We had a terrific weekend thanks to the efforts of RJ Daley in setting up the trip and the service provided by the staff at Sutton Bay. I have never been to a place that combined such outstanding service with such a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere.
The statistics:
Friday - 36 holes, Temp while playing 40-50 F, Max wind speed 23 MPH, Max Gust 31 MPH
Saturday - 36 holes, temp while playing 40-46 F, Max wind speed 29 MPH, Max. Gust 36 MPH, snow flurries on the far end of the course.
Sunday, 18 holes, temp while playing 36-39 F, max wind speed 29 MPH, Max Gusts 36 MPH, snow flurries and sleet at the far end of the course.
In that sort of setting, it was tough to focus much on architecture. Nonetheless, we played 36 holes with Mark the first day and spent a great deal of time talking with him about the decisions they made in designing the course.
They did a terrific job. Even though the summer prevailing wind is from the South, the course is very fair and interesting to play in the opposite wind. Those of you that have played the course in a South wind will probably not recognize my hole descriptions.
Into the wind, it is mainly a game of trying to control your shots to keep them on the planet. Nonetheless, the bunkering has been well thought out and definitely comes into play on a number of tee shots. The par threes are very challenging but playable. There is ample opportunity to hit a punch shot into the greens, although more often for me it was a driver from the fairway or three wood.
Downwind, there were a number of decisions to be made off the tee and the opportunity to gamble and try and reach par fives in two and get near the greens on par fours. Both par fives are reachable with a mid-iron after a well placed drive.
One can drive close to the 10th green if you hit a driver, but doing so requires a precise tee shot because the fairway pinches about 100 yards from the green.
One of my favorite downwind holes was the fourteenth, which features a wide fairway, but, due to the green which is somewhat elevated, slopes off to the right and has a bunker about 20 yards short, one gains a significant advantage if he can place the tee shot on the left portion of the fairway.
The sixteenth also plays great downwind. Trying to control a shot into that green to get at a right pin is extremely difficult but not impossible and one can also make the shot easier by driving to the left.
I really liked the green complexes. Most of them appear to simply be the land as it previously existed, mowed down to make a green. They were constructed using the California method and have plenty of interesting subtle breaks and if one ignores the general slope of the land from the ridge line to the water, one is likely to look foolish.
We spoke with Mark about the decision to use an out and back routing. He cited four reasons for that choice: First - there are space limitations in the land that make it difficult to fit three holes between the ridge and the water; second - some of the best ground is at the far end of the course. It would have been difficult to get to that land without such a routing. Third - Graham Marsh felt that he would need to sacrifice the quality of a couple holes to achieve a more varied routing. Finally, if one started in the middle of the course, one would still play the same 18 holes and have one long stretch with the same wind anyway.
Others may have made a different choice on routing, but I enjoyed the course as it is. The experience is very similar to playing the Old Course, Troon and many other Links courses. If this routing yielded the best holes the land had to offer, I appreciate an architect sticking to that principle, rather than making changes to avoid the criticism that will be inevitable with such a routing.
The course was in good condition for its opening weekend. It plays very firm and I'm not sure would be better when all of the grass turns green. As we played it, I could tell no difference from the links of Scotland and Ireland, other than there may have been a bit more grass under your ball in the fairway.
I've got pictures but struggled to download them last night. I'll add pictures later.
The setting is fantastic. I thank the Lord that I purchased Under Armor before going. I also can't wait for summer.