I was very fortunate to play here today. The wind was steadily 25 mph with gusts upwards of 40 + mph. I can't recall having a club that I was carrying in my hand being blown around this much.This made the course play like a visit to real linksland.
Each of the holes is intended to be a remake of a specific hole in Scotland or Ireland.Three of the holes were holes in Ireland that I have played.
#1 was intended to model #1 at Royal Portrush. My recollection of the distinguising feature of #1 RPR is the uphill nature of the green complex. Unfortunately this was not the case here.
#12 was to mimic #3 at Royal County Down. #3 RCD is one of my all time favorite holes. It doglegs slightly to the right while this hole went gently left. But the feel of the hole was similar. Instead of the view of the Irish Sea on the tee you saw a retaining pool for some type of treatment facility.It was a good hole though.
#17 was to be like #11 at Waterville. It was the closest replication. Of course the dunes were only tiny mounds but the uphill tee shot then downhill to the green reminded me of Tranquility.
I preferred the holes that I had not played overseas because I could not make any comparisons. I will make some observations.
It seemed to be a poor man's NGLA. A friend got me thinking of this as we played the uphill blind tee shot 300 yard hole. He asked if it reminded me of #2 at NGLA. Not exactly, but it did get me to think about the place as a less ambitious version of NGLA.
There was a ton of room on this course. This enabled it to feel more like a links than many other linksy type courses I have played in the area. There aren't alot of tall mounds separating holes.This is an annoying feature of linksy type courses around here. We can't resist separating holes.
#2 Biarritz was a weak imitation of what I understand the hole to be like. The dip was not the same as I expected.
#3 was to be like #18 Gleneagles (King's). The carry bunkering was a blast and the green sat up quite a bit and fell off dramatically over the back. It was a fine hole.
#7 was the Tillinghast award winning design. The other two guys I was with stood on the tee for a few minutes trying to figure where to go. Everyone decided to take the heroic route. We thought the penalty was not enough to give up all that distance by going right.
#10 --#14 Royal Dornoch .. This made me want to go there for the original. This was a green that sat up a couple of feet off the ground all the way around. This is what I hear about Dornoch.
#11 was the blind uphill tee shot. The look of the tee shot reminded me of #3 at Lahinch.
#15--another Dornoch--#5-- This has been launced to the top of favorite short par fours in the area. The hole was under 300 yards. The fairway went straight out BEYOND the green. The green was twenty yards to the right of the fairway.
#16--Royal Troon #8- I wonder if this original has a kidney shaped green.
We recently talked about whether the average guy cares about GCA. This course is a good test for that question because every hole is designed with architecture in mind.
Twisted Dune is about a mile down the road. I was amazed at how differently the land was used at these two courses. You guys have no idea how boring the terrain in South Jersey is. TD built up dramatic dunes and created some elevation change as well. EGL used bunkering much more for strategy,with that all that width being essential.. It also had fifty feet of elevation change used well for tee shots up and down the hills.
Some of the pleasure may be because we were able to go an hour away from our snow covered area and play golf; some may be because the wind was fantastic. Because of all the space in play we were able to be well off course but still have some sort of shot. Without the wind this would not have been true.
The reason I say it is not a dump anymore is because it was built on a landfill.
You can go to their website and see the other holes.
www.mcculloughsgolf.com