Nobody has seen the connection yet, so I feel obliged to point out that any architect working in a windy environment HAS TO make the course a bit easier to allow for the wind ... so it's relatively defenseless on a calm day.  Even Muirfield was taken apart in dry, calm weather in the Open c. 1980.

[Apparently the gentlemen at Carnoustie did not get this memo.]

Anyway, there is a different definition of "hard" in play at inland parkland courses like Butler National or Winged Foot or Oakmont, than there is on seaside courses.

Three or four years ago, ANGC.

Lots of people posted very good scores over the years. I've had a couple good rounds there.

With the new tees and trees, that's not going to happen much anymore.

Bob

   

JF: sorry to be so obtuse.

After playing Sand Hills a lot, I did say it was like NGLA from the middle tees, Shinnecock from the back.  And what I meant was it's as much fun as one is meant to have playing this game from the middles, given you have such scoring opportunities but still have to think your way around and earn it... whereas from the backs, it's a damn stern test of golf, worthy of holding championships - but yet it's still fun even for a hack like me.

Hopefully that's better....

TH

Of the ones I've played I would also say The Old Course (although I personally have never managed to go really low there).

Even in a big wind, it remains playable while other courses can get pretty dicey. I remember playing in the Links Trophy one year when the wind blew so hard (easily 40+ mph) that really the only goal was not to get blown over while trying to hit the ball. (In fact the Tournament Committee canceled one of the rounds that day, not even trying to get in the usual 36.) The wind was into from the left going out, which was brutal, but turning back in wasn't any easier like we thought it would be, because the wind was so strong down and from the right that the ball just wouldn't ever stop--I kept clubbing down, down, down and everything still ran for miles over the back of every green. But it was still playable, with few searches, which was definitely NOT the case at the Jubilee that day--there were some horror stories over there including a well-known many-time GBI Walker Cupper shooting 90. And I can only imagine how courses like Carnoustie, Muirfield, etc. would have played in a wind like that. The only wind-related problem at TOC came on the 11th green, with balls wobbling and getting moved by the wind, which caused the occasional delay.

Without wind, it's a matter of missing the bunkers off the tee and you're pretty much set, although you can't hit it just anywhere and expect to get the approach close to the hole. And other than in the Open Championship, you don't often see players rolling in putts from all over the place. So in some ways it's not necessarily easy to go really really low out there, but at the same time you're not so worried about losing a bunch of shots either. But there's no question that long hitters can steal shots out there by reaching the par 5's (#5 and #14) and getting close to or on some of the shorter par 4's (#3, #9, #10, #12, #18).

How does Royal Melbourne play compared to other great courses? Is it on the easier or harder end? From what I've heard there is plenty of room out there but that the green end is where shots can be lost. Didn't Ernie Els shoot 60 out there in a tournament a few years back?

Chris,

I was just going to say the West Course at Royal Melbourne.
Ernie shot 60 on the Composite course- 12 holes from the West and 6 from the East - and it is a quite difficult course but it was a perfect day and the greens are nowhere near as scary as they used to be in the 70s and 80s.

They still call the West a par 72 but all four of the par fives - 2,4,12 and 15 - are between 480 and 510 yards and easily reachable in two. 2 and 12 are 10 and 14 on the composite and they play both as par 4s now in the tournament.
If you go there during the week when the greens are not set for a tournament its the easiest course in Melbourne - and the best by quite a way.

Maybe tee to green is somewhat easy at ANGC, I've only walked the course and never played.  But how can the greens be easy even at a slower daily speed?  Those greens are flat out difficult as are the green complexes.  How fast are those greens on a daily basis?

Pinehurst #2 - - Under a typical resort/club set-up, average bogey golfers will still be able to make bogeys, and scratch players will often shoot around the course rating. No water or OB to speak of, wide fairways, easy rough, plenty of roll so length is not an issue. Grow some rough, firm and speed up the greens, and get interesting with the cups and it's an entire other thing.

Not that I'm implying that it's a "great course" by pure GCA standards, doesn't Shadow Creek have a slope rating in the 110s?

Pebble Beach
Pacific Dunes
Merion
Kiawah
Cypress Pt

Pinehurst #2 - - Under a typical resort/club set-up, average bogey golfers will still be able to make bogeys, and scratch players will often shoot around the course rating. No water or OB to speak of, wide fairways, easy rough, plenty of roll so length is not an issue. Grow some rough, firm and speed up the greens, and get interesting with the cups and it's an entire other thing.

While I agree that for the bogey golfer #2 is an easy course to shoot bogey golf on - you don't lose any balls and n real water or OB - I find it incredibly difficult to shoot a good score on. I've been a 2 handicap or less for at least the last 15 years - almost all of those years my handicap has been below scratch. In those 15 years I've played #2 at least 100 times and have never shot below par from any set of tees. I barely broke the course rating each time from the Open tees in three rounds a few weeks ago, which still left me 4 and 5 over par. But, I was helped tremendously by unusually slow and soft greens because of the heat and they had been aerated. Under normal conditions (let alone Open conditions) the are the firmest and hardest greens to hit in regulation of any course I've played in the U.S.

Cary,

In what way is Merion East considered easy?  On a daily basis the course is maintained in championship condition.  Along with Oakmont, I've not seen any courses play so true to championship potential on a day to day basis.  Maintenance practices do more to ensure the course playing as firm and fast as possible.  

The deeper bunkers and grasses in the surrounds make these hazards particularly challenging.  Narrow fairways and thick rough add to the daily demands.  

When were you there last?

Another feature that makes TOC "easier": it only has two par 3's.  If you look at the pros' scoring averages, they go the most under par on par 5's...next comes par 4's...and par 3's play the toughest to par, by far.