Can someone direct me to the source of a routing map for Stone Eagle?
If possible, I generally agree with Huckaby and Moriarty regarding the course. The following are some of my thoughts on SE I shared by email with others.
"Regarding Stone Eagle, it is clearly a stunning, breathtaking course (literally and figuratively). Fortuitously, my flight home early Wednesday morning gave me a great view of the course from the air. Of the three courses we played, SE is heads and shoulders the most sexy and the one likely to draw more strong opinions. How gorgeous and menacing was #18 on Sunday with its back left pin position?
With the caveats offered by others (heat, the need for additional play), I tend to agree with Tom Huckaby in his overall assessment of the greens and surrounds. I would also add that the par 3s (as I recall three of them are drop shots) don't have a lot of variety, and play rather short. Two or three of the downhill par 4s also seemed to be repetitive (hit it down the right side with a short iron to the green). I thought that the par 5s were outstanding for most golfers, though I question whether they offer much of a challenge for really good players like Fortson. For my money, the design could have traded less slope in the internal contouring of the greens for some additional length, a long par 3, and more holes diagonally across the mountains (as opposed to mostly up and down).
I fear that Stone Eagle will appeal to a select few, and people who don't carry the ball very far (and often have trouble pitching the ball and executing longer sand shots) will be frustrated. No doubt that the principals of the club and Tom Doak know the market and have planned accordingly. Personally, I would welcome the opportunity to play it again when it is cooler. In my opinion, Tom's work is not easily or fairly judged in just a couple of times around the course."
"From my perspective, Stone Eagle's routing with its winding, potentially dangerous cart paths alone prevents it from being an elite course. Include the severity of the green complexes- something that seems to have become Tom's metier- and the raw nature of the surroundings, I have some doubts that the place will be a great success as envisioned (of course, I don't hold myself to be the arbiter of what will do well in that market segment).
The bottom line, Stone Eagle is a must play if for no other reason that it will evoke thought and, hopefully, provoke discussion. It is a course which begs the question whether such difficult sites should be developed, and brings to light the very contemporary issue regarding the rationality of spending large amounts of money for these types of golf developments and ongoing maintenance."