play. However, I suppose once you get past the visual intimidation perhaps the course doesn't hold up as well. My sense is that the course would rise in the estimation of most golfers after multiple plays. I think you would need to see the course in the more common winds they have there to make a balanced assessment. The potential for losing 4+ balls in the course of a round is a bit of a detractor also. All in all an overpriced round of golf, but I think the experience of the total package will take away most of the sting to your wallet. My understanding is the lodge and dining will be up and running in November, which should help considerably with the exposure of the target market.